Thinkpads Forum

Hi all I just bought a Thinkpad 600 sat at a rumage sale(40.00)It had errors indicating backup battery.
I went to the local Batteries Plus and in one hour they made up a new one cost total 2.50.
WOW I think a super nice computer at this cost I have in it.

Now question the main battery is dead and I am leaving it plugged in all the time but the indicator flashes orange off and on.

So I assume thats telling me battery needs charging.

Before I buy new battery should I just unplug computer when NOT in use?

But will that drain the lith backup battery fast?

Or am I better off just leaving it plugged in all the time with a dead MAIN battery?

Thanks
for any advice

Trido

Wether or not you leave the laptop plugged in will make no difference to the state of the CMOS (Backup) battery.

This is a common fault with batteries for the 600 series Thinkpads - don't panic, you can safely use the machine plugged into the mains with or without the battery.

If you get a chance to get a new battery be VERY CAREFUL with anything from eBay as these tend to be very doubtful themselves - if you can afford it, buy one from IBM - if not, use it plugged in all the time.

Hth

Sorry, I should have mentioned - the CMOS battery does things like maintain the clock at the correct time, provide a small current for saved settings etc. so once you've changed it for a new one, you shouldn't have any more problems for a few years (they last a fair while!)

ian wrote:Wether or not you leave the laptop plugged in will make no difference to the state of the CMOS (Backup) battery.

This is a common fault with batteries for the 600 series Thinkpads - don't panic, you can safely use the machine plugged into the mains with or without the battery.

If you get a chance to get a new battery be VERY CAREFUL with anything from eBay as these tend to be very doubtful themselves - if you can afford it, buy one from IBM - if not, use it plugged in all the time.

Hth

Thanks Ian I just ordered from this place at 32 dollars seems cheap.
http://www.refurbishedibmbattery.com/

trido

ian wrote:Sorry, I should have mentioned - the CMOS battery does things like maintain the clock at the correct time, provide a small current for saved settings etc. so once you've changed it for a new one, you shouldn't have any more problems for a few years (they last a fair while!)

I an so you are saying plugged in all the time IS NOT charging the back up battery.
It is not a rechargeable

trido

The backup battery IS NOT rechargeable - in fact calling it a *backup* battery can be a little misleading in that it maintains current for active memory reasons (as previously mentioned) but doesn't really back anything up at all.

If you manage to get a working *main* battery for $32 then that's great.

The back up battery is a panisonic cr2025 ....you can buy them where ever they watch batterys then peel off the yellow plastic and cut off the welded tabs. Make sure you put the red and black wire on the proper pole(remember where you took them off the old) then just tape the wires on the battery ...It wll only cost you 5 bucks at the most

Tony johnson

trido wrote:Now question the main battery is dead and I am leaving it plugged in all the time but the indicator flashes orange off and on.

DO NOT leave the main battery in the machine if the charging LED is constantly blinking.

This can lead to damage to the charging circuitry of the machine.

Regards,

James