IBM UltraBay battery issue v. holds less charge

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MrFanel · #1 Post by **MrFanel** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 3:13 pm

My secondary battery in my ThinkPad T60 that sits in the ultrabay suddenly says it can only hold 69% of the original capacity (20 Wh down from 29Wh)... something leads me to believe that it is a glitch; a batt can't die like that after only 15 cycles, right?

So my question is - is there some kind of a way for me to test actual battery charge/capacity by using a thiard party application, or do I need to call IBM and have this battery RMA'd?
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planetf1 · #2 Post by **planetf1** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:13 pm

Exactly the same issue here. It's reported as having a design capacity of 30Wh but only 20Wh at max charge.

Is this an error? Perhaps the ultrabay battery is only 20, and so this is a reporting issue?

MrFanel · #3 Post by **MrFanel** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 6:41 pm

planetf1 wrote:Exactly the same issue here. It's reported as having a design capacity of 30Wh but only 20Wh at max charge.

Is this an error? Perhaps the ultrabay battery is only 20, and so this is a reporting issue?

It used to be 29 thats for sure; It'd always charge to that level...

MrFanel · #4 Post by **MrFanel** » Sat Aug 05, 2006 7:08 pm

Actually.... I think you are right, I think it did use to hold 20 and not 29... wtf...?!

Edit: nvm - I was smoking; official IBM site states that its full capacity is at 29 w/h.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-61222

planetf1 · #5 Post by **planetf1** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 5:09 am

Ok, just a thought.

So mine's "failed" too....

MrFanel · #6 Post by **MrFanel** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:59 pm

Welps I submitted a service request on their support site; had someone call me within an hour and a replacement was set up to ship to me. They told me to ship the old one in the box that the new one will be shipped in... no extra charge!

Whole process took 3 minutes... wow thats some great service.

JonathanGennick · #7 Post by **JonathanGennick** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:23 pm

MrFanel wrote:Whole process took 3 minutes... wow thats some great service.

It is indeed great service. And as long as they can keep up that sort of service, they're going to have me as a customer.

foodle · #8 Post by **foodle** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:02 am

My advanced ultrabay battery is doing the same thing. Only 23 cycles and it's down to 23Wh of capacity. Time for a call to Lenovo service ... I hope the new one lasts longer.

Update: Lenovo/IBM service is great. A 5min phone call and a new battery is on its way to me. They didn't even hassle me for the battery serial number or my purchase date.

planetf1 · #9 Post by **planetf1** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:58 am

Received new battery. Showing full capacity nearly design capacity for 2 cycles. I've had it 24 hours.

Now showing

"The battery can store 74% of it's original full charge capacity."

Full charge 21.82
Design 29.16

I may be sceptical but this is around the capacity of the regular 2.1 or so Ah battery, not the new 40Y6790 2.7Ah battery

Bad batch?
Badly labelled?

There is something going on here.......

I'll try a recharge cycle or 2 but please...!!!

OpaHardrock · #10 Post by **OpaHardrock** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:17 pm

I just received my new battery, because of the 2/3 capacity issue and after 2 cycles it's already down to - let's have a look - 23.09 Wh

==> Seems to be a general problem with the Sony Ultrabay Battery.
I will open a support call at IBM

OpaHardrock · #11 Post by **OpaHardrock** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 7:21 am

I've opened a support request and IBM wants me to sent in my T60 for around 4 days for analysis.
BUT I NEED IT!

foodle · #12 Post by **foodle** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:49 am

OpaHardrock wrote:I've opened a support request and IBM wants me to sent in my T60 for around 4 days for analysis.
BUT I NEED IT!

Hmmm, you might try calling again to get a different tech support person. When I called, they immediately shipped me out a new battery (it arrived the next morning). There's no way I'd ship my entire machine to them for what is clearly a battery problem. Maybe there's a difference in how IBM USA and IBM Germany handles these things?

OpaHardrock · #13 Post by **OpaHardrock** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 8:53 am

As I stated above, it's already my second battery.

Did the replacement work for you, I mean do you have an UltraBay battery with nominal=real capacity?

foodle · #14 Post by **foodle** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:15 pm

So far so good with the new battery. I'll keep everyone posted.

nelson · #15 Post by **nelson** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 10:02 am

Hmm, my UltraBay battery is days old and is already reporting a loss of capacity. Just got the warning: designed for 29Wh, currency capacity 24.5Wh. Cycle count is 6. I've now reconfigured the laptop to charge the battery to prolong its life. We'll se.

One thing I wonder about.. most people advise avoiding discharging a Lithium battery to 0%. But the Thinkpad seems to want to suck the UltraBay battery dry before ever using the main battery. Does that shorten the battery's life?

stephenaron · #16 Post by **stephenaron** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:25 am

My ultrabay battery is showing 41 %. Only 11.93 Wh remaining with a full capacity of 12.06. Design showing 29.16. Only 5-6 months old.

planetf1 · #17 Post by **planetf1** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:43 pm

2nd ultrabay battery now down to 16.99 of 29.16 ie 58% design capacity.

First used Aug 2006.

It's a SONY battery.

