bigger battery for W3J?

is it possible to get a battery with higher life length than the one that came default with my laptop?

i mean like... something that'll keep my laptop powered for a longer duration than this measily 2-3 hour battery.

yes, i have the optical battery extension. and yes i am using battery saving mode and it's not long enough.

 

You only get 2-3 hours with both batteries? If I am surfing, doing office tasks, with brightness turned down (3 from the bottom) I get 5 hours. You might need to replace your current battery.

 

would recalibrating my battery work?

because ever since igot the battery, i never used it. i kept it fully charged, unplugged from the laptop. used the laptop on my desk while plugged into the power cable.

i should remeasure the duration my battery can sustain my laptop's life.

 

Keeping your battery at full charge (when you're not using it) is not a good thing to do... that's why most batteries that come with computers (and electronics in general) aren't fully charged by default.
That may have damaged/wore down the battery a bit...

 

Quite a bit, actually.

Download MobileMeter or RMClock, and check the battery characteristics. If the Max Charge is significantly lower than the Designed Max Charge, then the problem is clear: the battery has worn down due to being stored at full charge.

 

MObileMeter says wear is 1%

 

besides the battery's problem,,i prefer your habit of using computer..
usually make sure that brightness of monitor is low,,display card performance level is "maximum battery", and please pay attention to the cpu usage percentage,,always high usage of cpu (virus?) can kill your battery time quickly..
totally i don't think your duration time is not too short..what is more surprised me is CalebSchmerge's 5 hours..could you tell me how you can do these by only 11 (8+3)battery model?
over~~~

 

I disagree. 2-3 hours out of main+modular is way too little. Caleb's 5 hours is more like it.

And the 1% wear doesn't explain it either... Could you give me the numbers? Designed max charge, max charge. How many cells in the battery?

 

Right... main + modular battery should ideally give ~6 hours.
P A U L - are you undervolting the CPU? That might help a bit too...

 

Yup, I easily get 5 hrs out of the two batteries. Check wear on both batteries.

 

5 hours is reasonable, and I can push to 6 if I really stretch it. The main battery alone should provide three hours comfortably (i.e. if pushed it could go longer). There seems to be something wrong with the OPs batteries. If wear is only at 1%, I would recommend a nice calibration, to ensure readings are correct and ensure that the batteries are being used fully.

 

how do i "undervolt" the CPU?

i'll give the charge #'s later, i'm kinda sleepy and wanna go to bed with that question ^


thanks

 

main battery:
designed capacity - 69900 mWh
full charge capacity - 68685 mWh
remaining wattage - 67575 mWh

i don't know how many cells are in the battery.


side battery:
designed capacity - 38500
full charge capacity - 39743
remaining wattage - 31317



CalebSchmerge: when you say you lower your monitor brightness, 3rd from the bottom... are you doing this from Power4Gear configuration? 3rd would be... 80%?

 

1. To undervolt, check the Hardware and/or Guide forums. You're sure to find a good guide. Use RMClock it's the best software for that right now.

2. The numbers look right. Something else is wrong.

What is your average discharge rate in MobileMeter?

- Make SURE that you are not running your laptop full-blast all the time, i.e. that the CPU is speedstepping. Also make sure your video card is into Power Saving mode when on battery.
- Check for programs taking 100% of the CPU (or 100% of one core) in the background: adware, spyware, whatever
- If you still get low battery life with the things above solved, there is something else wrong. Post back. Maybe a BIOS + ACPI(ATK) driver update will help, or else perhaps the batteries are misbehaving -- but they look right from the numbers.

 

average discharge is 30-35 watts.

i calibrated the battery while i was sleeping, and my main batter gained 3% wear -_-

the second battery lost some full charge capacity too but is still at 0%


btw, when i woke up, my laptop was off... is that normal?

 

how old is your computer? I have had mine about 2 years and now am at 25% wear lvl (Designed Capacity 69900, Fully charged Capacity 52350) and I get about 2 hours max, usually less b/c I often use my comp photoshop, or other mem/cpu intesive stuff.

 

i've had it less than a year.

yesterday, before i calibrated:

-i set my display card to "Optimal Battery Life" mode whenever my laptop is unplugged from DC.
-set CPU to 50% it's normal speed, so it ran at 766MHz. down from 1.66GHz
-set the brightness to 80% it's normal from Power4Gear

laptop lasted exactly 3 hours....

BUT!

