T30 Battery/charging questions...

[gn2]

I've got a new(to me) T30 with a Li-ion battery. If I plug in the AC cord, the battery indicator flashes green, then goes solid amber.
It never actually charges the battery though, it stays at 18% even if left for hours and hours.

Now, if I pull the battery and check voltage, I get 11VDC on two pads, and about 9-9.5VDC on the other two pads...

It seems like the battery is still good, it is holding some charge on some cells, but unequalized, is there any way to get this battery to charge ??

Is the battery no longer useful ?

I've downloaded and am trying to use the battery program from IBM, but it doesn't seem to make any difference...still sits at 17% charge...

PS: I've been reading and reading and reading, and I can't say I've come across anything helpful, except one mention that the external battery charger can recover some batteries. I found one on ebay cheap, but its not here yet...

[sarbin]

welcome to the forum.

how many charge cycles is the battery maximiser reporting?

[gn2]

I didn't know how to get that info at first, but have now just seen it. It reports 59 cycles, and almost full capacity, but it sits with no current going to the battery, and 17% charged...

[rkawakami]

It's possible that the battery pack has a problem with the cells, but I'd be more inclined to say that your T30 motherboard is having a problem. A charging issue that is sometimes seen with a T23 is usually due to a loose inductor on the motherboard. The T30 could have a similar charging circuit since the battery packs are almost identical. If your external battery charger does fully charge the pack and you are willing to tear down the T30, then you might want to look at this thread:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=64710

If you click on the picture link in Bizzy's first post, then you will see the inductor in the center of the picture (and partially in the inset at the upper right). Most likely it will be located close to the battery terminals like in the T23. A small 25-watt soldering iron with a fine-point tip can get the part re-attached to the motherboard.

[gn2]

Ok, so I got my outboard battery charger, the battery I have IS virtually new, and charged up quickly with the external charger. When I installed it, there was no response from the laptop.
It still works well from AC, and detected the fully charged battery properly, but there doesn't seem to be any connection for powering the laptop from the battery...

I'm not a technician, so if anyone has a motherboard they'd like to get rid of cheaply, please let me know...

[gn2]

Update, in case there is anyone looking...

I took the mobo out and went to the only shop in town that does ANY board level work. They found a blown 10AMP smp fuse right near where there was a discoloration on the mobo, right near the battery connection. They didn't have a 10AMP smp fuse, so I asked them to put in the nearest one they had just so I could try it and see if that was the issue....No dice.

Still works well from AC, battery particulars are read, but it still won't run or charge from/to the battery...

Seems a shame to replace the whole motherboard for this one issue, especially considering both memory slots work and there are no other issues.

If anyone can suggest something else to do to fix this please let me know....thanks...