Argghh, down she goes!

[SHoTTa35]

(Don't mind the pirate in me right now... going to see Pirates tomorrow and i'm excited)

Anyways, i got a laptop recently (Thinkpad T42) and was pretty happy about the whole deal. I had what i thought was a new battery. I reinstalled Vista and the Power Manager software on it and I checked out the battery info to check the cycles are on it. I am using number 10 but the battery was manufactured in 2004 and first used 2005. Weird... now the other weird part is that when i first checked it was showing the capacity higher than the designed capacity (48.xx vs 47.xx or something) Now couple charges later (only 6 or so) it's down to a capacity of 30.06!!! Still just 10 cycles. It says i have 64% left of the original capacity and all that but yikes that was fast. I even took out the battery while it was on AC and used it till it died 2 times so far.

I'm sure that's not nomal but i guess the main question could i get a replacement from IBM since the system still has warranty. I know it was first used in 2005 but maybe it was just tested or somtehing because it had 1 cycle since when i got it. Surely Li-Ion batteries loose some capacity over the years of non-usage but i'm just wondering if i can?

(Oh it's a Sony battery so i checked the recall to see if it's affected but i'm out of luck there unless i typed the numbers wrong - [censored]! )

[bill bolton]

I am using number 10 but the battery was manufactured in 2004 and first used 2005.

[snip]

Now couple charges later (only 6 or so) it's down to a capacity of 30.06!!! Still just 10 cycles. It says i have 64% left of the original capacity and all that but yikes that was fast. I even took out the battery while it was on AC and used it till it died 2 times so far.

I'm sure that's not nomal

Actually it is. Lithium based rechargeable batteries degrade over time and a 3 year old battery is going to be significantly below it original specification, even if it has little use.

As for being covered under warranty, if battery fails early in its design life you might have a chance but after three years from the manufacturing date, all bets are well and truly off!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[carbon_unit]

That battery probably spent most of its life sitting on a desk plugged in fully charged. Just use it normally and don't try to "fix" it anymore.
It is old enough that it is going to degrade as you use it. Just use it the way you need to use it and don't worry about the cycles. It might not hurt to change the settings so it does not start charging until it runs down to 60% or so and tell it to stop charging at 95%. Just don't run it down past 30% anymore and it will be OK.
I wouldn't recondition it until it gets in the red zone. I am sure it is still green right now.

[SHoTTa35]

its actually in "fair" condition now. It was at like 77% today then later in the day i noticed it was like down to the 60s now.

Yeah, i guess maybe i'll try it out a battery replacement for the hell of it.

[sktn77a]

I'd definitely recondition it - doesn't do any harm. I did this with two batteries recently, same vintage as yours, and they reconditioned up to about 43Wh nicely (the spec is 44Wh).

[Chris001]

As for being covered under warranty, if battery fails early in its design life you might have a chance but after three years from the manufacturing date, all bets are well and truly off!
Cheers,
Bill B.

Bill,

I believe the warranty from IBM / Lenovo on batteries is 1 year, period. Even if the laptop has a three year warranty the battery is condsidered a "consumeable" part and only covered for 1 year.

Chris

[carbon_unit]

Reconditioning the battery just runs it way down and charges it back up. He already did that twice and we know the results......

[SHoTTa35]

Bill,

I believe the warranty from IBM / Lenovo on batteries is 1 year, period. Even if the laptop has a three year warranty the battery is condsidered a "consumeable" part and only covered for 1 year.

Chris

Yeah i know but even tho i was just thinking well they may think that since it's only so many cycles it's sorta new. I doubt this laptop came with this battery as i got it used and i'm sure it was used by someone for the past while so wherever it was it was just sitting around not being used. I'm hoping IBM thinks i got a lemon and just be nice and send one

I've been kinda looking at batteries on eBay and the marketplace here but i keep finding rebuilt ones "for IBM Thinkpads" that i guess are generic. There are some used ones but i wanna stay away from those. I think i actually only saw 2 people selling new ones on eBay that are actual IBM ones.