Batteries

[Crazycow]

So thinkpad models get older and eventualy lenovo stops selling batteries for them.

Where can someone find good quality batteries?

My internet searches for a 7 cell replacement battery for my z61t proved to be fruitless, as most batteries sold are 6 cell or have inferior Ah/Wh
Every seller, be it on a specialised-on-batteries website or amazon naturaly claims his product is of the expected quality.

How to know what to buy, what is your tactic?

[dr_st]

So thinkpad models get older and eventualy lenovo stops selling batteries for them.

This "eventually" takes a very long time. Lenovo's service parts department still sells batteries even for T4x, so I'm sure a Z60 battery can be obtained.

[Crazycow]

So thinkpad models get older and eventualy lenovo stops selling batteries for them.

This "eventually" takes a very long time. Lenovo's service parts department still sells batteries even for T4x, so I'm sure a Z60 battery can be obtained.

it might for those models, but for the z61t that shared only with the z60t, i cannot find anything on the official site.

z61t-9443

Lenovo uk
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... umber=9443
Lenovo US
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... 397599C2A4

It simply doesn't list any of the batteries

on some article i found it says:

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/product ... MIGR-61166

Discontinued, withdrawn from marketing:
ThinkPad Z60t Series 4 Cell Li-Ion Battery (40Y6791) - September 2008
ThinkPad Z60t Series 7 Cell Li-Ion Battery (40Y6793) - October 2010

A replacement product is not available.

This option may be available via the Lenovo Option Continuation Program (OCP) at: www.lenovo.com/optionscontinuationprogram

I am lazy and i am cheap when i can, but i wouldn't ask around in the forum before making my own research
I wouldn't mind buying a third party battery, as long as i knew it wouldn't explode!

the question is, where, how and who to trust?

[Saucey]

I wouldn't mind buying a third party battery, as long as i knew it wouldn't explode!

the question is, where, how and who to trust?

That is very hard to say. I got extremely lucky on two refurbished batteries I had bought from eBay, they were Lenovo refurbs for under $30 each.
I had bought a third party battery for my x61T quite awhile ago from Amazon. I checked their comments upon it, and there was good reviews for the one company that made them.
I haven't used it for the past 7 months after I upgraded to an off-lease unit X61T, but the battery lasted a good 3 hours under my Photoshop/webbrowsing use, the Lenovo one lasts about 4 hours.

It just depends on the luck of the draw when you buy.
I had wished I bought more refurb'd ones from eBay, one seller was NewEgg. I had gotten this November of 2013, I checked earlier this month for some more units.
They are $50+ now, but when I had gotten the dang thing $20 shipped. My guess is supply.

[dr_st]

As I said, one needs to through Lenovo's service parts channel, not their sales channel.

What I always do is call the service provider (in Israel it's IBM), and they have a department which can sell replacement parts by FRU. I imagine something similar exists in all countries.

Out of curiosity I just called them today and inquired.

You have to give them the FRU for the part, not the marketing number. FRUs are available in the HMM (Hardware Maintenance Manual).

For the Z61t, for example, these are the numbers:

92P1121/92P1123 - 4-cell
92P1125 - 7-cell

Usually, the original FRUs are no longer manufactured, but there are replacement FRUs. The service department will have in their system to find the updated numbers.

For the Z61t this is what they came up with:

42T4614 - 4-cell
42T4616 - 7-cell

Now, you can buy it directly from them (I was quoted 3 business days for delivery).

You can also buy these original batteries, new, from third parties, for example Thinkpad-Parts:
http://www.thinkpad-parts.com/42T4614-Thinkpad.html (currently $127)
http://www.thinkpad-parts.com/42T4616-Thinkpad.html (currently $97)

The prices are usually high, and not always consistent. For instance, the price IBM Israel quoted me for the 4-cell was lower, but for the 7-cell it was higher. Looks like on Thinkpad-Parts you can make offers and negotiate the price somewhat. Never tried this, don't know if it's effective.

There is always the eBay channel. It is possible to get genuine batteries on eBay, sometimes even new. But it's difficult, because some of them do sell fakes that pose as genuine. I don't know if it makes any practical difference or not. But if you really want a genuine part, it may require some effort to prune the fakes from the reals if you are going down the eBay route.