[Thinkpad] Battery Use

I've discovered some things with ThinkPad batteries as of late. Based on
requirements from IBM, to "recondition" a battery, I would use the battery
all the way to "empty". Then I would immediately recharge the battery only
to find that it gave me less time as it did before. It seemed by following
this advice only was killing my batteries. So I stopped doing that and
resorted to "topping it off every now and again when I did use the battery.
This seemed to do a better job at keeping my battery capacity at an even
level. The last couple times I did use my battery down to nothing, I took
the battery out before plugging in the A/C. After the battery cooled down,
I put the battery back in to recharge while the machine was not being used.
This has been keeping the battery capacity at the same level now for quite
some time! It also seems that I can get the same output of the battery more
consistently. So my advice is the following:

1. Use the battery when you need to.
2. Top it off after such use - only when the battery is cool and when
the machine is off. I have charged the battery while using the computer
when the battery had 93% charge or greater with no effect.
3. Charge down the battery once a month as IBM suggests to recondition
the battery.
4. Let the battery cool.
5. Recharge the battery when the machine is not being used - overnight.

I have found that this has been keeping my battery capacity at a constant
level. If there is something I'm missing, please discuss.

George

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Received on Fri Mar 5 08:16:34 2004