x61s battery life time

[svoboda]

Hello,

I'd like to know the real life time for standard battery in X61s. I
switched on power management and all the similar features, but i got max
2.5 hours. In user guide it is reffered the batery life should be 3.1
hours. Is there anybody working with thinkpad X61s and having similar
experience?

David
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[Hendrik-Jan Heins-2]

Hello David,

same here 2.5 hours is really the max I get out of it.
"Normal use" normally yields even less (about 2.2 hours).


Hendrik-Jan


2008/2/7, svoboda@... <svoboda@...>:

> Hello,
>
> I'd like to know the real life time for standard battery in X61s. I
> switched on power management and all the similar features, but i got max
> 2.5 hours. In user guide it is reffered the batery life should be 3.1
> hours. Is there anybody working with thinkpad X61s and having similar
> experience?
>
> David
> --
> The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
> http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad
>

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[Arno Trautmann]

> Hello David,
>
> same here 2.5 hours is really the max I get out of it.
> "Normal use" normally yields even less (about 2.2 hours).
>
> Hendrik-Janä
>
>
> 2008/2/7, svoboda@... <svoboda@...>:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'd like to know the real life time for standard battery in X61s. I
> > switched on power management and all the similar features, but i got max
> > 2.5 hours. In user guide it is reffered the batery life should be 3.1
> > hours. Is there anybody working with thinkpad X61s and having similar
> > experience?
> >
> > David

Hi,

I'm a bit confused... I have a X61s, with the preinstalled Windows Vista I get max. nearly 10 hours, normal use maybe 6 or 7 hours.
With Linux (Arch) I get 4.5 hours, even with maximum screen brightness (haven't manages to get it down) and most of power savings don't work so far. Are there several versions of the battery? I can't understand you get so short times...

Arno
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[svoboda]

Hi,

regardless using Vista or Linux i have 2.5 hours of working time. I think
it depends on the battery pack you use. I have 4 cell Li-Ion battery with
the capacity of 2.0 AH. Which one do you have?

David

On Thu, 7 Feb 2008, Arno Trautmann wrote:

>> Hello David,
>>
>> same here 2.5 hours is really the max I get out of it.
>> "Normal use" normally yields even less (about 2.2 hours).
>>
>> Hendrik-Janä
>>
>>
>> 2008/2/7, svoboda@... <svoboda@...>:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'd like to know the real life time for standard battery in X61s. I
>>> switched on power management and all the similar features, but i got max
>>> 2.5 hours. In user guide it is reffered the batery life should be 3.1
>>> hours. Is there anybody working with thinkpad X61s and having similar
>>> experience?
>>>
>>> David
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm a bit confused... I have a X61s, with the preinstalled Windows Vista
> I get max. nearly 10 hours, normal use maybe 6 or 7 hours. With Linux
> (Arch) I get 4.5 hours, even with maximum screen brightness (haven't
> manages to get it down) and most of power savings don't work so far. Are
> there several versions of the battery? I can't understand you get so
> short times...
>
> Arno
> --
> Psssst! Schon vom neuen GMX MultiMessenger gehört?
> Der kann`s mit allen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger
> --
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> http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad
>

[Ted Ts'o]

On Thu, Feb 07, 2008 at 03:37:56PM +0100, svoboda@... wrote:
>
> regardless using Vista or Linux i have 2.5 hours of working time. I think
> it depends on the battery pack you use. I have 4 cell Li-Ion battery with
> the capacity of 2.0 AH. Which one do you have?

There are 3 primary batteries for the X60/X61 series:

* Thinkpad X6x 4 cell slim line battery    28.8 Watt hours (3 hours @ 9.3 W/hr)
* Thinkpad X6x 4 cell cylindrical battery  37.4 Watt hours (4 hours @ 9.3 W/hr)
* Thinkpad X6x 8 cell battery              74.8 Watt hours (8 hours @ 9.3 W/hr)

How many hours you will have depends on what your laptop is doing and
how you configure it.  9.3 W/hours is what I get when I put my laptop
in "Airplane mode".  (That is, wireless disabled, USB modules
unloaded, screen brightness at 40% using xbacklight, bluetooth module
disabled, laptop_mode enabled, all of my mail messages loaded into
main memory so there is minimal or no disk activity, etc.)  So the 9.3
W/hr consumption is not the lowest possible number, but it's the
lowest possible *realistic* number that I've been able to find, which
involves me reading e-mail and mostly deleting mail messages using the
mutt mail-reader.  Your Mileage May Vary; in particular, if you are
using Evolution to read your mail, it's almost certain it will be
burning more juice.  :-)

People who say that they get 2.5 or 2.2 hours battery life are
probably using the the 4-cell slim-line battery (assuming their
battery is new), and running 11-13 Watts/hour, which is quite
believable.  If I'm running at full screen brightness and doing a CPU
and Disk intensive workload, I can drive the usage up to close to 30
Watts/hour.   So it All Depends.

There is no question that Windows is better at making it easy to
configure your laptop on the continuum between high-performance and
long battery life, and it *may* be the case that Windows can drop to a
lower baseline idle usage level.  (I've seen some people claim 7-8
W/hr on Windows XP; but I can get to around 8 watts/hr if I turn the
screen all the way down, but it's not really usable at that level.  I
haven't seen a fair, heads-to-heads comparison using exactly the same
hardware, and adjusting both laptops to a similar idle configuration.)

