Inquiry: Buying 3rd Party Battery Replacements for thinkpads

[shareme99]

Hey guys,

I personally own a x61 and i'm looking at buying a 6/9 cell for it. However I've come across this cheap battery that claims to use samsung cells. Here is the link: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.ph ... BK.276.923

Has anyone used this brand "ICAN" before..or are there other brands you guys recommend? Thank you very much!!!

[shareme99]

no one has bought batteries that aren't from lenovo? I am really looking for some advice/comments about them..thx

[killer]

My wife's T43p battery wasn't lasting more than 30 minutes, so we bought a replacement (non-Lenovo) from a firm in the UK. It works perfectly. That won't be much help to you in Canada but the principle is the same. I hope that helps.

[shareme99]

we bought a replacement (non-Lenovo) from a firm in the UK

Do you know what brand it was? It would be nice if you can link me.

Is there anyone else that can give some opinions or have experience with this? thank you!

[killer]

The box says "Powersquared" as the supplier. It also is shown as "Power2", with the 2 being smaller and slightly higher (as in the squared symbol in maths).
I hope this helps.

[GomJabbar]

You might read over this thread...
Boston Power Sonata batteries for ThinkPads

[emeraldgirl08]

I don't know if I just got lucky but I got an T4x/R5x series battery for close to $17 on the Bay. This could have turned out bad but the battery is in my sisters R52 and it get's close to 3 hours of run time- depending on usage.

[hellosailor]

I don't know Canadacomputer, but if you can be sure they are reputable (i.e. that there really will be Samsung cells in it) then it should be OK. The big problem is when generic junk cells are used and mislabeled, and there's no way to tell that on a sealed battery pack. You need to find out if you can trust the vendor(s).

I think most of us are just resigned to replacement batteries being expensive and hard to find from reputable competitors. Considering the number of times even the top names have had battery fire and explosion problems, and how much more often that's been blamed on counterfeits and junk...Resigned.

[shareme99]

thanks for the responses guys!!! I will probably one of those batteries from CanadaComputers soon. However, it'll take them a month to get a stock since its a special order. If i get one I'll update you guys on the quality of the battery =)

[RealBlackStuff]

These guys deliver to Canada (ask for shipping charges first), the batteries are quite cheap:
http://www.laptopcharge.com/category/no ... d+x61.aspx

[hellosailor]

A month to get one in stock means "We don't really deal with these, but someone in Guanchow has a couple of molds, and they'll pull one and put some battery cells in it and ship it out now."

Dunno how impressed I'd be with that. This is not something I'd want hand-built special-purpose by someone, as opposed to something manufactured and sold on a daily basis. With regular qc and folks who know the product on a better basis.

[bbkat]

sorry to bring up an old post, but just wanted to update on my experience w/ laptopcharge.com.

I bought a replacement for my T43 and it never registered correctly with the battery status indicator. After 15+ cycles, the machine would still shutdown without warning even though the battery status read 30+ minutes remaining. I'm out the shipping and 15% restocking fee.

After this, and a batteryrefill product that only held a charge for a year, I'm sticking to OEM.

[GomJabbar]

sorry to bring up an old post, but just wanted to update on my experience w/ laptopcharge.com.

I bought a replacement for my T43 and it never registered correctly with the battery status indicator. After 15+ cycles, the machine would still shutdown without warning even though the battery status read 30+ minutes remaining. I'm out the shipping and 15% restocking fee.

After this, and a batteryrefill product that only held a charge for a year, I'm sticking to OEM.

I bought a "Dr. Battery" battery for my T42 from laptopcharge.com and it is working great. Best battery life I have ever had. I've had the battery about 4 months so far.

[RWDPLZ]

I bought a cheap Chinese battery once for my 770ED. Wouldn't even hold a charge as long as the original battery that came with the laptop. Ever since, I've bought good condition originals, NOS originals, or I just bought a couple from the Lenovo Outlet store. Still waiting for the Lenovo Outlet batteries to get here, but I got a 9-cell for my T61 for $48, that normally sells for $190.

[hellosailor]

Either there is something getting lost in translation or there is something terribly odd about the batteries from the Lenono Outlet Store. The 9-cell T-series battery shows nearly 500 pieces available today, all "scratch and dent" goods that were returned to Lenono with the seal broken.

Returns? FIVE HUNDRED RETURNS? On simple batteries? AFTER they were used??

What's wrong with this picture?? I'm really tempted, but there's something very wrong with this picture. Where's Waldo?

[Harryc]

I just got another one from the outlet yesterday..a 7 cell for my Z61T. Zero cycles and holds better than design charge. Looked new to me ....

[hellosailor]

"Zero cycles"

?? The battery electronics store and record the number of times it has been cycled??

[Harryc]

"Zero cycles"

?? The battery electronics store and record the number of times it has been cycled??

Yes, that is correct.

[rkawakami]

One should also note that the battery information contained in most Thinkpad batteries also indicates the date when the battery was first used. So you can use that piece of data to try to figure out the previous history of your "scratch and dent" battery.

