Laptop batteries

[stevo1210]

I'm looking for a new battery for my Dell Latitude D400. The one in there now has a bad cell somewhere (I think?) because sometimes it lasts for 1.5 hours, sometimes 10 minutes or sometimes a minute or two.

So... I decided to take a look around eBay and my local stores and all they had were generic ones from Hong Kong and Taiwan or China! Not a single store had an original Dell battery... same result with eBay...

Ringing Dell didn't help either because an original battery was $200-something which is like the price of a second hand netbook.

So can I trust these generic batteries? they have 3-4 year warranties.

[mockingbird]

Re: Laptop batteries

1) I've heard you can rejuvenate old batteried by giving them some amperage. From what I understand, the metal in the cell "frays" for lack of a better word, and giving it a zap fixes it. Look on Youtube.
2) I think the life of lithium batteries is determined from the time that the battery is made. So if you leave the battery lying around and never use it, or use it everyday, it will last for the same length of time, regardless of how many charge cycles.
3) When you buy a battery of eBay, make sure it's from a company that manufactures it on the spot when you order it, and that it's not old stock. A lot of these Chinese sellers often make it very inconvenient to return a product, with the foreknowledge that their product is defective to begin with.

Finally, forget about buying an original battery. The funny thing about batteries is that I have seen some batteries die in relatively new laptops just after a year, and yet there are some people with li-on batteries that still get 2 hours out of them after 4 years. Go figure.

[Wizard]

Re: Laptop batteries

Buy this battery from Dell or buy a 600 to 700 new notebook.

Li-Ion battery is one that anyone *cannot* tinker with even zapping as they may swell up or explode and vent smoke/flames.

Now, this is biggest reasons I buy new notebook as value of a used notebook with a 3 year old battery is worth very little because cost of a good trusty third party is hard to find and costly and still costly from OEM.

Cheers, Wizard

[stevo1210]

Re: Laptop batteries

Buy this battery from Dell or buy a 600 to 700 new notebook.

Li-Ion battery is one that anyone *cannot* tinker with even zapping as they may swell up or explode and vent smoke/flames.

Now, this is biggest reasons I buy new notebook as value of a used notebook with a 3 year old battery is worth very little because cost of a good trusty third party is hard to find and costly and still costly from OEM.

Cheers, Wizard

LOL $299 for a battery from Dell... that's if they had any in stock. They said since it's a discontinued model, they don't know if stock is left.

For $299 I could get a brand new HP mininote netbook!

I will however rant that these Li-Ion batteries die whenever they like. Just after a year the battery on my Inspiron E1505 died... and I didn't even use it on battery often!
Needless to say the battery itself was $350-something from Dell at the time. The value of the laptop after a year was $500... go figure.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop batteries

As mockingbird mentioned LI die with age as well as # cycles.

Some Laptop battery packs have a counter and they fake being dead after so many cycles.
That is supposedly a safety feature but it sounds like a way to sell more batteries to me.

There are places that will rebuild your old pack.
I've used one called BTI and their rebuilds are great.
http://www.batterytech.com/warranty.aspx

.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop batteries

add me to the thread as we both are looking for new d400 batteries. i saw $32 USD ones on buy.com...

http://www.buy.com/prod/laptop-batte...207985039.html

http://www.buy.com/prod/new-dell-lat...212947216.html

they are made by AGPtek... are they any good?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop batteries

This is a case where: old stock = crap.

The cells go bad with age even if never used.

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop batteries

BTI has them:

http://www.batterytech.com/products....00&pid=DL-D400

but they want $102 from the fact. store (the dealers are close tot hat as well). thats more than i paid for the laptop! ouch!

[mockingbird]

Re: Laptop batteries

The question is does BTI make them on the spot when you order them.

I want to order an SLA battery for my old camcorder. I've seen that a model from Energizer exists, I wonder if its safe to buy an old stock new SLA.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop batteries

BTI has them:

http://www.batterytech.com/products....00&pid=DL-D400

but they want $102 from the fact. store (the dealers are close tot hat as well). thats more than i paid for the laptop! ouch!

