Thinkpads Forum

I purchased my X61 a few days ago. At the beggining Power Management Gauge showed the battery at 100%. My laptop always has the AC adapter attached, but I have noticed that every day that charge percentage becomes lower and lower. First, it went down to 99% then to 98%, and now, just four days after I purchased it, it is down to 97%. Is it supposed to be like that?

Also, if I use the battery only occasionally when I go on business trips, what would be the best settings in Power Management to prolong the battery's life? Or is it a good idea to just remove the battery from the laptop when it is connect to AC?

If you go under the battery settings you can ADJUST the % that the battery will start charging and you can also set the % at which the battery will stop charging...COOL FEATURE!

I think the default is 95% before it starts charging...that is the reason yours is dropping (NORMAL!! and not a cause for concern) That is why if you "store" your batteries you should charge them every few months (again this varies depending on who you talk to). I have purchased batteries that have been in storage NEW for a few years and they were NEVER charged and they performed WITHOUT a single problem!! Some people DO NOT like buying these batteries after a certain amount of time has passed...

I have mine set to start charging at 35% as most of the time I am on battery and for me to reach 35% will take a few days of "unplugged use" this is not the norm...when I know I will be on battery ALL DAY I make sure the battery is fully charge by changing the settings.

Everyone seems to have a preference on how to handle the "not used often" battery issue. For me keeping the precentage to start charging on the low end has worked well...

I've got my charging thresholds at:
Start at Below 85%
End at 97%

Every once in a while (monthly) I will run down the battery to no charge, then let it charge over night (as is recommended by Lenovo to "refresh" the battery)

If you're going to store it, IBM/Lenovo recommends leaving it at around 40% (I couldn't tell you exactly why)

Anyway, you'll see this sort of thing with all batteries for laptops, but you'll only really notice it on a Thinkpad since they have more useful, detailed, and specific software (ie. the battery meter/power manager)

GL, and enjoy your new thinkpad!

Can X61 run without the battery if it is connected to AC? Or does Lenovo not recommend it?

It certainly works - I don't know about recommendations.

The only potential issue I can see is battery contacts getting dirty. Not a big concern.

Or losing some work because the AC power goes out .

The UPS covers that

rkawakami wrote:Or losing some work because the AC power goes out .

Then would be a better idea to set up in Power Management to start charging at lets say 5% (or even 1%)? I remember I read somewhere that it is good for a battery to get fully discharged once in a while.

alosito wrote:

rkawakami wrote:Or losing some work because the AC power goes out .

Then would be a better idea to set up in Power Management to start charging at lets say 5% (or even 1%)? I remember I read somewhere that it is good for a battery to get fully discharged once in a while.

You should only fully discharge your battery once every 30 cycles. Doing so more often is NOT good for your battery. With lithium ion batteries it's best to charge early and often.

Xtal wrote:

alosito wrote: Then would be a better idea to set up in Power Management to start charging at lets say 5% (or even 1%)? I remember I read somewhere that it is good for a battery to get fully discharged once in a while.

You should only fully discharge your battery once every 30 cycles. Doing so more often is NOT good for your battery. With lithium ion batteries it's best to charge early and often.

In practice, my experience differs. With devices, where I normaly run full load/discharge cycles, the battery-lifetime is very good. I have a pocket loox 720, which I've loaded shurely severel 100 times since 2005 and its battery is still in very good condition, on my yakumo pda too. But with all notebooks, loading early and often I discover significant battery-lifetime drop after less then one year.