Thinkpad 600 Battery

[shadynet]

Hello folks
I have a battery that runs about 40 minutes in my TP 600, is that time to low and the battery is going dead? And how long does a new battery take until it ran out of power and the computer shuts down?


Sorry if you don't understand it i can't explain it better right now

[MadeInJapan]

For a 600, 40mins ain't bad at all...especially with the notorious issue with the draining battery from 80% downward. I'd count myself lucky. Mine only holds about 20-25 min charge and this is my second new battery on my 600E, with the battery only about a year old.

[whizkid]

A new battery on a 600X lasts 2.5 to 3 hours in my experience. But that's with the SpeedStep power saving technology. TWBOOK says the battery on a 600 should last 3 hours as well.

There are several brands of good batteries out there, some with no name at all. I have 3rd party batteries and they work great, and my wife and I use them (two 600X's with main and UltraSlimBay batteries) every day.

[shadynet]

ok so i think i'm gonna buy a new battery for my tp, and my techies have fixed my charging problem which was a messed up power supply so i better buy a new one just in case...they soldered the cable which was messed up at the plug...
another question: i looked at shop.kingston.com and looked for my TP in the list and found my product number (2645-450) and it says it is a TP 600E
IBM ThinkPad 600E 2645-45x/55x/A5x thats what it says, is it a TP 600 or a TP 600E?

[whizkid]

http://www.pc.ibm.com/support

I entered your model number, and IBM says....

Product: ThinkPad 600 2645-450 [change]
Operating system: All [change]

Original description: PII 300MHz (512KB) 64MB RAM 5.1GB 13.3 XGA TFT 24X 56K(ACP) Win98

So it's a top end 600, not a bottom end 600E.

[shadynet]

i think its a high end 600 by now
just 192 megs of ram but 80gig harddrive and a cd burner, wlan, windows 2000 better than the normal 450's

[jsuebersax]

For a 600, 40mins ain't bad at all...especially with the notorious issue with the draining battery from 80% downward. I'd count myself lucky. Mine only holds about 20-25 min charge and this is my second new battery on my 600E, with the battery only about a year old.

I have seen other references to this "notorious issue"--at least if it's the same thing described here:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/milnoc/TP600Battery/#info

but has anyone found a solution? If I buy a new battery for my 600, am I just looking at a 20-25 min charge after a few months?

[whizkid]

All batteries die.

Some people seem to think that the way the 600 battery goes is odd. Well, it IS different. I get about two solid years of good battery life from mine with DAILY use.

The battery will always charge to 100% and always drain to 0%. It's just that as the battery ages, at some point during discharge it will smoothly go from 100 down to 5 then jump from 5 to 0. Later the jump will start at 10 so on until it jumps from 90 to 0 or holds no charge at all.

Apparently (since I only have a 600E and two 600X's from recent memory), other machines just go from 100 to 0 smoothly, just with more speed as the battery ages.

Follow IBM's recommendations for getting good battery life:
o If you use the machine plugged in all the time, remove the battery.
o Let the battery charge and discharge fully.

Some people say to not charge the battery while the machine is on. I have not found that to extend the battery life, personally.