IBM UltraBay battery issue v. holds less charge

[Badger]

Well, my call took 12 minutes but my new battery should be here in two to three days.

My Ultrabay Battery:

Remaining: 100%
Full Charge Capacity: 22.43 Wh
Cycle Count: 30
Manufactured: 2006-07-05
Designed Capacity: 29.16 Wh

And is it weird that Power Manager reports the UltraBay battery chemistry to be Li-Polymer, while Li-Ion is printed on the battery, and the main battery is reported as Li-Ion?

[ljwobker]

Primarily adding info here...

I received my ultrabay battery two days ago, after only two charge cycles I'm looking at 79% of max capacity. I called IBM today: they were very pleasant, but the guy I got didn't seem entirely brilliant. In any case, he said that the replacement parts for this were backordered, it's unclear to me if this is because Lenovo has recalled them and doesn't have a replacement yet, or if everyone is RMA-ing these things so fast that there aren't any left. In any case, once I get a replacement I will post again.

My battery info (the bad one):
Sony, FRU # 40Y6790, Design Capacity 29.16Wh
Mfg date: 2006-07-07, First Use 2006-09, S/N 1234
Current "Full charage capacity" is 23.24 Wh

Also, I noticed that the device chemistry is listed as "Li-Polymer" -- this is entirely different from "Li-Ion" chemistry. I fly RC airplanes and we use LiPo's because they are VERY light and have VERY high energy density, but you *definitely* do not want to fully discharge them. It greatly shortens the life of the battery and risks fire -- these are bad things. I'm also confused by the Li-polymer vs Li-ION markings... LIPO batteries are much more expensive than Li-ION ones... and the weight difference is not enough to matter except in very very weight sensitive applications... (like RC airplanes that weigh less than 16oz...) I would *guess* that these are actually Li-ION batteries and not LiPos.

(aside:) The proper way to design LiPos for end-users is to not include the "buffer charge" in the usable capacity... so if a given LiPo battery can actually hold 35Wh of power, you only advertise 30Wh and make the system smart enough to switch when you get down to 5Wh remaining. That way you never actually fully discharge one of them. (I simpliied the numbers, but you get the point)...

In any case, I really hope that they get this fixed soon. Hopefully this will help build case history for anyone who actually cares. ;-)

[dsigma6]

Outside of a software solution, be inconvenienced and remove the ultrabay battery before it runs out of juice.

[tselling]

Just keep getting replacement batteries during the 1 year warranty. Might make it costly enough for Lenovo to come up with a solution.

[FlexOink]

Outside of a software solution, be inconvenienced and remove the ultrabay battery before it runs out of juice.

My problem is I watch a lot of (fullscreen) DVD/DivX movies away from power, and I dont want to stop the movie every 10 min. to check how full the 2nd battery is.

The remaining power-percentage is calculated over both batteries, so what I did is let PowerManager notify me when the power hits 80%, which is a little bit before the point the ultrabay is out of power, so it starts the 9cell. After this notification I remove the ultrabay. This way I prevent the ultraby to be completely drained.

[nelson]

The idea I'm supposed to watch the battery and pop it out at just the right time is absurd. Machines should do the work so that people think.

There's clearly a design flaw in the Ultrabay batteries. Either the new batch is losing the ability to hold a charge way too early or else the charging software is poorly designed and is killing the batteries. Either way it's Lenovo's problem. Thank goodness for warranty.

[Badger]

Alice from Lenovo left me a message on my cell phone today saying that the battery that was suppose to be sent my way yesterday is actually on backorder now. Oh well, it's not a huge deal.

Hopefully someone over there sees the correlation.

[planetf1]

Lenovo are now recalling a number of Sony batteries - however a check showed my ultrabay batteries as not part of the recall.

I remain convinced they're faulty. Status=red, 50% capacity in a month -- not right.

[GoofyG28]

Lenovo are now recalling a number of Sony batteries - however a check showed my ultrabay batteries as not part of the recall.

I remain convinced they're faulty. Status=red, 50% capacity in a month -- not right.

I'm really hoping my slim battery will get recalled, like my main T60 laptop battery. My ultrabay battery is also by Sony.

[Badger]

I just called Lenovo back to get an ETA on when my replacement Ultrabay battery will arrive (not affected by the recall, but it's lost its charge after two to three months) and as of today my ETA is OCTOBER 30!!!