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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:12 pm 
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Hi Everyone. My new job requires that I travel by air quite a bit and I am looking for a device that would allow me to use my Lenovo laptop for extended periods of time, say 3 to 5 hours without it being plugged into a 110V power source. I found the following device on line;

http://www.amazon.com/Poweradd-trade-Pi ... al+battery

and was wondering if anyone here has used such a device and could possibly steer me in the right direction. One guy gave a very extended review of this particular external battery device, so much so that it leads me to believe he may have an interest in the company that makes this product.


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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:49 pm 
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What is your laptop's normal average battery run time? You may actually be better off buying an extra battery for the laptop from Lenovo or a reseller of OEM batteries.
That said, the device and others like it would provide you with additional charge for your devices -- assuming that you had a charging cable that would plug into it and to the laptop power connector.
-steve

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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 3:44 pm 
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I agree with Steve. Looking at the reviews it gets very mixed reviews. A good 2nd battery is cheaper.


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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:38 pm 
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sboots wrote:
What is your laptop's normal average battery run time? You may actually be better off buying an extra battery for the laptop from Lenovo or a reseller of OEM batteries.
That said, the device and others like it would provide you with additional charge for your devices -- assuming that you had a charging cable that would plug into it and to the laptop power connector.
-steve


Hi Steve, thanks for your reply.

My laptop will normally run one hour and 30 minutes before I am prompted to change the battery. What I need is a minimum of 3 hours of "continuous" running so that is why I am looking for an external battery that will allow the laptop to run for extended periods of time.


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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:21 pm 
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What model is the laptop? I know my wife had a work laptop that had an external battery the docked right onto the bottom of the laptop to give extra life, I think it was an HP though.


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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:28 am 
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I would also like to know the make and model of the laptop. I question only getting 1.5 hours on battery. It just may be that the battery is at its life end. I get around 7 hours on my battery without using a USB cooling plate and 5.5-6 with the cooler running. Do you happen to know if your battery is an 8 cell or 6 cell? This can make a BIG difference in battery time.

If you have a reliable shop near you they should be able to test the battery. Danged if I can find it right now but would swear that I just saw it in my email client the other day. Anyway, if it does prove that your battery is in question there is a battery supplier in the UK that will ship to the US free; or at least shipped free 2 years ago. The fact that I bought a battery 2 years ago is likely to be why I can't find the email record now. ;) Things do change but I paid roughly $80.00 for an 8 cell battery as a backup for my Asus laptop. Other places were listing the battery at around $120.00. The shipping was free and the battery was an Asus, not generic.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:49 am 
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AHA! I found that email for which I was looking. :)

The battery outfit to which I referred is:
http://laptop-battery-adapter.org/

I should say that the battery I got from them became my main battery and has been in use for over two years without issue.

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:24 am 
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One hour and 30 minutes suggests that the battery may need to be replaced or that the PC could use its power settings tweaked to reduce power consumption when on battery. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and it typically gets double what you are reporting.
What is your laptop model number? How old is it?
I still maintain that a second battery for the laptop is a better solution than an external battery such the one you linked to.
-steve

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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:40 pm 
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sboots wrote:
One hour and 30 minutes suggests that the battery may need to be replaced or that the PC could use its power settings tweaked to reduce power consumption when on battery. I have a Lenovo T420 for work and it typically gets double what you are reporting.
What is your laptop model number? How old is it?
I still maintain that a second battery for the laptop is a better solution than an external battery such the one you linked to.
-steve


My laptop is a Lenovo ThinkPad e520, about 3 years old. The battery that is installed in the laptop is L1-ion 20. It a 10.8Volt 4400mAh. I was unable to find out how many cells it has but it is very small in size, 1-1/2" W 3/4" thick, and 8" long. I looked up the information on this battery and you can see directly below what the vendor says about battery run time in relation to the mAh.

