Thinkpads Forum

Hello all. Does anyone here use aftermarket LIon batteries in their Thinkpads? I have to replace the battery on my A21p. After checking on eBay, I see a lot of aftermarket batteries for sale... price is much better than OEM from Lenovo. But, are they safe to use? Are there some brands to stay away from??? Thanks for your input.

I would use an aftermarket battery ONLY if the seller can guarantee that it works properly in your system (powers and charges) and that it doesn't use any recent high-capacity Sony cells (the ones that tend to explode or catch fire).

I and others, have used http://www.batteryrefill.com for getting "re-celled" original IBM battery packs. They basically open up the factory battery and replace the used cells with fresh ones. A bonus is that the overall capacity (amp-hour rating) increases slightly since newer technology cells are used. You buy their battery and when you get it, you send your old one to them so that they can open it and refurbish it for the next buyer.

I agree wholeheartedly with Ray - batteryrefill.com is awesome, and the only battery refurbishers that I trust.

I bought a replacement T23 battery (made in China) from a Hong Kong eBayer, works extremely well so far (8 months).
It's a 4400Ah battery, and gives me just over 3 hours per charge.
Can't remember the exact price , but I think it was around €30.-/$37.-

Take a look at the seller xreplay on eBay. I just got a zero cycle genuine OEM battery for my T23 today in the mail. Cost was $31 shipped and it's providing an estimated runtime of 2h:30m I don't know if he has any A series batteries, but it can't hurt to check.

I also bought a lot of 4 T23 batteries from them (they use the ID "getgoingstores" as well). Since they are local to me, I went there and the owner hand-picked the four out of a bin with the lowest cycle count/highest capacity and allowed me to verify them with a T23 I had brought along. They don't appear to carry too many Axx items; mostly 600, T23, T30 and T40 stuff, but like Kaervak said, can't hurt to ask them. There have been a couple of other posters here that have purchased from them as well and I don't believe there were any problems.

(edit: Here's another thread about this issue: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=36055)

rkawakami wrote:I also bought a lot of 4 T23 batteries from them (they use the ID "getgoingstores" as well). Since they are local to me, I went there and the owner hand-picked the four out of a bin with the lowest cycle count/highest capacity and allowed me to verify them with a T23 I had brought along. They don't appear to carry too many Axx items; mostly 600, T23, T30 and T40 stuff, but like Kaervak said, can't hurt to ask them. There have been a couple of other posters here that have purchased from them as well and I don't believe there were any problems.

(edit: Here's another thread about this issue: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=36055)

The only reason I even bought from them was because of a previous post from you about them. Definitely not dissapointed, might even pick up another.

rkawakami wrote:I and others, have used http://www.batteryrefill.com for getting "re-celled" original IBM battery packs. They basically open up the factory battery and replace the used cells with fresh ones. A bonus is that the overall capacity (amp-hour rating) increases slightly since newer technology cells are used. You buy their battery and when you get it, you send your old one to them so that they can open it and refurbish it for the next buyer.

Considering how good their prices are, I think this is how I will go when my current pack dies (it's going on a couple of years now, and still strong, so that may be a while). Thanks for the tip.

Anyone ever order from laptops for less? I have gotten PDA batteries and phone batteries from them.

I'd like to thank everyone for their excellent advice. I'm probably going to have my current battery re-celled at batteryrefill.com.