How long is a 6cell battery on a T61p supposed to last?

I have a T61p. It's a little over 1 year old. When I use it on battery Maximum Power Saver (Vista) it says I have about 3 hours. After using it for about 1.5 hours it says I have about 1 hour but then goes into hibernation with a low battery warning. When I wake it back up and plug it in the battery is nearly drained so I guess that 1 hour estimate was way off or something is wrong.

How long is a 6cell battery supposed to last on a T61 on maximum power saver? If it's only 1.5-2 hours then I won't buy a new battery, but if it's supposed to last 3 hours like it estimates then I might get a new one.

The battery says it's in good condition with 14 cycles. I've reset it once a few months ago when I noticed the way off estimation.

 

2 hours sounds about right. The 4-cell on my T61 (non P) only lasts about 1 hour 45 minutes with my CPU undervolted, so a T61P with the more power-hungry graphics card and a non-undervolted CPU should get around 2 hours.

With a 9 cell I get about 3.5 hours on my T61, so you should get around 3 if you had a 9 cell.

These times are with the wireless on, screen at about 25%, and power saver mode with the CPU undervolted in RMClock. I also have an SSD which uses a little less power than a hard drive would.

 

Integrated or NVIDIA graphics?

 

I'm pretty sure you can't buy a T61p with integrated graphics.

 

It's a dedicated graphics card.

Ok, I don't feel too bad if 2 hours is normal. Now I wonder why my battery monitors say I have 3 hours and then at 1 hour my machine shuts off...

 

mine is about 2 hours .. and used to be 3 when new

 

I tried removing my battery, leaving it out for a day and then putting it back in.

This time when I went on battery it said I had around 2 hours 30 min.

Then at 1hr 30m my computer turned off with a 4% warning. Screenshot attached.

I think something must be wrong with my battery. It doesn't seem like it would be normal for it to just turn off. I think I remember it warning me before shutting off before. Now it just shuts off suddenly.

Is there anything I can do to make the batter gauge more accurate or is my battery just dead?

 

If you’re not already, make certain you are running Lenovo’s Power Manager for the most accurate results. I also think it has a recalibration feature that might bring reported battery times back to reality.

 

Sounds like a bad cell. I had a bad battery [1 of 3] for my T40 that would drop 30% instantly due to a bad cell.

I would suggest ordering a replacement (e.g. from CalCellular). You can also try deep cycling your battery by turning off all automatic standby, hibernate, shutdown commands. That occasionally helps.

 

BinkNR, yes I'm running Lenovo's Power Manager and also ran the battery reset from the Power Manager. I will try again and see if it helps.

jonlumpkin, I will try your suggestion too. I never did that.

I read someone with a similar issue re-installed their OS and that helped.

 

I'm also having the same sudden drop problem but on a T400 and a 4-cell. Vista power manager and Lenovo power manager both say I have about 50% and over 1 hour remaining run time then bam, 4% and goes into hibernation mode.

Naturally.... my warranty expired 3 days ago. I can't win.