New Battery Purchased, But its not lasting, Need Help

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atct86 · #1 Post by **atct86** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:27 pm

I bought a New Genuine IBM Battery which had 0 cycles. It lasts close to 2 hours but when it gets to 25% it drops to 5% and stays there for 30 minutes.

Why is this happening?

Temetka · #2 Post by **Temetka** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 7:39 pm

Did you calibrate it?

atct86 · #3 Post by **atct86** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:53 pm

No I did not. How do I do this?

christopher_wolf · #4 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 11:02 pm

There is an option under the power manager to recalibrate your battery. Otherwise, you can run it down to around 3%-5% and then charge it back up again to get pretty much the same effect.

atct86 · #5 Post by **atct86** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:20 am

Im not seeing it.

Temetka · #6 Post by **Temetka** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:24 am

Do you have battery maximizer installed on your system? If not thats okay. You can do the procedure described above.

Just turn off all power saving stuff (if you have configured it).

Use the machine.

When you drop to between 3% and 5% remaining, plug in.

DO NOT unplug until you have reached 100%. I'd just let it sit for a few hours and go do something else.

That will calibrate the battery for you. It's the by hand, old school method.

#7 Post by **GomJabbar** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:46 am

The T40 would be using the Battery Maximizer program - assuming you have it installed. If you have the green battery icon in the Notification Area on the lower right, left-click on it and choose Improve Battery Health. From that screen choose Recondition Battery Now.... That will recalibrate your battery.

If you do not see the icon. Go to Start > All Programs > Access IBM > Battery Maximizer Wizard. Launch the wizard, and I believe it is on step 3, be sure the box is checked to show the icon in the tasktray. If you do not have Battery Maximiser installed, you can get it from here: Software and Device Drivers - ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p Be sure and follow all installation instructions carefully.

EDIT: When you recalibrate your battery, it will take 2 or more hours. You must leave the ThinkPad plugged in to AC power during the recalibration process.

atct86 · #8 Post by **atct86** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:14 am

I almost always use my t40 plugged in. What are the best settings for the charging thresholds?

Hanson · #9 Post by **Hanson** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:38 pm

atct86 wrote:I almost always use my t40 plugged in. What are the best settings for the charging thresholds?

The settings for my laptop are to start charging when below 60% and stop charging at 90%. Only lost 40mWh over 45 cycles in 5 months using that setting.

#10 Post by **carbon_unit** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:50 pm

Why do you stop before 100% charged?

coreman · #11 Post by **coreman** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:43 am

One of the "Battery Tips" for extending life of batteries is to not fully recharge batteries if the primary use is with AC power. The claim is longer life is achieved for laptops primarily used under AC power if cells aren't fully charged but rather are "stored" at levels less than a full charge.

As a former materials engineer I can only surmise that this is because of the chemical reactions going on inside the battery...since the battery isn't needed when running on AC, logically it seems less stressful to keep the cell membranes at a lower voltage and thereby reduce depletion of chemicals.

Wish my T41 had this feature...I have the 9 cell battery and really don't need recharge until I get into the 60% range...

Jeff85 · #12 Post by **Jeff85** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:48 am

GomJabbar wrote:The T40 would be using the Battery Maximizer program - assuming you have it installed. If you have the green battery icon in the Notification Area on the lower right, left-click on it and choose Improve Battery Health. From that screen choose Recondition Battery Now.... That will recalibrate your battery.

If you do not see the icon. Go to Start > All Programs > Access IBM > Battery Maximizer Wizard. Launch the wizard, and I believe it is on step 3, be sure the box is checked to show the icon in the tasktray. If you do not have Battery Maximiser installed, you can get it from here: Software and Device Drivers - ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p Be sure and follow all installation instructions carefully.

EDIT: When you recalibrate your battery, it will take 2 or more hours. You must leave the ThinkPad plugged in to AC power during the recalibration process.

I downloaded the latest Battery Maximiser for my T41, but I don't see the "Improve Battery Health" option. Launching the wizard verifies I have version 1.38. The notes said something about

(Note)
*1 From Version A-1.30, package structure was re-organized.
If you already installed "Utility package" for each operating system,
please uninstall it first before you install this package.
Then you need to install the following packages too.

ThinkPad 5xx/i-1157 :
- IBM ThinkPad Configuration package

ThinkPad 6xx/7xx :
- IBM ThinkPad Configuration package
- IBM ThinkPad Personalization Editor

The other ThinkPad machines:
- IBM ThinkPad Configuration package
- IBM ThinkPad Presentation Director (Windows 98/98 SE/Me/2000/XP or later only)
- IBM ThinkPad EasyEject Utility (Win2000/XP or later only)

I don't recall installing any "utility package" in the past, nor can I find any such item in the add/remove programs list. If it's referring to the old Battery Maximiser, I've tried uninstalling the power management driver and reinstalling the new Battery Maximiser, but this didn't help, either. What am I doing wrong?

#13 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:11 am

I am not sure about the "Utility package", as I have not seen it. It is possible you do not have it installed. Make sure you have the following installed, and I would recommend that you have the latest versions of each. It might be wise to make sure your BIOS and Embedded controller are also at the latest versions. That said, I believe I have read that Battery MaxiMiser works differently between the different T4x series. I have a T42, so I am relating what I see. I am not sure exactly what you will see with a T41. Note also, that in Add or Remove Programs some items will be listed under IBM, and some under ThinkPad.

The other ThinkPad machines:
- IBM ThinkPad Configuration package
- IBM ThinkPad Presentation Director (Windows 98/98 SE/Me/2000/XP or later only)
- IBM ThinkPad EasyEject Utility (Win2000/XP or later only)

EDIT: Even with Battery MaxiMiser installed, you still need the Power Management (ACPI) driver installed as well.

dg · #14 Post by dg » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:53 am

I have a T41, and as has been described above, Battery Maximiser does not include the "Improve Battery Health" option.
I do have access to a T42 which does include this option. Will it cause any problems if I swap over the batteries to condition the battery out of the T41, and then swap them back?

Thanks,

#15 Post by **carbon_unit** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:15 am

It should be OK.

New Battery Purchased, But its not lasting, Need Help

New Battery Purchased, But its not lasting, Need Help

Batter Maximiser

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