Notebook Battery Health

hi i have thinkpad x300 which i bought nearly 2 years ago.
- it still got warranty (has 413 days left).

it is equipped with the 6-cell extended battery.

anyway, i rarely use the computer on battery. but when i do i usually got 4 hours of use.

yesterday it popped me a message saying that i only have 72% of battery health remaining.

now i'm estimated to only have 2-hours of a single full charge.

now the battery has only gone a 20 cycle count.

generally, from what i know; shouldn't a li-ion battery achieve 3years/400cycles until it reach 80%?

i have a macbook pro 17" that has recently reached its 3 years. and it still gets a decent 4 hours and it only has been used on battery for only several time in that 3 years. why is this ultra-portable with its low-voltage processor only manages 2 hours after less than 2 years of usage?

is this battery health normal/acceptable?

will lenovo be able to give me a replacement battery?

 

Batteries will deteriorate with time, whether you use it or not - albeit not at the same rate as if you use it frequently.

There is only one year warranty on Lenovo batteries unless one buys a 3-year warranty option specifically for the battery. Hence, they are not obliged to support you in this case. Btw, even if your laptop was purchased about 2 years ago, the battery might be slightly older. Check the manufacturer date in Power Manager.

In any event, word of advise for future batteries: Use it at least once a week to "exercise" it. This is better than always having it on AC.

As for your Macbook. Are you sure it will still get 4 hours? Is it just 'estimated' 4 hours or 'actually tested' 4 hours? The reason for asking is that you mentioned that the X300 battery was 'estimated' at 2 hours. Estimates provided by power managing software can often be inaccurate by a large margin - sometimes because the chip in the battery is not communicating correctly with the laptop/software.

 

hello,

the macbook is run from 100% to around 10%. i get around 4 hour.

the x300 is running from 100% 10% in a less than 2 hours.

the macbook browsing the web, with itunes running in the background. (wifi off)

the thinkpad is (very light) browsing the web with mail app running in the background. (wifi on, bluetooth on - only using it for bluetooth mouse). i can see the battery percentage dwindling quite quickly.

if i remember correctly the battery is manufactured quite fresh (same month) before the notebook is assembled and shipped to me.

 

if you are not using your battery very often, keep it charged between 40 to 60%, if you keep the battery fully charged all the time without using it, then it will deteriorate. 20 cycles in nearly 2 years seem to be bit low in the no. of uses and that would cause your battery to degrade since you most likely have kept the charge at above 90%.

However, you may recover some of the lost charge by doing a battery reset from Thinkvantage power manager, under battery -> battery maintenance -> perform reset.

 

In that case, it is quite impressive that you can still squeeze out 4 hours after 3 years. How often have you been using it and how long were you able to run it for when it was brand new?

 

I have an x301 with a 6cell/ 3cell setup (added the 3 cell recently for added time while traveling, since I was jealous of someone's x201's 9 cell capacity)

I have had the 6 cell in service for about 10 months with about 200 cycles on it, and the battery has about 83% health remaining.... the time on battery really is hard to gauge since I dont use it all in one sitting and put it in sleep mode A LOT.

With that being said.... I have an ACER (worst purchase ever) which I put a new batter in this summer, and my wife uses the battery wont even work on charge for 5 mins now... which is because she never took it off the charger for 3 months...

If you are looking for a good deal on a 3cell battery (which goes in the dvd slot) I got mine at CDW on clearance for only 56 dollars... they may still have some, they were sell all x300 batteries since the laptop is no longer being made.

 

not as often as i would have like. once or twice a week.

i think when it was new it last for around the 4-5 hour mark.

i'm doing manual battery calibration right now by running running down the battery (to around 10%).

that is very awkward. how long have you have this battery for? most company offers 1 year warranty for the battery.

 

Acer laptops in the past few years have been a hit and miss affair, their quality is slowly improving as they move upmarket (well more like into the middle of the market) with their laptops, rather than chasing the lower end of the consumer laptop market.

As said, you should use your battery at least once every 2 weeks to ensure that the whole battery is in good nick.

Also, incidentally do you have the Sanyo celled version?

 

how do i check for this?

 

Open ThinkPad Power manager, switch to Advanced and select the battery tab. You should find the manufacturer name listed.

 

thanks thegreat ,

i did this; and indeed it is SANYO!

the Manufacturing date is: 2008-12-27
first use date is: 2009-02

design capacity = 43.20Wh
current full charge capacity = 31.10Wh

cycle count = 21

and the battery condition is going downhill. 2 days ago its 73%, yesterday its 72%, now its 71%!

 

so you have already tried the battery reset? This rapid degradation means your battery probably have a faulty cell or two.

 

i tried doing manual reset yesterday.

i'm doing auto reset (with software) as we speak.

would lenovo cover this?

 

battery usually only have one year warranty and there is currently no recall on X30x batteries.

 

wow good news!

after doing the battery calibration for the second time (this time via software). my battery now reported good condition!

it is now 87% of the original capacity.
37.29/43.20Wh to be more precise.

i have now since change the charge threshold to (Optimize for Battery Lifespan). is this a good idea?

or should i just do custom. eg. 40%-80%?

 

capacity of battery not liner value. Depends of many value. Usual work of Power manager do not exact result. Only full charge and discharge provides accurate information about the remaining capacity of battery.

Optimize for Battery Lifespan - only reduces the degradation of the elements themselves (which begins on its own since their production).

 

for your case this is better solution.

 

i do the 40 to 95% threshold. 87% after 2 years is pretty good.

 

My 6-cell T43 battery manufactured by Panasonic:

Full Charge Capacity: 44.32Wh (85.5%)
Design Capacity: 51.83Wh
Cycle Count: 312
Manufacture Date: 2005-07-22
First used date: 2005-11

 

Well you can't compare sony and sane cell battery with panasonic. I am still using the t40's panasonic battery, when the sanyo battery on my t500 has just died after 13 months of using it with 198 cycles on it.

 

Has anyone tried Lenovo's Battery gauge reset tool?
Is it better than manual charging-discharging cycles?