9 Cell or Ultrabay Slim Battery

Just got a T61p w/ a 6-cell battery (like how it sits flush), but am interested in buying another backup battery just in case. Does anyone know what the battery life comparison is between the 9-cell battery (that I'd just swap out the 6-cell for) and the ultrabay slim battery (lenovo site says it's 3-cell)?

I don't really mind swapping the battery out and the prices are similar, so all I really care about is the capacity of the two batteries, just having some trouble finding out what they are.

Thanks!

 

In terms of what I've read, is that the scheme doesn't really work well. It is not as if there is meaning load sharing between the batteries. One is totally exhausted before the other is used in a way that is not good for the battery itself.

 

Depending on you power settings and video card, you can get approx. 4-4.5 hrs on a 9-cell and probably an extra hour or hour-half with the 3-cell.

 

I just ordered the ultrabay battery for the T61. Paid 118$. Will tell you how it goes when I get it.

 

Remember to not drain the battery until 0%. Eject it when it reaches ~5% at least.

I've always been curious of the UltaBay battery. Looking forward to your mini-review of it.

 

I want to pose a challenge to all you battery guys who always tell everyone on these boards to "eject at 5 percent" or crap like that. Buy 2 batteries. Run 1 down to 0 percent for 200 cycles, run the other down to 5 percent for 200 cycles.

If you can show me that the end result is any more then a +/- 10-20 cycles difference on total lifespan I'd be shocked and amazed. Is it really worth watching and staring at your battery meter while using your computer to pop it out at 5 percent to save yourself a handful of cycles?

0 percent IS NOT ZERO PERCENT IN TRUTH!!!!! There is power still left in the battery when your meter reads 0 percent. 0 percent is the level deemed safe to discharge your battery to without damage. If you are so concerned about your batter why even use it at all? Store it at 40 percent in the freezer the minute you get it and don't even worry about it! You guys kill me how paranoid you are about saving a handfull of cycles.

If you really are into this kind of thing I'm not saying don't do it, but I do think the information spread from person to person on this board is a little blown out of proportion some times. Your ultra bay battery WON'T DIE after 20 cycles if you run it to zero percent. I run mine down to zero percent nearly every time and after 50+ cycles, guess what....... it's fine and still gives me 1h to 1h15m!!! Just like when I got it!

Now, to the OP, the 9 cell will obviously FAR outperform the ultrabay battery. The question is how much battery life do you want/need?

 

There have already been experiments on battery life and posted results of fully discharging and charging constantly. Have you read the Battery Guide?

Where do you see that Zero Percent is deemed safe. Do you have any sources?

I don't think I've read anywhere the the UltraBay battery will die after 20 cycles, but I'm pretty positive that constantly draining down to Zero and then back up to 100% is much harsher than maintaining a 5% charge and then charging it back up. I think I may have even read posts on the Forum of the UltraBay Battery dying faster than normal unless it's properly taken it before full disharge.

It's not the number cycles that matter, it's the life of the battery.

 

My 8-cell Travel Battery in nx8220 was bought in June 2005. Still works well (in the same regime: it is discharged first to "0%" before the system switches to the main battery - I estimate it has survived c.a. 300-400 full cycles.)

PS
They are all Li-Ion (either Li-Polymer) but I think the batteries differ in the technological nuances - for instance, a manufacturer would like to sacrifice some amount of a "emergency margin" to provide a higher capacity at the cost of battery lifespan (and vice versa) .

 

ACK!!! Ok, another pet peeve of mine is people blindly quoting the damned battery guide on here. Yes, the guide is informative, but it's like giving a herd of sheep a cliff to walk off of, everyone follows the leader. I've looked through the guide, yes, there are no experiments in that guide. Nobody bought two batteries, setup a controlled environment, and actually tested all those conclusions. The battery guide is simply a collection of links provided by a random assortment of sources. Certainly the guy that wrote it knows some things, and has done much reading, but I didn't see any controlled experiments in there. I can play this game though.