>> I STRONGLY BELIEVE THESE BATTERIES ARE FAULTY <<

nick-m · #18 Post by **nick-m** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:31 pm

I was going to get one, but having seen this thread, I'm glad I didn't. It looks as though these batteries are on a path to early death right out of the box. Anyone else?

stephenaron · #19 Post by **stephenaron** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:10 pm

Still better off than with only the main battery....AND IBM will replace it anyway. No harm.

Plutoman15 · #20 Post by **Plutoman15** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:14 pm

but are the replacements any better or are you having the same problem with them?

deforest · #21 Post by **deforest** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:45 pm

I got a replacement battery and it seems to be still at 100%

Sony battery
First used: 2006-08
Manufacture date: 2006-04-25

Full Charge Capacity: 29.16 Wh
Remaining Capacity: 29.16 Wh

Cycle Count: 7

I plan to be on the road next week, so probaly be using it heavily. When I come back I can then compare and see if it differs.

stephenaron · #22 Post by **stephenaron** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:31 pm

I certainly hope that after SEVEN cycles that its still 100 %. I will be calling IBM shortly to get mine replaced.

deforest · #23 Post by **deforest** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:37 pm

This is replacement battery I got last month. I had the same issue with the first battery after 4 months of use. I called IBM and they replaced the battery.

nelson · #24 Post by **nelson** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:18 am

I've been using my system for four weeks now and the ultrabay battery is down to 77% capacity (22.6Wh). I've set the driver to maximize battery life. The system spends about 3/4 of its time plugged in, the other 1/4 I run the UltraBay battery down. Cycle count is now 20.

The battery is from Sony and was built 2006-07-11.

planetf1 · #25 Post by **planetf1** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:41 pm

One ultraybay battery got to 62% after a couple of weeks.
My replacement was first used in Augst, and is now reporting 54% and status has turned red

These batteries must be bad/underspec and IMO need to be withdrawn.. *unless* of course it is faulty charging in the T60p...

Anyone had any explanation?

#26 Post by **archer6** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:56 pm

Currently I'm using an Ultrabay Slim Battery in my T60 and it's working just fine. This particular battery has been in service for 5 months and there is no sign of problems. It's used daily and charged at least once a day due to normal discharge during use.

We have approx 25 of these batteries deployed in my companies sales force and so far they have been fine as well.

planetf1 · #27 Post by **planetf1** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:47 pm

What does power manager show about your batteries. Here's a summary of my details for my 2 duds ...

Full charge capacity: 15.77Wh / 17.87 Wh
Cycle Count: 84 / 60
Manufacturer Name: Sony / Sony
Manufacture date: 2006-04-14 / 2006-04-14
First used date: 2006-08 / 2006-07
Serial Number: 1066 / 1131
Bar-coding number: 1ZBM564E11A / 1ZBM564E13B
FRU part number : 40Y6790 / 40Y6790
Design Capacity: 29.16 Wh / 29.16 Wh

Perhaps if you post yours (and others do the same) we could find a pattern?

#28 Post by **archer6** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 6:07 pm

planetf1 wrote:What does power manager show about your batteries. Here's a summary of my details for my 2 duds ...

I'm in London on business for a month with my X60s, so I will not be able to contribute at the moment.

Cheers...

zhenya · #29 Post by **zhenya** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:14 pm

I was sent to this discussion after starting my own in the General forum. Anyhow, my ultrabay battery for my z60t was down to 65% charge capacity after 30 cycles. Lenovo had a new battery to me the next day, but I do think there is a design issue here. As has been stated above, deep discharging these batteries reduces their capacity very quickly. There needs to be a way to set a threshold at which point the 1st battery hands off to the second battery to avoid a full discharge cycle. If such a switch were implemented, I believe we'd see this issue largely disappear.

FlexOink · #30 Post by **FlexOink** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 10:42 am

zhenya wrote:I was sent to this discussion after starting my own in the General forum. Anyhow, my ultrabay battery for my z60t was down to 65% charge capacity after 30 cycles. Lenovo had a new battery to me the next day, but I do think there is a design issue here. As has been stated above, deep discharging these batteries reduces their capacity very quickly. There needs to be a way to set a threshold at which point the 1st battery hands off to the second battery to avoid a full discharge cycle. If such a switch were implemented, I believe we'd see this issue largely disappear.

I fully agree with you. After some research on the internet I discovered that Li-Ion batteries dont go well with full discharges, its reduces their life significantly. It is stronlgy adviced not to discharge a Li-Ion, as opposed to the older Ni-Cad batteries.

But when I'm on the road, my T60p always depletes the ultrabay first, cuz the ultrabay only buys me an hour or so extra, resulting in a 100% discharge, before it starts the 9-cell.

Both batteries are fairly new, I got my T60p now for two months, but the ultrabay is already down to 89% of its initial capacity. Which means, if this decrease continues I will be looking at a useless battery in one year. Which is ridiculous for 130 euro/dollar.

Altough my decrease is not as dramatic as some of the batteries, I will be keeping an eye on the capacity. Btw my ultrabay is a Sony made on 05-july-2006.

IBM UltraBay battery issue v. holds less charge

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