Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I just got my Thinkpad T60 (19514BM) today.

Although in the quickstart guide it says the battery is ready to use, I was just wondering how long I should charge the battery before I switch the notebook on in order to maximise the lifetime of the battery. Plus if anyone has any other tips on how to maintain the health of the battery, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Charge it till the thing says it is full. Any longer means nothing , as the charging circuit isn't doing anything anymore.

You can also use the computer with it plugged in and charging while on too

I am getting conflicting information from different websites. (the internet, go figure). Some say when you first use the battery, you should charge it up overnight then fully discharge it and do this up to 3 times. But others say it is not healthy to fully discharge the battery...

So what is the conclusion for ThinkPad lithium ion batteries?

stackcheddar wrote:I am getting conflicting information from different websites. (the internet, go figure). Some say when you first use the battery, you should charge it up overnight then fully discharge it and do this up to 3 times. But others say it is not healthy to fully discharge the battery...

So what is the conclusion for ThinkPad lithium ion batteries?

The full charge/discharge cycles were necessary to overcome older Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) charge "memory" issues.

Nickel Metal-Hydride (NiMH) and all types of Lithium (Ion, Polymer, etc.) batteries DO NOT require this proceedure since they do not have the NiCd memory issues.

Remember, with Lith-Ion, every time you discharge/recharge you are using another cycle in the batterie's life.

It took me some time to get used to this. I was old-school and always "excersised" my batts with occasional full discharges until I researched this last year. With Li Ion you only have to make sure you discharge/recharge SOME at least every 6 mos. This applies to ALL Lithium based batts including the T60's.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/ should have all the information you need for all modern batteries. Nice history of all the battery technologies as well.