New battery calibration process?

Hi everybody...
I just received a new OEM panasonic battery for my cf-19 mk2.
I already did read sticky thread about battery and such...

For the first time of use, do you guys suggest charging the battery 24hrs while the computer is powered off or on?

 

The battery is only going to charge for about 3-4 hours if its dead. After that it will be fully charged...watch for the green "charged" light...meaning fully charged.

 

Not sure that's true, need a new battery to pump as follows - a full discharge to the dead and do not turn on and charge 12:00 repeated three times in a row

 

On my CF-52 with the battery discharged to 15 % it takes about 4 hours and the green light comes...all done charging. My CF-19 will charge for 3 hours and its all fully charge. Once the battery is fully charged the charger will not keep charging. If you put your mouse pointer over the battery it should tell you if its charging or not. If you have one that is taking 12 hours YOU got problems.

 

Battery charge was held 5 minutes, produced in this way three times recharge the battery life 1.5 hours. But will not live long Necessarily new pump! Older preferably once a year

 

A preferance for charging powered OFF to avoid overheating.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/528542-toughbook-batteries-replacements-usage-calibration-feedback-experiences.html

 

Blair,
fleks07 is talking about a full recalibrate. Charge and Discharge. Not just a charge. Not sure if the original poster wants to do a full calibrate or not. They mention calibrate in the thread title, but sounds like a basic charge in his text.

 

Use the battery recalibration once every month if you keep your laptop plugged in most of the time. If you use your laptop a lot on the road and drain it down before you charge... You could probably go every 3-6 months.

But I start out EVERY laptop rebuild with a battery recalibration!

 

Yes that threw me off too, it did not sound like a calibration question...Ricks above post (#8) is the best way to do it .

 

(don't want to start a new thread, so I'll post here, as it's on topic)

I have an issue with my (still new) 19mk4's original battery:
Although it has only 24 cycles, and I go by the guidelines from the sticky battery topic (almost all full charges, from ~10% +/- 5%),
the battery capacity drops suddenly from ~23% to 10%.
I didn't pay much attention at first (so I'm not sure it was right from the beginning), but lately, as I've started using it more frequently, I don't feel so confident, and I'm losing trust in the indication for the remaining runtime.
Details: If I recall correctly, the battery was manuf. in late 2011, and I first used it when I bought the new 19 in oct' 2012.

1) do you think a battery recalibration would correct this ? I should mention that design capacity = last charge capacity, so it's supposed to still 100%.

2) I set the High Temp. mode in BIOS, but it doesn't enable the ECO mode (as other models have) to stop the charging at 80%. How can I achieve this ?

 

I would say it's time to run the battery recalibration. Myself I use battery bar to keep an eye on my battery BatteryBar - CNET Download.com

 

Read post #8 again.

1) Yes.. It should help this.
2) You should only care about the 80% charge limit if you are constantly on AC power. If that is the case... Follow Panasonic's guidelines for battery recalibration and you will be fine. Overall these batteries will take a beating for years. They don't last forever though!

 

thanks. I mostly use the laptop on battery, and charge it when it's ~fully discharged, so I should be good without 80% limit.
But, as it's been 5 months since I started using it, it's time for a recal.

How long does it usually take (with the battery charged as it is now) ?

I want to know, to be able to keep it plugged as long as it needs.

 

If your battery is in good shape then it's going to take 6-8 hours . My 30 took about 7 hours last time I did it. I always run it at night so when I get up it's all done. It all comes down to how good your battery is.

 

I've got several CF-30s right now that took 14+ hours since they have the media bay battery too. But on a single battery... 6-10 hours on mine... A CF-19 should be 5-8 hours total depending on if it needs to be charged before discharge.

 

it's recalibrating now. it took 1hr to charge from 90% to 100%. now it's dicharging... I estimate ~7hrs (1+3dischage+3charge).

 

recal completed this morning. I supposedly lost 10% of capacity... a bit disappointed, after 5 months of usage from a new battery used in a proper way (w/ 25 cycles & 220hrs total cf19 runtime).

