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Service Hints & Tips |
Document ID: PFAN-3QNQJN |
TP General - Tips for getting the most out of your battery
Applicable to: World-Wide
This document discusses how to use the battery effectively, and extend battery life on an IBM ThinkPad which has the MS Windows 95 operating system installed. Considerations when using PCMCIA cards or CD-ROM drives will also be discussed.
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 provides tips on how to obtain 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 cell. 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.
Battery Fuel Gauge
For 365X/XD or 380/385
The system measures battery voltage to calculate remaining battery capacity. This information is displayed through the fuel gauge. The following are characteristics of using this battery capacity calculation method:
The fuel gauge indicates battery capacity as 100%, 80%,10% or 0% of full battery capacity only.
In battery operation, the battery voltage goes down gradually, therefore the remaining capacity can be calculated based on the voltage.
During battery charge the fuel gauge starts at low the battery condition. The battery voltage then goes up quickly. This causes the system to indicate the capacity as 80% just after start the of charge even if the actual capacity is low.
For 560, 600, 760, 765 and 770
The battery pack for the ThinkPad 560, 600, 760, 765 and 770 series 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.
Power Management Settings
This section describes system settings for best battery rundown time. The following are applicable on the ThinkPad 365X/XD, 380/385, 560, 600, 760, 765D/L and 770 unless noted otherwise.
A. Confirm that APM is set to 'On'. Using Windows 95 4.00.950 or 4.00.950A, enter Control Panel, Power, then confirm the Power management is 'Advanced'. If you are using Windows 95 4.00.950B, enter Control Panel, Power, then confirm that 'Allow Windows to manage power use on this computer' is marked.
NOTE: To determine if you are running 4.00.950, 4.00.950A, or 4.00.950B, look in Start/Control Panel/System. The General tab should be selected by default and this information will be displayed on the third line.
Power management functions provided by ThinkPad features are only effective If Windows 95 power management is enabled.
B. Choose the power mode for battery operation from 'Operation modes' at ThinkPad Utility. Auto or Customized mode are the recommended settings for longest battery rundown time.
C. If you choose, you can use Custom mode and manually set the following:
Standby timer
Suspend timer
Display timer
HDD timer
Processor speed
For longer battery life, you are recommended to set those timers as short as possible, and slow CPU speed.
D. In Auto Mode, timers are already set to appropriate value and you cannot change the time. CPU speed is set to 'Auto speed control'.
Power Saving Modes
Power saving modes are recommended when the system is not in use. The following three power saving modes are provided by ThinkPad:
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Standby |
LCD, HDD and Audio are turned off. |
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Suspend |
All tasks are stopped and stored in memory. |
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Hibernation |
All tasks are stopped and memory data and |
To use Standby, Suspend or Hibernation mode, do either of following.
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Standby |
Press Keyboard function key 'Fn' + 'F3 |
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Suspend |
Press Keyboard function key 'Fn' + 'F4' |
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Hibernation |
Press Keyboard function key 'Fn' + 'F12' Click hibernation icon in battery meter |
NOTE: In order for hibernation to work, Hibernation must be enabled. Also, hibernation uses disk space. See your User's Guide for details.
By setting the standby or the suspend timer, the system enters standby or suspend automatically when the system is not used for the time set by the timer.
When using Hibernation, you can select from several options for Hibernation from the Suspend/Hibernation/Resume icon in ThinkPad Features. For more information on those features, consult the User's Guide.
Points to consider for Suspend mode when you use PCMCIA card or CD-ROM drive.
PCMCIA Modem cards
If the PCMCIA modem card detects an incoming call while in suspend mode, the computer automatically resumes normal operation. *
When the computer is using one of the following IBM modems, the computer does not enter suspend mode while communication link is active.
IBM 28.8/14.4 Data/FAX modem *
IBM PCMCIA Data/FAX modem
IBM High Speed PCMCIA Data/FAX modem
IBM Microelectronics 2.4/9.6 Data/Fax modem
IBM Microelectronics 14.4/14.4 Data/Fax modem
IBM Wireless Modem for ARDIS
IBM Wireless Modem for Mobitex
IBM Wireless Modem for Cellular/CDPD
* NOTE: Some type of 28.8/14.4 Data/Fax modem can not accept resume by incoming call.
PCMCIA Network Communication Cards (e.g., Token Ring, Ethernet)
When the computer is powered with Battery power, the computer may turn power off to the PC card, and stop communication with PC cards.
When the computer is powered with AC power and one of the following IBM PC cards is being used, the computer enters Standby mode, instead of Suspend mode.
