Re: Still on batteries...

[<meister@cats.ucsc.edu>]

I too lost approximately 10% of my charge overnight, while
in hibernate mode.  IBM tech support told me that the culprit
was the smart power monitor on the battery, and that this could
be avoided by removing the battery when fully charged and turning
the power switch off. I tried this during spring break, when the
TP remained plugged in to the AC adapter.  When I reinstalled
the battery it showed a 0 charge on the gauge.  My
estimate is that it had lost 50% of its charge
while stored for a week with the power switch off.

P.S.  I for one would not care as much about
estimating battery life if it were feasible to
carry two or more spares.  Following a suggestion
from someone out there, I called Duracell about
the possible availability of generic NiMh spares
for the Thinkpad.  
Duracell is not very far along in the
project, notwithstanding announcements made
in the press.
They are still at the stage of trying to
persuade manufacturers to adopt standard sizes in
their next models -- repeating a process that they
went through some years ago with manufacturers of cameras. 
Duracell does not want to be
responsible for computer batteries that are
not recommended by the computer manufacturer -- or
so it says.  It hopes to have some NiMh batteries
out later this year, but I am not optimistic that
there will be a generic standard battery for the present
generation of Thinkpads.