Dell Laptop Battery Buying Advice

Biggus_Dickus

Ed_Jogg wrote: »

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


However, BattDepot looks very promising...




...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.

Lithium-ion batteries start to degrade very slowly from the day they’re manufactured,...even if they’ve been sat on a warehouse shelf and not actually being used.

Obviously the more they are used/charged/discharged the quicker their demise.

If you buy a 3rd party ‘new replacement’ Li-ion battery for an older model laptop (like your Dell 1545 for example) chances are the battery will have been manufactured some considerable time ago and will not be in absolutely tip-top condition compared to one that’s been manufactured very recently;…but that’s not to say that it won’t serve you well, and for some considerable time.

Equally you could pay top price for a Dell original battery again with no guarantee that it’s been manufactured recently.

If you buy a cheap (£12’ish) battery from ebay or pay a bit more (£22) from Battdepot chances are they’ll both do the job quite adequately,... as the old saying goes “you pays yer’ money and you takes yer’ choice”.

P.S. If you do buy the larger capacity battery (4400mAh) be aware that the battery itself is physically bulkier than your original;...it will protrude at the rear of your laptop.

Ed_Jogg

I mentioned in post #10 that I had bought a replacement 1545 from an ebay seller...

Well, it arrived early (today) and, as I rather expected it might I found that this new one is fitted with an 11.1V battery! Just as well I made the decision to wait until the new laptop arrived before ordering a replacement!

Biggus Dickus -- interesting what you say about Li-ion batteries. Didn't know they degraded like that. I do agree that a pukka Dell battery may well have been made some time ago, but the third party types might be much more recent. Who knows?
The extra bulge on the larger capacity battery is not a problem.


I don't know how much I will be using the 1545 on battery. All my laptops (except my new ASUS) have been secondhand, and I have been used to always running them from the mains because of the age of the battery. We shall see. Whatever, it will be nice not to have to set the clock every time the PSU is unplugged!



So, the Linux laptop adventure is about to begin!
Thank you everyone for your help.

mksysb

Ed_Jogg wrote: »

I mentioned in post #10 that I had bought a replacement 1545 from an ebay seller...

Well, it arrived early (today) and, as I rather expected it might I found that this new one is fitted with an 11.1V battery! Just as well I made the decision to wait until the new laptop arrived before ordering a replacement!

Biggus Dickus -- interesting what you say about Li-ion batteries. Didn't know they degraded like that. I do agree that a pukka Dell battery may well have been made some time ago, but the third party types might be much more recent. Who knows?
The extra bulge on the larger capacity battery is not a problem.


I don't know how much I will be using the 1545 on battery. All my laptops (except my new ASUS) have been secondhand, and I have been used to always running them from the mains because of the age of the battery. We shall see. Whatever, it will be nice not to have to set the clock every time the PSU is unplugged!



So, the Linux laptop adventure is about to begin!
Thank you everyone for your help.

That's good, once you get linux you won't want to go back to windows. Try out various distros, and desktop environments, see which one you like, but try Manjaro with xfce desktop which I think is currently the best.

RandomQ

Ed_Jogg said:

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.

Just get one on ebay from China but make sure has a UK distribution (quick delivery date) and check feedback for same product.
Do not bin your old one, chances are 80% of the cells are good and can be used for 18650 devices., for £1 you can get a case on ebay that till allow you to use two as an iphone backup power source for emergencies etc.
Dell 1545 is one of best Laptops, you can get 9 cell battery which lasts 6 to 9 hours.you can upgrade CPU, Memory and put in an SSD, also DVD drive can be removed and old hard disk put in there.