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    battery care

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by richarddd, Aug 22, 2012.

  1. richarddd

    richarddd Notebook Consultant

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    Lenovo toolbox today reported that the battery in my x220 is in poor condition and I'm getting a warranty replacement.

    The phone rep suggested:

    1) Do the initial charge overnight, not when using the notebook

    2) Run the battery reset function in battery maintenance in power management (which charges, discharges and recharges the battery) every six months.

    Do you agree?

    I usually run the notebook on AC power, only using the battery for brief periods. I was thinking of using the existing battery for these purposes and only use the new battery when travelling. What's the best way to store the new battery when not in use? Full charge in a cool dry place? Something else?
     
    richarddd, Aug 22, 2012
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  2. GomJabbar

    GomJabbar Notebook Consultant

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    I read sometime back that if you do not charge your battery to 100%, you will get somewhat better battery life. I have been doing that with my X220, which I have had over a year. I set my charging thresholds to start charging at 85% and stop charging at 90%.

    So far my battery info is as follows:
    Design Capacity: 63.00 Wh
    Full Charge Capacity: 61.85 Wh
    Cycles: 63
    Manufacturer: Sanyo
    Manufacture Date: 2011-02
    First Used Date: 2011-04

    EDIT: I have not used the battery reset feature, but have essentially accomplished the same effect by accident when I was running on battery thinking the AC adapter was plugged in. A couple of times the battery ran all the way down because the adapter plug was not fully inserted into the back of the X220.
     
    GomJabbar, Aug 23, 2012
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  3. richarddd

    richarddd Notebook Consultant

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    From Lenovo and thinkwiki:

    http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=PFAN-3QNQJN

    Maintenance - ThinkWiki

    thinkwiki recommends keeping battery 30%-85% charged. "avoid charging if battery is nearly full, unless you will need its full capacity soon; keep it on the 30%-85% charged range"

    It agrees with the phone reps idea to do discharge cycles periodically "fully discharge, then fully charge battery when needed to recalibrate fuel gauge; newer battery pack models require this less often, old ones might need it as often as every 30 cycles"

    For storage, the recommendation is 40% at 10-15c. How to do this? Refrigerators are typically around 5c.
     
    richarddd, Aug 23, 2012
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