T60P CMOS Battery

[taichi]

What is the proper CMOS battery for a T60P, and how often should it be replaced?

Thanks

[Thinkpad Lover]

Hi, the T60/T60p uses a CR2032 watch battery, the same CMOS battery used in the T4x and R5x series. Even the connector attaching the battery is the same. You can find a cheap one on Ebay which includes the connector, or salvage the old connector, go down to your local drug store and pick up a CR2032 battery, remove the old CMOS, carefully cut open the yellow plastic encasement, use a small pliers to pry loose the lightly soldered metal contacts, being sure to note Positive and Negative, flatten those metal contacts again and lay them flat on the battery, observing polarity, Positive one side, negative on the other side, use some electric tape to wrap the whole thing up and reconnect.

This simple technique should work to the best of my knowledge. It works fine on 600 series CMOS and T20 CMOS batteries. Never had to do it on a T60 yet. Not sure how often it should be replaced. I'm sure one of the more veteran members of the Forum will come along soon

Best wishes,
Daniel.

[robert213]

The CMOS Battery for your T60p ought to last several more years.

I own two T30's. One of them I use nearly everyday on an AC powder adapter. The other, I have used as a backup machine. The machine that I use everyday is still running with the original CMOS battery. I replaced the CMOS battery in the machine that I rarely use about 6 months ago.

Don't arrive at the conclusion that the CMOS battery is re-chargable. I believe that the battery failed sooner, because of its machine's inactivity.

This is probably not the best advice, but I purchased a used battery from a computer recycler obtained from a T500.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=94853

[RealBlackStuff]

Average life for a CR2032 CMOS battery is ~5 years.
When you replace one, make sure there are no BIOS passwords, otherwise you might get a nasty surprise.

[taichi]

I bought my T60P used. I have never created a BIOS password. How would I check to see if the previous owner had? Is it in the BIOS setup menu somewhere?

Thanks

[Neil]

If you can access your BIOS and make changes, then you don't have a password. It's those who have never even tried to access the BIOS that might be in for a surprise.

[taichi]

If you can access your BIOS and make changes, then you don't have a password. It's those who have never even tried to access the BIOS that might be in for a surprise.

I can go skiing on my BIOS.

But seriously, I have gone into BIOS, changed display attributes, and other things. So I guess I'm good to go.

I believe the T60P 2623 DDU is from 2007. When I get a chance, I'll flip it over to see if there is a build date near the SN.

Thanks

[micrex22]

... or salvage the old connector, go down to your local drug store and pick up a CR2032 battery, remove the old CMOS, carefully cut open the yellow plastic encasement, use a small pliers to pry loose the lightly soldered metal contacts, being sure to note Positive and Negative, flatten those metal contacts again and lay them flat on the battery, observing polarity, Positive one side, negative on the other side, use some electric tape to wrap the whole thing up and reconnect.

So it's the year 2023 now. A bunch of my T60 and T61 systems have all of their CMOS batteries popping off. Actually a lot of my older computers and devices have, but they have standard CR2032 holders.

Anyways, I looked at ebay/amazon, they are either sketchy CMOS batteries with probably low quality cells, or, the price is more than I'd like to pay.

[Solution] inspired by Daniel's response:
#1 I took the existing T60/T61 CMOS battery that was in the ThinkPad and unwrapped the heatshink plastic shell. It was like a nice little IBM candy
#2 I used some pliers to peel off the terminals and straightened them up again.
#3 Grabbing a fresh CR2032 I positioned both terminals on either side of the battery, and while applying pressure I wrapped it up with masking tape. Masking tape is going to be better than electrical tape (in my opinion) as it won't make a gooey mess over time and has better adhesion for this specific purpose. Make sure you wrap it up a few times though to ensure proper insulation.
Remember: RED goes on positive, BLACK goes on negative.
#4 I trimmed off the excess masking tape and reinstalled the battery (since the terminals are now reliant on the pressure from the masking tape, you want to be careful when folding the wires and battery back into place, you can't just cram in the wires like the original since the terminals were a lot more secure as they were pressure rivted on, I forget what the exact process for that was called.

