Dell Laptop Battery = Nightmare

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nitrobass24

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - December 2009
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Ok so I have a nice Dell Inspiron 640m that I got about a year ago. I bought the 4yr complete care because I want it to last and dont need some high end laptop cause im mostly a desktop guy.

So I have had this for about year and the battery goes belly-up.
I call Dell.
They tell me that the battery has only a 1yr warranty and they wont replace it cause it has been 13mo since purchase.
I looked online at batteries they are $150.

WHAT A SCAM

Alright now that I have all that out of my system.
My plan is to replace the insides of my battery with new cells because I can get them online for $6ea.

Only snag is I cant figure out how to get the damn thing opened anyone have any ideas?
 
Your not supposed to be able to get those apart without breaking them. I would break it apart with a dremel and glue it back together when finished.
 
Well I dont have a dremel, cause I have never needed one. Guess this is a good excuse.

What kind of tip would use for something like this?
 
The disposable cutting wheels would probably be quickest. Just be damn careful you don't cut into the cells.
 
I went to McDonalds for lunch yesterday and got a large order of fries and two Big Macs. Today I was hungry again. Why won't McDonalds take care of me? /rant

:p

Just to rub a little salt into the wound, last week Dell overnighted a 9 cell battery to replace a bad 6 cell battery I had. :D
 
Yeah, what you can do is either use a cutting wheel or a straight driver to pry the batter cover open. Just be really careful - I accidentally spliced a couple of wired and gouged a cell once :mad:

One way to avoid that is to not use a really large straight driver, and to particularly use one that's small in size. For example, don't use one that is used to screw holes 7 inches into the side of a house, use one made for a computer toolkit.
 
nitrobass24 said:
Well I dont have a dremel, cause I have never needed one. Guess this is a good excuse.
Click to expand...

Don't get tricked in to buying one of the cheap battery operated ones. Get one with a cord and you will be happier in the long run. I would bet my crappy battery powered dremel lasts about 5 minutes before needing recharged. And a spare/replacement battery cost more than the original dremel did that came with the exact same battery.
 
dr.sandman said:
Don't get tricked in to buying one of the cheap battery operated ones. Get one with a cord and you will be happier in the long run. I would bet my crappy battery powered dremel lasts about 5 minutes before needing recharged. And a spare/replacement battery cost more than the original dremel did that came with the exact same battery.
Click to expand...

Lol I'm seeing a trend here...
 
I would NOT reccomend using a Dremel Tool to take a laptop battery apart. All you need to take one of those batteries apart is 2 or 3 small flat screwdrivers and maybe one with a wider tip.

They actually snap apart fairly easily.

If you do replace the cells, make sure that they are completely dead before you install the battery into the laptop.

A few years ago, the first time I tried to replace the cells in a laptop battery, I used cells from a different laptop battery because the laptop it came out of was completely dead.

But, when I stuck the "repaired" battery in the laptop and hit the power button.. smoke came out of the laptop... I didn't make sure the cells were dead first.. and then found out later that the laptop battery had a 30-something volt charge instead of the 18v or so it was supposed to have because the other laptop battery was setup different. Stupid mistake on my part.. but at least it only cost me $50 since that was all I had paid for both of the latops....
 
Marina You know this is 4 months old right?
They dont just come apart with a screwdriver...the older lattitude batteries did, but these new ones are sonic welded, and are a real PITA.
I bought a new battery off ebay
 
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