[ltp] Thinkpad battery exhausted in less than a year?

[Martin Gramatke]

Hi,

I have a Thinkpad X24, model 2662MWG, for two years now and I have no luck
with batteries.
The first battery was dead after one year and now the second is loosing
capacity dramatically.

These batteries a extremely expensive, around 200US$. I hate to buy a new
one
after such a short time.

How long do your batteries last? 

Am I am doing something wrong?
The notebook is used daily at normal room temperature. I power the notebook
when the battery is less than 15% and I disconnect power, as soon as they
are 100% charged. If the notebook is off I sometimes do not disconnect and
leave it powered overnight. I avoid deep discharges.

Now I have to buy the third battery. I have the choice between 10.8V/4000mAh
(FRU 02K6760) and 14.4V/1700mAh (FRU 02K6758). I already had these rubbishy
10.8V batterys. Should I try the 14.4V this time?

What do you think of third party batteries? They cost half as much as
original IBM batteries.

Are there any tools that give me more information than
cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state and cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state? 

I am interested in number of charge/discharge cycles, manufacturing date,
manufacturer of the cells?

regards
Martin