Optimizing battery life

[CantStopNow]

I've seen all kinds of advice on maximizing one's battery life, but it generally inconsistent or is based off of older battery technologies. One thing that concerns me is that some think that how one charges / discharges the battery the first few times can have a significant effect on the battery's lifetime.

Has IBM published any official advice as to what can be done to properly maintain their laptop batteries? I'm not seeking more anecdotes or suggestions. What does the manufacturer of the product suggest that I do?

[Bob Collins]

No anecdotes here, and certainly no malice intended. Read the battery use items in your manuals that came with your specific Thinkpad. If you want IBM's line, it is there in print.

FWIW, there are also numerous Lithium Ion battery manufacturer's web sites with differing information on how to maximize the battery life. Good luck and good reading.

Now on to the observed things from other uses of rechargeables. According to many RC plane people Lithium Ion is nice due to weight however the life of recharging and heavy use is limited as compared to older technologies like NIMH. Also SLAs are good for numerous recharges and fairly deep use. Sorry, but anecdotes are all there really is, as useage is truly personalized to each user as to all the variables in play.

Again, I mean no disrespect nor malice, just pointing out some observations from my research on such things.

[durjaya]

Yeah - that's fact. From what I've found with everything from my Nikon D1X battery to my laptops, my ipod and even my Gameboy is that for the first few cycles - you want to drain the battery down to the point the OS is saying "Plug me in Stupid!" - then charge fully.

In the digi-cam world we are told to do this 'refresh' at least once a month to maintain optimal life.

*So far*

Every system I have done this with has kept a strong battery and in some cases (particularly my ipod and cameras) the battery life has improved over time.

Eventually they will go south - but you certainly seem to improve the overall lifespan by doing this.

[gpvillamil]

This website has pretty definitive info on prolonging Lithium-Ion battery life (and batteries in general):

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Basically, Li-Ion batteries start to degrade (slowly) from the time they are made. You can slow down the decline by storing them at 40% charge at low temperature. Unfortunately the typical working environment for a laptop is full charge (when plugged in) and high temperature. So if you really care, take out the battery when you are plugged in.

The occasional deep discharge is necessary for calibrating the battery charge sensor. Otherwise the system may start giving you warnings when there is plenty of capacity left. Li-Ion batteries have no memory effect.

[pennster]

This document discusses how to use the battery effectively and how to extend battery life on an IBM ThinkPad system.

This document has the following sections:

New batteries
Battery conditioning
Extending battery life
New batteries
When purchasing a new battery, you may find that the battery is at or near 0% capacity. This will be due to the length of time the battery has been in stock and does not affect the quality of the battery. If the battery is at 0%, it may take up to 12 hours of continuous charging or, cycling the battery three times (see the Battery conditioning section below) to wake up the battery. If the new battery still does not have a charge after having been charged for 12 hours or cycled three times, it should be replaced. Standard warranty on all IBM ThinkPad batteries is no more than one year as stated in the Statement of Limited Warranty that comes with the machine or battery.

Battery conditioning
In general, rechargeable batteries store electrical energy through chemical reaction -- therefore, capacity will change by temperature, unused storage period, load condition, and number of cycles used.

The following instructions provides tips on how to obtain the best battery condition to extend battery rundown time:

Once you have started charging the battery pack, do not use it until it is fully charged.
If your battery is brand new and you are charging it for the first time, your battery may not be charged to full capacity due to characteristics of chemicals in the cell. To obtain maximum performance, all chemical materials in the battery must be fully activated. In order to achieve this:
Cycle the battery (fully charge, then fully discharge) three times.
Cycling the battery three times is also recommended if you have stored the battery for a few months.
Do not charge the battery pack until all of its power is used. Partial charge or discharge causes a lack of uniformity of activated chemicals in the cell, and may cause performance degradation.
It is recommended that you deep-discharge your Ni-MH* battery every few months for optimum performance. Deep-discharge occurs when your ThinkPad system is used on battery power until the charge is at 0% (the system will automatically go into hibernation). At this point, attach the AC adapter and charge to 100%.

NOTE:
Do not deep-discharge Lithium Ion batteries. Batteries can degrade when they are left unused for long periods of time. For some rechargeable batteries (particularly Lithium Ion batteries), leaving a battery unused in a discharged state could increase the risk of a battery short circuit, which could shorten the life of the battery and can also pose a safety hazard. Do not let rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries completely discharge or store these batteries in a discharged state.

For those machines that have the IBM ThinkPad Battery MaxiMiser and Power Management Features installed you can verify the health of the system battery.