-i have a cooling panel thing sitting underneath my laptop, which is powered via USB from the laptop.

-was using the internet heavily.... well, mostly downloading stuff in the background via torrent, etc.

-i had a USB2.0 hub plugged into my laptop as well, which houses an external HDD that has it's own power supply. the HUB itself also has its own power supply.

-a printer, that is always on via powersave mode.

-and an ipod video.


i figure none of these will be plugged into my laptop when i'm actually using it away from home.

but would it be possible that all these things would drain 2 hours of life from my laptop? perhaps i should test it again with all these unplugged.

and uhm... oh, i'm sure this'll also drain life... but bluetooth is on with a mouse communicating with it.


what is the best, or recommended way of charging a battery, yet not to full charge?

 

"btw, when i woke up, my laptop was off... is that normal?"
Yes, calibration charges to full and then discharges to empty and shuts down the laptop.

The discharge rate is a bit high -- and it's certainly the cause of the poor battery life. On my V6J, I average 22W with maxima around 27W in normal usage.

You should try disconnecting all the peripherals, and see what is your discharge rate with the wireless on. If for instance it is 25W, then you can expect:

35 / 25 * current battery life = 4.2 hours

as battery life on the go, which is much more reasonable.

Furthermore, the LCD is a big consumer. By turning down brightness to a readable level which is less than full brightness you can save quite some minutes worth of charge.

Other than that, with this amount of peripherals it seems that it's indeed a matter of power consumption.

Try updating BIOS if you don't have the latest they sometimes make power usage improvements in newer BIOSes.

 

& I still suggest you check for processes taking a lot of CPU, except the normal ones (e.g., the downloader, I know DC++ can take a lot of CPU). You might be affected by malware. Even if the CPU is capped at 50% speed, if it is running full-blast at that speed it will eat a significant amount of power.

Oh boy, also forgot to answer the best charge state.

To store the battery, discharge to around 45%. Then unplug the batt and store in a cool, dry place.

PS: I think I deserve a rep+

 

lol, I wish I did that to my battery in hind sight, the battery being so big and all, I figured it was integral to the w3j, of course it isnt, but it looks so empty with it not in.

 

I agree, my W3j discharge rate is at or below 25 when I am in power saving modes. Bluetooth is a big drain. WiFi could be as much as 20-30 min across the 5 hours that I get. Check for something running. How often is your HDD light on, and what hard drive do you have in there (the original, or did you upgrade it)?

 

all usb gadgets are unplugged from my laptop.

it is currently powering bluetooth for mouse and wifi for internet.

LCD brightness has been lowered to 20% via Power4Gear

my discharge rate is 22-25 watts.

however, the battery icon in my systray estimates 2:36 hours of battery life. (i only have the main battery in, with CD drive back in its place)

is this... normal?


btw: i'm sort of a lay user... how do i undervolt the CPU with RMclock? or.. what should i set it to, rather?

i have a 5200RPM HDD.. original

 

In reply to the first reply to my post

Do not store your battery on the shelf unless you really don't use it (e.g., weeks pass at a time without you needing it).

With 22-25 watts you should be getting close to 5 hours with both batteries. Which means 3 hours +/- with the main battery. Which means your numbers look about right.

Be aware that the estimate will vary according to current tasks, the only way to really tell is to actually work on battery and see how much it lasts.

Don't exaggerate with lowering the brightness. Don't kill your eyes for an extra half hour of battery, it's not worth it.

 

so.. then.. maybe 50%?

and since i'm too lazy to go 1 page back, then back here to post. who mentioned RMclock for undervolting? plase teach me

 

brightness %: whatever you're comfortable with.

As to RMclock, many tutorials out there. Make sure you get one specialized on core duos. For pentium M the lowest multiplier voltage can be lowered, for core duos and later no.

 

A lot of people report a better battery life if they don't have the CD drive in (even if they don't use it) but use the blank tray instead. You might try that. Otherwise, you look to be on target.

 

cool, thanks everyone!

 

wait, 'nother question.

instead of swapping out the CD drive with the plastic insert...

think it'd be ok to just disable the drive from Device Manager? or just "Safely Remove Hardware" minus physically removing it?

 

In theory. I never tested much. I only put the CD drive in when I really need it, otherwise I use my battery or the tray.