[hellosailor]

Wow, silly me! I never scrolled down that far to see what other battery information was there.

Thanks, guys.

With all that electronics in the battery...Can I play MP3s and make phone calls on it? Without the pesky computer being attached? <VBG>

No wonder they're so expensive! All I was expecting, was a BATTERY in the battery. Silly me.

[Unknown_K]

LiIO are smart batteries with a controller inside taking measurements and recording information. My T23 has information about build date, battery maker, first use date, cycles, design amp hours, current max amp house, percent of current max left. I don't think older batteries had that information (like the 760 series).

For old collectable systems you are pretty much stuck buying aftermarket batteries.

[RWDPLZ]

I got my batteries from the Lenovo outlet today. The boxes they came in were labeled 'USED' but they look brand new, have 0 cycles, and work perfectly. $50 for a T61 (15.4W) 9-cell, and $75 for an X41 Tablet 8-cell.

[vladis]

I bought one from Ebay about a year ago from China into T23 ... it was a junk !
That new replacement battery holds even less charge than original one, that I wanted to replace with that chinaese.

[uberT]

I've purchasd non-OEM batteries for other devices and never had an issue. I've purchased used OE batteries for the laptops several times and have had good luck. I purchased a "used" OE battery for my T61 last week on eBay for $45 delivered. The battery has 0 counts and shows about 115% of its intended design capacity

[cedesguin]

Hello,

this is to add my penny just after having purchased an X201 with its genuine Lenovo 6-cell battery plus a 3rd party 9-cell battery from DLH (ref. IIMM844-B071Q3). Actually, both genuine and non-genuine batteries are manufactured by Sanyo.

Only when using the DLH battery, I experienced repeated unexpected system turn-offs. I suspect they are deliberately triggered by Lenovo's power management utility (v. 3.29) when a non-Lenovo battery is in use.

This an excerpt of my system log: (pardon my French)

Critique 29/08/2010 17:38:52 Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 41 (63) Le système a redémarré sans s’arrêter correctement au préalable. Cette erreur peut survenir si le système ne répond plus, s’est bloqué ou n’est plus alimenté de façon inattendue.
Erreur 29/08/2010 17:38:57 EventLog 6008 Aucun L’arrêt système précédant à 17:37:18 le ‎29/‎08/‎2010 n’était pas prévu.

[hellosailor]

Google's translate says:

Critics 08/29/2010 5:38:52 p.m. Microsoft-Windows - Kernel - Power 41 (63) The system rebooted without shutting down properly in advance . This error can occur if the system stopped responding, has blocked or loses power unexpectedly.

That's not a Lenono message, that's Windows. It is possible that the second battery--regardless of source and maker--simply has a flaw in it. I would politely demand a warrranty replacement for it.

LiOn batteries remain plagued with recalls for problems, Garmin just announced a battery recall on a freight-train's worth of GPS units over bad batteries.

[sbjoe]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 724wt_1138
I bought the above for a couple dollars more back at the end of March for my T42p. It's as near perfect as I could have hoped. Takes a great charge and zero compatibility issues.

[cedesguin]

I confirm: my retailer replaced (for free) the faulty battery. The new one has exactly the same problem: the Thinkpad turns off after a couple of minutes, even with a fully charged battery. So, there is obviously a 'feature' in Lenovo's BIOS to sniff the battery and make it unusable if it's 3d party.

This is probably illegal vis-à-vis the EU regulations; I will check and possibly file a suit.

Note: the price of the equivalent 'original' battery is 205€ in Belgium, only 90$ in the U.S.A. The DLH battery costs 105€ in Belgium. Both are manufactured by Sanyo.

(for information : Lenovo Thinkpad X201, battery DLH IIMM844-B071Q3)

[hellosailor]

"This is probably illegal vis-à-vis the EU regulations; I will check and possibly file a suit."
In the US it would also probably be illegal. (Probably, not definitely.)

Certainly worth asking Lenono and the battery maker (who should know if they've had other successes or failures) directly and contacting your regulators if there is indeed a "lock out".

I have also seen battery pack problems in other products, caused by a third party vendor being very slightly off spec in the physical sizes, so that the pack lost contact at times.

[cedesguin]

Certainly worth asking Lenono and the battery maker (who should know if they've had other successes or failures) directly and contacting your regulators if there is indeed a "lock out".

I sent the manufacturer (dlh-info@dlhenergy.com) an email asking for a technical solution (ad hoc BIOS?) and an opinion about Lenovo's possible blameworthiness.

I have also seen battery pack problems in other products, caused by a third party vendor being very slightly off spec in the physical sizes, so that the pack lost contact at times.

Panasonic and Sony are other well-known adepts of 3rd party component exclusion, allegedly for security reasons, in fact to protect their own market of overpriced spare parts (specially in Europe, see above). In my case, an accidental loss of electrical contact is unlikely: the battery was firmly in place and the computer completely motionless (operated with external keybord and mouse). Additionally, the power supply was connected.