The dealers are usually cheaper.

The individual cells that go into the packs cost $20/@ and up if you by fresh stock from a name brand.
Most packs have between 6 and 12 cells.

I tried to rebuild one once but for me to buy cells [small qty as opposed to bulk lg qty] it was going to cost more to do it myself.

.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop batteries

The question is does BTI make them on the spot when you order them.

I want to order an SLA battery for my old camcorder. I've seen that a model from Energizer exists, I wonder if its safe to buy an old stock new SLA.

I know what you are trying to ask but the fact is that doesn't necessarily matter.
It's the age of the cells that go into the pack that matters.

The first one I got from them was in 2005 or 2006 and it still works.
.

[mockingbird]

Re: Laptop batteries

Yea but I'm talking about SLA batteries (Sealed lead-acid). I read about them a little, but I couldn't find any information regarding their longevity.

[Wizard]

Re: Laptop batteries

I have been aware of Li-Ion being perishable once made.

I forgot that you can send in the pack to rebuild but what reputable shop to do this is the question.

Cheers, Wizard

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop batteries

Yea but I'm talking about SLA batteries (Sealed lead-acid). I read about them a little, but I couldn't find any information regarding their longevity.

The thread is about Laptop batteries.

I get UPS batteries here but that's because I can drive over and pick them up. [No shipping.]
http://www.gruberpower.com/gruberpow...es/default.asp

[ratdude747]

Re: Laptop batteries

The dealers are usually cheaper.

The individual cells that go into the packs cost $20/@ and up if you by fresh stock from a name brand.
Most packs have between 6 and 12 cells.

I tried to rebuild one once but for me to buy cells [small qty as opposed to bulk lg qty] it was going to cost more to do it myself.

.

techheist had the lowest at $84

still out of budget

are the $32 ones ok or crap?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Laptop batteries

Probably old stock w/dated cells.

[stevo1210]

Re: Laptop batteries

Hey guys, I'm still looking for a battery for the D400... money is not an issue as I have a high paying job as a bar tender nowadays. Yay!

Anyway, I found these two on eBay selling GENUINE Dell batteries...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/New-Genuine-D...#ht_2948wt_908

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-Genuine-D...ht_3044wt_1139

The American seller is twice as expensive as the one from Hong Kong/China, which should I choose?.

I know money isn't an issue, but I still prefer cheaper (as does everybody)

Any objections over the Chinese based seller?

I just don't want an explosion in my car or office due to a bad battery... safety over money of course.

[jetadm123]

Re: Laptop batteries

Hey guys, I'm still looking for a battery for the D400... money is not an issue as I have a high paying job as a bar tender nowadays. Yay!

Anyway, I found these two on eBay selling GENUINE Dell batteries...

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/New-Genuine-D...#ht_2948wt_908

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-Genuine-D...ht_3044wt_1139

The American seller is twice as expensive as the one from Hong Kong/China, which should I choose?.

I know money isn't an issue, but I still prefer cheaper (as does everybody)

Any objections over the Chinese based seller?

I just don't want an explosion in my car or office due to a bad battery... safety over money of course.

The USA sellers are probably getting their batteries from the SAME Chinese sellers on ebay. There are two things I look for: 1) feedback. If someone gets a dead or poor quality battery, you'd better believe they're going to give negative feedback 2) warranty. Having a warranty is good, but trying to return something to China can be costly in time and shipping costs. On the other hand, returning to a USA seller should be just the opposite.

[stevo1210]

Re: Laptop batteries

China is closer to Australia than we are to the USA, I don't think I will encounter any issues with the chinese seller as all they do is sell batteries and they have great feedback. I think I will go with them instead. I am also aware that batteries (in the pictures) from both sellers are from '08 and '09... must be older dell stock? after all the D400 is way past it's end of life service already.

[jetadm123]

Re: Laptop batteries

Oops! I failed to see that you are located in Australia. Yes, the chinese seller would be the better deal.