battery mall

Ever been on a long flight, ready to hunker down and get some work done, only to discover that your notebook’s battery is plunging toward the red zone an hour after takeoff? So have we. That’s why we’ve gathered these simple tips that will preserve your notebook’s juice and boost your productivity. Read them now. You’ll thank yourself later.

1. Sleep Is Good
Use the operating system’s power-management features (in Windows XP, under Power Options in the Control Panel; or in Vista, under Mobile PC in the Control Panel) to set aggressive targets for when the display will go dark (say, after five minutes of inactivity) and when the machine will slip into sleep mode (no longer than ten minutes of inactivity). And if you can spare the extra time it takes for the machine to resume, set the PC to hibernate, not just sleep, when you close the lid.
 
2. Don’t Be Performance Hungry
Unless you’re running high-order mathematical calculations on that long plane ride, chances are you don’t need all the processing power your CPU is capable of giving. So in Vista, select the “Power saver” power plan (found in the Control Panel, in the Power Options section) to extend battery life when on DC power, and leave the 3D gaming for when you’re near an AC outlet.
 
3. Dim the Lights
Turn down the brightness of the LCD panel (via the Function-key combo, or in the Control Panel’s Display Settings dialog) to the lowest level you can tolerate. The backlight sucks power like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
 
4. Banish Non-Essential Components
When you aren’t actively using the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and IR radios, turn them off (via the hard switch, if your PC has it, or in the appropriate utility set), so they don’t trickle you dry trying to connect. Also, use USB-attached devices only when absolutely necessary. They aren’t getting their power from positive ions in the air, you know.
 
5. Watch Scheduled Tasks
Be sure that your periodic virus scan is set to a time when you’re usually plugged in; running a full-disk virus check keeps the hard drive and CPU fully engaged for the better part of an hour.
 
6. Lay Off the Multimedia
A little in-flight music is nice while you construct that PowerPoint presentation, but streaming music from your hard drive (or playing a CD) means the disk (or disc) is always spinning.
 
7. Get More Juice
Let everyone else fight over that free AC outlet. Designed to sit underneath your notebook, the APC Universal Notebook Battery 70  can provide up to six hours of endurance using its lithium polymer technology. It comes with a variety of notebook tips and features selectable output voltages. The unit adds 1.8 pounds to your carry-on, but it’s better than having your laptop run out of gas midflight

Toshiba has offered to exchange 340,000 notebook computer batteries, but said they do not pose a fire hazard. Instead, defective batteries could unexpectedly cut power to the notebooks, causing users to lose unsaved work.

The batteries, made by Sony, may fail to charge correctly, causing the power to cut off suddenly if the notebook is not connected to a mains outlet, said Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori.

Reports of lithium ion cells in notebook batteries overheating or catching fire have prompted other computer manufacturers, including Apple Computer and Dell, to issue safety recalls. Dell recalled 4.1 million batteries used in its notebook computers in August, citing a fire hazard, while Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries, warning that they could overheat.

Not an Explosive Situation
Toshiba’s batteries are not at risk of starting a fire, Ohmori said. “There is no such hazardous or related issue,” he said.

Instead, Toshiba’s problems stem from a defect in the interface circuitry between the battery cells and the computer.

That defect is caused by corrosion, said a spokesman for Sony, the manufacturer of the batteries. An ingredient used in the insulating paper of batteries manufactured between March and May can corrode components in the batteries’ charging circuits, causing them to fail, said Sony spokesman Takashia Uehara. The supplier changed the composition of the insulating paper without notice, he said.

Batteries made for other notebook manufacturers also contained the paper, and Sony is working with those companies to see whether there is a problem, Uehara said. He declined to say how many batteries were affected overall.

Toshiba’s free battery exchange program covers 11 notebook models sold in Japan, five sold in the U.S. and 12 sold in Europe, including the Tecra A7, Satellite A100, Satellite M50 and Satellite pro M70, Ohmori said.

Sanyo and Panasonic have agreed to divest some of their battery production facilities in order to secure regulatory approval for their merger, the European Commission said Tuesday.

Panasonic plans to take over Sanyo to create the largest electronics firm and maker of laptop and mobile phone batteries in the world, in a deal valued at around US$9 billion. The deal has been approved by regulators in Japan and now the E.U., but it still needs clearance by authorities in the U.S. and China.

