Laptop Battery questions & Hi!

Kokoleka

Hi all! We are new here, decided to join after lurking awhile and noticing there are awesome people here! We're not computer experts and we need help dealing with challanges we have, hoping to get advice from all the experts here!:) (I'll try not to be too annoying) Right now we are in need of a laptop battery and charger/adapter. Our question is, where do YOU shop for batteries? Is it best to stick with the name brand (it's a Dell laptop) or are the nonbranded just as good? Are batteries made in the US as good as ones made in China, Japan, Taiwan, etc.? I have researched this and am really confused. I went to the Dell site first and they are $155, I am hoping for a cheaper solution. Is there one out there? Any help would be appreciated! Hope this is in the right forum, Thanks!
P.S. Love the smilies! :bigggrin:

Thrax

I always find it best to stick with the manufacturer's solution, and indeed they are quite expensive.

I hope you don't mind that I removed the indigo color from your post. We have some members who run a darker background than the standard white, and indigo is unreadable for them. I just want to make sure everyone can have a shot at seeing and helping!

Welcome to Icrontic, and you have an awesome avatar.

Leonardo

I don't know much about laptop batteries except for a very few things:

- newer models usually have better technology and better quality
- usually, more cells is better than fewer cells

But, before we go that far, some questions, please. Why are you in need of a battery and charger? Is your laptop really old? If so, is it prudent to put down a lot of money on a battery for an old or near obsolete machine? Unless it's a new laptop, I might steer away from looking for a new batter and charger.

Sources: I have no idea where new batteries can be had. I've never looked. I've always sold/traded laptops before the batteries died, or used company machines. Have you looked on Craigslist? You might be surprised at what's available there, for often very good prices. You can find one and two-year used laptops for very little sometimes. (Of course, the variety to be found on Craigslist is largely reflected by the size of the local Craigslist community.)

On a side note, I noticed your signature, which reads, "I dOn'T sUfFeR fRoM iNsAnItY, I eNjOy EvErY mInUtE oF iT!" Then your post narrative mainly uses the first person plural, "we." I thought, ah, it's schizophrenia/multiple personalities. But then, I looked in your profile and saw that you are a home school teacher of a couple curtain climbers. Salute! OK, back on topic now. I'm assuming the use of "we" implies the laptop is used for the home school?

Kokoleka

Thanks so much for the replies! I probably should go with a Dell branded battery. As to the ages of the laptops (my son and daughter both have one) yes I think they would be considered old. We bought them from the Dell outlet refurbished in 10/07. I don't know how to find out when they were manufactured, any suggestions? When you said that you never keep a laptop long enough for the battery to go out do you mean that you keep them for around 2yrs? From what I've read, batteries last for about 2yrs, is that right? What did you mean by trading them, do people trade you for another laptop that is newer? As for needing a charger, well...our alien dog chewed the wires on it. We're hoping to get a year or two more out of these laptops. They have worked great so far, we only had to replace the battery in my daughter's because it came with a 4cell(didn't know they made them that small) and now the one in my son's is dead, but nothing else has gone wrong with them (hope I didn't jinx it by saying that!). Well I guess my search is on for a cheaper branded battery! Thanks again!

P.S. Thanks for the colored text info, we'll use black from now on! Are you a fellow Trekkie? Oh and the kids loved being called curtain climbers, and there is plenty of insanity that goes on around here and in my head! Schizophrenia, multiple personalities, you name it I'm sure I've got it!

Leonardo

Quite often there's a sticker on the bottom of the laptop that shows the date of manufacture. Given that the computers were Dell refurbs in late 2007, they were probably manufactured sometime in 2007. No, that's not old.

I suppose it would be worth it get new batteries. Is two years normal life for a battery? That doesn't seem very good to me. The more charge-use cycles a battery experiences, the faster it wears out. Most of my laptop use has been with them plugged in to power. "Mobile" for me means transporting the laptop from one location to another, each destination have wall power available.

My usage of the word "traded" in my previous post was rather loose. Sorry about that. I'm a Craigslist wheeler-dealer. But that's perhaps not relevant for the what you are seeking. Sorry I can't provide definitive guidance on sources for new batteries.

Someone else will jump into the thread with good advice, I'm sure.

drasnor

You should buy new OEM batteries so if you have Dell laptops you'll want to buy your replacements directly from Dell. With third party batteries there's a risk that the third party manufacturer bought cheap cells from a shady provider that turn your laptop into an incendiary device. Many third party battery providers do not stand behind their warranties either. If Dell no longer has the particular model of battery you need on their website then see if they will sell it to you over the phone. Prices are often negotiable but expect to pay $125 to $200.

On average, Lithium-Ion batteries like those found in laptops lose 10-15% of total capacity per year. They tend to degrade more rapidly at higher states of charge so nearly every laptop manufacturer does not allow the laptop to charge the battery until it has discharged below a certain threshold. On many laptops this threshold is user-configurable and setting it is a compromise between extending the lifetime of the battery and extending per-use battery runtime. Also, batteries should be cycled (fully discharged and then fully charged) once a month to calibrate the battery's internal monitoring electronics. I have the charge threshold on my IBM Thinkpad T42P set to 96% and I got four years out of my original battery before it degraded to 50% capacity.

My personal experience has been that batteries and cells manufactured in Japan are the best. Sony and Sanyo are the leading Japanese battery manufacturers and while both are excellent I personally prefer Sanyo. If you know the service part numbers for the batteries (requires research) then you can see if Dell will sell you a battery known to be made with better cells. If not don't worry too much about it.

If you always use your laptop with the power brick attached then it may not be worth it to buy a new battery.

-drasnor

Kokoleka

Thanks so much for your time and all the wisdom! I have some more questions, I always do.:smiles: Wish they could stay plugged in but they are here there and everywhere with their laptops, even just here at home! We decided on laptops so they can be mobile with their school, we homeschool and use a computer based curriculum. Drasnor, by third party, do you mean the places that sell Dell branded batteries or the ones that sell batteries that are not Dell branded(don't have Dell printed on them)? Do you think the places that sell Dell branded batteries can be trusted? I have found some that are cheaper than the Dell site. Aaannnd, would you mind showing us the procedure to adjust the charge threshold? It would be great to get the maximum life and run/charge time out of their batteries, I don't know if it would be too complicated for us or not, what I have learned about computers is only from searching for solutions after something is wrong. But we like learning how they work so we can get the most out of their potential. I know I use we alot, by that I mean our kids and I, we are learning together. Again, thanks so much for your time!:smiles:

drasnor

Third party batteries are ones that aren't Dell-branded. If someone other than Dell is selling a refurbished "Dell" battery then it is the same as a third-party battery. Your best bet for seller reliability is to check their ratings on http://www.resellerratings.com.

I don't own a Dell laptop so I can't guide you through the process. It may not even be accessible. Your best bet is to go through whatever applet Dell uses for power management and look for settings that sound like what you want to do, e.g. a "Extend Battery Life" checkbox or "Minimum Charge Threshold" slider. On a humorous aside, the best I can do for you at this point can be summed up in this flowchart.

-drasnor