Thinkpads Forum

RistoE wrote:I have a chinese T60 battery with panasonic cells. Design capacity is 48.8 Wh but after almost 1 year use the battery full capacity has been slowly raising above the nominal capacity. Currently its shows capacity of 53.1 Wh. It is the highest I've seen so far. The battery was cheap but it was promised to be with japanese cells. I'm pretty happy.

Care to share ths source for the battery?

Raceboy wrote:Care to share ths source for the battery?

For sure. Ebay: http://myworld.ebay.com/cmppower168

But seems he is inactive nowadays?

Edit: I think this is the manufacturer of the battery: http://www.cmp-laptopbattery.com/index.asp
There you can find a seller in ebay: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/cmpbattery but notihing listed right now. Maybe because of Chinese Lunar New Year Holiday (Feb 1st, 2011 to Feb 7th).

Thanks!

lstratos wrote:Yeah all my sanyo degrades a lot faster.. i'm still using 2 panasonic battery thats over 3 years old and holds around 95-97% of the charge.. they're awesome

Last I heard, Panasonic is a M a t s u s h i t a brand (one of many), and therefore a high end product in terms of reliability.

How can you tell which you have?

My strategy is to use my batteries lightly and generally keep them refrigerated with 40-50% charge, and run on AC.

RistoE wrote:I have a chinese T60 battery with panasonic cells. Design capacity is 48.8 Wh but after almost 1 year use the battery full capacity has been slowly raising above the nominal capacity. Currently its shows capacity of 53.1 Wh. It is the highest I've seen so far. The battery was cheap but it was promised to be with japanese cells. I'm pretty happy.

What's your own experience with respect to the capacity. If these indications are right, that must mean that your battery delivers the same or more working time as when you just bought it.

I ask this because it may be that the indicator is inaccurate.

I have a T60 with the 15 inch flexview screen (2007-FSG). Can anyone post the FRUs for the Panasonic batteries for the T60 please?

BTW, I also have a T41. Thanks to this site, I became aware of how much better the Panasonic batteries are. Bought one to replace the Sanyo and it has continued to perform flawlessly. Would very much like to buy a Panasonic for my T60 too, but am struggling to discover the correct FRU numbers.

6-cell:

Sanyo 42T5246
Panasonic 92P1139
Sony 92P1141

9-cell:

Sanyo 42T5245
Panasonic 92P1133

These are from the HMM. There may be newer FRUs out there.

Thank you very much for the FRU numbers above.

Tommy the cat wrote:What's your own experience with respect to the capacity. If these indications are right, that must mean that your battery delivers the same or more working time as when you just bought it. I ask this because it may be that the indicator is inaccurate.

I'd say my battery is still as good as new.

Have you ever run the battery down to 1%? Some batteries seem to be fine untill you get to 20% or so and then they shutt off (calibration is off).

Unknown_K wrote:Have you ever run the battery down to 1%? Some batteries seem to be fine untill you get to 20% or so and then they shutt off (calibration is off).

This battery does not shut off before it is empty. However I usually do something when there is just 5 minutes or so left. I have also 2 very cheap chinese T30 battery and I've seen that these age quite rapidly. I also have old 600E which charges full with orginal battery but actually there is power for just 5-10 minutes. My work laptop is also T60 and orginal battery I had was quite bad, it drained empty as you described but not at 20% but something like 50%. So I've seen a few batteries.

I bought my T60p just a couple of months ago as an ex-business laptop in very good condition. It has a Panasonic 9-cell battery FRU 42T4620 branded Lenovo which was manufactured in 2009 and has currently done some 231 cycles. It still has a full charge capacity of 74.37 Wh and lasts for ages: 4-5 hours on average. It's currently showing 3hrs 54mins battery life left as I write this and it has already been in use for about 90 minutes since last charged. I have it set to the Power Scheme "maximum battery life" but wind up the screen brightness when needed, and the hard disc is actively used. The hard disc is a WD Scorpio Black 7200 rpm (also recommended).

If or when this packs up I will definitely replace it with another Panasonic. In fact I think the T60p is an excellent laptop, and this comes from a Thinkpad user of around 6 years.

Garth wrote:If or when this packs up I will definitely replace it with another Panasonic.