Europe’s top competition regulator feared that the combined strength of the two companies would skew competition in the markets for primary cylindrical lithium batteries, portable rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries and rechargeable coin-shape batteries based on lithium.

The companies agreed to divest a European production plant that currently produces cylindrical lithium and rechargeable coin-shape batteries, the Commission said in a statement. They also agreed to sell one of their portable nickel-metal hydride businesses but the Commission wouldn’t say which of the firms would make the divestment.

“In view of the remedies offered, I am satisfied that competition will remain vigorous after the merger and that purchasers of batteries will continue to benefit from choice and competitive prices,” said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes in a statement announcing that the deal could go ahead.

Primary cylindrical lithium batteries are used in applications that require strong bursts of power and where the battery is used for long periods without replacement, such as alarms and utility meters.

Portable rechargeable nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries are used in products such as power tools, electric shavers, toys, portable scanners and two-way radios.

Rechargeable coin-shape batteries based on lithium are used principally as back-up power for real time clocks in mobile phones and digital still cameras, as well as in watches, laptops and keyless entry systems for cars.

The Commission also examined a number of consumer electronic product markets such as camcorders and flat panel televisions where both Panasonic and Sanyo compete. However, it concluded that both companies face competition from several other firms, and that their combined strength wouldn’t increase their battery market share in any one market substantially.

Display screen technology developer Mary Lou Jepsen is working at her new start-up to create laptop PCs so energy efficient they’ll be able to run on a standard laptop battery for 20 to 40 hours before needing a recharge.

Jepsen, formerly the head of Intel’s display division and chief technology officer at One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), plans to start shipping ultra-low power screens for laptops and e-books in the second half of next year that people can read in direct sunlight and have a fully saturated HDTV-quality color mode.

Low-power screens that can be read in bright sunlight are one of the key features on OLPC’s XO laptop. The screens cost a third that of traditional LCD screens and use about a tenth of the power.

“At Pixel Qi, we have a new series of inventions that go well beyond the OLPC screen that we are developing right now,” said Jepsen by e-mail. Her company recently opened offices in Taipei and San Francisco after receiving a first round of funding.

More energy efficient screens are critical for mobile devices such as laptops and e-books because screens are among the most power hungry components on such devices.

Pixel Qi plans to develop entire laptop and PC designs around its new screen technology to create the most power efficient models possible.

One particular product in development at Pixel Qi is a new e-paper that is paper-white and offers both color and video. The screens draw just a small percentage of the power of a standard LCD screen and allow companies to make new kinds of laptop PCs with batteries that can last longer.

“We are working with a number of notebook and e-book makers on a number of different form factors,” she said. “We can enable an increase of 5-10X battery life between charges compared with a standard notebook. This means that rather than needing to recharge your batteries every few hours, you could run 20-40 hours of use on a one charge.”

The company is working on a range of screen sizes for laptop PCs and e-books, with some as thin as 1-millimeter, she said.

Pixel Qi will be announcing products in the near future. Jepsen expects to have new laptop and e-book screens shipping in the second half of next year.

One of the keys to keeping screen costs low and putting them on the market quickly is that the Pixel Qi’s products will be made of traditional LCD materials on LCD manufacturing lines.

A subsidiary of Taiwanese LCD panel maker Chi Mei Optoelectronics is producing the screens for OLPC’s XO, but Jepsen did not say which companies Pixel Qi is working with.

Pixel Qi’s Taipei office was set up to work with hardware makers on the island. Taiwanese contract manufacturers account for around 90 percent of the world’s laptop PCs, either from factories in Taiwan, China, or Vietnam.

Three of the biggest laptop computer makers are recalling certain batteries because of a risk they may overheat and catch fire. Sony made the batteries and the recall mirrors — yet appears a lot smaller than — a similar one that occurred two years ago.

This time, around 100,000 batteries are affected, a fraction of the 9.6 million [m] recalled in 2006. Dell, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Toshiba have already issued recalls for the batteries that were used in their products and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said “consumers should stop using recalled products immediately.”

The batteries in question were manufactured between October 2004 and June 2005 and to date there have been about 40 incidents reportedly globally of overheating, Sony said Friday.

Most of the incidents are believed to be due to manufacturing line adjustments made during the period that may have affected some batteries, Sony said. Additionally some may have been due to raw material flaws.

Of the 100,000 batteries affected, around 35,000 were used in laptops shipped in the U.S. By far the greatest number, about 32,000, were shipped with HP laptops.

