Laptop Battery

[leestudd30]

I've got a 3 year old E Machines laptop. I replaced the battery about 6 months ago (was a £25 quid one from Ebay) but about a month ago it stopped holding the charge, though the battery level on the screen never showed that it was low. I don't really want to fork out for a better battery so I'm wondering, is it possible to get something like a battery blank to plug into the battery space at the back of the laptop, just because it looks odd without the battery plugged and shortly before it failed it fried the mains charger too so I have to use my partners one!

[Welly]

I tried a cheapo battery (and charger) for our old Del Lappy at home.......

They're sh*t.

Lasted just a few months.

[FarmerPug]

I can agree with welly, i bought one off ebay, after a 24hr charge it only was at 40% and that lasted 20mins, then it just won't charge anymore, and to post it back isn't economical.

[Busman]

Sometimes in this world you do get what you pay for.
So, the genuine Toshiba battery for mine is £60ish, and the cheap one is £17. And the cheap one is no good. No sh*t Sherlock!

[FarmerPug]

the problem with dell batteries is the genuine ones are about £70 and only last about a year.

[Doggy]

Well, I got a cheapo battery + charger for my ancient Dell last year, Both work perfickly, 9 months on

(About £30 for battery, mains charger and car charger).

[Welly]

Yesterday I spent an hour 'fabricating' a specially-made charger at home

I concluded that the old knackered Dell charger had a good connection jack whereas the Cheapo charger hadn't.........then came a whole lotta cutting/stripping wires and a pile of PVC tape and I had a new charger

Ignoring the fact that the 3-core lead was completely different between the two chargers (Dell's was an outer + inner cable plus one sheathed central, the Chinese one was just 3 insulated singles) I gingerly plugged my handy-work into England's national grid...........

.......further ignoring the fact that the 'mains on' light was no longer illuminated I connected the thing to the Lappy..........nothing

Returning to my experiment after making a cup of tea I unplugged the jack and nearly burnt myself it was so hot

If anyone would like me to repair their Laptop/PC please feel free to PM me

[steve_earwig]

I am the god of hell fire...

So, presumably, one wire is earthed to the shield inside the plug and you picked the wrong wires to join (not got a melty meter?) so if the power supply was any more powerful you really would have got burned...

[highlander]

Welly's laptop:

[Welly]

I figured out that the lead has 3 wires, a Pos, a Neg and a separate small wire (like a comms link kinda thing).

I definitely got them the right way round cos I followed them back to the PCB in the charger (forced open with a screwdriver) although the gauge of the wire was thicker with the Dell stuff, probably different current thinking about it

Don't forget I'm available for electrical work............no job too small and all that

[Doggy]

I figured out that the lead has 3 wires, a Pos, a Neg and a separate small wire (like a comms link kinda thing).

It could be what's termed a 'sense lead', (said Doggy, without even the merest hint of irony).

[steve_earwig]

My Tosh just has a coaxial plug on the end, sounds like the Dell (boy) is too fangled for it's own good.

[Bailes1992]

I don't like to critisise Mr Wellington but maybe opening up both transformers and physically swapping over the WHOLE lead would have been a better option

The kettle lead will have 3 cables in it. Live, Neutral + Earth.
The connector for the laptop will have two. The pin in the middle will be live and the outer bit will be neutral

[steve_earwig]

The kettle lead will have 3 cables in it. Live, Neutral + Earth.

And if you're lucky they've been wired up right

I fondly recall when I discovered my cooker here was 3 phase - turn the cooker lights on, switch off the fuses until the lights go out, attack with screwdriver, fly across room...

Oh, and I have been degaussed by a telly

[sirwiggum]

I remember the systems guy in my old firm, got a bunch of machines shipped over from the states. Plug one in - BANG! The PSU was set for 110v not 240v. He plugs the next one in, BANG! He hadn't learnt his lesson.
Made sure they were set to 240v after that though.