Later Edit:

Before the calibration: 100% reported capacity, drop from 23% to 10% in a few seconds
After: 90% reported capacity, there's STILL a drop from ~19% to 10% in a few seconds: see image attached.

 

Thanks for the all replies.
I ordered and received a new oem battery (off the ebay). I placed the battery in the slot, its charging for lets say 15-20 mins then Im getting red flashing light?..I thought something was wrong with my charger so i went ahead and ordered oem charger from amazon (old one was IBM)..and again the same story..
The seller told me its brand new battery never used, but after a couple of minutes charging it ,Im getting flashing red light.
Any ideas?
thanks

 

this doesn't sound too good. the problem with batteries, is that they degrade over time even when stored and not used (especially if it's discharged).
How old is the battery ? (look for the manufacture date in Panasonic PC Information Viewer, or some other battery info program).
I remember reading here about this happening (red light a short while after charging is started). It may be that it's not accepting charges anymore (internal resistance too high, etc).
I'm not 100% sure, but with worn out NiMH cells, the voltage rises quickly to high levels, so the charging circuit stops the charging process, to prevent overheat/fire/etc. Hope that's not the case here.

Did you charge it with the PC off, or on ? leave it off, plugged in, for a few hours at least, maybe it was deeply discharged, and it may start charging eventually.

How many cycles does it have (should be zero, or 1-2), and what's the reported Design Capacity and Last Full capacity) - PC Info Viewer

 

In Panasonic PC Info viewer I can't find manafucture date of the battery.
I tried first with PC off. First couple of minutes it was charging then red blinking light. I tried with PC on and the same thing.
Interesting thing is, while PC is on red flashing light, I took battery out and put it back in, red flashing light is gone, and after couple of minutes its back.
I run this program called BatterCare, and its showing total discharge cycles :0, and design capacty and las full capacity I cant find those either in my pc information viewer.
I apologize for my bad english.
Have no idea what to do with this red blinking light issue. Its blinking red light even if I take the battery out of the laptop

EDIT: Battery model : CF- VZSU48
Total capacity: 60700mWh
Current capacity: 610 mWh
Voltage: 5382mv
Wear level: 0.00%
Last calibration date: No record
Calibrations performed: 0

 

if that voltage is real, then the battery may be unusable: the nominal voltage is 10.65V (~11V).
At 5.3V (if i recall correctly the cell configuration: 3 series * 2 paralel) it means the average Cell voltage is ~1.8V - way too low for a nominal Li-Ion 18650 3.7V Cell.
The current charge level is ~1% (610/60700) which reflects deep discharge the battery pack is in.

There are members here, that have actually replaced the cells in an OEM battery pack, they most likely could give a more correct and detailed diagnosis than I could.

Here is the screenshot on where those infos are shown:
There's the Full Charge Capacity (the batt. capacity last time it was fully charged), the Voltage and the last line: Battery ID.
the last number on the line is the date code: in my case 111006xxxxx which stands for 2011.10.06 (6th of Oct).


I think you should contact the seller and return the battery.

 

Ok thanks for explanation, I saw those numbers but didnt know how to read it.

Thanks alot for all your help and explanation, I think I might go ahead and contact the seller.
I appreciate your help

 

you're welcome. it's too bad you got a bad one.
it's over 5 years old, it's NOT NEW (68 cycles, who knows how many partial charges), and it's practically wasted IMH O(well below minimum voltage & capacity).
unfortunately, batteries are perishable goods... the fresher they are, the better.

 

I've got 20 Li-ion batteries for my CF-M34s. Those batteries are all +/- 10 years old. Most of them still hold a charge for 3 hours. (edited = it is 3 hours , not 2 hours.. hehe)

 

wow, that's impressive. but they were properly maintained. I also have a 5+ year old battery in my CF30, with 600 cycles and a MP one, just as old with 150 cycles. and they still hold a good charge.