Straight from your own bible:

Li-Ion cells are permanently damaged when their charge drops below certain levels. If the voltage gets too low, the battery will stop working and become unsafe to use. Therefore all systems powered by Li-Ion batteries have a predefined threshold set to shut down at certain levels of discharge. As a result, Li-Ion batteries are made to the exact specifications of the systems they are designed for, and vice-versa. This is where batteries from another system or low-cost generic batteries may not be compatible. If the thresholds of the system and battery do not match, there is a risk of power cutting off at the wrong moment. This may lead to unsaved work being lost, data corruption, or irreversible battery damage.

Batteries shut down while the voltage levels in their cells is still safe. It won't damage the battery to go to 0 percent.

Again from the bible:

The guideline is actually to avoid frequent or regular complete discharges. I believe I said something like a series of partial discharges will result in less permanent capacity loss than a single complete discharge.

The calibration is a bit of a necessary evil when looked upon in that light though. You need to do it to keep your battery's fuel gauge accurate. And there will be capacity loss regardless of what you do--all you can do is try to slow the process if it's worth it to you to do so.

I personally just enjoy the convenience and am prepared to shell out for a new battery if this one gets too weak before I'm itching for a new notebook (not likely).

So don't read too much into it, take the meaning out of his words. Yes, full discharges will result in less capacity. Drastic? Hardly, but yes less. An important question to ask is does this decreased capacity result from the 'harshness' of discharging a cell more? Or is it simply because you are using it more? I like to think of Lithium Ion batteries as having a lifespan measured more in power and time rather then cycles. Time will age the battery and result in less capacity. Passing power through the batter, whether a discharge or charge will decrease the life of the battery. So yes, using the battery more will obviously wear it more. But the whole point of the battery is to use it! Of course if you don't use it it'll last longer. But what's the point of it. Take the authors last statement and consider it a little harder. The convenience of the battery is what you pay for. If it gets weak from your normal use..... buy a new one! Most the time batteries that give out early aren't from being used too much, it's the shoddy manufacturing. I work for the Navy and our mil spec lithium ion batteries endure THOUSANDS of full discharge cycles without giving out on us. But to each his own. Like I said in my original post, if this is your thing, by all means. I'm just saying don't loose perspective. The battery is there to be used, and discarded, not obsessed over. It's not worth the time and money.

 

Okay lets stop arguing each of can do what we want with our own battery

 

I agree jooooeee and let me apologize first if I came across harsh at all. Online discussions don't convey emotion very well but I intend this as a discussion. I don't want to say anyone's wrong with how they use their own computer, read and make your own informed decisions!

 

Can you set it up so that the ultrabay battery gets discharged last?

 

Unfortunatly no. I think it would be a great addition to the Lenovo power manager software if you could control how the ultrabay battery was used. I would prefer to load balance the 2 batteries more (I have double the cycles on the Ultra bay as my in laptop battery). Sometimes now when I know I don't need a lot of time I just leave the ultra bay out so that I use the battery in the laptop more. I'd prefer they both age at a roughly equal rate so if I ever need to replace them I can do them both at once.

 

So has anyone even written a review on the ultra bay battery? There are many different kinds on the lenovo site. Which one is best? Currently the 6,7,9 cell batteries are 1-2 months back ordered.

 

Best is subjective. It all depends on your goal. I can tell I had the Ultrabay battery for my R60. It was at less than 50% capacity after four months since it always discharges first, it wears out quickly. If you need lots of battery life, I'd suggest the nine cell as a place to start.

 

Which ultra bay battery did you get? the advanced one? I am really worried about the weight and the battery sticking out an inch at the back. Which battery do you have? how long does it last you?

 

There's only one UltraBay battery as far as I know. Presently I have the nine-cell. Various settings, most importantly the screen brightness, will effect the battery life. With the screen at full brightness I get about four hours battery life. If I dim the screen on 4/7 it goes about five and a half hours.