Thinkpads Forum

Batteries have been discussed to death, but I have a new question (for me at least).

After 3 and half years on one battery for my T41, I decided to get a new one. I ordered from my long-time IBM supplier and it came at the end of June. It never once charged fully. It got to 96% back then and that number steadily decreased by each turn-on to 80% today. It had lots of oomph (hours of running time) but was always charging. I called for a replacement battery that arrived today.

My question seems a bit silly, but here goes. Do I need to charge the new battery to 100% (i.e., apparently fully charged) *before* turning on the computer? I would not have thought so, but I am leary of turning on the computer until I get a solid green.
... JDH

I just read through the documentation (cover to cover) for a brand new T60 that came yesterday. It does not mention having to do anything 'special' with the battery prior to power up.

Hello

It's a good move to "format" battery..That mean 3 times decharge by using to 0:00min then charge to 100%.
After that your battery wil be fine.

Regards

masterus wrote:Hello

It's a good move to "format" battery..That mean 3 times decharge by using to 0:00min then charge to 100%.
After that your battery wil be fine.

Regards

If Lenovo doesn't recommend this, why are you recommending it?

From the horse's mouth...

How to get the most out of your battery - ThinkPad

seems like I remember reading somthing similar a while back at good ole Battery University

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

I let the machine charge before turning it on. It is on now and the new battery shows fully charged. Clearly the first replacement was defective. When I ran the battery replacement package recently new from Lenovo, it wouldn't even acknowledge the first replacement. It acknowledges the second replacement (new today) and says I don't need a replacement (duh!).

Looking at the Battery Information in TP Config, it has lots of capacity, so I am happy with it.

It does say on the web page you pointed to not to use the battery until fully charge once you have started to charge it. That is what I did. I am going to cycle it a few times now.
... JDH

I unplugged 3 hours ago. I had forgotten what it is like to have a battery with some real oomph to it. It says it still has an hour to go, but probably somewhat less. ... JDH

Is that a 6-cell or 9-cell battery? I just started playing around with a T41 and used PC Doctor to run the battery down (a 6-cell) and it ran for 2 hours after an overnight charge. There's four more batteries to check out and I'm just wondering if these three year old packs are almost at the end of their life. Don't have Battery Miser up and running yet so I can't tell their capacity or number of charge cycles.

It is a brand new 6-cell battery (Sanyo, if I remember correctly) and was manufactured just a couple of months ago. I finally shut down after 3.5 hours to recharge even though the new battery had not died. ... JDH

nice, that's what i'd like to get. Mine is now at 37% of it's original capacity, this battery has just been going down hill fast as hell - granted it's 3yrs old now so probably that's why... November 11 2004 is it's manufactured date. Should be getting a battery soon so hopefully that'll be what i've been itching for, those 3hr+ runtimes

I am into my third cycle now. I turned the machine on just after 7:00am, set it to Always ON, have the wireless on and connected, left the house until just now (10:30). When I returned it was still going and not gasping at all. I turned it off, connected it to AC, and now if it charges fully (has been so far), I will declare this new battery good and move on.

Yes, it is sweet to return to these times. ... JDH

wow really? Doesn't the "Always On" profile use full CPU power too? Unless you edited it that's some really good battery life if speed step isn't kicking in. I've never owned a new Thinkpad so never a brand new battery but i've always heard of 4hr runtimes with a 6 Cell with a 9 cell giving close to 7hrs. Add the UB battery and you get close to 9hrs of usage. Now that's a mobile warrior!

I have Vista so i'm guessing i wont get those numbers but with a "newish" 6 cell as long as i can get close to 3hrs or a lil more i'll be happy

Yes, Always ON runs at full speed (1.8Ghz in my case). Now I was away, so the machine was otherwise idle, but the fan was running more (full speed does that). The monitor was off (it does that after a few minutes).

I'm sure things will start to deteriorate, but right now I am happy.
.... JDH