Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I am using 4 years old Lion battery in my TP x31 ( in good condition, about 60 cycles ) and I am wondering what should I do to keep this battery in good condition as long as possible.

for ex.:

1./ Is it necessary to complete discharge battery to 0 % ( with disabled shut down alarms ) once at week / month ?
2./ when I charge my laptop mostly is battery on 30 %, so is better to discharge it on 0 and then charge at full capacity or, leave some capacity in battery and than start to charge it ?

thanx for respond.

vladis wrote:Hi, I am using 4 years old Lion battery in my TP x31 ( in good condition, about 60 cycles ) and I am wondering what should I do to keep this battery in good condition as long as possible.

If your LiOn battery is still working satisfactorily after 4 years, you are extremely fortunate...... so I wouldn't change whatever you are doing now. I'd also be working out a plan for what to do if the battery dies suddenly.

Cheers,

Bill

To add to Bill's comment, batteries are a piece of chemistry and there is nothing you can do to stop the process. Much (but certainly not all) I read about lengthening battery life is just hogwash. ... JDH

Install ThinkVantage Power Manager and check "Notify me when reset is recommended."

60 cycles after 4 years?

It means that the battery was almost never used!

I use my battery sparingly and it shows 182 cycles after less than 2.5 years. The battery from the used T60 I bought had 200 cycles after about 2 years of use.

dr_st wrote:60 cycles after 4 years?

It means that the battery was almost never used!

I use my battery sparingly and it shows 182 cycles after less than 2.5 years. The battery from the used T60 I bought had 200 cycles after about 2 years of use.

Alright, I'll ask the question for novices like me...

How do you determine the number of cycles of use in a battery?

By downloading/installing/running the IBM/Lenovo Battery Maximiser program for your laptop type.

The newer version of this utility is called the Power Manager. Battery Maximizer can still be used for older laptops (pre-Lenovo).

jdhurst wrote:To add to Bill's comment, batteries are a piece of chemistry and there is nothing you can do to stop the process. Much (but certainly not all) I read about lengthening battery life is just hogwash. ... JDH

Having just bought a new (genuine) battery for my X61 i was wondering what i could do to extend its life. At the moment it is just having its first full charge.
I use the X61 60% battery, 40% power lead.

While reading some blog, there was an article about the hybrid Prius, and how these vehicles are still working well after 10 years. Although these use NiMH, the way they get the long life is sound... they don't stress the batteries. They don't charge past 80% or run below 20%. (Which in itself is wierd, NiMH memory and all. NiMH don't have the issue anymore, but these are circa year 2000.)

While this ain't very cool for laptops, it is sound... the chemistry will degrade eventually, but I have several Li-Ion batteries in ThinkPad 760XL (P150) machines that still accept a charge and hold it for like 2 hours+. I believe that one major reson is how hard they were used/charged. You obviously don't cycle your batteries much, which prolly leads to that longer life. All my laptops (modern and old) are plugged into mains power when I'm at home, in the car(cigarette lighter inverter), hotel rooms, airports, bowling ally... i.e. any place there is power available. My 2005 HP/Compaq M2005US is STILL on it's 1st battery, it holds a charge for ALMOST 2 hours. It is Li-Ion and I truely believe it is because I didn't stress the battery.

Only use the "mobile" portion of your devices (the battery) when you truely NEED mobile... like DURING flight... when it is impractical/impossible to plug in.

just my prolly arguable 2 cents