Generally, a standard 4400 mAh battery will last between 45-90 minutes. You can calculate how long a higher capacity battery will last based on the mAh difference. A 7200 mAh battery will give you 64% more run-time, and a 10400 mAh will give you 136% more run-time than the 4400 mAh on a single charge. The battery-charger device that we have been looking at as a possible power source is 33000mAh way way lots bigger than my lenovo 4400mAh.

It also states on the battery to use the same one only as another battery may cause a fire or an explosion. That sounds kind of scary.

As for using a second battery that is the same as the one installed, that is not an option because of what I am doing. Changing the battery would more than likely interrupt a running app that is in the process of creating a video or capturing a video and encoding it in an mp4 format.


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 Post Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:18 pm 
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I agree that a second battery is not your solution as the system would have to be shut down to change the battery.

The 7200 mAh battery would give you around 2.75 hours but that can't be stated as fact as there are many aspects that are involved in this. One such factor is that video encoding is processor intensive and will put a large drain on the battery.

There are power settings that may also help you. If you are converting a video you do not actually need the screen to be on. If this is a case where you start such a conversion and the system just sits and works why does the screen display need to be active? Set the system power settings to be such that the display is turned off after 10 minutes of non use. This will add a LOT to your current battery life.

Also go to an 8-cell battery. The warning about fire and/or explosion is overkill and would only apply if the battery delivered more than the system was designed to use... say putting out 15 volt when the system only wants 12 volts.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:27 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
I agree that a second battery is not your solution as the system would have to be shut down to change the battery.

The 7200 mAh battery would give you around 2.75 hours but that can't be stated as fact as there are many aspects that are involved in this. One such factor is that video encoding is processor intensive and will put a large drain on the battery.

There are power settings that may also help you. If you are converting a video you do not actually need the screen to be on. If this is a case where you start such a conversion and the system just sits and works why does the screen display need to be active? Set the system power settings to be such that the display is turned off after 10 minutes of non use. This will add a LOT to your current battery life.

Also go to an 8-cell battery. The warning about fire and/or explosion is overkill and would only apply if the battery delivered more than the system was designed to use... say putting out 15 volt when the system only wants 12 volts.


I have not been able to find an 8-cell battery for my Lenovo Laptop but I did find a 9-cell --•Battery Specs: 9 Cells Li-ion Capacity: 10.8V 7800mAh, same voltage but higher mAh. Can you take a look and let me know what you think?

http://www.amazon.com/compatible-Extend ... 7800mAh%29

Perhaps this along with your other suggestions to conserve power may do the trick.


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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 3:51 pm 
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Can't argue with the price of the battery that you linked but there does seem to be some issues if you look at the reviews.

It would seem that some systems will not recognize this battery which means that the system will not charge the thing. Here is a quoted error message.
Quote:
The battery installed is not supported by this system and will not charge. Please replace the battery with the correct Lenovo battery for this system."

Some of the reviews state this issue others say it works fine.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:29 pm 
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Why not think outside the box?

google this power for lapstops on airlines


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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:17 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
Can't argue with the price of the battery that you linked but there does seem to be some issues if you look at the reviews.

It would seem that some systems will not recognize this battery which means that the system will not charge the thing. Here is a quoted error message.
Quote:
The battery installed is not supported by this system and will not charge. Please replace the battery with the correct Lenovo battery for this system."



Some of the reviews state this issue others say it works fine.


Hi Jaylatch- I did see in the reviews that this battery would not work on the T430 and T530. One of the positive reports does say that it will work on the E530 which is what I have but still a gamble. It must work on some Lenovo models as the design is exactly the same as my battery only it would extend further out the back of the laptop because of the extra cells.

I have a message in to the manufacturer of the original battery-charger combo in my first post so will wait for their reply before deciding what to do. I also checked "outside the box" and my airline only has seat outlets in first class :cry:


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 Post Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 1:17 am 
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It isn't always just the physical design of a battery or other component. Some builders use proprietary components. It is possible that Lenovo is checking a chip in the battery for a signature stating that it is their battery. This could explain why the battery will work in some models but not others.

