Best battery sources

[ratdude747]

well, i bought a dell latitude d400 off ebay. now that i got it running, i have discovered the batter doesn't work all that well. it should get around 2-3 hr from what i read (it is a 6 cell unit), but it gets way less than that, maybe 45 min or so...

where would the best place for batteries be if you are on a budget?

[retiredcaps]

Re: Best battery sources

well, i bought a dell latitude d400 off ebay.

it should get around 2-3 hr from what i read (it is a 6 cell unit), but it gets way less than that, maybe 45 min or so...

It this a new or used laptop?

Did you try draining the battery fully and then recharging (try this 2 or 3 times)?

Have you thought about taking apart the battery and replacing the cells? There are a number of youtube and pages on the web that show you how.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

its used

i have tried it to a degree, little change if any

i do not want to replace cells, i have heard and seen what a mess it can be.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Best battery sources

its used

With an used laptop, especially it is more than 3 years old, you are lucky to get 45 minutes. Some of the better laptops have software that control when to charge the battery so it doesn't always get charged.

I have purchased 2 laptop batteries from ebay and another from a Canadian company and all 3 worked fine for the people. I haven't gotten an update from those 3 people, but no one has complained over the last 3 years.

I have heard a lot of good things about

http://www.thomasdistributing.com/

and you can be pretty sure they use quality batteries, but their prices may not be so "budget".

[Wrog]

Re: Best battery sources

See if you can recondition your battery. I agree with not messing around with replacing the cells... I tried it once as an experiment, and even though it was successful it wasn't worth it to save $5. I've bought a couple of laptop batteries from user "thebatteryconnection" on ebay and have been happy with them. I'll check to see if I have any good ones that'll fit a Latitude D400.

Edit: I have a bunch that are marked "Type C1295" that are for Dells, but I don't remember where they came from... what is the "Type" marking on your battery for the D400?

[retiredcaps]

Re: Best battery sources

See if you can recondition your battery.

Recondition -> that is what I was trying to say in post #2. I had a IBM T40 laptop battery from a friend who hadn't used it in about 24 months and initially it would only hold a charge for about 10 minutes. After reconditioning, I was able to get about 65 minutes. And the sad thing was that it only had 18 full cycles on it versus the typical 400 or 500 for a laptop of this age.

It is now used as the backup battery and we bought a new one off ebay.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

it is a type 9t119

the reconditioning article was for raid arrays i think...

thomas has the battery for $129

[retiredcaps]

Re: Best battery sources

thomas has the battery for $129

Like I said, it isn't a "budget" price at thomas. I try to find laptop batteries for less than $35 (shipping included).

And for an used laptop you don't know much life is left. The motherboard could be half cracked/flexed, the GPU could give out, etc so I personally wouldn't spend $129 for a battery. I would spend $35 maximum.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

i think recalibration is the key- it has 1 hr 15min on it so far, and it has been saying 0% for 20ish min... waaayyy off...

[Wrog]

Re: Best battery sources

it is a type 9t119

the reconditioning article was for raid arrays i think...

Sorry about that, I should have read the article better. Unfortunately, no 9T119s here -- just the C1295's. Looks to be tons on eBay though for reasonable prices... I'd spend the extra $5 to get one that is "new" with a warranty.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

during calibration, i got a little under 1.5 hr of the battery... it was way off, as it spent 20-30 min saying 0%... i might get a second battery at a later date...

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

this one look good?

http://www.buy.com/prod/high-perform...212947217.html

the battery is half-hosed... no way to recalibrate it...

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

thebatteryconnection on ebay has them for $31.50 a piece, much cheaper than buy.com (same price, but the shipping was not free), and a longer warranty (1 vs 3 yr).

if TBC is any good, i might go that route... anybody care to comment?

[retiredcaps]

Re: Best battery sources

the battery is half-hosed... no way to recalibrate it...

Maybe you get lucky under the recall and get a free one?

http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

[retiredcaps]

Re: Best battery sources

thebatteryconnection on ebay has them for $31.50 a piece, much cheaper than buy.com (same price, but the shipping was not free), and a longer warranty (1 vs 3 yr).

if TBC is any good, i might go that route... anybody care to comment?

I would ask what the 3 year warranty actually means. Additionally, a warranty is only as good as long as the seller is in business.

When I buy from ebay, my only expectation that the product lasts 30 days in which I can use ebay buyer protection for a refund.

With that said, I have had good luck with my battery purchases.

PS. You can always sell the old battery on ebay. I don't know if you will get any interested parties, but if you search on ebay for dead battery, you will see auctions for such things.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

the recall is not mine, my battery is a sanyo, not a sony. also, my model is not on the sh!t list.

people will try to sell everything... if i got another batt, the old one would be a spare.

[severach]

Re: Best battery sources

The only way I know to get new like performance is to put fresh cells. Everything else is a crap shoot. I wouldn't bother doing it myself. There's way too many companies that will do it for you for not much more than the cost of the batteries.

[meanderer]

Re: Best battery sources

There exists some "battery rebuild" or recell service that would take your pack, cut it up and put in new cells for you. just look up the term in google.

from a source I read, Li-ion starts to degrade the moment they are created in the factory. This process is not started or accelerated by usage. However, temperature can be a factor of acceleration. So when buying li-ion packs you should look at the manufacture date also.

[ratdude747]

Re: Best battery sources

if i was to do that, i'd just buy cells and fix it myself. but, i wonder if the circuitry in my pack is going bad if is miscalibrated that bad... dell provides NO method to fix the calibration... so as soon as it is off, you are screwed.

they often do not give the date unless you buy really high end batteries.