how to know if battery is new or used? - W500

I bought a 6 cells battery off ebay for my W500, it came with plastic bag inside a box, didn't seem lenovo's

i want to know if it was new or used? any software i can use on ubuntu linux or vista ?

Thanks

 

You can check the cycle count (number of charge/discharge cycles) using Lenovo's power manager in Vista.

Right click on the battery icon (Lenovo one, not Windows one) and select " Launch Power Manager". Switch to advanced (top right) and then the Battery tab. Scroll down for the specifics.

If the battery is new you should see the following:

• Full Charge Capacity ≥ Design Capacity (listed lower)
• Cycle Count ≤ 2
• Manufacture Date ≤ 3 months from today is preferred
• First used Date should be when you got it
• Mine is also a Sanyo with a Lenovo FRU of 42T4564

This may also be a good time to consider charge thresholds. This will help you maintain long battery life over the entire life of the battery. Click on Battery Maintenance and Custom. I prefer a start at 60% and stop at 95% for the balance of reduced cycles and adequate battery life.

 

well i bought the 6 cells to use it when im plugged into power to avoid destroying my 9 cells

i cant risk taking out the battery and power might trip for any reason and lose my valuable work

i heard having the power always connected will destroy the battery with time, correct me if im wrong?

thanks

 

Yes. I let it stop at 39 percent upon people's recommendations.
http://www.batteryuniversity.com/

 

what is cycle count? i have a 12 there. the rest of the parameters is as you say.

 

Lenovo will tell you with the number of recharges that it's had.

Renee

 

Cycle count is the number of charge/discharge cycles your battery has had. The current number depends on how long you have had your Thinkpad and the way you use it.

If you use your laptop on battery every day and charge it every night, you will have 1 cycle (or more) for every day you have used your laptop.

Conversely, if your laptop is usually plugged in, or you use charge thresholds to reduce cycles it may be much lower. For example, I have had my x200 Tablet for 6 weeks, use it everyday, and only have cycled the battery about 10 times.

Laptop batteries are consumable devices. Each charge discharge cycle will slightly reduce the maximum charge capacity. I cycled the battery that shipped with my T40 500+ times, and towards then end it would only hold about 1/4 of original capacity (naturally I bought a replacement).

 

Leaving the power connected with the battery at full charge will destroy it (reduce maximum charge capacity) over time. However, if you use charge thresholds you can substantially reduce the risk to your battery.

The principle concern is getting your battery warm (laptop plugged in and running) while it is at a full 100% charge. By using charge cycles (e.g. 60%/95% in my case) you can ensure that the battery is not normally at full charge even when plugged in. If you plug it in between these thresholds (e.g. 71%), the battery will remain idle and become active only if you lose power or unplug your computer.

This can substantially improve battery longevity while maintaining the convenience/automatic UPS of a built in battery, and saving you the hassle of swapping your 6 and 9 cell batteries on a regular basis.

I would suggest you normally use the battery that provides enough of a charge for you on a daily basis (6 cell if it's enough, or 9 cell if it isn't) and leave the other battery at ≈40% in a drawer for days when you need additional charge. You can then charge up the battery before a plane trip or other situation that you need the extra battery life of a live spare.

 

Thanks jonlumpkin for the detailed reply! please find my answers inline

58.85Wh > 56.16Wh

its currently 3 but i think i already charged it two or 3 times so i think its me

unfortunately not its 2007-09-16 ! is that too bad ?

its 2008-12 i believe its me since i just got it

its Sanyo but unfortunately its 42T4504

i can set this on windows, but unfortunately i'm a linux ubuntu user i dont think this is possible for me right ?

 

The early manufacturing date could be an issue because Li-Ion batteries do have a shelf life (especially if stored at room temperature or higher) from the date of manufacture. However, because usable capacity is above design capacity you should be okay (just make sure this doesn't drop really quickly in the next few weeks).

Don't be concerned about the battery FRU number. I have an x200 tablet and you have a W500. These computers use different battery designs so naturally they will have different FRUs (Field Replacement Units [basically an internal Lenovo SKU for parts]).

The charge thresholds are actually written to the battery itself (or perhaps a hardware controller) rather than performed in software. Therefore, you can set the charge thresholds in Windows and a powered off computer, or one running Linux, will respect them. I triple boot my x200 Tablet and if I plug it in at 71% under Ubuntu it just sits idle (my battery starts charging at 60%). However, if you ever need to change thresholds you will need to boot into Windows as I have not found a control for this under Linux.

Therefore, I would say you got a decent battery. It has not been used, but it may have been sitting on a shelf for a few months (I believe the W500 uses the same batteries as the T61 widescreen).

 

you can also install RMClock and there it shows information for the battery, like how many watts is it's total charge, and what the designed total charge was at first .. thus conclude it's wear level somewhat.

 

True. However, the ThinkPad power manager provides all this information as well, so why install a second application?

 

^ to undervolt the CPU

I don't have the power manager