Extending the battery life
When you need to use your ThinkPad computer away from electrical outlets, you depend on battery power to keep your computer running. Different computer components consume power at different rates. The more you use the power-intensive components, the faster you consume battery power.
The Lithium Ion battery pack for these systems is an intelligent battery. It contains a microprocessor to monitor its capacity. Information of remaining battery capacity is passed to the system from the battery pack, and the system indicates the capacity in 1% steps from 0% to 100% with high accuracy. If the indicator appears to be incorrect, it is recommended that you cycle the battery (fully charge, then fully discharge) three times. This may occur when the battery is over charged or discharged.
To obtain maximum performance, all chemical materials in the battery must be fully activated. In order to achieve this:
- Cycle the battery (fully charge, then fully discharge) three times.
- Cycling the battery three times is also recommended if you have stored the battery for a few months.
- Do not charge the battery pack until all of its power is used. Partial charge or discharge causes a lack of uniformity of activated chemicals in the cell, and may cause performance degradation.
It is recommended that you deep-discharge your Ni-MH battery every few months for optimum performance. Deep-discharge occurs when your ThinkPad system is used on battery power until the charge is at 0% (the system will automatically go into hibernation). At this point, attach the AC adapter and charge to 100%.
Battery conditioning
In general, rechargeable batteries store electrical energy through chemical reaction — therefore, capacity will change by temperature, unused storage period, load condition, and number of cycles used.
The following instructions provide tips on how to obtain the best battery condition to extend battery rundown time:
- Once you have started charging the battery pack, do not use it until it is fully charged.
- If your battery is brand new and you are charging it for the first time, your battery may not be charged to full capacity due to characteristics of chemicals in the cell.
Note: This will instruct you on how to use the battery effectively and how to extend battery life on a ThinkPad system.
New batteries
When purchasing a new battery, you may find that the battery is at or near 0% capacity. This will be due to the length of time the battery has been in stock and does not affect the quality of the battery. If the battery is at 0%, it may take up to 12 hours of continuous charging or, cycling the battery three times to wake up the battery. If the new battery still does not have a charge after having been charged for 12 hours or cycled three times, it should be replaced. Standard warranty on all ThinkPad batteries is no more than one year as stated in the Statement of Limited Warranty that comes with the machine or battery.
Tips for conserving battery power
You can manually change the power consumption of your notebook PC and conserve battery power.
- Reduce the number of open applications. Every application uses memory, and therefore power, even when the application widow is minimized. Exit any application there is not being used.
- Reduce the brightness of the screen to the minimum readable level. Use the Fn and F7 or F8 keys to adjust the brightness.
- Remove peripherals when not in use. External hard drives, CD-ROMs, Zip drives, PC cards, and other peripheral devices can draw power from your battery even when they are not in active use. Disconnect them when you are finished using them.
- Reduce the speed of your processor. The faster your computer works, the more quickly it uses up the supply of power. You can extend the charge of your battery by slowing down your processor’s speed. Methods to reduce processor speed vary from model to model, and your manual should provide instructions for doing so.
- Turn off the Wireless On-Off button when it is not in use. If your notebook has one, press the Wireless On-Off button so that the light turns off.
- Change the power option setting from High performance to either HP Recommended or Power saver to conserve battery power.
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