Battery Gauge

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estebanj · #1 Post by **estebanj** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:51 pm

In Battery Maximiser, why would the battery show 99% and not 100%? Yesterday it was 100%. This morning, it shows 99% and has stayed there all day. Machine has not been turned off, and as far as I can tell power wasn't lost overnight.

T41 / 2373-7FU / W2K

Not a problem; just curious.

Thanks,

Esteban

jd2020 · #2 Post by **jd2020** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:09 pm

Good question. There are two issues here: first the battery may loose capacity over time. Second, battery gauge software can get out of sync with the capacity of the battery. The documentation recommends that you run down the battery about once a month (I think) to help keep these in sync.

That said, I just ordered a new battery for my old T30. I charged it fully and within a few days it was reading only 95-97% after overnight charging. It hasn't gone back to 100% yet. This might be b/c brand new batteries may charge up over their "rated capacity" initially. I noticed this on my T43 in the first week of use.

That's all I can figure out.

gcchatel · #3 Post by **gcchatel** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:07 pm

well there is a threshold at which the battery will not charge more. I think by default it is 96%, if your battery is 96% charged or more and you plug it into the charger, it won't go all the way up to 100%. Take it off the charger and let it dip past 96% and it should charge all the way up to 100%.

jd2020 · #4 Post by **jd2020** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:24 pm

I'm looking at my T43 6-cell battery and its at 100% right now. And at its full rated capacity. The new IBM Power Manager has a tab that shows battery status, including % charge, capacity, and current charge in Watt hours.

My old T30 also routinely charged to "100%". Regardless of what the green bar shows, if the battery is charged up to its capacity, that's 100%.

kaplanfx · #5 Post by **kaplanfx** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 6:56 pm

jd2020 wrote:I'm looking at my T43 6-cell battery and its at 100% right now. And at its full rated capacity. The new IBM Power Manager has a tab that shows battery status, including % charge, capacity, and current charge in Watt hours.

What's the IBM Power Manager? can I get it for the T42?

jd2020 · #6 Post by **jd2020** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:20 am

Its the preinstalled power manager on Thinkpads. It might be in Start - Programs - Access IBM. If you don't already have it, you can get it several ways. Versions varry for your T42 and my T43.

Go to IBM support & look for drivers & downloads. You can try looking here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... idate=true

Or you can install the Thinkpad Software Updater, which automatically updates the various drivers & s/w on your system.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... TE.html#DL

kaplanfx · #7 Post by **kaplanfx** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 11:09 am

Are you talking about battery maximizer, or something else?

-kaplanfx

jd2020 · #8 Post by **jd2020** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:25 pm

I'm not sure its the same. Its called Power Manager on my computer. Perhaps they changed the name in more current versions.

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