The maker said it is recalling batteries that have a barcode label beginning with A0, L0, L1 or GC that were shipped with HP Pavilion dv1000, dv8000 and zd8000 models; with Compaq Presario v2000 and v2400 machines and with HP Compaq nc6110, nc6120, nc6140, nc6220, nc6230,nx4800, nx4820, nx6110, nx6120 and nx9600 computers.

Toshiba’s U.S. recall covers around 3,000 Satellite A70/A75, P30/P5, M30X/M35X and M50/M55 laptops and Tecra A3, A5 and S2 computers.

Dell is recalling battery model OU091 in Latitude 110L and Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 computers.

Consumers who believe they have batteries that have been recalled should stop using the batteries and check with their PC vendor.

An additional 2,000 batteries were shipped in the Japanese market and the remaining 63,000 went to consumers in other regions, including Europe and Asia. Recall notices for machines shipped in these other regions are expected to be issued shortly.

A group of laptop vendors and battery manufacturers plans to announce a standard for making safer lithium ion batteries by June 15, 2007, in an attempt to recover from a massive series of battery recalls in recent months.

The new standard will cover “process requirements, quality control and assurance” for all forms of rechargeable lithium ion battery cells, from prismatic to cylindrical and pouch, according to the Association Connecting Electronics Industries, known as IPC.

At an October 12 meeting at IPC offices in Bannockburn, Illinois, the group also voted to name Lenovo executive Anthony Corkell as chairman of this IPC Lithium Ion Battery Subcommittee. Corkell, Lenovo’s executive director of standards and quality engineering, will report to a larger IPC standards board run by John Grosso, Dell’s director of supplier engineering and quality.

The group did not list specific changes it was requiring, and Corkell did not respond to requests for comment. But lithium ion technology is already well established, so the new standard will probably focus on process controls and quality assurance, says IPC spokesperson Kimberly Sterling.

Background
The group first convened in September, after batteries made by Sony Energy Devices short-circuited and caught fire. In August PC vendors including Dell and Lenovo had worked with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall about 8 million batteries and to offer free replacements.

Other vendors involved in the recall include Apple Computer, Fujitsu, IBM, and Toshiba, but it is unclear whether any of those companies participated in the meeting. Even the battery manufacturer itself–Sony–may not have attended, raising questions about who would actually follow the new standard when it is published.

IPC declined to provide a roll of attendees. “All I can tell you is that the major laptop manufacturers were well represented,” Sterling says.

Many road warriors carry a spare laptop battery with them so they can extend their work time away from a power source (assuming their laptop uses a removable battery, of course; two of Apple’s recent models do not). But while multiple batteries are useful when working, they present a challenge when charging: You can charge only one at a time inside your laptop, and if you’re actually using your laptop, charging takes longer because the laptop itself grabs a good amount of the power.

This makes a standalone battery charger a useful accessory that ensures you always have a fresh battery on hand. Unfortunately, most chargers I’ve seen are bulky desktop gadgets. FastMac’s TruePower U-Charge, on the other hand, is a portable battery charger that’s about the same size as the current MacBook’s AC adapter and weighs less than six ounces. Two models are available: a 14.4V version that works with batteries for the original iBook, the original iBook 3G, and the Titanium PowerBook G4; and a 10.8V version that works with batteries for G3 PowerBooks (Pismo and Lombard), all other iBooks, Aluminum PowerBook G4s, and all pre-unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros. (It’s important to use the correct U-Charge model. Because Apple has used the same connectors on most of its laptop batteries for the past decade, both U-Charge versions will fit most batteries; FastMac warns that using the wrong U-Charge model can result in permanent damage to both the battery and the charger.)

In my testing with batteries for a white MacBook and an original MacBook Pro, the U-Charge worked well, fully charging the batteries; in fact, the U-Charge juiced up those batteries noticeably faster than they charged inside the laptop itself, even if I wasn’t using the laptop at the same time. And I appreciated the capability to charge one battery while I was using the other, or to charge two batteries simultaneously–one in the laptop and the other using the U-Charge.

The U-Charge also gives you the option of bringing just the charger when traveling, leaving your laptop’s AC adapter at home to lighten your load. In this scenario, you would use one battery while the other is charging–the U-Charge will fully charge the latter in less time than you can drain the other. You just need to be sure to safe sleep before swapping batteries if you want to avoid having to shut down during the exchange.

