Thinkpads Forum

Was looking for ages for a genuine battery for my x61.
Finally found a x60 for sale with a 4 cell showing 58% health, good enough for me to use in my sxga x61.

However in one week the health dropped to 40%, i used it maybe 15 cycles or something.

Everything points to it being a genuine battery.

Can this be normal?

Genuine or not, batteries do not last forever. Not unusual for old batteries to do this after a prolong period. You are lucky it is fading gradually like this. I've had a few that simply drop dead.

Age is a factor with old batteries. As soon as it leaves the factory the clock is ticking. For old Thinkpads I don't bother hunting down old batteries anymore. Find a local aftermarket battery maker (international shipping can be a pain). Use it, use it hard and after 3-4 years I expect to replace it.

Ok thanks for sharing your experience. I thought buying one with decent health would give me some usability for a year or so.
I already bought 2 nos batteries that turned out dead and one that was counterfeit, so you know my search have been hard.

However reading peoples experiences with aftermarket batteries pushed me to try to find a genuine one.

For that generation of Thinkpad I use power manager to tell me when the battery was made. Chances are it is over 10 years old. Don't expect to much from it.