IBM 3270 Emulation Credit Card Adapter
IBM Token-Ring 16/4 Credit Card Adapter
IBM Credit Card Adapter for Ethernet
IBM 5250 Emulation Credit Card Adapter
When other PC cards are used and the computer enters suspend mode (even on AC power), all application programs stop.
Considerations for CD-ROM
When you use Windows 95, the Windows 95 generic CD-ROM driver accesses the internal CD-ROM drive every 3 seconds to see if a disc is installed in the CD-ROM drive. This may prevent a ThinkPad from entering Suspend mode by the timer suspend function even if there is no actual system activity for a certain period.
To stop this auto-detect function and enable the timer suspend function, do the following:
1. Open My computer
2. Open Control Panel, then open System
3. Click on the Device manager tab
4. Click on the + mark of CD-ROM
5. Double-click on 'XXXXXXXX'
6. Click on the Setting tab
7. Remove the check mark from Auto Insertion Notification
Note: Device driver = 'XXXXXXXX' .
Example : 'TEAC CD-40E' for TP365X/XD
The tips described above are located in Chapter 4 'Using Battery Power' of User's Guide.
Please refer to User's Guide for detail.
Other Power Saving Tips
Decrease LCD brightness - the LCD panel assembly contains a fluorescent lamp which illuminates the LCD screen. This fluorescent lamp consumes a substantial amount of power. Therefore, decreasing LCD brightness helps preserve battery power.
Turn power off to Serial device if it is not in use. The serial port and IR can both be turned off in ThinkPad Features.
Battery Life Matrix
Following chart shows battery life on selected IBM ThinkPads. This battery life is based on the result of battery rundown test of 'BAPCo SYSmark for Battery Life Benchmark' for Windows 3.11. Therefore, the figure does not necessarily represent the battery life for every user environment or application. Actual battery life will vary depending on application, power mode setting, environment,
etc.
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Machine type |
Battery type |
Battery life |
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365X/XD |
Ni-MH* |
2.0 hr |
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380 (Model-1xx) |
Ni-MH* |
2.2 hr |
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380D/385D (Model-2xx) |
Ni-MH* |
2.0 hr |
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380D/385D (Model-3xx) |
Li-Ion |
2.6 hr |
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390 |
Ni-MH* |
4.25 hr |
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560 |
Li-Ion |
3.0 hr |
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560E |
Li-Ion |
2.5 hr |
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600 |
Li-Ion |
3.0 hr |
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600E |
Li-Ion |
3.0 hr |
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760E 9546-x9B |
Li-Ion |
2.6 hr |
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760ED 9546-x9A |
Li-Ion |
2.2 hr |
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760EL 9547-x4G/x4T |
Li-Ion |
3.0 hr |
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760EL 9547-x6H |
Li-Ion |
2.7 hr |
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760XD |
Li-Ion |
2.0 hr |
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760XL |
Li-Ion |
2.3 hr |
|
765D |
Li-Ion |
2.0 hr |
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765L |
Li-Ion |
2.1 hr |
|
770 |
Li-Ion |
3.5 hr |
|
770E |
Li-Ion |
3.5 hr |
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770X |
Li-Ion |
3.5 hr |
|
i Series 1410 |
Ni-MH* |
3.0 hr |
|
i Series 1450 |
Ni-MH* |
2.8 hr |
|
i Series 1720 |
Li-Ion |
4.25 hr |
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Hint Category |
Power | |
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Date Created |
12-01-98 | |
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Last Updated |
06-04-99 | |
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Revision Date |
06-04-2000 | |
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Brand |
IBM ThinkPad | |
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Product Family |
ThinkPad 365X/XD, ThinkPad 380, ThinkPad 380D, ThinkPad 380E, ThinkPad 380ED, ThinkPad 380XD, ThinkPad 380Z, ThinkPad 385D, ThinkPad 385E, ThinkPad 385ED, ThinkPad 385XD, ThinkPad 390, ThinkPad 390E, ThinkPad 560, ThinkPad 560E, ThinkPad 560X, ThinkPad 560Z, ThinkPad 600, ThinkPad 600E, ThinkPad 760C, ThinkPad 760E, ThinkPad 760CD, ThinkPad 760L/LD, ThinkPad 760ED, ThinkPad 760XD, ThinkPad 760EL/ELD, ThinkPad 760XL, ThinkPad 765L, ThinkPad 765D, ThinkPad 770, ThinkPad 770E/ED, ThinkPad 770X, ThinkPad 770Z, ThinkPad i Series 1400, ThinkPad i Series 172x | |
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Machine Type |
2625, 2635, 2636, 2626, 2640, 2641, 2645, 2646, 9546, 9547, 9548, 9549, 9544, 2611, 2627 | |
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Model |
Various | |
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TypeModel |
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