On the downside, the U-Charge’s four charge-indicators LEDs are a bit confusing. Instead of indicating the current charge level during charging, they work only when not charging. If you unplug the U-Charge from AC power and then connect the U-Charge to your battery, these lights show you the approximate battery level: 0 (no lights) 25, 50, 75, or 100 (four lights) percent. While this approach works as advertised, it’s a hassle to have to unplug the U-Charge from the power outlet in order to check the currently charging battery’s level. I usually ended up just waiting until the battery was fully charged (when the main charging-indicator light turned green).

One other limitation is that neither of the current U-Charge models works with the batteries for the latest (unibody) MacBook and MacBook Pro. A FastMac representative told me the company is currently working on a new version for these models. Although the U-Charge’s battery-connection cable is interchangeable–a design that, in theory, lets you change just the cable to gain compatibility with newer batteries–it’s not yet clear if either of the current U-Charge models will work the latest MacBook and MacBook Pro batteries via a simple cable swap.

Dreams of fuel cells serving the power needs of a laptop PC or other new technology to significantly increase battery life won’t likely be available for years, an Acer Inc. executive says.

In fact, the recent recall of nearly 9.6 million notebook PC batteries over fears a manufacturing problem could cause them to overheat or catch fire highlights the main reason why battery technology moves slower than other technologies inside a laptop, said Jim Wong, president of IT products at Acer Inc., in an interview on Thursday.

Safety is a huge issue with batteries. Electricity is generated by chemical reactions inside a battery, which produces heat as a byproduct. With so much chemistry involved, a lot more product testing is required, therefore battery technology progresses more slowly, he said.

“The lithium-ion materials used in batteries today were discovered 30 to 40 years ago,” said Wong.

Fuel cells are promising, but the technology isn’t ready yet, and an infrastructure needs to be in place before the technology can be widely used, he said.

Fuel cells require fuels such as hydrogen, butane, methanol, or natural gas to produce power. Not only would fuel packets or refueling stations be needed for mass adoption of the technology in laptops, they would also need to be approved by aviation officials for use on airplanes.

There has been progress made on such approval, but in an age of terrorism fears, where even cigarette lighters have been banned, the process is moving understandably slow. And users aren’t likely to buy a laptop that can’t be taken with them on vacations or business trips that require air travel.

The battery issue is gaining more importance recently because the new era of multimedia laptops threatens to shorten battery life.

“High definition is a most formidable enemy to battery life,” said Wong.

HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players in laptop PCs really drag on battery life. Companies offset some of the drain by putting bigger batteries inside machines and with power management technology aimed at shutting off parts of the machine that aren’t immediately being used. But such improvements only help a little bit. They’re not the kind of breakthrough that fuel-cells are expected to be.

IBM is suing Shentech for selling laptop batteries that catch fire and sport allegedly fake IBM logos.

The suit, filed Nov. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, accuses Shentech of trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.

IBM says that a consumer in Ohio bought a battery from Shentech for a ThinkPad laptop. The battery overheated and caught fire, causing damage to the laptop, IBM said. The user reported the problem to Lenovo, which licenses the IBM trademark. After examining the faulty battery, IBM discovered that it was not a genuine IBM battery, the company said in the suit.

IBM then ordered 12 batteries from Shentech and found them all to be fakes, IBM said.

IBM asks the court to require Shentech to turn over all of the batteries so that IBM can destroy them. IBM also asks for all the profits that Shentech earned from the sale of the batteries. In addition, IBM wants treble damages or US$1 million per counterfeit mark per type of item sold.

The Shentech.com Web site continues to list ThinkPad batteries for sale, as well as a host of other electronic devices and components. Shentech appears to be a Web-only operation with a mailing address in Flushing, New York. It describes its secret to success as its “ability to provide cutting edge computer technology parts at bargain prices.”Fake, Flammable Laptop Batteries Prompt IBM Lawsuit

When you’ve come across gadgets like NoPoPo’s pee-powered battery, you shouldn’t be surprised that a can of Coke is all that’s needed to power this concept handset conjured up for Nokia by U.K. designer Daizi Zheng.

We’re not convinced that the cylindrical design of the phone, which doubles as a tube you can drink from, will win hearts, but the idea does sound fitting for a tropical island. Even better if the chilling technology we wrote about recently can be incorporated. The designer didn’t elaborate on the technicalities, although terms like sugary drink, enzymes, water, and oxygen were mentioned. The claim is that this concept has the potential to last three to four times longer than the conventional lithium cells.