How is your Thinkpad Sanyo battery holding up?

I am just wondering how many Lenovo Thinkpad users are having trouble with their Sanyo celled Thinkpad batteries, within 200 charge cycles and 2 years of first use?

 

Well I got my tired Sanyo battery in my T61 so I can post the following results:

Sanyo 42T5262 (6 Cell)

Manufactured Date: 2007-07-25
First Used Date: 2007-09
Cycle Count: 138
Wear Level: 34%
Battery Condition: Poor

Everest Stats:
Designed Capacity: 56160 mWh
Fully Charged Capacity: 36620 mWh

 

X200 battery that i have.

First use date: 2008-12
Manufacturer: Sanyo
FRU part no: 42T4536
Design Capacity: 56.16 Wh
Full charge capacity: 37.04 Wh
Cycle Count: 151
Condition: Good (was Poor prior to the two battery resets)

 

@lead_org...

At what intervals did you do the battery resets?

Thanks

 

usually every 50 (Sanyo) to 80 (Panasonic) charge cycle depending on the battery make.

 

OK. Thanks. I have a Sanyo. So probably, I will do the same.

 

Manufacturer: Sanyo
FRU: 42T4530(T400 9-cell)
Manufactured: 11 Aug 2008
First used: Feb 2009
Cycle Count: 100
Full Charge Capacity: 71.56 Wh
Design Capacity: 84.24 Wh
Condition: Good

It's holding up for now, but I'd like to get a 4-cell and another 9-cell sometime in the not too distant future.

 

Thinkpad X300 with very good Sanyo 6-cell battery

Full charge capacity 39.33 Wh
Number of cycles 488
Production date 02-04-2008
First used 05-2008
Original capacity 43,20

At 91 % of full capacity after almost 500 cycles, is very good performance. I've not done anything special apart from just using the laptop and often having it disconnected from AC.

I also have the bay battery, with 313 cycles and it's down to 79 % battery capacity.

 

Where can I get information regarding to the battery capacity?

 

I thought you weren't suppose to do a battery reset with these Lithium-Ion batteries? I'm not sure but I thought I read that somewhere before.

The % of the original capacity is found in the ThinkVantage under System Health > Battery Status or you can divide the Full charge capacity by the Designed capacity.


Sorry if mine doesn't apply to this thread but I have a question about my battery percentage ...

First used date: 2010-03
Designed capacity: 84.24 Wh
Full charge capacity: 81.69
Cycle count: 36
% of original capacity: 97%

Is it normal that I'm already down 3% with just 36 cycles? it seems as though you guys, particularly Esben84's impressive 91% of original capacity after 500 cycles, are retaining the battery life a lot better than I am.

 

my battery is still 100%, is this measurement accurate?

 

It's probably showing the battery charge of it's current capacity, not its condition. The fields you should be looking for are the Design Capacity (the amount the battery was originally designed to have) and compare it against the Full Charge Capacity (current maximum charge it can take). For example on my Power Manager the design capacity is 56.16 Wh, but the full charge capacity is 36.22Wh. So (36.22/56.16)*100 = battery holding around 64.5% of its original charge.

 

mine is strange

 

Remaining Capacity: 32.33Wh (57.6%)
Design Capacity: 56.16Wh
Cycle Count: 221

 

Is that in a good way or the complete opposite? What readings does it show?

EDIT: You might need to scroll the Power Manager info further down to reach the design capacity. It's the second last field in Power Manager.

 

the design capacity is 66.24Wh, the charge capacity is 70.50 Wh?

why is my charge capacity higher than design capacity?

 

Hmmm strange indeed, what is the FRU of your battery?

 

42t4658...

 

42T4658 is a 8 cell battery, normally the design capacity for those are 66.24Wh unless i'm mistaken (feel free to chime in if this is wrong).

Either the battery sensors are wrong or Sanyo felt really generous and added more cells than they originally intended. Very strange indeed...

