Replacement battery for a notebook

[Traxan]

I own a Toshiba L25-S119 notebook, which was a bad choice on my part because the battery life blows. Could anyone recommend an idea replacement battery? Obviously I don't want the one Toshiba sells.

TIA.

 

[zig3695]

its not hard to replace the cells yourself. if you can solder anything you can do this.

try here for cells, http://www.batteryspace.com/in...=VIEWCATS&Category=739

for $10 a battery you need probably 6 so for $60 you can rebuild it yourself and have real high quality batts. or get the 2400mah ones and save a bit

 

[Athena]

I don't know about doing it yourself but I had the cells replaced in a laptop battery a couple of years ago and I was very satisfied. It was a much better bargain than buying a new battery.

That said, you may be able to find a new replacement for less than Toshiba would charge. What model machine do you have?

 

[zig3695]

once you open up a laptop battery you will find they are exactly the same as the ones you used to build for your rc cars. wait, you were the kid who's daddy bought the battery packs already made huh? or the kid who didnt have an rc car at all!

 

[Athena]

No, I didn't have any RC cars. And it's not the opening/replacement that would concern me; it's the closing/sealing.

 

[zig3695]

theyre not as dangerous as sony has made them out to be

 

[Gibson486]

how do you open the casing? I have gateway battery that is dead, so this would be a fun project.I do not know how to open the battery up though.

 

[zig3695]

it should pry open. there is a chance they seal them up, because it is a safety conern for them, but one way or another there is a way to get it apart. take out all screws (some might be covered by stickers) and jamb a flatblade screwdriver between the cracks, and pry. you likely will put some marks in it, but it should be no bother since the battery is junk anyway. just be careful, you dont want to jab or stab the cells inside, they are durable but you know how things go sometimes... for some encouragement, ive never had a battery blow up on me and ive done some pretty scary stuff to them...

once you get in there you will see the batteries are attatched to a little PCB with an I/C chip on it. resuse this! you MUST have it on there, or your battery pack WILL explode when left on charge. that little chip controls when the cells hit maximum voltage and cuts off the charging.

other then those keys, its easy. also, best to get replacement cells with tabs already on them, that way you dont have to risk overheating the cells when you solder them together.

 

[zig3695]

btw- dont throw out those bad cells you take out! im sure there is already plenty of poisonous lithium in the ground, lets keep our house liveable eh? there are many places to recycle batteries, if you cant find any then give them to your local firehouse, they usually will take that sort of stuff.

 

[zig3695]

ps, i wanted to add something about lithium cells. you can normally find them online at discounts and clearances, you usually want to stay away from these deals because litium cells have a finite shelf-life, wether they are used or not. the ones on sale are nearing the end of their alloted shelf life, and usually means they have less then two years of active life left. in fact most of them wont even go a full year before they start really getting weak.

for this reason its best to buy their full-price cells, unless you know the discounted cells are fresh. because even with brand new cells, they arent going to last you more then 3 or 4 years, its just a limitation of the technology. its also why they dont really have a recharge-limit. they actually encourage you to use the batteries as much as possible, its only good for them as you cant really wear them out under normal use, they just age.