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X230 battery problem

X230-X280, X390 Series
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ky2083
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2018 6:59 am
Location: Nantes, France

X230 battery problem

#1 Post by ky2083 » Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:40 am

Hello all!

A month ago I've got a used X230 ThinkPad. This is the best machine i've ever had, especially considering the price, but I have a little problem with it.
This laptop came with a replacement battery. On the battery block I can read "REPLACEMENT BATTERY - compatible with X230 series." so it is obviously not a genuine battery. I also can read 11,1v and 4400mAh capacity written on the battery block.

The problem is the following; I am using Windows 10 OS with all updated drivers, and when I do some cpu intensive stuffs like playing or OS virtualization, when i close the power hungry application, few seconds later windows shows a warning message "warning your pc is running low" and on Lenovo battery widget i can see the battery being at 5% and the laptop goes to hibernate.

But here is the weird thing: the laptop is actually plugged in! And when the pc is in hibernation and that i unplug and plug in again the alimentation, the battery doesnt charge. i have to remove the battery and put it in again and indeed is appears almost full and the laptop can boot up. (when i just close the application, the widget shows something like 95%).

So I have to use the laptop plugged in without battery to do quite intensive stuffs.

So here is what I think: can i fix this problem by buying a Lenovo brand new battery to replace this one or is there a possibility that this problem doesnt come from the battery but the laptop itself?

It wouldnt bother me at all to buy a new battery but I need to be sure that the current battery is faulty because it would be awkward to buy a battery but still have the same problem.

I have installed "battery info view" and here is what i see:
Description Value
Battery Name 45N1023
Manufacture Name SANYO
Serial Number 15921
Manufacture Date
Power State Charging, AC Power
Current Capacity (in %) 99.3%
Current Capacity Value 42,560 mWh
Full Charged Capacity 42,840 mWh
Designed Capacity 48,840 mWh
Battery Health 87.7%
Voltage 12,538 millivolts
Charge/Discharge Rate 4,325 milliwatts
Chemistry Lithium Ion
Low Battery Capacity (1) 200 mWh
Low Battery Capacity (2) 2,142 mWh
Critical Bias
Number of charge/discharge cycles 0
Battery Temperature
Remaining battery time for the current activity (Estimated)
Full battery time for the current activity (Estimated)
Remaining time for charging the battery (Estimated) 00:03:44
Total time for charging the battery (Estimated) 09:30:58

I of course noticed that the battery being from Sanyo, it could give some troubles. But I can't be sure of anything and I would like someone to help me understand what's actually going on so i can figure out what i'm supposed to do!

thank you so much.

dr_st
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Re: X230 battery problem

#2 Post by dr_st » Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:26 am

Try disconnecting the battery and running without it for a while. But even that will not tell you for sure. There is no sure way short of trying a different battery.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X230 battery problem

#3 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:02 am

The X230 has a battery-authenticity-check, which may cause that problem.
You can change the EC to bypass that check: https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec
After that mod you can run batteries from X220 and X230 (and any other knock-offs if you are so inclined).
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
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ky2083
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2018 6:59 am
Location: Nantes, France

Re: X230 battery problem

#4 Post by ky2083 » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:35 am

i have already used the laptop a lot totally without battery, for even a week once.

i dont think it is a problem that the laptop doesnt accept the battery because on other usage than power hungry applications, the battery works totally fine.

perhaps it is voltage problem? because on genuine lenovo battery voltage is 14.8V and on the replacement battery it is 11.1V.

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X230 battery problem

#5 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:51 am

Try that battery in an X220, does it charge there?

ky2083
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2018 6:59 am
Location: Nantes, France

Re: X230 battery problem

#6 Post by ky2083 » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:54 am

i dont have an X220, not anyone around me. but the battery already charges. it works perfectly fine when i do web browsing and normal stuff. but when it's plugged in and with the battery connected, after i finished something energy hungry it says battery is at 5% whereas it's plugged in

RealBlackStuff
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Re: X230 battery problem

#7 Post by RealBlackStuff » Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:06 pm

I would uninstall the W10 power-program and try to install an older one from W7 instead.
https://support.lenovo.com/ae/en/downloads/ds014924

wujstefan
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Re: X230 battery problem

#8 Post by wujstefan » Thu Feb 01, 2018 8:46 am

These are the problems generic batteries tend to generate. Had those many times, 1 year of battery lifetime is usually a max you can get from generic.

EDIT: Try BatteryBar, and remove W10 battery icon from task window. It worked at one of my systems.
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