For the record the reason I really think that you have a bad battery is that the advertised battery life with your system is 6.2 hours. Granted that you will seldom ever actually see the advertised battery life. From what I've found you should be able to expect 3-5 hours with the original battery in real life situations depending on the average load. Going to a 9 cell, if the original is a 6 cell (likely), I would look to see 5-7 hours depending on the load. Since video encoding is pretty system intensive hope for 4-5 hours and take anything over that as a gift. ;)
http://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-thi ... 520/specs/

You can add to the battery life with some settings under power management. If the system is not being used for anything else set to turn off the display after 10 minutes or at least to dim the display. You could also do things such as turning off the wireless. The wireless I would do manually instead of in power settings (if available) as there could well be times when you do not want it off. One thing that I would not do is to have the hard drive turn off after a short period. Since you are doing encoding the drive will be used a lot and if a shut off time is short enough for it to actually happen you are likely to use more power spinning it back up to ready than will be saved by allowing it to turn off.

As to the link to the external power source in your first post, I don't know the company but it actually looks to be a pretty slick little unit. If you do go in that direction just be REAL sure that one of the voltage outputs EXACTLY matches that of your AC adaptor. You should be able to find the voltage output of your AC adaptor on the bottom. Still, even if the unit is acceptable, $30 for a battery verses $130 for the external power source... LOL! I don't need to explain the math. ;) On the other have the external power source could have other uses.

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 Post Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 6:15 pm 
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jaylach wrote:
It isn't always just the physical design of a battery or other component. Some builders use proprietary components. It is possible that Lenovo is checking a chip in the battery for a signature stating that it is their battery. This could explain why the battery will work in some models but not others.

For the record the reason I really think that you have a bad battery is that the advertised battery life with your system is 6.2 hours. Granted that you will seldom ever actually see the advertised battery life. From what I've found you should be able to expect 3-5 hours with the original battery in real life situations depending on the average load. Going to a 9 cell, if the original is a 6 cell (likely), I would look to see 5-7 hours depending on the load. Since video encoding is pretty system intensive hope for 4-5 hours and take anything over that as a gift. ;)
http://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-thi ... 520/specs/

You can add to the battery life with some settings under power management. If the system is not being used for anything else set to turn off the display after 10 minutes or at least to dim the display. You could also do things such as turning off the wireless. The wireless I would do manually instead of in power settings (if available) as there could well be times when you do not want it off. One thing that I would not do is to have the hard drive turn off after a short period. Since you are doing encoding the drive will be used a lot and if a shut off time is short enough for it to actually happen you are likely to use more power spinning it back up to ready than will be saved by allowing it to turn off.

As to the link to the external power source in your first post, I don't know the company but it actually looks to be a pretty slick little unit. If you do go in that direction just be REAL sure that one of the voltage outputs EXACTLY matches that of your AC adaptor. You should be able to find the voltage output of your AC adaptor on the bottom. Still, even if the unit is acceptable, $30 for a battery verses $130 for the external power source... LOL! I don't need to explain the math. ;) On the other have the external power source could have other uses.


Hi again Jaylatch. First let me say that I am unable to find a battery that matches the one in my Laptop. Reading directly off the battery, it is a Li-ion20 with a red circle to the right of that number which says 25+. I believe that these numbers relate to the runtime capacity, so perhaps 2 hours or 2.5 hours brand new fully charged. If you can find me a battery that matches this one for $30, I would surely buy it. The only difference between the picture of the battery is that mine is Li-ion20 and not Li-ion00. The picture is a used battery I found on ebay which of course I would not buy.


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 Post Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:02 am 
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It does seem that your battery is not all that common. I searched the battery place that I use and they don't have anything. I didn't look anywhere else but was surprised they didn't have.

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 Post Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:21 am 
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Here's a matching 6 cell replacement for cheap:
http://www.ubbatt.com/UBatteries-Laptop ... ource=pads

And here's the actual Lenovo supplied version:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... de=51J0499

If you're going to go for capacity and extended use, stick with the Lenovo genuine 9 cell:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... de=51J0500
also available for less from NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834994234

Your original battery at 3 years old is no longer able to hold a full charge as it did when new. Replacing it will give you more run time, especially if you tweak your power settings. What you replace it with depends on your budget. If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at the NewEgg offer for the 9 cell as it will probably give you the best bang for the buck, with the least risk. The cheap replacement batteries are hit or miss. I've used them in the past -- some were great others failed within a short time.

