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IBM 600 Series Laptops and Flaky Batteries?
netdemonboberb asks:
"I don't know where else we should turn, because no site will write articles on [this subject] and IBM is denying that their IBM 600 series laptops have flaky batteries. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute distributed these laptops to freshman students in 1999 and almost everyone I knew in my class had this issue. Ralph Levien's page has suggested it appears to be an issue with the 'Smart Monitoring' circuitry.
I'm writing this article to get the issue out in the open so IBM can no longer deny it. These batteries are expensive, and I have had to replace mine 4 times already. Can anyone who reads/maintains slashdot help or provide any advice on getting resolution for this?" I must say that from personal experience, I've wondered if this might be the case as well. I have an IBM Thinkpad 600e laptop and I've already gone through 2 batteries. The laptop is currently inactive as it must be tied to the wall if it is to be used. Has anyone else experienced shorter-than-average battery life using these laptops? Were you able to do anything to improve the battery life?
Your standard nimh cell should last for over 1000 discharge/charge cycles and will not be affected by "topping up" (read unlike nicd memory problem).
Even if you killed your battery and charged it every day this battery should still last close to 3 years. This guys talking about 4 batterys. Thats completely unacceptable.
On another note my compaq presario 1210 model had a zillion power problems with the smart monitoring stuff. But that was more in the fact that the computer would not charge the battery as it always thought it was full.
Wrong. The more you use your battery the longer they last. If you have a laptop and never take it out of the dock (like tons of users in my office building) after a few years the battery will be shot. But if you take it off the dock and use it without being plugged in (ie. only on battery power) the batterys tend to last a LOT longer. I have seen perfectly fine working laptop batterys from the mid and early 90's and others that are just a few years old that don't work worth a Beowolf cluster....
Ack! NO!!!! Not for lithium cells!
If you actually managed to fully drain a lithium battery, you would run the risk of polarity reversal. That is BAD! Part of the reason lithium battery packs have a microchip is to shut them off before they fully discharge. The chip also regulates the charge cycle so they don't grenade from overcharging.
NiCD batteries develop a charge memory and must be conditioned. NiMH batteries do to but to a much lesser extent. Lead acid batteries are the exact opposite, keep 'em charged up at all times.
Just remember, who's lap it's on top of.
Thinkpads use lithium ion cells which have an average cycle life of only 500. You can get ones which reach upto 2000 cycles but they tend to be very specialized.
I worked support for Dell's portable computers a year ago. Dell warrenties batteries for 1 year and expects then to fail after 1.5-2 years. The life span is mostly based on usage, more cycles, shorter life. However, batteries that are never used will still fail in about the same time frame. (The engineers were always denying this, but my guess would be it is because the system gives the battery a short charge everytime it is turned on) If you use the system often, four batteries in as many years is pretty average (most power users get less than a year). IBM and dell use batteries from the same manufacturer(s) so I'd expect simialr results. (heck, if we're being honest, almost every laptop sold is built by one company on one assembly line).
My $.02 USD
Mark