What's wrong with my laptop battery?

Rust

About two hours ago I noticed that, although my laptop (a Dell Latitude D820) was plugged into the AC adapter and the battery was at 100%, the battery wouldn't stop charging. Just recently I decided to unplug the adapter for a little bit and let the battery drain to see how that would turn out, and then the battery let out a disturbing buzz that gave me cause to pop the thing out. Now I'm running strictly on AC power.

I've left my laptop plugged in more or less constantly since I got it a year and a half ago; has this killed the battery? If not, can someone tell me what the hell is wrong with it, and if so, what should I do in terms of a replacement?

Rust

Oh what the FUCK.

$139.99 for a new battery?

Dear Dell: Hate you forever.

MKR

From ye olde manual (on every Dell laptop I've owned): Do not plug an unpowered cord in to the hole in the back (which appears to be what you did, essentially). This will ruin the battery.

archonwarp

Man, did you check ebay? WAAAY cheaper on batteries and accessories.

Cycophant

I've -heard- that constantly keeping your battery charged (ie by having your laptop plugged in constantly) is bad for it. Nonetheless, that hasn't stopped me from doing it exactly like you have. Firstly, I'm sure it's not as bad as some people make it out to be - most of the laptop batteries nowadays are lithium ion, not old-fashioned NiCad or something. Which, AFAIK, are much much better for such problems. Secondly, I just don't care - I'm not going to spend my life running down my battery and then charging it back up again.

Perhaps some well-informed people can come in here and state whether or not keeping a laptop plugged in most of the time genuinely damages a battery, but either way, that doesn't solve your current problem. Yes, batteries are that expensive for laptops. The advantage of having a Dell laptop is that you can probably find a third-party battery for a bit less money than buying directly from Dell themselves.

Rust

I hope there's not any danger to running a laptop with the battery unplugged, too. Would suck if I was screwing coming and going.

eBay batteries are much cheaper. By over $100, in some cases. I wonder why.

scratchdesk

I've heard it is not good to keep a laptop plugged in all the time as well. The way it was explained to me was sort of like burn in on a monitor. Eventually the cells in the battery "burn in" and become useless. They say the best way to keep batteries well is to let them die and fill them back up. And if you wont be using it for a while then drain it and take it out. Most laptops can run on AC power w/o the battery in place afaik.

And like the poster above me stated try e-bay first. Best deals can be had there for new ones.

Good luck.

Rust

Frigging double posts.

joson1989

"I've -heard- that constantly keeping your battery charged (ie by having your laptop plugged in constantly) is bad for it" i don't think so, you can look the instructions of you laptop. you will find that constantly keeping your battery charged does good to you computer. recently, I have bought a Dell inspiron 1525 battery. And i have read the instructions about the battery. you can keeping your battery charged

Mr_Grinch

There's no harm keeping a battery in a laptop that's mainly on charge. There used to be, quite a lot of laptops ALWAYS took power from the battery, even if the mains adapter was plugged in, so it'd be constantly charging. Nowadays there's a clever little chip in your laptop that tells the laptop when the battery is full, as soon as it's full it ignores the battery completely and switches over purely to AC power.

The only real danger is if your laptop runs hot. Heat isn't good for batteries so if it's sat in there, not doing anything other than getting really hot it can damage it's life.

darkmayo

Back in the day you could get battery Memory from old NiCd rechargeable batteries (nickel cadmium) your laptop battery is likely a lithium ion or some variation of those that never have a memory problem. Batteries though are considered a consumable by most manufacturers, and normally come with one year of warranty as they have a limited lifespan. Too much Heat, or cold, not enough charge time or crappy chargers can cause temporary issues with the battery.

double check your warranty on dells website and maybe webchat one of there people, they would be able to tell you if you can get your battery replaced under warranty still (likely would have to provide the long Serial number that is on the battery itself.

joson1989

you can have a try

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

why did you bump a five year old thread

why were you reading a five year old thread