Is the ebay seller giving me BS?

[alexruiz]

Whenever I face a new tech issue, Anandtech here I come

I got a new laptop, HP Pavilion DV4-2040us. The machine is running flawless, and I decided to get an additional battery for extended travel.

The original HP battery is 4200 mAh @ 10.8V, giving it a total capacity of aprox 45 Wh.
I got a battery from fleabay, I mean ebay that was listed as 5200 mAh (Aprox 20% more) I already received the battery, and it works perfectly... but there is a little detail.

5200 mAh @ 10.8V should give it a capacity of 56 Wh. HWMonitor is reporting the battery capacity as 48.84 Wh (4500 mAh @ 10.8 V) quite short of the listed value.

I already contacted the seller, and the reply I got was "we are using the extended cell with the HP standard chip, that is why you see the standard value, but it will last longer"

My very first reaction was "BS", the chip shouldn't matter, as it should report whatever amount of cells it sees. I just wanted to confirm here that the chip shouldn't mater.

The battery was cheap ($35 including shipping) and looks exactly the same as the HP battery, it is heavier though.

Comments?

 

[billyb0b]

Is it a HP brand battery?

If it's some generic or a non-OEM battery than I say who knows and you're taking a risk.

Stick with a retail battery and you will never have an issue.

 

[yuppiejr]

As long as it's not made by Sony and sold in a Dell, HP, Lenovo, Apple or any of the other numerous "name brand" makers that were recalled.

Dell, for example, only warranties their batteries for 1 year regarldess of the system warranty unless you buy a separate replacement plan for the battery as a consumable component.

All of the overfilled/exploding laptop batteries that forced the massive Sony recall not long ago should clearly indicate that "retail" batteries are not always better. They are high margin items, however, so the perception that a name brand battery is better even if underneath the plastic it's the same bits as a generic model is certainly something Dell, HP, Apple and others want you to believe.

As far as the battery information you're seeing - sounds like the only surefire way to test the battery is to do some runtime tests vs you existing battery to prove or refute the seller's claim. Their claim related to HWMonitor and the actual battery capacity may be correct particularly if they are refurbishing existing batteries with higher capacity cells but leaving the electronics in place. It's not an uncommon practice in the aftermarket battery business.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

yea, try it and see if you get longer runtime.

 

[thescreensavers]

Why don't you actually test it out ?

You do have the battery on hand right?

 

[alexruiz]

The battery is generic.... $35 for an original HP battery would be great!
However, I am assuming it is even made at the same production line as the original batteries because the plastic moldings are identical. The system saw it without a problem.

The generic battery is indeed heavier, meaning it might have more cells.
I guess I will have to check them both... Any useful app to chek them? BatteryMark?

 

[corkyg]

Sounds like you got what you paid for. Different measurements often plague the industry. Example - how HDD capacities are quoted. They round off to 1000 and don't use the real unit of 1024.

As was suggested, do a full charge rundown and compare. You probably got a $35 bargain.

 

[thefreeaccount]

HWMonitor should report whatever the charging circuit in your battery reports. There's no way for the laptop to "see" the number of cells in your battery.

When we bought some direct-from-China modular bay batteries for our Dell laptops, the "full charge capacity" gradually drifted upwards over the course of about a week. The "full charge capacity" is now quite a bit larger than the "designed capacity" reported by HWMonitor.

 

[alexruiz]

HWMonitor should report whatever the charging circuit in your battery reports. There's no way for the laptop to "see" the number of cells in your battery.

When we bought some direct-from-China modular bay batteries for our Dell laptops, the "full charge capacity" gradually drifted upwards over the course of about a week. The "full charge capacity" is now quite a bit larger than the "designed capacity" reported by HWMonitor.

Wow, this is the kind of rookie replies we want! :up
This makes a lot of sense
Welcome to the forums, you are starting with a bang.