Dell Laptop Battery Buying Advice

Ed_Jogg

My Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop battery no longer holds charge, so I am looking for a replacement.

A genuine Dell battery would not be viable.
DuracellDirect sell something near for £55 (still pricey, but presumably trustworthy)
however the battery voltage is 11.1V. The existing battery is 14.8V.

I am baffled why the batteries come in different voltages (would love someone to explain!) for the same laptop.

Is it safe to use an 11.1V battery instead? These are available in higher capacities, and hence would last longer. Any consequences? Would they damage the electronics in the Laptop?

I have looked on eBay and Amazon and tried to find an independent too.
(Anyone used http://www.ukbatteryfast.co.uk/ ??) But there is so much choice of specs!

Advice, please ?

The laptop is adequate for my needs, but the OS is Win7, which is obsolete, so I want to convert it to Linux to use for website development.

that

Ed_Jogg wrote: »

(Anyone used http://www.ukbatteryfast.co.uk/ ??)

Go to their website, and look for an address on their pages for a return address, just in case.

The_Fat_Controller

You MUST use the correct voltage battery, if you don't the laptop will not work properly.

Charging will also be an issue, if you install a lower voltage battery it may well overheat and possibly catch fire !

You can use a higher capacity (more mAh) but make sure the physical dimensions are exactly the same.

elsien

When I was looking for a battery for my old laptop I quickly realised that all the sites, even those covered in union jacks, were all selling similar items from China or wherever from a U.K. warehouse. There doesn't seem to be any way of checking quality at all apart from reviews so there's no way of knowing how long they are going to last.
In the end I bought from eBay, on the basis it was probably the same thing anyway without the layer of trying to disguise it. The site you have linked to is not a U.K. Seller and their vaunted customer service appears to be only be email.

Biggus_Dickus

There seems to be a bit of ‘Google’ confusion (11.1v or 14.8v) over the correct battery for the inspiron 1545.

I personally can’t ever remember encountering a laptop of the same model type/number using two obviously incompatible batteries,...it’s a bit odd. :doh:

Replace your faulty 14.8v with one of exactly the same voltage is the way to go, imho.

e.g.
£24 inc next day delivery. 14.8 Volt Li-ion Laptop Battery (2200mAh / 33Wh);...UK supplier (Geordieland).

They have an online ‘live chat’ facility;...maybe worth asking a few questions before ordering.

https://www.battdepot.com/uk/model/notebook+battery/dell/inspiron+1545/lde223.aspx

AlSto

Ed_Jogg wrote: »

My Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop battery no longer holds charge, so I am looking for a replacement.

A genuine Dell battery would not be viable.
DuracellDirect sell something near for £55 (still pricey, but presumably trustworthy)
however the battery voltage is 11.1V. The existing battery is 14.8V.

I am baffled why the batteries come in different voltages (would love someone to explain!) for the same laptop.

Is it safe to use an 11.1V battery instead? These are available in higher capacities, and hence would last longer. Any consequences? Would they damage the electronics in the Laptop?

I have looked on eBay and Amazon and tried to find an independent too.
(Anyone used http://www.ukbatteryfast.co.uk/ ??) But there is so much choice of specs!

Advice, please ?

The laptop is adequate for my needs, but the OS is Win7, which is obsolete, so I want to convert it to Linux to use for website development.

Fit an inexpensive SSD(From £16 to £18) to bring it up to date. Upgrade/install Windows 10 for free. Dual boot with Linux.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GW240-Battery-for-Dell-Inspiron-1525-1526-1545-1546-2200mAh-14-8V/183020688086

All bases covered for around £40.

BigAl94

Try here https://www.laptopbatteries.co.uk/

AlSto

Contrast this cheapie with the battery in post #6; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14-8V-battery-for-Dell-Inspiron-1525-1526-1545-1546-GP952-Vostro-M911G-GW240-/382444570486

Wild claims of a three year warranty, whilst in the body of the page it states one year.
This one if you really don't want to spend anything on the laptop.

Ed_Jogg

So many people to thank, in such a short time! Thank you all.

that wrote: »

Go to their website, and look for an address on their pages for a return address, just in case.

Sage advice.
I did look, and look, and could find nothing but an email address, which is why I asked. They do appear to be a(nother) Chinese company trading as a UK business. Lack of a bricks-and-mortar address on a website should always ring alarm bells.

The_Fat_Controller wrote: »

You MUST use the correct voltage battery, if you don't the laptop will not work properly.

Charging will also be an issue, if you install a lower voltage battery it may well overheat and possibly catch fire !

You can use a higher capacity (more mAh) but make sure the physical dimensions are exactly the same.

This may explain the negative Amazon reviews complaining of no-longer-working laptops! I suspected this might be the case, hence my caution. Some of the 11.1V batteries counter-intuitively have higher capacities, which is, of course, a tempting proposition. I'll stick with an exact replacement, and possibly buy two!

Biggus_Dickus wrote: »

There seems to be a bit of ‘Google’ confusion (11.1v or 14.8v) over the correct battery for the inspiron 1545.

I personally can’t ever remember encountering a laptop of the same model type/number using two obviously incompatible batteries,...it’s a bit odd. :doh:

Replace your faulty 14.8v with one of exactly the same voltage is the way to go, imho.

e.g.
£24 inc next day delivery. 14.8 Volt Li-ion Laptop Battery (2200mAh / 33Wh);...UK supplier (Geordieland).

They have an online ‘live chat’ facility;...maybe worth asking a few questions before ordering.

https://www.battdepot.com/uk/model/notebook+battery/dell/inspiron+1545/lde223.aspx

Haven't clicked it yet, but sounds like a good way to go! I like to support UK businesses, especially those that don't use Amazon.

Ed_Jogg

AlSto wrote: »

Fit an inexpensive SSD(From £16 to £18) to bring it up to date. Upgrade/install Windows 10 for free. Dual boot with Linux.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GW240-Battery-for-Dell-Inspiron-1525-1526-1545-1546-2200mAh-14-8V/183020688086

All bases covered for around £40.

AlSto, our thoughts are very much in tune!
I had spent a couple of hours studying all the 'Inspiron 1545' batteries available on ebay, which is why I ended up asking for advice here!


And the SSD is indeed the next stage. My original 1545 had a damaged screen (as well as a knackered battery and an elderly HDD!!). In looking for a replacement screen on eBay I sourced a complete working laptop, with a faster processor, more memory (4GB instead of 3GB) and with Win10 already installed -- £50 including carriage! (And I'll recoup some of that by selling the old one for spares!)


I have a much newer laptop for every day use, and the old 1545 has been used (with an external speaker) for streaming video while I work, but I have intended to follow the Linux route for some time...

Ed_Jogg

Laptopbatteries.co.uk only stock an 11.1volt battery.


However, BattDepot looks very promising...

Biggus_Dickus wrote: »

https://www.battdepot.com/uk/model/notebook+battery/dell/inspiron+1545/lde223.aspx

...and they stock a 14.8V battery with a higher capacity too:
https://www.battdepot.com/uk/model/notebook+battery/dell/inspiron+1545/lde223x.aspx


(This is attractive, as the standard battery is often predicted as only having two hours run time! I've never had a new battery with this laptop, so I don't know how true this is.)




Having seen several threads on the forum about similar topics, I hope that the wonderful advice given above will be helpful to others too.