Replacing and Calibrating Thinkpad Battery?

Ey guys, I just got a new battery for my T60 and I was wondering if I need to fully charge it before using it. Also, how should I go about calibrating it to ensure better battery life? Should I first fully charge it then drain, then charge again? Thanks in advance!

 

Charge it to full, run it down, then recharge to full for the first round to ensure that your battery meter reading is correct (eliminating memory effect).

Remove the battery from your notebook if you use your machine on AC power most of the time. Constant charging will shorten your battery life.

Your battery has an average life of 5,000 charge cycles. This again depends on your care for it.

Each unused battery needs to be charged every 6 mth to maintain healthy battery condition.

To calibrate, double-click on the little battery-icon on the bottom-right of your screen. (I am not refering to that battery meter icon.)

Choose the selection which says allowing system to auto-select battery level threshold.

 

Thanks for the response man. But if I set my Thinkpad to not charge until below 85% for example, won't it not charge when turned off, even if the AC adapter is still connected to it? I am thinking of testing it out, but please let me know if any one knows the answer to this. Thanks!

 

Yes you may.

Also for your information, even if you run on AC power your battery will still drop about 1% to 2% each day. Gradually it will reach your 85% to trigger a charging process.

Hope this answers.

 

How can I set my battery charge level to 90%? Currently, my battery is charging to 100%. Will the charging of the battery continue even after it has been charged fully when connected to AC? Is the answer to the previous question true for both when the computer is ON and OFF?
Thank You

 

I have attached a screenshot so you can see how to set your charge level limit to i.e. 90%. In the example shown, I have set it to start charging when below 60% and stop charging at 90%. You will find the page under Power Manager > Battery Information > Battery Maintenance.

As for your other question. The battery cannot be overcharged and destroyed (as you wrote in a different post). There is a mechanism which prevents this. Li-Ion laptop batteries have built-in controller chips which prevent them from overcharging.

 

Here's a guide which I think you will find useful. There are many opinions about this matter, but I find the information in the guide to be quite valid.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91846

As for calibration/Battery gauge reset, I personally set ThinkVantage Power Manager to notify me when a reset is recommended. In case you don't know where to find it, you can see the ticker box in the screenshot I attached to the previous post.

 

Wow, thanks for the info Jabba! I was looking for a guide like that! So I am going to calibrate my new battery right now... going o charge it to full... run it down, then charge it again. Let me know if there is anything else you think I should do.
Thanks.

 

5000 charges? Damn. I thought it was like 300.

 

Thanks for the guide

 

Well, I just popped in the battery and went to the power manager to view the battery details and noticed that the manufacturing date is 5-24-07, and I just got it last week from NewEgg.com. The battery is pretty much 6 months old and I just got it... Do you guys think I should try to get a replacement? Thanks.

 

I personally wouldn't worry too much about it, but you could always check what their policy is.

How many 'Cycle counts' has it had and when was the 'First used date'? Did you initiate the battery when you got it or has it already been used?

 

It has 0 cycle counts, its first used date is November '07. I don't know what you mean by initiating the battery, but if you mean fully charging it at first, then yes I did do that.

 

Right. Nothing to worry about then Stunner. The reseller cannot be expected to only stock freshly manufactured batteries. It hasn't been used before you and that is the most important thing.

 

Ahh ok man, thanks a lot for the help everyone, especially you Jabba.