 

sometimes this will change after a battery reset, warakawa probably haven't done a battery reset yet. Some of the new Thinkpad batteries have higher capacity than the designed capacity, but that usually change within around 50 cycles (mine all dropped back to normal within 20 cycles).

 

what is a battery reset and how to perform them?

 

in thinkvantage power manager, under battery, battery maintenance there is the reset option.

 

Is there any way to get non-Sanyo batteries separate from the laptop; I only see Sanyo out there. A T400 I briefly had came with an LG battery (first I've ever seen them as a Thinkpad battery supplier).

 

you can't choose the battery cell make, just like you can't choose the keyboard or power adapter manufacturer, it is a luck of the draw type of thing.

 

@lead_org...what does Battery Reset do? I have set it for Power Manager to do the reset, but what actually does this resetting do?

 

No I meant getting a battery after the fact of the laptop purchase.

 

My T500's Sanyo 9-cell battery, which I take very good care of (relatively few cycles, thresholds at 30/95%, removed while on AC)--

All Thinkpad batteries I've seen were Sanyo ones, they do seem to be the primary supplier.

 

you probably have to look around, maybe we should construct a list of FRU and the corresponding cell battery makes. I will have a look at the batteries tomorrow and post my list of FRU and cell makes.

 

How are Panasonic batteries generally?

 

I looked up the parts for the T400 I sold with the LG battery. P/N for it is 42T4653.

 

My T510 has sony as Battey manufacturer. Is sony better than Sanyo

 

Sony is only slightly better than Sanyo.... just read about Sony li-ion recall...

Panasonic Battery is the best, they are still live and kicking from T4x. I never heard of a major battery recall by this manufacturer as compared to Sony and Sanyo...

 

Would you buy a refurbished Panasonic battery (what does refurbished mean when it comes to lenovo batteries, replaced cells?)?

 

Honestly, I don't mind battery recalls as much as the natural battery degradation over time. In fact, I wish my Sanyo battery would be recalled, so I could get a nice brand-spanking-new battery

It is interesting to hear that Panasonic batteries do degrade at slower rate, though. Different manufacturing techniques? I assume the technology they use is more or less identical.

 

it is probably due to their cell packaging method, the quality of materials used, and manufacturing process, which gives the different result.

But not all faulty battery is recalled, you just have to look at the Lenovo.com forum about 9 cells Sanyo battery. So you would have rely on the 12 months warranty to carry you through.

------------------------------
Refurbished Lenovo battery could mean a lot of things, it could mean a new battery that is used a couple of times, a reconditioned battery with new cells, etc. But most people whom got the refurb from Lenovo outlet say there is zero charge on their battery (though Lenovo can set the counter on the controller chip if they need to).

 

I'm not able to find any posts on people's experiences with refurbished batteries. Do they normally yield as good battery time and last as long as new?

Some good threads found on Panasonic vs. Sanyo:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51609
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=76365

 

i personally haven't got a refurb battery from Lenovo to say what the differences are if any. But since they are only going for 50 odd USD as compared to a new one going for around 120 USD+.

 

Yes there have been recalls with Sony batteries. However, my experiences with the Sony batteries I have for the X61 (8-cell) and the T500 (6-cell) are very good. Even better than my Panasonic 6-cell T500 battery. Full Charge Capacity for both the Sony batteries is still 100% as the Design Capacity even after 145-165 cycles. So they were probably well above the design capacity when leaving the factory.

My Sanyos are in poor shape. 4-cell slim and 4-cell enhanced for my X61s are both at around 50-60% capacity after approx 130 cycles in about 2 years. First time I did a reset, they both dropped significantly in capacity.

 

Is 41U3198 Sanyo or Panasonic? I can't find a definitive answer.

Thanks for the help so far.

 

Looks like 41U3198 covers the 6-cell battery in general. There are separate FRU's for Panasonic and Sanyo under that.

