Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: Dell batteries dead after one year

  1. #1
    Keep it sexy Zhaoman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Dublin
    Posts
    1,527
    Thanks
    234
    Thanked
    126 times in 106 posts

    Angry Dell batteries dead after one year

    I've had my Dell XPS L502X for just under a year and a half now and the battery has given up the ghost. I noticed it wasn't holding its charge as well as it used to after the summer (so exactly a year after I bought it) but I didn't expect it to die so quickly and suddenly. My dad also has a Dell and its battery also started deteriorating at the one and a half year mark and he's had to get a new battery.

    I looked around and the official Dell site lists a 9 cell at £133... which is about a third of the cost of the laptop itself!!!

    So yeah I did a bit of snooping around on Google and there seems to be a few batteries out there dying after a year. Now I know that if you search for anything you'll get pages and pages of it so I just wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with Dell batteries. Am I just unlucky?

    Also has anyone had any experience with shops like 'laptop-battery-shop.co.uk'? Are their products reliable? They seem much cheaper...

  2. #2
    HEXUS.social member Agent's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Internet
    Posts
    19,168
    Thanks
    735
    Thanked
    1,607 times in 1,045 posts

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    Time period isn't a great indicator for battery life - how many cycles has it been through?
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

  3. #3
    Keep it sexy Zhaoman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Dublin
    Posts
    1,527
    Thanks
    234
    Thanked
    126 times in 106 posts

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    No idea tbh, though I'd like to think my use has been about average. I don't take it into uni (there's plenty of computers there for me to do my work on) and I only really use it in the evenings at home so it's plugged in most of the time. I don't game anymore either so it's just surfing the web most of the time and very occasionally doing projects on Office and Photoshop etc. I really don't think I've been putting the battery under anything more than average use... and it started going after only a year

  4. #4
    DDY
    DDY is online now
    Senior Member DDY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    2,790
    Thanks
    177
    Thanked
    597 times in 412 posts
    • DDY's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASRock Z390M Pro 4
      • CPU:
      • i5 9600k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB (2x16GB) 3600MHz
      • Storage:
      • Adata SX8200 NVME 1TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RX 5700
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic Focus Gold 550W
      • Operating System:
      • Win 7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2715H

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    The other factor which can be extremely detrimental to a laptop's battery life is temperature, the battery will prematurely age if it gets too hot for too long. This could be down to bad laptop design or impeded cooling.

    or, the battery is duff.

    Anyway, about the replacement - buy an official battery. Avoid the potential trouble of buying a non-official battery, I know non-official batteries have performed as advertised for others but from personal experience; out of 6 non official batteries I've bought, all of them had died within a week or were DOA, maybe I'm just unlucky. The non-official batteries you find on your-average-online-laptop-battery-shop.com are likely to be the same cheap stuff you can buy for about 75% less on Ebay from far east.

    Laptop manufactures sell their batteries for extortionate prices but you can usually find the same brand new genuine batteries on Ebay for much less, you'll have to wade through piles of cheap knock-offs before finding the right one, if they're available that is, if not check again in a few days. Once you receive your battery, compare its construction quality and markings with your current battery to make sure you haven't received a counterfeit! Buying from a reputable seller helps of course.
    Last edited by DDY; 07-01-2013 at 02:35 AM.

  5. Received thanks from:

    Zhaoman (06-01-2013)

  6. #5
    Banhammer in peace PeterB kalniel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    30,749
    Thanks
    1,788
    Thanked
    3,288 times in 2,647 posts
    • kalniel's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra
      • CPU:
      • Intel i9 9900k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB DDR4 3200 CL16
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Samsung 970Evo+ NVMe
      • Graphics card(s):
      • nVidia GTX 1060 6GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic 600W
      • Case:
      • Cooler Master HAF 912
      • Operating System:
      • Win 10 Pro x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell S2721DGF
      • Internet:
      • rubbish

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    Dell batteries have been fine in my experience, but you have to keep them in good condition as with most high density batteries these days. Li-ion like to be kept fully charged, and should never be completely discharged (dell have a battery discharge cycle in the BIOS I seem to remember, but I would only use this sparingly).

  7. #6
    DDY
    DDY is online now
    Senior Member DDY's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    2,790
    Thanks
    177
    Thanked
    597 times in 412 posts
    • DDY's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASRock Z390M Pro 4
      • CPU:
      • i5 9600k
      • Memory:
      • 32GB (2x16GB) 3600MHz
      • Storage:
      • Adata SX8200 NVME 1TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RX 5700
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic Focus Gold 550W
      • Operating System:
      • Win 7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2715H

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    Quote Originally Posted by kalniel View Post
    ... dell have a battery discharge cycle in the BIOS I seem to remember...
    I'm not sure about that, I've not seen that option on the many Dell laptops I've been through, which includes the Inspiron, Vostro and Latitude range from the last 6 or so years. But there is a 'battery health' page which shows you how the battery is doing, e.g. if it's on its way out.

    Might as well take this opportunity to also say how well my Dell's have been in terms of battery longevity, not had one go early myself.

  8. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Posts
    211
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    11 times in 11 posts

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    I had to replace the batteries on the daughters laptop. Looked up the right codes etc on Dells website and then carefully chose ebay retailer that sold official batteries but at much cheaper rates.

  9. #8
    Keep it sexy Zhaoman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Dublin
    Posts
    1,527
    Thanks
    234
    Thanked
    126 times in 106 posts

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    Thanks everyone for the comments and advice. I'm OK with my laptop just sitting rooted to my room atm, I don't move it around much anyway. I'll have a look around for cheaper batteries but I'll keep it plugged in for now. I was just a bit peed off that I was looking at another £130 when not even a year and a half ago the thing was brand new!

  10. #9
    Big, Mean and Ugly! circuitmonkey's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Wiltshire
    Posts
    912
    Thanks
    63
    Thanked
    98 times in 92 posts
    • circuitmonkey's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P8H61-M PRO
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i3 2100T
      • Memory:
      • Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3
      • Storage:
      • 320GB WD Caviar Balck + 1TB Samsung EcoGreen F2 + 1TB Samsung F3
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Nvidia 750Ti
      • PSU:
      • Corsair CX430M
      • Case:
      • NZXT M59
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Pro (64bit), Vista business (64 bit), XP Pro (32bit), Ubuntu (64 bit)
      • Monitor(s):
      • 24" FHD + 2X 19"1280 x 1024
      • Internet:
      • BT Fibre broadband

    Re: Dell batteries dead after one year

    Quote Originally Posted by Zhaoman View Post
    Also has anyone had any experience with shops like 'laptop-battery-shop.co.uk'? Are their products reliable? They seem much cheaper...
    I've been using a replacement battery for two and a half years now and it's still going strong!

    http://forums.hexus.net/help-quick-r...ml#post2018054

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •