How to use the AC adapter and the battery correctly?

[Shallot.P]

Every morning, I turn on the T60 without AC adapter pluged in, and then I plug in the AC adapter after windows has started. Doing all these boring things is just for making the power manager works. Otherwise, if I just plug in the AC adapter before turn on the computer, the power manager will charge my battery literally whatever is the setting I made in power manager.

I want to know whether everyone has the same way to resolve this problem. Are there other perfect solutions for it?

[claudeo]

I woudn't bother. When I'm at home, most of the time the AC adapter is plugged in regardless of whether the computer is on or off. I usually go to standby rather than full shut off, BTW, just closing the lid, even when I travel. After over 6 months the battery status shows 26 charge cycles, and the battery condition still shows as "good". The battery life has declined somewhat, but this is still quite good, especially compared with my experience with other Li-ion batteries in the past. YMMV

[marlinspike]

Shallot, if I understand it right you are shutting off a computer will a fully charged battery, unplugging it. Then later turning it on and not plugging it in until after it's booted? If so, that's exactly what not to do. You're doing a bunch of short cycles for no reason. Just leave it plugged in, it's smart enough to handle it.

My battery has 36 cycles and still has 84.77Wh (designed capactiy is 84.24Wh).

Read this entry in the lenovoblog Inside the Box http://www.lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=52#comments (this takes you to the comments, so scroll up).

[Shallot.P]

I fully understand your mean. Thank you!

[marlinspike]

How am I mean? I was just trying to understand what it is you're doing, and then pointing you towards a blog written by a Lenovo Competitive Analyst on why if I understand you correctly you are doing something you shouldn't be doing. Sheesh, you try to help some people

[Ken Fox]

How am I mean? I was just trying to understand what it is you're doing, and then pointing you towards a blog written by a Lenovo Competitive Analyst on why if I understand you correctly you are doing something you shouldn't be doing. Sheesh, you try to help some people

I think it is a problem with English. What was meant was "meaning," not "mean."

You may however be "mean," but I don't know that so I have no opinion

[marlinspike]

How am I mean? I was just trying to understand what it is you're doing, and then pointing you towards a blog written by a Lenovo Competitive Analyst on why if I understand you correctly you are doing something you shouldn't be doing. Sheesh, you try to help some people

I think it is a problem with English. What was meant was "meaning," not "mean."

You may however be "mean," but I don't know that so I have no opinion

Hahahahaha, ok I see. I think I'm surrounded by too many sarcastic people in real life, so when I saw that you said "thank you," I thought you were being sarcastic, as in "thanks a lot jerk"

[Shallot.P]

I'm very sorry for you to make this so big misunderstanding and also sorry for my English since I'm not a native English speaker.
Thank you for your help indeed.

[perry_78]

6 months and such little use? I've had mine for a little more than 3 months and am on 81.83/84.24, with 70 charging cycles.

I generally don'y bother much with it, I plug it in when I get home from school, and then unplug on my way to school.

[NS]

@Shallot.P,

Your written english is okay, at least i am able to understand what you are trying to tell us. In future, if you met with any thinkpad problem and find it hard to use english to describe your problem, feel free to Private Message me in Chinese and i will do the translation for you...

*Even though i am from Singapore and our 1st language is English, my English S*X too*

--> I hardly use my battery because it only lasts 2 hours on my R52 and as for the other thinkpads which i have owned, i depended solely on the batteries to do my work everywhere i go...

[jeffyeh]

marlin, i'm trying to understand the article that you linked to and got a bit confused. the author says that he has his battery manager set to begin charging whenever the battery is below 90%, and that it is bad for the battery to keep charging from 97/98% to 100% repeatedly.

what would be the best solution for a student who is taking the laptop to school everyday, but not necessarily using it everyday? i would imagine that it would lose a bit of charge each time i take it to school, but when i get home i would just plug it in again, creating the 97/98% problem. however, if i set it to only charge from below 90%, i would just have it plugged in until i used it to 90%, at which point it would start charging itself.

i'm not sure how coherent my post is, i'll try reading it in a little bit and clarifying. thanks!

[marlinspike]

Yes, the battery does slowly lose charge even when not in use, but if you if you set it to charge only when the batt is below 90%, this does not mean that when plugged in the computer will do constant 90%-100%-90% cycles. What it means is this, lets say you use your battery down to 50%, come home, plug it in. It will charge to 100% and then run on A/C power just as it does now. Then, lets say the next day you take it to school and only use it for a short time, with the battery still having 95% left. Then you come home and plug it. The computer will run on A/C power and will not top off the battery. It will top off the battery the next time you get below 90%.

[jeffyeh]

Ah, I see. That makes much more sense now, thanks!

[Truthfinder]

If you follow the outlined info concerning battery maint., you will get not only long life from your battery, but it will stay in great condition as well...............

If all else fails, READ THE MANUAL