T23 - Battery Options?

[Summer Deep]

Next step in my T23 restoration project is finding a decent battery, hopefully at a competitive price. 'Battery Bar' shows a wear rate of around 60% on the present battery, but in fact it gives just 5 minutes of internet use from a 'full' charge.

Original IBM batteries seem no longer to be around, so that leaves Ebay as the most obvious source. There seem to be four main options, none of which I'm very confident about. These are:

GREEN CELL (£24): I've used this brand in a couple of other laptops, and they do give a respectable amount of usage (around 2.5 hours in a Dell Latitude E6420, and 1 hour 40 mins in an R51). They tend to run down very quickly towards the end though, and the one in the R51 just cuts out without warning with 10%-15% of charge still showing.

VHBW (£21): German company. Cheapest of the lot. Quite a few complaints in the feedback about items not delivered, being of unacceptable quality or poor customer service.

SUBTEL (£30): Again, from Germany. Most expensive item. Similar sorts of complaints as for the previous item.

POWEROSE (£23): Hong Kong retailer. My previous experience of buying from HK on Ebay was very poor, and I'm not inclined to do so again.

Postage is 'free' on all of the above (ie it's incorporated into the selling price).

There's also a battery from an Italian firm, Maledetta (which I think means 'cursed'), which comes to £32 including delivery - forget it.


I really have a psychological aversion to paying more for a battery than I paid for the laptop (£11), but if anyone could assure me from personal experience that one of the above batteries is a really good quality, reliable item, then I'd consider it. I have a cynical feeling though that they might all be identical under the skin, and originate from the same Chinese factory.

I've occasionally seen previously owned genuine IBM batteries at around £10, and would have considered such an item, except that they have all come with £10+ postage charges.

[RealBlackStuff]

Also have a look at the T30 batteries, if you can find them.
They fit perfectly in the T23 battery bay.

[Summer Deep]

Interesting. I was going to ask whether the T30 battery would work, as I'd noted its close external resemblance to the T2x ones, but thought it almost certainly wouldn't, since none of the vendors ever mentioned it in connection with the T2x series. I could have bought one of these for around £4 (seriously) a couple of weeks ago, but even at that price decided it wasn't worth taking a punt...

[tfflivemb2]

Interesting. I was going to ask whether the T30 battery would work, as I'd noted its close external resemblance to the T2x ones, but thought it almost certainly wouldn't, since none of the vendors ever mentioned it in connection with the T2x series. I could have bought one of these for around £4 (seriously) a couple of weeks ago, but even at that price decided it wasn't worth taking a punt...

Just an FYI: It may not be mentioned on some sites, because you can go T30 to T2x, but not T2x to T30.

[Summer Deep]

Well anyway, I found an unbranded T30 battery for sale on Ebay, and bought it for £0.99 plus postage (sole bidder). It was apparently opened, but unused.

Too good to be true? Yes, unfortunately. It would only charge to 45%-52% on the first three attempts, then on the fourth it stalled briefly at 52% again, before suddenly jumping to 100% in a matter of seconds. But on running it from 100%, it discharges to around 55% before cutting out, giving 40-60 minutes use.

Can't really complain, in view of the price paid, but I'm still in the market for a cheap T2x battery that actually charges to 100% and discharges properly.

[kfzhu1229]

Well anyway, I found an unbranded T30 battery for sale on Ebay, and bought it for £0.99 plus postage (sole bidder). It was apparently opened, but unused.

Too good to be true? Yes, unfortunately. It would only charge to 45%-52% on the first three attempts, then on the fourth it stalled briefly at 52% again, before suddenly jumping to 100% in a matter of seconds. But on running it from 100%, it discharges to around 55% before cutting out, giving 40-60 minutes use.

Can't really complain, in view of the price paid, but I'm still in the market for a cheap T2x battery that actually charges to 100% and discharges properly.

Well, better than my finds locally in Canada Computers. Bought a remaining stock T30 battery from them and it won't hold a charge. Fortunately this is a "big" company in Canada so I was able to refund, but I am just disappointed I cannot get a working battery for my T2x.

[RealBlackStuff]

I have two spare T23 batteries that I am charging now.
I'll let you know what capacities they have when full and I'll also have to figure out a price.
Shipping would be from Ireland to UK.

[ac12]

Problem is the original batteries are OLD. Lithium batteries age, even if you don't use them.
I simply ordered a new one off eBay, and that has been running fine.

[BillP]

Problem is the original batteries are OLD. Lithium batteries age, even if you don't use them.
I simply ordered a new one off eBay, and that has been running fine.

Generalizations like this are sometimes wrong. I have a Panasonic battery for my T23 that is close to original capacity after more than 16 years. See the data below.

Battery: Panasonic FRU 02K7037 P/N 02K7033 Manufactured: Jan 10, 2003 First used: March 2003
Cycle count: 17 as of 9/23/2019 Design capacity: 47.52 Wh (10.8V, 4.4 Ah)
Full charge capacity as of 9/23/2019: 46.44 Wh

Any new battery that fits the T23 is almost certainly a Chinese knock-off. The original battery contained a fairly complex circuit to control charging and to evaluate battery condition. This is important for safety issues like fire prevention. It is unclear if the modern knock-off batteries have any of this designed in. Use the new batteries at your own risk.