Advice please - Computer battery

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tarik

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Help !! I have an HP Compact laptop, I keep getting the warning about low battery power despite being on the mains(?) my know-it-all next door neighbour says the battery is bu**ered.

I have taken the battery off the back and it has no ID marks other than a label showing "SPS - 398680-001 Batt " the make is LION and it is for HP series computers.

I want to buy another one any suggestions as to make etc or type etc so that I can order it from the millions on sale on ebay??

As ever many thanks for all answers given.

David
 
You can usuallly get compatible batteries - if you post the laptop model no someone on here should be able to point you in the right direction ...

Batteries don't last forever - 2-3 years is about all you can expect if the laptop is frequently used.....
 
Put Lion + battery + HP + 398680 or something similar into Google and take your pick from the results.

With luck you'll do better than I did with a mobile phone battery!
 
The make is probably not LION, it is probably a Lithium ION battery "LiON". There should be some software on your laptop that can attempt to recondition the battery. When used it fully discharges then re-charges the battery. My IBM laptop had a similar problem and I bought a new battery but it was the charging hardware in the laptop that was at fault (out of warranty of course) the new battery did not make any difference, I can only use it on mains now.
 
You need the Computer Model number .... Most batterys on eBay list by Computer model - rather than battery ID.

Plus if you click on one of the eBay shops offering batterys - they'll often list the computer models their batterys are suitable for.

I've bought batterys via Hong Kong sellers - was very dubious at first, but only had one failure out of many .... reckon UK wouldn't do better ! But price was way way cheaper !
 
Sounds to me like you might have a problem with the mains power supply.......


A tip if the battery is knackered... and many peeps will not believe this.... freeze it overnight in your deepfreeze this sort of resets the battery..... let it thaw out, then give it a full charge.... certainly worked with my last compaq.....
 
Freezing is supposed to remove the "memory" on older technology batteries (NiMH) but may help. In the meantime, these guys can rebuild your battery pack for you with new LiON cells. Excellent company, work out of a shed in the back garden (low overheads - literally! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif) but superb service - no connection, just a happy customer.
 
My original Sony Vaio battery lasted almost 4 yrs, so switching to replacement generic Li-On batteries from that point, I never got more than 1 yr out of them before I started noticing the less than 100% charge. In one case it was only 6 mths.
As far as I can see, the only advantage in buying the manufacturers battery is that they do last longer. However at over twice the price they SHOULD be lasting a few years.!
Jock
 
Thanks guys for all your excellent advice and tips - once again proving the wealth of knowledge out there - one day I too might be able to give somebody some help - I'm waiting !!


David
 
One other thought, are you sure its def the main battery and not the small backup battery on the motherboard? Does the main battery run the laptop for a useable amount of time or is it of not much use.
 
It is probably Knackered as most laptop batties are. People run them on the mains adapter 99% of the time and when they come to use them they are knackered. The SPS number is the spare part number not the product number that most sellers go bye. You could try to fully discharge it then recharge fully. repeat this three or four times and see if it comes back to life but I wouldn't hold out much hope. To keep the batteries in good nick they need to be used regularly till they are fully discharged the recharged. I reckon about once a month.
 
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