IBM T40P New laptop battery care and usage. Please help the nooby here.

[nanyangview]

My shiny new T40P is arriving tomorrow and geeeez i can't wait haha

so for those T40 owners, does the battery come pre-charged or i have to charge it from 0-100? I know that for certain batteries you should let it charge for 24hours before using, do i have to do that with the IBM?

For battery care, is it advisable to use the laptop while charging the battery or u should turn it off? How often should i perform the battery drain/charge caliberation for optimum result?

One last question is that, the WInXP pro that came with the lappy, is it stable? I know that compaqs have sh*tty pre installed OS that needs reformat right out of the box. How is the IBM?

THanks a bunch guys!

 

[nanyangview]

all T40 owners are MIA? lol

 

[MWink]

My T40 came with the battery fully charged. My T40 was the first laptop I've seen that really didn't need windows reinstalled right out of the box. Unlike most other laptops (such as Dell) it didn't come with any junk I didn't want. I actually ended up downloading IBM's utilities because they are so good. I pretty much had to install a clean copy of windows because I didn't want to use the HD that came with it. I put in an IBM 40GB 5400RPM.

 

[jonah255]

if you use the recovery disks to install on a new hard drive can you have it put the rescue partition on the new disk?

 

[esaleris]

Make sure you understand the distinction between Lithium-Ion and other types of "memory" batteries.

It is not necessary, perhaps even harmful to try to charge and discharge Li-ion batteries completely. This idea is left over from the Nickel Cadmium days and is one that is propagated by long-time electronics users. It is false and should certainly not be done.

Li-ion batteries do not need to realign their memory during its usage. In fact, the battery is "hurt" when you let it discharge all the way, and you will likely shorten your lifespan that way more than normal Li-ion battery usage. What is normal Li-ion battery usage? Keep it topped off at all times. The charge rating for the battery is determined by the amount of full charges and discharges done to the battery. This is a theoretical calculation - do not fully discharge, but keep it charged as much as possible. In practice, if you let your battery go to 1/2 capacity and then charge it to 1/2 all the time, and you did this daily, then you can use the battery 2x as long as rated as a person who uses it daily and comes close to depleting his battery and then charges it.

When you verify this on any google pages - as you should any information you find on a forum that has a significant impact on how you handle expensive equipment - please look around. I noticed plenty of pages that had their facts mixed up about the matter - quite confusing when I first got my T40P too.

 

[Tikerz]

Don't leave the battery in while you are on AC power. Only charge the battery when the notebook is off. This prevent a cycling effect which shortens your battery life. Also, if you plan on not using your battery for an extended period of time, leave it at around 30-40% charge when you store it. This increases battery life as well.

 

[Mday]

when you get the laptop, go to the power config menu, which is in the display properties under screen savers... calibrate the battery, what the system will do is charge the battery, then drain, then recharge the battery. this way xp will give you an accurate power reading for the battery. i recommend calibration 2x a year. if you dont know what i am referring to, a simple google search will help. leave the system on (disable hibernation or whatnot) during the calibration period.

that's about it, you can leave the battery in while on AC. ppl who tell you otherwise are old school laptop users.

 

[Schlocemus]

Originally posted by: Tikerz
Don't leave the battery in while you are on AC power. Only charge the battery when the notebook is off. This prevent a cycling effect which shortens your battery life. Also, if you plan on not using your battery for an extended period of time, leave it at around 30-40% charge when you store it. This increases battery life as well.

I don't have a T40, but an Inspiron 8500 and I know it explicitly states in the manual that "You can leave the battery in the computer as long as you like. The battery internal circuitry prevents the battery from overcharging." Is there any documented material supporting this "cycling effect" shortening battery life (also about storing at 30-40% charge)?

Thanks

 

[Tikerz]

Originally posted by: Schlocemus

Originally posted by: Tikerz
Don't leave the battery in while you are on AC power. Only charge the battery when the notebook is off. This prevent a cycling effect which shortens your battery life. Also, if you plan on not using your battery for an extended period of time, leave it at around 30-40% charge when you store it. This increases battery life as well.

I don't have a T40, but an Inspiron 8500 and I know it explicitly states in the manual that "You can leave the battery in the computer as long as you like. The battery internal circuitry prevents the battery from overcharging." Is there any documented material supporting this "cycling effect" shortening battery life (also about storing at 30-40% charge)?

Thanks

Battery University

 

[Schlocemus]

Some of the stuff on that website seemed rather confusing -- is it simply based off experience?

There are no remedies to restore lithium-ion once worn out. A momentarily improvement in performance is noticeable when heating up the battery but the high internal resistance will revert to its former state with normal temperature.

Short discharges with subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge.

If possible, store the battery in a cool place at about a 40% state-of-charge. This reserve charge is needed to keep the battery and its protection circuit operational during prolonged storage.

