Thinkpads Forum

What are the odds that a Li-Ion battery manufactured in April 2001 but still "Brand New" would be any good?
Anybody have experience with old/New batteries? Any input would be appreciated.

Bg357 wrote:What are the odds that a Li-Ion battery manufactured in April 2001 but still "Brand New" would be any good?
Anybody have experience with old/New batteries? Any input would be appreciated.

I bought a new T23 battery on ebay, which turned out to be about that old. I returned it and got a refund. I didn't want to take the chance. Maybe you got my return.

I bought a never used original IBM battery that when I inserted it my Battery Maximizer showed to made in 1999!! with 0 cycles. I notified the e-bay seller I purchased it from, as it was advertised as Brand New Never Used (which it hadn't been used) but I mentioned to him that it was made in 1999 so it wasn't new. He immediately refunded all my money including shipping and said to please keep the battery, as he didn't want it back. So I reconditioned it twice now and I still have 75% life in, level yellow, but other than that no problems.

I guess it's a luck thing.
lithium ion batteries have a life of abt 3 years after they are manufactured and they last this long even if they are not used. that's just how they are.

but i got lucky with a compaq presario 2701us with orig. battery.(dated 2000) i have at least 100 cycles on it (i'll have to check as it's at my parents') and it gives me 2 hours (that's pretty good for a pent.3-m with 15" screen and 5400rpm harddrive.)


if i had a choice, i would not buy a battery more than 6 months old.

Most of the video camera batteries I have are Li-Ion, after years of NiCads, I find them to be extremely long lasting. I'm still using a six year old battery pack with a Sony video camera that still holds a complete charge.
That being said, with any batteries, I would prefer if they were newly manufactured.

You're talking about Li-Ion...but I have a Ni-Cd battery from a Compaq laptop from 1996 that still lasts 2 hours.

I would only buy a new-old stock battery if it was really cheap.

Ok being that the orig batteries sold on ebay are questionable where can you buy a new (made within a year) battery?

Thanks

Alan

Ok being that the orig batteries sold on ebay are questionable where can you buy a new (made within a year) battery?

The reality is even if you buy directly from IBM depending on your model you may get one that has been in a warehouse for a while.

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/accessories/battery/index.html

Batteries are chemical reactions that start 1 nanosecond after manufacture. There is apparently some method that slows down this reaction considerably until first used (alkaline cells have a "best before" date years into the future. Still, I would prefer to buy a new "new" battery rather than an "old" new battery. ... JDH

dsigma6 wrote:You're talking about Li-Ion...but I have a Ni-Cd battery from a Compaq laptop from 1996 that still lasts 2 hours.

An eleven year old NiCad battery pack that still can hold 80-90% of a full charge is an electrochemical miracle.

ronbo613 wrote:An eleven year old NiCad battery pack that still can hold 80-90% of a full charge is an electrochemical miracle.

That electrochemical miracle was deemed to be worth $8 on eBay.

I was hoping for a bit more..

I just sent about fifty seven year old 1200ma SubC NiCads to the recycler, dead as a doornail. We used them to build battery packs for 16mm movie cameras.

ronbo613 wrote:I just sent about fifty seven year old 1200ma SubC NiCads to the recycler, dead as a doornail. We used them to build battery packs for 16mm movie cameras.

Was that (57) 1yr old batteries, (50) 7yr old batteries, or (1) 57yr old battery?

Sorry, I couldn't resist that.

Lithium-ion batteries age faster, when they stay long time charged full (between 4.0 and 4.2v per cell).
They also age faster with increased temperature.
So If a new old battery was properly stored (which is about 40% charged level, cold place) it could be almost good after even couple of years
This table is taken from batteryuniversity.com:
Permanent capacity loss of lithium-ion as a function of temperature and charge level.