Ok, this is non-rc related but hopefully one battery tech guru will have an answer.

I have a Dell D630 laptop computer that uses a 9cell LI-ion battery pack. After 15 months of use it will not accept a charge. Any thoughts on trying to revive it, or how to determine if it can be revived? A new one is $180!

Thanks

DaveC

I have a Dell 9100 laptop and had same thing happen. I first noticed mine stopped charging back to 100% - it would only do 77% and then 57% and it would take a long long time. I was not able to get it back, mine eventually quit even letting me run off AC and failed completely. Mine is my work machine so its docked 8 - 10hrs a day and AC powered. I found a genuine Dell replacement on Ebay and it was about 30% of Dells list price. Don't buy one from Dell - you can get the same thing directly from a reseller or Dell supplier on EBay and it will look exactly like your orig, mine even had the same Dell label.

One thing no one ever told me - at least once a week or so, run on batt power and disch at least down to 50% and then let it recharge. Exercising the batt this way is supposed to make it last longer. Sitting on AC at 100% all the time will slowly degrade it.

Seems that a "smart" computer would sense when it's running on AC and disable power to battery at some point, but Dell even suggests removing the battery if you use your laptop on a dock as a workstation.

If I can't revive the old one, buying a new one is my only option becasue the company buys 3 year warranty (doesn't cover the battery....) and says if you use an aftermarket battery, they (Dell ) willl void the warranty. Bogus.

I've run into that warranty crap with a Dell Pda where they said if you use a non-dell batt, your warranty is void. I bought it anyway and made it thru warranty period without probs. Just not going to pay 3X just to get Dell brand. My 9100 was way out of warranty wne batt died - got more than 4 yrs service from it, so I can't complain.

You're in a diff situation if I understand this is not a personal laptop, but a Company laptop?

The only way that you could try to revive it is to charge it outside the laptop via a rc charger at a very low rate like 0.1amp for really long time (30-50hrs). That works for cells that have been sitting unused for a long time. If you have one or more cells that have died, will not help.

Ebay doesn't show a genuine Dell 630 battery, has replacements, but no orig Dell batts. I found this - this says they are genuine - "original Dell Brand Battery" and about 1/2 of what Dell sells them for.

http://www.pacificbattery.com/dell.html

Ask your IT group if they have a suggestion. If the above really is a Dell batt how would anyone know the diff?? I do understand the concer - you'r ein that gotcha bind BS.

I maintain countless laptops where i work, and 95% of them are either Dell D630s, or Fujitsu Bseries lifebooks. Once the battery is done holding a charge, there isn't a way to bring it back, at least not using the built in charnging interface on the laptop itself. With that said... i don't know how dell would ever know you tried a 3rd party battery.

YEah, I figured the same, how would they know. I'll keep the original around if it needs service under warranty.

Thank you for the input on this guys.