 

I think safe removal should be fine, usually that means power is cut to the device. You can try and see if the drive still ejects after safe removal -- if so, it still has power which means it still consumes power

 

schweeet

i save removed, and the drive doesn't open.


hmm.. i currently have 1gb RAM, would upgrading to 4gb make my laptop use more watts? lol

 

Not significantly.

I suggest not upgrading to 4GB many mainboards, BIOSes, and operating systems have problems with that. I suggest 2 or if you plan on upgrading to Vista, 3GB. (although there were some problems with 3, as well)

The laptop industry is not really ready currently to reliably work with 4GB RAM.

 

would it be cheaper for me to buy my own RAM and install?

is installing RAM into a laptop similar to installing it into a desktop? never really opened a laptop before...

 

Definitely the only way to go is buy and install yourself.

Look for "W3J disassembly". In general either the RAM is under a quick-access panel at the bottom; or under the keyboard, for which you need to unscrew the K> screws on the belly of the notebook, then unlatch the latches along the F1-F12 keys (usually 4 latches), pull the keyboard towards yourself, and you have access.

Sometimes one slot is on the belly and another under keyboard.

Very easy to do. Just make sure you have the correct type of RAM (usually SODIMM DDR2, don't buy RAM slower than FSB but at least as fast).

 

i just bought Kingstons PC-5300 DDR-667

one 1GB, and one 2GB.

...i wonder what i'm gonna do with the DDR-333 1GB that my laptop came with... EBAY!
i w ill sleep now while i MemTest my current RAM so i can sell it.

thanks for all your input, E.B.E.!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but DDR is PC-1600 PC-2100 PC-2700 PC-3200. PC5300 is DDR-2, so it will not work in a DDR-based computer. Please check and cancel your order if needed.

CPU-Z will give you a clear description of your current type of RAM. Given it's a W3 J, I think it should have DDR2... DDR was being phased out at about the same time as Pentium Ms. Please check to make sure.

Anyway, once this is solved:
I suggest run the laptop for a few weeks with the 1+2 config, see if it runs smoothly (to avoid 3GB-related performance issues). If it does work smoothly, you can sell your old 1GB.

 

I checked the specs I think W3J is DDR2 so you should be fine.

But the correct name for your current RAM cannot be DDR-333.

 

The RAM isn't too hard to change on a W3J. There is one slot under the main access door on the bottom. The other is under the keyboard. You will have to remove the other keyboard screw, then pop the tabs at the top of the keyboard to get the keyboard out. Be careful for the ribbon cable, it needs to be released properly. Finally, there is a small metal cover over the RAM slot that is under the keyboard. Remove it (just slide it out) then you can change the RAM. There are some pictures of the underside of the W3j without the main access door and of keyboard removal in my cleaning guide, unfortunately I don't remember which part, just flip through them. The links are in my signature.

 

thanks, CalebSchmerge!


E.B.E., you're right, the Kingstons are DDR2, i just... failed to type in the 2... lol

no idea what my current RAM exactly is...
but according to CPU-Z

my RAM is DDR2, but "DRAM Frequency" is 332MHz
"Max Bandwidth" = PC2-5300 (333MHz)
"Frequency" = 333MHz

maybe it is 667???
because when I bootup my laptop, the post says -- somethingsomething 667

if this is true, i bought the dang 1GB kingston for no reason!! lol

 

It's 667, there is a multiplier involved (or some data transfer rate multiplication by some trick, whatever)
And probably the 1GB Kingston is useless, except in the case where you have problems running the 3GB.

 

It should be at 667. It might be an error in reporting. I wouldn't sweat it, I think you bought the right stuff. This is what I have in my W3J (one right now, I will get another one soon). If you need more help on the disassembly stuff, let me know. I can take more pictures/better pictures and make an actual guide for it. I don't know if I will have time for that today, however, but if you think that would be helpful, I can try to do that for you.

 

The stuff is right, the point is the 1GB stick is redundant

 

definitely redundant, at least it passed MemTest86+ while i was asleep...

6 times lol

i guess i could just sell it on ebay for like 10 dollars. since i got the new 1GB stick about 12-15 dollars. 3GB kingstons cost me 50 some dollars total.

as for opening the laptop,CalebSchmerge, i'm sure your four guides will be plenty helpful.

 

Yeah, we're the guys with the guides

As to why CPU-Z reports DDR as 333, check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDR2

The bus clock is 333MHz, hence the report of CPU-Z. But the data transfer rate is double, hence DDR2-667.