Assuming you can find one. There is no guarantee Lenovo will continue to buy old batteries from Panasonic (try sourcing a new T4x Panasonic battery now, for example).

dr_st wrote:Assuming you can find one. There is no guarantee Lenovo will continue to buy old batteries from Panasonic (try sourcing a new T4x Panasonic battery now, for example).

I am just going through this whole process - as my signature line shows I have quite a few Thinkpads in use. In addition I recently got a new W510 4319.
I have quite a few batteries and all the rubbish ones are Sanyo (and one Sony) the Panasonic ones seem to keep going. e.g. the one I am currently using in my T61p is a Panasonic which at 3 years old still keeps 77.90Wh of its 84.2Wh design capacity.
I have therefore been tracking down new Panasonic batteries and in my case have managed to find Panasonic batteries for my T42p and T61p from IBM Part Sales UK. (They also seem to be available from IBM Germany too) You need to order by the specific FRN Part number which is different for Panasonic batteries.

Interesting.

Which FRUs did you order to get Panasonic T4x/T6x batteries? Which FRUs are shown in the power manager? What is the manufacturing date of each?

The FRU for the T61p 9 cell Panasonic battery is 92P1133 which shows up as available on the IBM web parts system on 4 week delivery. It does not give the manufacture date but would obviously be covered by the 12 month IBM warranty.
The FRU for the T42P one is more difficult to determine as the HW Maintenance manual is less explicit. The one I have ordered is 92P1069 which is listed on the HW Maintenance Manual as a 9 cell Panasonic battery again available in 4 weeks. As per the T61p battery, the IBM parts site does not give a manufacture date.

IBM have today confirmed the order so I will let you know the manufacture date once they arrive.

Another side benefit of ordering from IBM seems to be that they are 30 - 40% cheaper than from Lenovo.

As I stated in an earlier post, the 9-cell Panasonic fitted to my T60p is FRU 42T4620. Also marked ASM P/N 92P1134. Manufactured for Lenovo - Cell made in Japan, pack assembled in China. 10.8V 7.8AH 85WH.

Thanks to the help and advice on this thread, I've just bought and received the Panasonic 9-cell battery from eBay (92P1133). It was listed as being off a faulty ThinkPad, and hence untested and sold as seen. So it was a bit of a gamble.

After installing, my T60 reported it as being 3 years old with around 90% of its capacity remaining. Over the past week it has performed amazingly well giving me loooooooong operating times.

The twist to the story is that I got it for £16. Happy days!

Watch Grand Seiko : Gas Lighter Dupont : Pen Mont Blanc : Car Ferrari (but can't afford ATM) ........................... : Batteries Panasonic : .............(please do not request me to elaborate, it would take far toooooo long).
Simply out...... it'is just me.

I also collect LED Flashlights and I only use AW LiIon Batteries (Panasonic).

Well the batteries from IBM finally arrived - the T61p battery is a Panasonic battery 92P1134 (42T4620 ) and the battery for the T42p is a Sanyo 42T4608 . Prices were significantly cheaper than from Lenovo.

scillyisles wrote:and the battery for the T42p is a Sanyo 42T4608

That's the exact FRU I've been given when I ordered my T4x battery from IBM last year. Seems to reinforce my earlier guess that the only T4x batteries still actively made are by Sanyo.

scillyisles wrote:Well the batteries from IBM finally arrived - the T61p battery is a Panasonic battery 92P1134 (42T4620 ) and the battery for the T42p is a Sanyo 42T4608 . Prices were significantly cheaper than from Lenovo.

Did you order from the Outlet? I'm shocked the ran out. I was saving up slowly to dish out $50 and they went from like 291 in quantity to 0 in a matter of days

madflava54 wrote:Did you order from the Outlet? I'm shocked the ran out. I was saving up slowly to dish out $50 and they went from like 291 in quantity to 0 in a matter of days

Yes, some companies might have bought a hundred as a spare.

I ordered them from IBM UK parts - you can check the parts situation on-line on their parts system. The T61p 9 cell is listed with the suffix PNS which means made by Panasonic but the T42p one is just listed as normal without the PNS suffix. I guess this means Sanyo . Interestingly, the Sanyon battery is showing a capacity well over the design capacity but the Pansonic one is showing a capacity more or less spot on the design capacity. From experience, the Sanyo will probably be long gone whilst the Panasonic will go on.