Thinkpads Forum

I've just bought a 6-cell T40 battery with - hold your breath - 810 cycles according to Battery Maximiser, and around 25 minutes of useful life.

It was manufactured (again according to Battery Maximiser) in May 2006, first use 7/2006.

Can anyone understand such an extreme number of cycles in such a short time? And is there much useful life left in this battery? What do you think?

So, in a little over one year the battery has been cycled about twice a day, every day. Sounds to me like the person who ran it into the ground was using the laptop quite often away from an AC power source. Could be a student taking the system to various classes during the day and maybe recharging it during a couple of those classes and at night. Or you could have somebody's experiment on how many charges the average laptop battery can take .

And no, there's probably not much life left in it. What's the current capacity from Battery MaxiMiser?

Try reconditioning it to see if that helps. I doubt it though.

Is it better to use an A/C source, if availabe, rather than cycling the battery ?

ment2b wrote:Is it better to use an A/C source, if availabe, rather than cycling the battery ?

Indeed. I always use the battery only when it's absolutely necessary. That's the best way to maximize the battery's life.

And no, there's probably not much life left in it. What's the current capacity from Battery MaxiMiser?

Have to wait until it arrives to tell you... I just bought it (for EUR 5 shipped ) yesterday.

Edit: Oh, rats! It'll be a while before I can say anything... just remembered I'm going to have to repair my newly-bought T40 first

Final edit: In the meantime, the seller has informed me that the battery - tested again - is now completely defective. I told him to keep the EUR 5 to pay him for his decency in telling me that in advance.