Replacing notebook battery cells

[eduardh]

I just bought a used Dell notebook computer on EBay. The previous owner indicated that the battery is shot. I found a web page that sells the cells for the specific battery in this notebook which are much cheaper than a completely new battery. By "cells" I mean the actual batteries inside of the plastic battery housing. The question is whether it is practical to crack upon the old battery housing and replace the old cells with new ones. Has anyone done this? Thanks.

Ed

[D3Fan]

Do you have a way to test which ones are bad and if so how many. Might just be as easier to buy a used battery pack off ebay then having to replace each one of the batteries especially if you dont know what you are doing.

[SkyDog]

If you can get the plastic housing open without damaging it, the job should be pretty straightforward. Sometimes soldering can be a bit tricky, though -- especially if the batteries have a smooth shiny finish, which makes it hard for solder to stick. If that's the case, you could rough 'em up a bit with sandpaper to help with adhesion.

If you replace cells, I'd strongly recommend you replace all of them at once.

[eduardh]

Thanks for the responses. I should have been more specific. The new battery cells are already joined together. There is a wire attached to them with a plug on the other end. I should be able to remove the old cells and plug the new ones in - no soldering required. What I am wondering is how hard it is to crack open the plastic battery housing. Any suggestions?

[SkyDog]

Getting it open is a piece of cake if you're using the right power tools. Getting it open in such a way you'll be able to reassemble it might be a bit harder.

Seriously, though... Since the batteries for most makes & models are different and not too many people buy bare cells, it might be hard to find someone who can tell if YOUR specific battery is easy to gracefully pull apart. You may just have to dive in and find out yourself. (Maybe it would've been a good idea to try disassembling it before buying the bare cells?)

[eduardh]

Update. Don't try to replace the battery cells yourself. I had a hell of a time cracking (literally) the plastic battery case open. Once inside, I saw that there are several wires soldered to the cells and to a small circuit board. The only way to replace the cells would be to desolder them and then resolder the new ones. Way too much trouble, not to mention that reassembling the plastic case would require some creative glueing.

I dropped the whole mess into the recycle bin at Best Buy and ordered a new battery pack off of EBay. Too bad, because the cells cost just $27, and the new pack around $60. Oh well. Lesson learned.