-steve

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 Post Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:15 pm 
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sboots wrote:
Here's a matching 6 cell replacement for cheap:
http://www.ubbatt.com/UBatteries-Laptop ... ource=pads

And here's the actual Lenovo supplied version:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... de=51J0499

If you're going to go for capacity and extended use, stick with the Lenovo genuine 9 cell:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... de=51J0500
also available for less from NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834994234

Your original battery at 3 years old is no longer able to hold a full charge as it did when new. Replacing it will give you more run time, especially if you tweak your power settings. What you replace it with depends on your budget. If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking at the NewEgg offer for the 9 cell as it will probably give you the best bang for the buck, with the least risk. The cheap replacement batteries are hit or miss. I've used them in the past -- some were great others failed within a short time.

-steve


Hi Steve. Thanks for all of your help, also Jaylatch. I tweaked the settings and bought a new battery today for $19.95 with free shipping. I don't know if it will hold up but we will see. I will post back once it is installed and let you know if it works for me.


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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:19 am 
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For $20, it is worth a try. Best of luck to you!
-steve

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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:18 pm 
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I'd also take a chance on a $20 battery. :) The only concern I would have is if a 6 cell battery is going to give you what you need as to running time.

Video encoding puts a real load on a system. I do a fair amount of encoding myself and know for fact that it puts on a heavy load. With the real life reports I've looked at you may find yourself running really close to the 3 hours that you want. I was seeing reports of 3-5 hours depending on system load. While not as bad as involved gaming encoding is still a bit intensive. I think that you will be looking at getting closer to the 3 hours than the 5.

Again I cannot argue with trying a $20 battery to see what happens but, if I were sure that I could return if it didn't work, I think I would have tried the $30 9 cell battery.

As Steve said, good luck. Hey, even if the $20 battery does not give you the run time that you need, it is one heck of a cheap backup battery. ;)

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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 9:32 am 
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I am going to take a different tack on this issue. Not being facetious, but basing it on 49years of business experience, half in management.

You stated you need to travel a lot, but that's different then working all the time you are in flight. If that is a real necessity, then talk with your management and tell them you need a solution to the problem.

If it isn't a real requirement, but something you just "feel" is necessary, then my advice would be do enough work until the battery is dead and then relax. You might find you end up being more productive that way.

Pete


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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:51 am 
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Peter2150 wrote:
I am going to take a different tack on this issue. Not being facetious, but basing it on 49years of business experience, half in management.

You stated you need to travel a lot, but that's different then working all the time you are in flight. If that is a real necessity, then talk with your management and tell them you need a solution to the problem.

If it isn't a real requirement, but something you just "feel" is necessary, then my advice would be do enough work until the battery is dead and then relax. You might find you end up being more productive that way.

Pete


Hi Peter. My time on the computer during flights is not work related, it is just a means to pass the hours doing something that I like to do.


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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:31 am 
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Looks like you were right about the battery use time Jaylatch. My battery came in the mail today and so far it appears to be a very good investment. I disconnected the laptop from all power sources and installed the new battery. It initially showed as 80% charged so I plugged in the 110Volt laptop power source and the battery was immediately recognized and began the charging sequence.

When it showed 100% charged, I removed the 110Volt laptop power source and then while running on battery only, set my video files to play one right after the other. It showed that I had 6 hours and 23 minutes of run time. Actual run time before I was down to the 10% warning was 4 hours and 35 minutes. Now, if it only holds up !

http://www.allyson89.x10.mx/runtime.jpg


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 Post Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 7:22 pm 
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Actually 4.5 hours is a bit better than I expected.

Have fun. :)

BTW, you can just call me Jay like everyone else.

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