I hot wired the battery and then left the laptop on until the power ran out. I let the battery charge over the weekend. Only a few hours at a time to make sure the battery was not getting to hot. Checked today to see were the cells were at, and they are reading that they are fully charged. I have a friend that is going to make me a circuit to run a LED that will let me know when the battery gets to a certian voltage so that I know it is time to charge it. I will be doing that this afternoon. thanks for the reply. J-Bro