Help! - batteries are bankrupting me!

[wild_bill]

I have ordered both 6 and 9 cell NEW batteries for my T60 from Lenovo, and I guess these are old stock, because they never keep any great charge time when new, although they show 100%, but more importantly, they die in a few months with the little amber battery light below the screen on a fast blink. I only use the genuine Lenovo charger that came with my T60 new.

I cannot keep spending $100+ per battery every few months (or even $50), surely someone has successfully rebuilt one of these using NEW lithium cells! - I am a competent solderer and electronic technician.

Any solution is greatly appreciated, I love my T60 with it's Core 2 Duo and UXGA screen, and wouldn't trade it for any new laptop, but this battery situation is killing me!

[ZaZ]

Where are you getting your batteries?

[underclocker]

Batteries were the most significant weakness of the T60 line. At this point, the only real way to test a replacement battery is to fully charge it, then do a complete rundown. Sometimes, you need to do 3-4 of these to show the true capacity. If they fail/degrade significantly, send them right back to the seller.

Note: MOST older six cell Sony T60 batteries awful. They may show 100% charge and a high capacity, but after 1-3 complete rundowns, they are worthless. I have over 20 on hand as evidence.

In general, the nine cell batteries or 2009 and newer six cell batteries were better. Remember you can use T500, R500, and W500 batteries in T60's.

[wild_bill]

I am getting them from lenovo.com, and the batteries fail shortly after the 1 year warranty is up, I paid $179 for the 9 cell, this is ridiculous to pay every year!

[underclocker]

That is odd. When you say fail, do they show defective? I've had very good luck with 9 cell batteries, even older ones. Very strange.

[wild_bill]

these batteries aren't just getting where they won't hold much charge, they completely FAIL - with amber light flashing forever!

so like with one of these installed, and the power blips off a second, my computer loses power completely!

[wild_bill]

@underclocker - can you give me the FRU for the 9 cells that you have had such good luck with?

[underclocker]

Well, tracking FRUs from batteries is rather particular, but, I can offer that info from past solds...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=92802

[bill bolton]

I am getting them from lenovo.com, and the batteries fail shortly after the 1 year warranty is up

That a bit different from the "few months" you stated initially.

How many cycles have been run on your batteries when they fail?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[wild_bill]

probably about 25-30 cycles

I am thinking of trying another 9 cell, but let's just say I am not impressed, but maybe this is a problem with laptop batteries in general.

[exTPfan]

Try laptopcharge.com next time. I bought an X60 battery from them 6 months ago, and so far it's fine. At least they won't bankrupt you.

[dr_st]

underclocker,
Were your experiences with failing batteries generally with SONY units, or not only?

wild_bill,
Who manufactured your batteries?

I have 4 T60 batteries, all manufactured/first used between 2006 and 2008, two of them 6-cell with 120-180 cycles, two are 9-cell with 220-300 cycles. Three of them are Panasonic, one (2008 6-cell) is Sanyo. None of them failed so far.

[underclocker]

underclocker,
Were your experiences with failing batteries generally with SONY units, or not only?

Sony were the worst, often way off regarding actual capacity and failing after a few rundowns.

Sanyo degrade gradually over time, some quicker than others - with some loosing cells (it seems), but still able to operate normally, but with reduced runtime. They generally remain usable, even with under 90 minutes of runtime, meaning they don't vary once a few rundown cycles have determined their true capacity.

Panasonic batteries still amaze me. They seem quite rare, maybe one in ten or so for the T6x series. I'm not sure what type of cells they use, but they can hang on for five years or longer and they seem to degrade slowly.

If that doesn't answer your question, then maybe this does, I've never seen a Sanyo or Panasonic fail like a Sony. I can probably tell the brand by how it fails! Sad, but true.

[dr_st]

Thank you for your detailed response!

I must say Panasonic T6x batteries were not so rare in my experience (although not nearly as common as Sanyo). Evidently, I have 3 of them, all three came stock with laptops. However, my experience has been that once the original battery batches are out of production, those that replace them are generally 100% Sanyo or close to that. So if you order a new battery from Lenovo, that's most likely what you'll get. Although, AFAIK they still manufacture some Panasonic 9-cells for T6x and compatibles (under the name Thinkpad Battery 41++).