Ultrabase 2nd Battery Charging Method?

[JasonPAtkins]

Hi, I'm fairly new here, though not to using Thinkpads. I just purchased my 2nd X series, an X200s. I work as a missionary in a West African country where I only have power certain times of the day. I don't really have need of any of the X200 Ultrabase functionality (though it's handy to just slap the computer down on the dock instead of having to wear out the connectors unplugging and replugging everything all the time!), but one feature does intrigue me. The ultrabase is advertised as having the ability to charge a 2nd (outside of the laptop) battery. My question is, does anyone know what order this happens in? I know the X3 ultrabase from my X31 could accomodate a 2nd battery, but only having one I was never able to test this functionality.

So the question is this, on the X200 Ultrabase, if a battery is attached to the base, what order does it charge in? I know with Ultrabay batteries on my T series, the laptop will always charge the system battery all the way up before giving anything to the Ultrabay battery, is that how the X200 Ultrabase works too? (Note: I'm aware you can put batteries in the Ultrabay slot of the Ultrabase, that's not what I'm talking about, the Lenovo documentation shows a plug on the side of the Ultrabase for connecting a second system battery.) Or does the Ultrabase charge both batteries at the same time (doubtful, but would be awesome). I assume it won't charge a battery w/o a laptop docked, right? Can anyone who is using this arrangement shed some light on the situation? When power is only on for a few hours, you have to charge all the batteries you can while the juice is flowing, so I'm trying to figure out the best arrangement!

(I greatly lament the fact that an (I'm sure extremely unpopular) accessory was dropped from the Thinkpad lineup. Back in the T4x series, there was a "battery charger" that just took input from a T4x power brick and had a little connector to connect to a system battery - it charged with no computer needed. That was great for my application!)

[aau007]

If all you want is to charge an extra battery, you should check out the External Battery Charger 40y7625. Check with Lenovo as I believe it will work with x200 series batteries. This charger requires the 90W AC adapter though.