Quick: New W500 9cell battery only 2 hours fully charged?!!!

[nmabakhsh]

Hi. I just got my new w500 4058cto machine this week (2.8ghz, 4gb, ati 512mb, dvdrw, 15" wsxga+, vista business 32, 9cell battery, intel turbo 2gb memory).

I did all the windows and lenovo system updates.

I switched the advanced ati graphics off and am using the intel one, resolution is set at 1680x1050 as standard.

After a few cycles of full charges and discharges my 9 cell battery after a full 100% charge shows only 2 hour and 10 minutes lifespan- with power manager to never switch off anything on battery.

Is my battery faulty? Is this what i should expect?

I have an R51 1836-BAU running xp sp3 and the power manager is nothing ever turns off, with a 9cell battery it lasts more than 6 hours which is what i was hoping to get from this too.  

If anyones got the 9cell running on w500 let me know how long your fully charged battery lasts please, or whether I should contact lenovo warranty etc...

thanks

[nmabakhsh]

bump

[lukaszsw]

You can always check your battery "full charge capacity" in Power Manager under battery information. There is also "design capacity" listed for reference.

Obviously the battery should last longer, even 6 cell should last longer I guess. However you would see a white exclamation in a black traingle next to power manager if the battery capacity was too low. My w500 with 6-cell shows 2:10 hours on full charge.

Message Edited by lukaszsw on 01-12-2009 08:48 AM

[san]

Hello ,

I have a similar machine except my processor is 2.53 ghz. And I see 2hrs 09 min. I never tried to work for 2hrs 09 min in battery, but I think, I would not be able to work for that long. Fortunately, I can work all day with power outlet. But that is what you get from Lenovo. And good to know that I am not the only one who is unhappy with W series lenovo.

Thanks,

San

W500 T9400@ 2,53 ghz, 4Gb, 200Gb

Vista Business 64

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 512 Mb

[nmabakhsh]

lukaszsw:

thanks for your reply, heres what i found under my battery info: full charge capacity 82.99wh, design capacity 84.24wh. That seems pretty good to me, even though I've just had it for a few weeks, but my 9 cell gives the same time as your 6 cell - 2 hours and 10 minutes. That can't be right.

I'll call tech support soon...

San:

Is your battery 6 cell or 9 cell?

My last lenovo/IBM was absolutely amazing, i wouldnt trade it over any other company. I think since the w series is a brand new line thats just been produced for the first time, it'll probably take the company some time to iron out the initial bugs and get it up and kicking.  Hang in there...

[migle]

Don't take the first estimate of battery running time too seriously. Have you tried running it to the end?

It takes running the system for a while and letting everything cool down for the estimate to rise.

Maybe there's lots of disk activity due to indexing or something updating.

I have a 6 cell + the 3 cell ultrabay slim II battery.

I think it usually tells me I have 4h when I unplug

If I keep quiet, with 50% brightness or less, maybe just reading PDFs and doing light surfing, the estimate rises to 7h45.

The final rise seems to come when some fan slows down, and the estimate reaches 8h30.

Real runtime is a very different thing.

I have WUXGA screen and 200rpm FDE disk.

My impression is around:

- Very light use with Intel card, about 6h shutting down at 5% battery. If it is very, very, very light use can really go up to 7h+.

- Light use with Intel card, 4h-5h.

- ATI card, 2h30 to 3h.

- Recompiling a lot of programs under Linux, both cards powered, not much above 1h.

My disapointments:

- Got it only to last about 30h of a mix of sleep and 4h very light use.

- It wastes a lot of power even when powered down (deeper than sleeping, that is), about 3% overnight. 

[kclawrence]

nmabackhsh,

Your W500 configuration

Battery : 9-cell single battery

CPU : 2.8GHz T9600 (35W)

Ram : 4GB 

HDD : 160GB

OS : Vista Biz 32bit 

Resolution : 1680x1050 WSXGA+

Use display : ATI 

Battery time : ~2hrs

Power scheme : Maximum performance

Here is mine but can't compare with yours directly due to different configuration  :

Battery : 9-cell single battery

CPU : 2.53GHz P9500 (25W)

Ram : 4GB

HDD : 200GB

OS : Vista Ult. 32bit 

Resolution : 1900x1200 WUXGA

Use display : Intel  

Others : USB wired Mouse and SD card attached

Battery time : 2hr45mins

Power scheme : Video playback

(Performed tasks : running VMware(WinXP guest), presetation(dual display), disk defragmentation, file copying, playing rmvb movie)

Message Edited by kclawrence on 01-20-2009 09:55 PM

[kclawrence]

Here is my preferences to extend battery life if necessary.

1. Select "Intel - Energy Saving" graphics

2. Select "Energy Saving" power mode

3. Apply "Battery Stretch" to off most options below except "WiFi and LCD brightness"

- no USB

- no bluetooth

- no DVD

- no Gadgets

- Vista basic scheme (off Aero) 

- etc

4. Lower down resolution 1024x768 (toggle by FN + Space)

Message Edited by kclawrence on 01-20-2009 10:05 PM

[migle]

Yes, of course, forgot to mention that I use a "Power-source optimized" power scheme (with few differences from the original one).

If you're really using "Maximum performance" then it is probably expected.

You can't compare to a years old laptop. Processors, screens, graphics cards, chipsets can consume a lot more power these days. You can only achieve similar battery life by using lots of power management.