Advice on a new 9 cell battery

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mbaturo · #1 Post by **mbaturo** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:18 pm

hey guys,

as I'm using my computer mostly on battery, I'm considering buying another one - a 9 cell. As I see there are three manufacturers to choose from: Sanyo, Panasonic, Sony. Which one would you recommend in terms of quality?

And another battery related question:
My original Sanyo 6-cell had a 51.84 original capacity. After some use (I've set the battery the thresholds to start at 40 and end at 90), after an initial rundown (which I now know I shouldn't have done), it got down to 49.88. And this lasted for 9 cycles, with battery level between 90 mostly, no deep discharges, and quite evenly distributed between battery power and AC. On the 10th cycle, I left the computer off but with AC adapter on, so it charged to 100 - and it now shows only 46.85 of full charge capacity. Is this normal?

#2 Post by **gator** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:55 pm

Not Sony

And yeah, what you see is normal ... leaving it on AC after the laptop shuts down makes the battery 100% charged. Folks at Lenovo know this and they are working on this.

mbaturo · #3 Post by **mbaturo** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:45 am

So I shoudln't leave it plugged in when it's off, and not charge it to 100%? What thresholds do you use?

NS · #4 Post by NS » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:08 am

If you want to charge your battery and store it away, then the recommended threshold for Li-ion battery is: start charging when below 50% and stop charging at 60%.

If you want to use it the next day, then charge it when below 50% and stop at 100%. When running on AC, do remove the battery unless you suspect the power supply is not steady.

Since the voltage has reduced, unplug your AC and run your thinkpad using the battery and set threshold to custom and when the % falls below 96%, do connect the AC and recharge it back to 100% and set the above recommended threshold.

mbaturo · #5 Post by **mbaturo** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:23 pm

NS wrote: Since the voltage has reduced, unplug your AC and run your thinkpad using the battery and set threshold to custom and when the % falls below 96%, do connect the AC and recharge it back to 100% and set the above recommended threshold.

why is this last step necessary?

NS · #6 Post by NS » Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:58 am

To reset the voltage back to it\'s original voltage. I have done that and it works...

Hanson · #7 Post by **Hanson** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:14 am

I would recommend purchasing a Panasonic battery; those are not as loose as the other ones. Performance-wise, my 6-cell Panasonic has 10% wear after 101 cycles and I've lost only 0.4Wh over the last 60 cycles in a span of 6 months. My battery is now a year and 4 months old since use and was manufactured in July 2005.

PK · #8 Post by PK » Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:40 am

I have a Sanyo 6-cell battery. The capacity drops from 51.84 Wh to 35.03 Wh after 159 cycles (2 years of use).

mbaturo · #9 Post by **mbaturo** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:17 pm

NS wrote:To reset the voltage back to it\'s original voltage. I have done that and it works...

thanks for the info

mbaturo · #10 Post by **mbaturo** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 1:21 pm

Hanson wrote:I would recommend purchasing a Panasonic battery; those are not as loose as the other ones. Performance-wise, my 6-cell Panasonic has 10% wear after 101 cycles and I've lost only 0.4Wh over the last 60 cycles in a span of 6 months. My battery is now a year and 4 months old since use and was manufactured in July 2005.

what thresholds do you use?

Hanson · #11 Post by **Hanson** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 2:16 pm

mbaturo wrote:
Hanson wrote:I would recommend purchasing a Panasonic battery; those are not as loose as the other ones. Performance-wise, my 6-cell Panasonic has 10% wear after 101 cycles and I've lost only 0.4Wh over the last 60 cycles in a span of 6 months. My battery is now a year and 4 months old since use and was manufactured in July 2005.
what thresholds do you use?

Start charging at 70%, stop charging at 90%. Interestingly enough, the 0.4Wh I lost happened when I charged my battery upto 100%.

byunnbi · #12 Post by **byunnbi** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:36 pm

Two things:

I also have a Sanyo battery, and it's disappointing - granted, my battery is just about 4 years old now, and it's down to 26.9Wh/71.74Wh after 189 cycles. I got my t41p used last year, and even then, the battery was at a meager ~33.4 or 34.1 I believe...

What program are you guys using to set the thresholds on charging/not charging? I have Battery Maximiser and Power Manager both installed, but I don't see any options anywhere in there to set thresholds of any kind - maybe b/c I'm running Vista?

ulrich.von.lich · #13 Post by **ulrich.von.lich** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:06 pm

Start Search ---> Power Manager ---> Battery Information tab ---> Battery Maintenance ---> Charge Thresholds then choose Custom

Hope it helps

mbaturo · #14 Post by **mbaturo** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:06 am

Hanson wrote:
mbaturo wrote: what thresholds do you use?
Start charging at 70%, stop charging at 90%. Interestingly enough, the 0.4Wh I lost happened when I charged my battery upto 100%.

my loss happened when I charged the battery to 100% too.

prior to that I was only charging it up to 90% and there was no loss of capacity at all...

byunnbi · #15 Post by **byunnbi** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 11:40 am

Thanks, Ulrich, but I don't see a "maintenance" tab in the battery info window. Anyone else have this issue under Vista?

RukRem · #16 Post by **RukRem** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:16 pm

So my original 9 cell battery is down to holding only 1 hour worth of charge after 307 cycles (roughly 2 years and 2 months).

So I bought a new 9 cell and an ultra bay batter in hopes to get 7+hours of computing power under low power settings. When I received the ultra bay is showed error when charging simutaneoulsy with the 9 cell, so I removed it. I let the 9 cell charge to 100% and then took it out and plugged in the ultrabay batter. It no longer shows error and is currently charging. It shows 0 cycles and a manufacture date of 5/11/2006...

My questions are: How long can a brand new battery go without being charged before it is compromised? How many cycles can the 9 cell go through before is it useless and how come the ultrabay and the 9 cell did not charge at the same time?

#17 Post by **bill bolton** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 10:35 pm

RukRem wrote:How many cycles can the 9 cell go through before is it useless and how come the ultrabay and the 9 cell did not charge at the same time?

The answer to your first question is it depends on your off mains power usage pattern. There is no standard answer but you already know what your previous one gave you and that seems like a pretty good run to me.

The Ultrabay battery will always charge after the main battery and discharge before the main battery. That's the way it was designed to work and no one has found a way to change that designed-in behaviour.

Cheers,

Bill

amrav · #18 Post by **amrav** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 11:13 am

I am planning to buy a new battery.
How do I make sure its a Panasonic one not a Sanyo one ?
Is there something in the serial number or part number that indicates this ?

Thanks in advance.

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