Thinkpads Forum

What are the best suggestions for maximizing the longevity of a Thinkpad battery? Leave it plugged in? Discharge it to 15% every time? Modify the battery stettings? Don't hibernate? Are there any suggestions that are specific to a particular model (and why)?

I have got a software which names Battery Doubler
Its a gd stuff which helps to totally discharge your btry
instead of just shut your TP down when 1-2%btry left.

When the software is running, better leave your TP idle, becoze its max using your CPU to waste all btry. And ..
BE CAREFUL, for it will suddenly gone off as battery is out and may do harm to your HDD and unsaved settings.

After the btry is totally discharged, connect back your AC adapter and let it charge for 10hours, and u will find your btry more reliable and long-use.

Gd Luck

REF URL: http://www.dachshundsoftware.com/index.html

wilsonhs wrote:I have got a software which names Battery Doubler
[...]
Gd Luck

Are you serious. Sry, but you might harm your battery using such software. I don't trust in those promises - not even after reading phrases like "repair all PC problems" or "accelerate all PC up to 300%" on their website - that's is too amazing to be real and simply not true.
My advise: use the IBM Battery Maximizer to reset/recalibrate after couple of cycles/weeks.

Brgds, Torsten

Did you have a look at here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=21976

meshua wrote:

wilsonhs wrote:I have got a software which names Battery Doubler
[...]
Gd Luck

Are you serious. Sry, but you might harm your battery using such software. I don't trust in those promises - not even after reading phrases like "repair all PC problems" or "accelerate all PC up to 300%" on their website - that's is too amazing to be real and simply not true.
My advise: use the IBM Battery Maximizer to reset/recalibrate after couple of cycles/weeks.

Brgds, Torsten

O Really?
My god...is lucky i only used it for 1 time only.. since its result seemed gd after that time and can last long since then...

Thanks you advise, i rather stop using it

wilsonhs wrote:

meshua wrote: Are you serious. Sry, but you might harm your battery using such software. I don't trust in those promises - not even after reading phrases like "repair all PC problems" or "accelerate all PC up to 300%" on their website - that's is too amazing to be real and simply not true.
My advise: use the IBM Battery Maximizer to reset/recalibrate after couple of cycles/weeks.

Brgds, Torsten

O Really?
My god...is lucky i only used it for 1 time only.. since its result seemed gd after that time and can last long since then...

Thanks you advise, i rather stop using it

I didn't analyze the tool but the promises on their website sound too euphorically. With my normal human understanding I would say that's a bait and the offered tools cannot keep the promise they give. For my taste it doesn't sound serious at all! That's what I meant. I wouldn't gamble around with my 150$ battery using such wonder tools. That's not worth it.

Brgds, Torsten.

Yeah the stuff on that site looked a bit like Snake Oil to me too. If they were that good, how come no one has ever noticed them? Oh, there are some "awards" they'd received, from freeware sites noone has heard of.

There's a Battery Rundown menu option that comes with the PC Doctor's DOS version. That PC Doctor thing is available here on the forums, one nice gent made a bootable ISO from the three diskettes provided by IBM. I'd use that one instead of all other solutions.

Musti wrote:There's a Battery Rundown menu option that comes with the PC Doctor's DOS version. That PC Doctor thing is available here on the forums, one nice gent made a bootable ISO from the three diskettes provided by IBM. I'd use that one instead of all other solutions.

Battery rundown was used in the old NiMh batteries. Don't do it with the current Li ion batteries. Fully discharging a Li ion battery decreases its capacity. It only makes sense if you need to recalibrate the battery gauge. If you can, try to avoid discharging below 10-20%. You also will save capacity by not charging past ~90-94%, and by storing the Li ion battery with ~50% charge -- not fully charged.

DavidR wrote:Are there any suggestions that are specific to a particular model (and why)?

Unless your usage pattern is particularly unusual, just put the power management to the "source optimized" setting and enjoy using you ThinkPad.

The parameters of this setting represent the distilling by IBM/Lenovo of years of experience with ThinkPad batteries of varying technologies. In my expereince, it is hard to beat for getting the best battery performance in general purpose use.

Cheers,

Bill

It's as Bill says; I have tried different techniques for different batteries over the years...but all I would get was a more modest increase the more drastic the measures to preserve the battery's capacity were. Simply use and enjoy your Thinkpad battery.

If you stick to regular usage, that power scheme, and don't take the battery into environmental extremes, you will be quite fine.