battery utilities

[Jim Mc]

I am sure it has been asked before, but, how do you reconditioon the batteries for a t-20/30 series laptop. I have DRAWERS full of batteries, and I need to mnake sure I am doing all I can before I spend more money on new batteries (which, I understand, is a myth). I am open to any and all suggestions. Thanks in advance, and apologies for beating a dead horse!

[rkawakami]

We specialize in flogging deceased equines !

The easiest way to completely (and as far as I know, safely) discharge a battery is by using the Battery Rundown utility in the PC Doctor diagnostic suite. It executes a bunch of diagnostic tests, while at the same time, measuring how long it has been running. When the system dies, the running time (to the last minute) is stored somewhere in memory (I'm guessing either the system's CMOS area or in the battery itself... hmmm.. there's another experiment to try). No matter... this rundown test executes in DOS mode which means you don't have to worry about Windows shutting down and messing up some file or getting in the way if you don't bother to change your power settings. Since the rundown utility is timed, you can compare the results against other such runs after the battery has been fully recharged. This will give you an idea if the discharge/charge cycles are helping to restore (recondition) the battery. You can get PC Doctor by going to the main drivers and software page:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ATRIX.html

selecting your particular model and looking for the "Diagnostics" section. In your case there are two different versions of PC Doctor for T2x and T30 systems. The good news is that if you have a T2x system, the T30 battery will fit. So all you really need is a T2x laptop and a copy of PC Doctor for those systems.

[Jim Mc]

where do I find the comparison of the run down times? Do I do it myself? Is it part of the ute?

- deceased equines

at best, this isn't alot of bovine scathology!!!

[rkawakami]

where do I find the comparison of the run down times? Do I do it myself?

Yes, you need to keep track of each battery as the rundown utility only reports the last duration of the test. Note that the time that the battery rundown test reports is probably NOT what you would expect when using Windows. Because there are multiple diagnostics being exercised during the rundown, the time would most likely be less than if you used Windows in a "normal" way, i.e., surfing, using a word processor, etc. However, I think that the rundown test will give you a more repeatable usage pattern from one run to the next and thus a better indication of whether or not your battery(ies) are being reconditioned. When used in conjunction with Battery MaxiMiser, where you can get the number of charge cycles and the current maximum capacity of the battery, this should be good enough to figure out which batteries are worth keeping and which ones are candidates for refurbishing (www.batteryrefill.com is one place that does this).

And in case this wasn't clear before... After the system shuts down simply connect it to an AC adapter, re-start PC Doctor and select the "Show last execution time" from the Utility/Battery Rundown test. You don't have to watch the system as it performs the rundown. Simply start it up and come back to it after a couple of hours (minutes if the battery is almost dead).

<snip>... bovine scathology!!!

Nice !

edit: I've just checked PC Doctor on a T23 that I have here at work. It appears that the rundown time is being stored somewhere in the laptop's memory (CMOS or EEPROM) and it is reporting a time even when there's no main battery installed.

[Jim Mc]

Hey, Ray, I just wanted to get back to you, I have been able to go through a large portion of my batteries, using the methods you have described. I have been able to cull out a large part of my battery "herd", heck, I had one battery that had been cycled 831 times! Thanks again for your advice!