time for a new laptop battery - where to buy

[Seanz0rz]

so i have a Dell inspiron e1405. its the last dell i will ever buy. ive had it for a while. bottom line is i cant afford a new one, and this one is plenty fast for whatever it is i use it for (mainly web, gps, word processing, picture editing, even handles solidworks very well). its been an OK laptop except for the battery, which died about a year after i bought it. (just after the warranty ran out) so ive been living with battery life in the 20 minute range or so, and that was fine. but this quarter im stuck on campus for 8 hours at a time, and cant always find a plug, so its time for a new battery.

dell wants 156 dollars for the replacement high capacity battery... hahahahahhaahah yeah no thanks! if i could afford that i could afford a new laptop!

where have you gone to get a new battery for a laptop? there are hundreds on ebay, but ebay batteries scare me. has anyone purchased a battery from there that was good? if so, can you give me the seller's name?

any other websites that sell them at a discount? im looking to spend no more than 100 shipped. i used to do this for a living but have lost my contacts and the one store i used has since folded.

thanks guys! much appreciated!

[L33T35T Tacoma]

My dad was in the same boat with his E1705 Dell. Battery used to last over 3 hours, amazing. about 2 years later it diminished down to about 30 minutes, if that. I looked all over and did a lot of research. In the end, i ended up buying directly from dell

[troyboy162]

cheapest route its to break the pack open and buy new cells.
this is probably the cell size although they can be had for 5 bucks each
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=945

[Seanz0rz]

yeah im not willing to cut into a sealed pack. im just not that good with electronics anymore... maybe 5 years ago i would have had the cajones to do it...

if im going to be paying 200 for a battery, i mine as well pay 800 more and get a totally sweet new laptop...

[troyboy162]

i think if you google it you will find its pretty easy. its getting more popular since old laptops still work great but its hard to justify spending money on them with new laptops being sold for 400

[CJM]

79 Dollars, excellent reviews from about the store too. what do I win for my efforts?

http://www.discountelectronics.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1726

[Seanz0rz]

id be buying this:

http://www.discountelectronics.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1557

really need that extended battery! that looks like a dell refurb or so. 90 day warranty doesnt sound too bad, but others on ebay have up to a year... so im not sure.

[CJM]

Its all in how you play it. A real store like that has a real warranty (or so you think). Someone on ebay may say they do but dont.

[Seanz0rz]

ok cjm, well see how it works out. i placed my order tonight. i need this laptop for school so, hopefully it works out.

troy, i might take this dead battery i have and hack it open, see if i can find replacement cells, and try fixing it.

[CJM]

GL man, im sure it will be fine.

FWIW alot of the time the cells need to be FULLY drained period and then recharged. If your feeling furry you could hook up some test leads to say a 12v light or something and leave it be for awhile then recharge it. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

As for rebuilding, plenty of places to buy the right cells-its soldering them together thats hard!

[Seanz0rz]

yeah, ive tried full discharging, no difference either way. done by my electrical engineering friend, so i trust him.

as for rebuilding, i might pull apart my dead pack and try it out. if i fail ohwell, if i succeed, w00t!

battery gets here monday, but im stuck at school so i wont get it till at least tues, and more likely friday. ill keep you posted.

[CJM]

yea keep me posted, cause im interested in finding out if its worth it-mine gets ready for it-20 real minutes. Turn on battery power and it just dies..

[Seanz0rz]

my laptop is set to notify me at 10% remaining, and hibernate at 3%. it hits 3% before it hits 10%!!! i get no notification of it, it discharges so fast. i get about 15-20 minutes depending on the programs running/screen brightness, etc.

[CJM]

Your worse than me! Honestly i never expected good batteyr life out of a 17 inch lcd, P4 2.8ghz tho. My pooter is slowing down it seems despite format too, but i chalk that up to the loads of crap i have on it and the 512 memory being eaten away slowly by firefox and xp.

That reminds me, you looked into those eepc's? I thought the offerings from asus were nice but im not spending 400 bucks atm for one till they are out longer and prove ok.

[arjan]

My dad & I both got new batteries for laptops from those guys:
http://www.intelligentbatteries.ca/StaticPages/Notebook/Dell-Laptop-Battery.asp

Mine is still working fine, about 2 yrs later. Cost me $100.

Not bad imo.

[troyboy162]

found some cheap batterys if you get the time to rebuild that pack.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19770