T500 Sanyo battery full charge capacity drops after 3 cycles

[RhatsaRuck]

I purchased a replacement battery for a ThinkPad T500 on eBay. It is a 6 cell Li-ion Sanyo battery.

The design capacity is 47.52 Wh. Upon fully charging it the full charge capacity was the same as the design capacity. However after three full discharge/recharge cycles the full charge capacity has fallen to 30.03 Wh. During this time the battery condition has dropped from Good to Fair.

Is it normal for a battery to lose this much full charge capacity after only 3 charge cycles? I am less than 1 week into a 30 day guarantee from the seller so I have the option to return it.

My gut feeling is to return this battery. Am I being reasonable on this?

RhatsaRuck

[Latios]

That shouldn't be happening at all. Might be worth doing a gauge reset to see. Otherwise, yeah, return it
What's the production date on it?

[RhatsaRuck]

...Might be worth doing a gauge reset to see. Otherwise, yeah, return it
What's the production date on it?

Production date is 2011-11-09; first use 2012-09 when I bought it.

I did a power gauge reset. It didn't seem to do much and took 3h 30min.

The battery now has 6 cycle count, the full charge capacity is 27.89 Wh, the battery can store 58% of its original full charge capacity, and the battery condition is poor.

Any other comments or suggestion?

[catalinus]

...
The battery now has 6 cycle count, the full charge capacity is 27.89 Wh, the battery can store 58% of its original full charge capacity, and the battery condition is poor.

Any other comments or suggestion?

Any warranty from the seller? If not - maybe we should all get to know who the company that sells that is in order to avoid buying from them?

[RhatsaRuck]

Any warranty from the seller? If not - maybe we should all get to know who the company that sells that is in order to avoid buying from them?

The seller does have a warranty. I am trying to contact the seller now; I've requested an RMA# to start the return process.

If the seller makes good on their warranty I'm OK with that. If not, I'll be forced to give them negative eBay feedback. I'll also try to figure out how to get that info here.

[RhatsaRuck]

I returned the battery Friday using the RMA# provided by the seller. I sent it Priority Mail CMRRR.

I expect a full refund and believe, based on the seller's actions to date, that they will issue one in a timely fashion.

[RhatsaRuck]

The seller issued a complete refund excluding the cost for me to return the item.

They have complied fully with the terms of sale posted on the ebay auction.

I am satisfied with their response and consider this issue closed.

Thank you to all who contributed to this thread.