Click the Battery MaxiMiser Gauge Icon on the taskbar and then click Battery Information. The Battery Information window will appear.


Click the Battery Health button to view the condition of the battery. You will need version 1.30B or later of the ThinkPad Battery MaxiMiser Utility in order for the Battery Tips button to appear.


NOTES:

Status of the battery:
Green means good condition
Red means the battery needs to be replaced, if in warranty. All ThinkPad system batteries have a one year warranty.
More information is available in the battery information help guide, which can be accessed by clicking the Battery Tips button.
Remaining time is calculated based on the current remaining capacity divided by the average current battery consumption (wattage). Depending on the current battery wattage consumption, remaining time calculated can change. For example, with the system running at the Maximum Performance setting for the processor, the system consumes more battery power, so the remaining time is shorter. A good analogy would be driving a car. When you drive faster, you use more gasoline; slower uses less. If you speed up and slow down frequently, it is more difficult to estimate how much driving time you have left.
Extending the battery life
When you need to use your ThinkPad computer away from electrical outlets, you depend on battery power to keep your computer running. Different computer components consume power at different rates. The more you use the power-intensive components, the faster you consume battery power.


For information specific to your model, choose a link below:

ThinkPad G40 systems
XTRA ThinkPad systems (A, R, T, and X Series machines)

Older ThinkPad systems (365, 380, 600, 760, 770)
* The Nickel Metal Hydride battery pack will become warm when charging. This is normal operation and is a result of the chemistry of the battery. The battery pack has a circuit inside of it that will discontinue charging if the battery pack exceeds its normal thermal range. So, if the battery pack is charging to completion which is indicated by 100 percent capacity on the battery meter, the battery should not be replaced for temperature concerns.
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... FAN-3QNQJN

[pennster]

If you left click on the MaxMiser icon once and click on battery information. Click on the battery health, it will tell you how good is you battery, how many time the battery has been charged, when the battery is used first time, when do you need a new battery. And there is one button called battery tips has all the information about how to take care of battery. Lots of information and explore by yourself.

[Greg Gebhardt]

Just use you laptop and charge it when you want. I have seen so many people get sick over how to keep their battery. Use the laptop and enjoy it. The battery and laptop are not life long friends. They will be replaced as required or you want

[zahir]

You might wanna try this... it worked for my r51. The laptop performs well but i used to get a max of 2-2.15 hrs with wifi enabled and at level 2 brightness. One day while screwing around, i just clicked on improve battery health. What the laptop did was discharged the battery and fully charged it again. For this to work, make sure u dont have any progs running but leave ur laptop on... even if its fully charged, keep it plugged for 4-5 hrs. I now get a whole extra hr which is pretty good by r51 standards. Plus when i'm on the move, i use a PCI data card for wireless internet and I switch my wifi off, hopefully this will give me better performance.

[davidspalding]

I dunno why this was bumped after two years , but it was worth it to read:

Just use you laptop and charge it when you want. I have seen so many people get sick over how to keep their battery. Use the laptop and enjoy it. The battery and laptop are not life long friends....

Heck, I vote for this being right in the FAQ under "Worried sick about getting the most out of your battery?"

[fleamourian]

I would recommend the cycling the li-ion batt 3 times after prolonged storage as I jst went ahead & used my laptop now the battery won't even take a charge. I have bought a Ultrabay batt which will only be used for road trips, the odd holiday etc. Do I store at 40% charge? I was told store discharged but that seems a no no. I have read elsewhere to store at 40% I think I'll try that.

[SHoTTa35]

ok so a post from 2004 was revived in 2006 and now it's 2007 and we're at it again? Why someone please why!!

[fleamourian]

Lol! Hell, you can store ur batt in the fridge if you like but depending on the plastic seal between cell & outside world it can dry it out.

Soz did not mean to revive a dead topic. however this is the first time I've looked into this. (I did the search instead of posting new topic, honest guv.) But appreciate this must majorly suck for the hardcore forum regulars. I offer my most abject apologies! Lol.

Out.

[davidspalding]

I've also taken to storing infrequently used batteries in the fridge. I swap them out every few weeks just keep batteries in use. Thanks for the reminder about a Ziploc, drying out could be a liability.

No apology necessary, it most certainly DOES NOT suck to have old threads revived and commented upon, so long as the topic is the same. Yeesh, I wish MORE users would search for their answer before just posting a question yet again.

[Kyocera]

OMG!! david where you been! long time no read