Does anyone know the science behind this? Once warmed past operating temperature, it would seem that performance should decrease. From the chart on the page, it is assumed that 0 degrees Celsius is the optimum storage temperature, and that storing at 40% charge (as indicated) keeps the protection circuit operational. So why would heating improve performance? In addition, I would think that at the time of the request, the gauge would simply check the potential difference across the terminals?

Doesn't 100% charge also keep the protection circuit operational? Although, my Dell spare battery came with about 40% charge, so perhaps this value has simply been experimentally determined to have the greatest longevity.

Of course, I'm just randomly picking and guessing, so I don't really know what I'm talking about... any engineers out there?

Thanks for the info, btw

(Edit: grammar)

 

[Leeb00]

Originally posted by: esaleris
Make sure you understand the distinction between Lithium-Ion and other types of "memory" batteries.

It is not necessary, perhaps even harmful to try to charge and discharge Li-ion batteries completely. This idea is left over from the Nickel Cadmium days and is one that is propagated by long-time electronics users. It is false and should certainly not be done.

I just got a T40, and read the battery health help in the battery information utility. Here's what IBM says about their batteries:

3. Recondition your battery by letting your battery run to less than 3% at least once a month. Reconditioning the battery can restore some of your battery capacity.



Reconditioning The Battery

Reconditioning your battery can increase the full charge capacity of your battery. It is recommended that you let the battery run to less than 3% at least once a month.

Occasionally, it may be necessary to "deep cycle" your battery one to three times to give it optimum performance. This will require you to let your battery run completely down, and then to recharge it fully. It is recommended that you charge your ThinkPad overnight for a full charge from a deep recharge condition without leaving your ThinkPad powered on. A brand new battery should be fully charged overnight before its first use.

To do this, perform the following steps:

1. Make sure you have saved all of your data, and close all programs.

2. Disable Power Management timer settings so that your ThinkPad keeps working during reconditioning the battery. You need Administrator or Power User privileges on Windows 2000 or later.


a. Record your current power management settings by clicking these buttons.
to view Battery MaxiMiser power scheme settings.
to view OS power scheme settings.
After reconditioning your battery, you might want to restore these settings to your previous settings.


b. Set Battery MaxiMiser Disable Shut-off Timers scheme, by clicking this button.
to set Disable Shut-off Timers scheme.


3. Disable Hibernation and Standby before a battery is fully discharged, by clicking this button.

to set default low battery alarm settings.
Note that you need Administrator or Power User privileges on Windows 2000 or later.

4. Determine your battery chemistry. It will either be Li-Ion or NiMH.

5. Let the battery totally discharge, then let the battery charge.

Perform the following steps if your battery is Li-Ion:

a. Unplug the AC adapter and let the battery totally discharge. The computer automatically goes to standby mode when the battery is fully discharged.

b. With the proper AC adapter, let charge the battery until Battery LED is solid green.

Perform the following steps if your battery is NiMH:

a. Plug in the proper AC adapter .

b. Click Start Refresh button in the Battery Health dialog to start reconditioning your battery. Battery starts discharging. When battery is fully discharged, it will start charging automatically.

c. When the battery LED is solid green, the charge is completed.

 

[eriqesque]

Explain to me this then.
I have done this to the Battery and each time I do the capacity is less and less each time.
The design capcity of the battery is 71.28Wh after following the instructions to a tee
total capacity is 62.45Wh

 

[Schlocemus]

Originally posted by: eriqesque
Explain to me this then.
I have done this to the Battery and each time I do the capacity is less and less each time.
The design capcity of the battery is 71.28Wh after following the instructions to a tee
total capacity is 62.45Wh

Where do you locate the current capacity of your battery?

 

[eriqesque]

Originally posted by: Schlocemus

Originally posted by: eriqesque
Explain to me this then.
I have done this to the Battery and each time I do the capacity is less and less each time.
The design capcity of the battery is 71.28Wh after following the instructions to a tee
total capacity is 62.45Wh

Where do you locate the current capacity of your battery?

You need to have the Maxmiser icon on the taskbar then left click it, choose battery info, there are serveral place in there now to see your capacity and the design capacity but the easiest is to choose battery health on 1st screen.

 

[Schlocemus]

Originally posted by: eriqesque

Originally posted by: Schlocemus

Originally posted by: eriqesque
Explain to me this then.
I have done this to the Battery and each time I do the capacity is less and less each time.
The design capcity of the battery is 71.28Wh after following the instructions to a tee
total capacity is 62.45Wh

Where do you locate the current capacity of your battery?

You need to have the Maxmiser icon on the taskbar then left click it, choose battery info, there are serveral place in there now to see your capacity and the design capacity but the easiest is to choose battery health on 1st screen.

Any way for non-IBM users? (3rd party programs or other...)

 

[eriqesque]

Sorry that I don't know I assumed you were refering to an IBM