Lenovo Support & downloads - AC adapter & battery accessories - ThinkPad T61 14.1inch widescreen (type 6480, 6481, 7658, 7659, 7660, 7661, 7662, 7663, 7664, 7665)

The outlet battery is a Sanyo, but for $33 usd I don't I think I can pass on that since I need one anyway.

 

my experience with the Sony batteries were mixed, some were recalled and some were okay. But maybe they will work okay, if they don't either meltdown or explode with little warning.

But Panasonic batteries are like Toyota Landcrusier 70 series, solid and reliable, with good track record.

Buying battery shouldn't be like a monopoly, i guess that is why Thinkpad are popular, because they are just a solid reliable machine, as compared to Consumer laptops like the HP DV5, you will never know when it will fail permanently after 1 year standard warranty.

 

Found this thread while searching for answers on my suddenly dead battery. It's FRU 42T5262, and it went from full charge (or so it said -- well, actually, it still says that) to the blinking orange battery icon of death.

Not sure how old the battery is (I can't find that information anywhere), but it came with my T61, which I got in June '08.

Two questions (please point me to a better thread for the answers if the questions don't belong here):

1. Should I consider replacing the battery with another brand, rather than the exact same one? If so, how do I figure out which one?

2. The prices on the Lenovo site are much more than what I'm seeing on other websites...but I don't know if I can trust those other sites. Any recommendations (or warnings)?

Thanks!

 

I'd always recommend a Lenovo branded battery. Lenovo themselves uses a few different brands of cells. The Sanyo's seem to be the worst and the Panasonic's the best. There is no way to figure out what you are getting though. If you don't want to buy a new one I'd highly recommend you get a refurbished one through the Lenovo outlet. They are just as good as new batteries since the internal cells have been replaced, they just might have a few cosmetic issues. Much cheaper that way though.

 

I suppose my battery is ok.
T400; 6 cell; sanyo
64 cycles
51.66/56.16
92%
1 year and a few months.

Since I rarely charge my battery above 65 percent, I expected the battery capacity to be higher than it is now. But it's nothing unreasonable.

Hopefully this battery will last a long time. When it comes time to replace it, I will replace this 6 cell with a 4 cell so that my laptop is lighter. I rarely use the full capacity of the 6 cell.

 

zhaos: your battery's performance is very good, especially considering it being a Sanyo battery. That is if it is actually draining according to the 92%.

I just found out that one of the Sony batteries I was very impressed with (8-cell with 100% left after about 150 cycles) did not drain according to 100% capacity - more like 30% capacity. Did a reset and the issue remains.

So to all: if you haven't already, I recommend doing a full drain test from 100% to i.e. 10% to see if it actually holds full charge.

 

X200T 8-cell battery that i have.

First use date: 2009-9
Manufacturer: Sanyo
FRU part no: 42T4658
Design Capacity: 66.24 Wh
Full charge capacity: 64.20 Wh
Cycle Count: 87
Condition: Good

It should be noted that I use a 60% start and 100% stop for charging my battery. It spends most of its time between 65% and 85% (rather than 100%).

 

You did a reset using the Lenovo power manager? And the Lenovo power manager doesn't run from 100 to 0 percent while discharging your battery? I've never had this issue. The windows battery meter I've found can be off but a properly calibrated Lenovo battery using the Lenovo power manager I've always found to have an accurate meter that runs from 100% to 0% with fairly accurate time remaining numbers.

 

Yes I used ThinkPad Power Manager to perform the reset where it fully charges, fully discharges and fully charges again.

 

I just reset my old Sanyo battery and status went from "poor" to "good". Battery now holds 73% original charge compared to 64% before the reset. Cycle count is 147 now so overall it's not bad given its age (2007-09 first use date).

 

My 6 cell:

Manufactured Date: 2008-09-10
First Used Date: 2008-09
Cycle Count: 93
Full Charge Capacity: 51.72 Whr
Design Charge Capacity: 56.16whr

Note, I also have a 9 cell battery. Both batteries are at 35-95% charge thresholds. I switch batteries once a month, I store the spare at 40%. Makes for more even wear.