Charging issue with T23

[braxx]

Heres the story. I ran the battery down to about 6% (Which took about 2.5hrs) last night . I shut the laptop down. I plugged in the power cord, the battery charge light came on and I went to bed. I woke up today and it still showed a orange not fully charged light. I fired up the laptop and it showed 36% charged. I shut it down. Removed the battery and I fired it up. It runs just fine from the A/C adapter with no battery installed. I shut it down, put the battery back it and left it turned off, plugged in and left it to charge (orange light was on). I came back to it about 10hrs later and it still showed orange. I fired it up and it says battery level of 33%. I checked the battery information and it showed Charging: Current 0.00A , Voltage 11.30V, Wattage 0.00W. I unplugged the power supply and it changed to Discharging: Current 1.50A, Voltage 10.99V, Wattage 17.91W.
The battery has been great for me. I could surf for about 2.5hrs with out the A/C plugged in. I pulled the battery and checked it with a DVOM as it (battery) is marked + and -. It has 11.32v . Then with the laptop a/c adapter plugged in, I checked the voltage at the same corasponding (sp?) gold pins in the laptop battery bay and it only showed 1.89v. I assume it should read something over 11V and closer to 16v. Also, the battery cycle count is only at 21 and when it was fully charged it was 35.71 wh and new was 38.95wh.
SO, what do ya think?
Thanks,
Josh

[LtTPfan]

It would be nice if you had another battery you could try. I wouldn't be alarmed at the 1.89v no load output, that may be perfectly normal.

You might try reconditioning your battery and recalibrating your battery meter. (IBM recommends doing this monthy for those usually run on AC.) Disable all the battery alarms and timers and allow your battery to discharge completely, then recharge overnight with the machine off. Do this three times.

[betabill]

I have a T-20 that shows a yellow charge indicator after charging all night. However, it does charge to 99%.

The light changes to green after momentarily unplugging the charger.

It has a new OEM battery and it did the same thing when using a 4 year old IBM battery. (Hardware fluke)
I am not concerned because I get 2-1/4 hours run time using a wireless network card and a wireless mouse with the screen brightness set at 5.

When the same battery and charger is used with my T-21 or T-23 the issue is not appearent. I checked the connector between the systemboard and I/O card, and the power connector on the I/O is not loose. Tried charging the battery through a port replicator and there was no problem.

[dsvochak]

Is this the T23 described in your other post ( http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=116037 )?

If it is see this post for a discussion of power adaptors: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19088 and make sure you have a 72w adaptor and not a 56w. If you have a 72w adaptor and the machine runs when plugged in, the battery may be defective. If it's a 56w adaptor, there may be other problems.

[betabill]

A comment from jdhurst in this thread http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... hlight=56w

Just spotted this comment, will this mean running until battery critical warning and suspend/standby occurs may damage my notepad?

[dsvochak]

Just spotted this comment, will this mean running until battery critical warning and suspend/standby occurs will damage my notepad?

No. Running on battery power isn't the gist of the comments.

The comment is directed toward possible damage to the machine and/or the adaptor resulting from using an underpowered A/C adaptor. There are a lot of similar comments regarding difficulties encountered when trying to charge a battery with a 56w adaptor in a machine designed for a 72w adaptor.

[braxx]

That was the original T23 that I owned. I took it to a local laptop repair guy. He traded me a stripped T23 that I put my RAM, HD, battery and DVD drive into. This new one has worked great until lastnight.
Yes I have it running from a 72w power supply.
The battery has been perfect.
The laptop has been plugged in for the last 18hrs and when I just turned it on I still only have 30% battery.
Tomorrow at work I will jockey around some batteries and see what happens.

Is this the T23 described in your other post ( http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=116037 )?

If it is see this post for a discussion of power adaptors: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19088 and make sure you have a 72w adaptor and not a 56w. If you have a 72w adaptor and the machine runs when plugged in, the battery may be defective. If it's a 56w adaptor, there may be other problems.

[braxx]

Well, I tried a different battery and it wouldn't charge. I put my battery into my managers T22 and it charged fine in his machine. I tried my a/c adapter with my battery on his machine and it charged. I tried one other a/c adapter and a port replicator on my machine and it still wouldn't charge. Does my machine have a power board? I'm thinking it is built into the main board.
Josh

[dsvochak]

Does my machine have a power board? I'm thinking it is built into the main board.

It appears your thinking is correct. See this post, which is similar to your situation, except the machine wouldn't run on the A/C without a battery:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=17618
I'd suggest you discuss this with the local laptop repair guy you got it from. Maybe he will do something for you.

As an alternative to replacing the board, check this post for the link to external battery chargers: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19088

They're relatively cheap on ebay. If it will run with a fully charged battery, it might be cheaper to buy one of these chargers and another battery than it would be to replace the board.

Good luck with this.

[GDGLOCK]

From the IBM T23 Hardware manual Page 36, http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... IGR-4UYM3F
FILE 62p9631.pdf

"Checking the battery pack
Battery charging does not start until the Power Meter
shows that less than 95% of the total power remains;
under this condition the battery pack can charge to 100%
of its capacity. This protects the battery pack from being
overcharged or from having a shortened life.
To check the status of your battery, move your cursor to
the Power Meter icon in the icon tray of the Windows
taskbar and wait for a moment (but do not click), and the
percentage of battery power remaining is displayed. To get
detailed information about the battery, double-click the
Power Meter icon.
Note: If the battery pack becomes hot, it may not be able
to charge. Remove it from the computer and leave it
at room temperature for a while. After it cools down,
reinstall and recharge it.
To check the battery pack, do the following:
1. Power off the computer.
2. Remove the battery pack and measure the voltage
between battery terminals 1 (+) and 5 (−). See the
following figure:
2
3
5(-) 4
1(+)
Terminal Voltage (V dc)
1 +0 to +12.6
5 Ground (−)
3. If the voltage is less than +11.0 V dc, the battery pack
has been discharged.
Checkout guide
36 ThinkPad T20, T21, T22, T23 (MT 2647/2648)
Note: Recharging will take at least 3 hours, even if the
indicator does not turn on.
If the voltage is still less than +11.0 V dc after
recharging, replace the battery.
4. If the voltage is more than +11.0 V dc, measure the
resistance between battery terminals 4 and 5. The
resistance must be 4 to 30 K .
If the resistance is not correct, replace the battery
pack. If the resistance is correct, replace the system
board." Sorry the reff. picture did not come through.