In any case, trying to crowbar Linux's power consuption down the
lowest possible level when it is idle is fun, but probably the biggest
development gap is making it easier, and preferably auotmatic, for
Linux to change its power usage profiles when on or off the AC mains
power, and ways to automatically and easily turn off such as the USB
port when they are not needed.

                                                - Ted
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[Damien Challet-2]

> I'm a bit confused... I have a X61s, with the preinstalled Windows Vista I
> get max. nearly 10 hours, normal use maybe 6 or 7 hours. With Linux (Arch)
> I get 4.5 hours, even with maximum screen brightness (haven't manages to
> get it down) and most of power savings don't work so far. Are there several
> versions of the battery? I can't understand you get so short times...

xbacklight is your friend.

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[Stefan Monnier]

> * Thinkpad X6x 4 cell slim line battery    28.8 Watt hours (3 hours @ 9.3 W/hr)

Just a nit pick: this is 28.8 Wh (i.e. watt times hours), or 3 hours at
9.3W (not W/h).


        Stefan

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[John Jason Jordan-2]

On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 16:27:37 +0100
Damien Challet <dchallet@...> dijo:

> > I'm a bit confused... I have a X61s, with the preinstalled Windows Vista I
> > get max. nearly 10 hours, normal use maybe 6 or 7 hours. With Linux (Arch)
> > I get 4.5 hours, even with maximum screen brightness (haven't manages to
> > get it down) and most of power savings don't work so far. Are there several
> > versions of the battery? I can't understand you get so short times...
>
> xbacklight is your friend.

I have xbacklight installed on my T61 with Gutsy x86_64 (nVidia video),
but something is wrong:

jjj@Devil7:~$ xbacklight -get
No outputs have backlight property

What does that mean?
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[Xavier Cremaschi]

svoboda@... a écrit :
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to know the real life time for standard battery in X61s. I
> switched on power management and all the similar features, but i got
> max 2.5 hours. In user guide it is reffered the batery life should be
> 3.1 hours. Is there anybody working with thinkpad X61s and having
> similar experience?
>
> David

IIRC, I get 17.2 W/h with my X61s, with :
- kernel 2.6.23-1
- all powertop advices applied
- Bluetooth and Firewire disabled
- USB and Wifi enabled
Which gives me less than 2 hours on the default battery (little, slim,
4cell), and approximatively 4h30 on the big one (cylindrical, 8cell)

Xavier.
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[Pete Phillips]

>>>>> "Theodore" == Theodore Tso <tytso@...> writes:

    Theodore> How many hours you will have depends on what your laptop
    Theodore> is doing and how you configure it.  9.3 W/hours is what I
    Theodore> get when I put my laptop in "Airplane mode".  (That is,
    Theodore> wireless disabled, USB modules unloaded, screen brightness
    Theodore> at 40% using xbacklight, bluetooth module disabled,
    Theodore> laptop_mode enabled, all of my mail messages loaded into
    Theodore> main memory so there is minimal or no disk activity, etc.)

I am running a 2.6.24 kernel under Gutsy on my X61s with the slimline
battery, and with the wireless switch off and laptop mode turned on,
plus running:

      modprobe -r ehci_hcd uhci_hcd sierra usbserial

I am getting 11.8 W (2.3 hours) (using emacs to read my emails and
manage my org-mode lists).

However, I can't unload usbcore.  Is it possible to unload the usbcore
module ? and will it make much difference to my power consumption ?


Pete

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[Henrique de Moraes Holschuh-2]

On Sat, 09 Feb 2008, Pete Phillips wrote:

> I am running a 2.6.24 kernel under Gutsy on my X61s with the slimline
> battery, and with the wireless switch off and laptop mode turned on,
> plus running:
>
>       modprobe -r ehci_hcd uhci_hcd sierra usbserial
>
> I am getting 11.8 W (2.3 hours) (using emacs to read my emails and
> manage my org-mode lists).
>
> However, I can't unload usbcore.  Is it possible to unload the usbcore
> module ? and will it make much difference to my power consumption ?

No, usb-core won't make a difference on power consumption. removing UHCI
does, and EHCI just might make a difference.

--
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  them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
  where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
  Henrique Holschuh
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[Xavier Cremaschi]

Xavier Cremaschi a écrit :

> svoboda@... a écrit :
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'd like to know the real life time for standard battery in X61s. I
>> switched on power management and all the similar features, but i got
>> max 2.5 hours. In user guide it is reffered the batery life should be
>> 3.1 hours. Is there anybody working with thinkpad X61s and having
>> similar experience?
>>
>> David
>
> IIRC, I get 17.2 W/h with my X61s, with :
> - kernel 2.6.23-1
> - all powertop advices applied
> - Bluetooth and Firewire disabled
> - USB and Wifi enabled
> Which gives me less than 2 hours on the default battery (little, slim,
> 4cell), and approximatively 4h30 on the big one (cylindrical, 8cell)
>
> Xavier.

With kernel 2.6.24 : 16.5W  (better than 2.6.23)
With 40% brightness : <= 15W (not a big gain because I do not use a 100%
brightness even on AC)
With usb disabled : <= 13W (between 11.5 and 12.9 IIRC)

I think I am going to auto-remove usb when on battery (except if a
device is plugged, of course)

Xavier.
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