After powering up the systems they now work fine. Much better method than paying for marked up dubious batteries.

[RealBlackStuff]

Better alternative to masking/other tape: a piece of 25mm heat shrink tubing.

[micrex22]

Better alternative to masking/other tape: a piece of 25mm heat shrink tubing.

Woah, that sounds like extra work! I'm too lazy!

With the heatshrinking you'd need to have a way to secure the terminals as the tube shrinks as well. Hot fingers!

[axur-delmeria]

Woah, that sounds like extra work! I'm too lazy!

With the heatshrinking you'd need to have a way to secure the terminals as the tube shrinks as well. Hot fingers!

Here's how this guy does it: https://youtu.be/lWQiQ8VF7uo

[Callahan]

I have T42s but the same deal with the CMOS battery replacement. Before I would order batteries with the connector from eBay but the batteries would never last very long. So in 2017(?) after reading here about buying a CR2032 at Walmart or locally and using electrical tape ... I decided to go that route. I got the connectors off the old batteries without destroying everything and put a small piece of tape to hold the + and - tabs to the battery and then wrapped more tape around the battery to secure everything. Just have to be so careful working with those very thin wires. I wish I could buy a few of those connectors to have for spares but I never found anything online to buy any.

I just replaced a battery that lasted 5 years ... much better than those eBay batteries ever did. I put in a new Energizer battery and it had a 9 year possible life (2032) on the package. We shall see ...

My problem is I can never get the battery back into the holder ... with those wires so thin and fragile I just let the battery lay lose in the area. It's covered with tape so it shouldn't short out touching any other metal ... but that's my problem, just can't get the battery back into the holder without maybe breaking the wires. Just curious if others also do this and just let the battery lose. Yes, as micrex stated ... the black tape does get gooey and messy after 5 years ... but I would think that masking tape would dry out in time and not hold the battery contacts tight to the battery. I guess for now till a better idea comes along I will use the gooey black tape. Still better than a 6 month or one year battery from eBay. As RBS mentioned heat shrink tubing ... I would have had to buy more than I really need and maybe one or two tubes would have high shipping. I don't know where to buy it locally ... might check around.
...

[micrex22]

I just replaced a battery that lasted 5 years ... much better than those eBay batteries ever did. I put in a new Energizer battery and it had a 9 year possible life (2032) on the package. We shall see ...

Or at least until 2038, then you can roll the clock back to 2005

My problem is I can never get the battery back into the holder ... with those wires so thin and fragile I just let the battery lay lose in the area. It's covered with tape so it shouldn't short out touching any other metal ... but that's my problem, just can't get the battery back into the holder without maybe breaking the wires. Just curious if others also do this and just let the battery lose. Yes, as micrex stated ... the black tape does get gooey and messy after 5 years ... but I would think that masking tape would dry out in time and not hold the battery contacts tight to the battery. I guess for now till a better idea comes along I will use the gooey black tape. Still better than a 6 month or one year battery from eBay. As RBS mentioned heat shrink tubing ... I would have had to buy more than I really need and maybe one or two tubes would have high shipping. I don't know where to buy it locally ... might check around.
...

Mine went into the holder fine (I don't have a photo unfortunately and I'm too lazy to open it again), but when I rested it back into its "nest", I carefully adjusted the wire into like a loop. The natural tension of the wire did have it peeking ever so slightly out of the hole, but the keyboard pushed it back down once installed on top. The masking tape really keeps the terminals on there nicely after you wrap it around tightly three times. It will probably take longer for the tape to degrade than the battery to expire.

Digikey and Mouser have heatshrink tubing, then get yourself a bic lighter and have at it! I'm just too lazy to actually buy the tubing. They might even have free shipping within US.