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    Inspiron 1520 Battery Question(s)

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by kahuna_socom, Apr 8, 2008.

  1. kahuna_socom

    kahuna_socom Notebook Guru

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    Hi everyone. I purchased my Dell Inspiron 1520 in August of last year, and I've been loving every part of it...except for one semi-major problem(more of a nuisance) with the battery. I own the 6-cell version of the battery that shipped with my laptop, and up until about 2 months ago it has been working just fine. But now, for some reason, I'm only getting about 45-60 minutes of battery life even when just lightly surfing the web on Power Saver mode. Ideally what I would like to do is purchase a new 9-cell version of the battery but from what I can see on the Dell website, it's not being offered :confused: And also, the 6-cell version of the battery is somewhere around 200-300 dollars! Does anybody have any ideas or advice for the next steps I should take?

    -Thanks-
     
    kahuna_socom, Apr 8, 2008
    #1
  2. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    First thing to do is recalibrate your battery in your bios.
    To enter your bios,
    1. Connect the AC adapter, and then turn on the computer
    2. As soon as it starts and you see the startup screen, press the F2 key. The BIOS Setup Utility opens.

    navigate to your battery calibration page and calibrate! should take a couple hours to complete.
     
    David, Apr 8, 2008
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  3. kahuna_socom

    kahuna_socom Notebook Guru

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    Thanks for the quick reply! What exactly would calibrating my battery do?
     
    kahuna_socom, Apr 8, 2008
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  4. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    It maintains the accuracy of the battery gauge.
    Check out the battery guide for more information :)
     
    David, Apr 8, 2008
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  5. billcsho

    billcsho Notebook Deity

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    The battery will run down anyway, but it should not be that bad within 6 months. How many charge/discharge cycles have you put on that battery? Typically, it would take around 300 charge/discharge cycles to wear the battery by 50% unless you are overheating the battery.
     
    billcsho, Apr 9, 2008
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  6. kahuna_socom

    kahuna_socom Notebook Guru

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    Well there is no way that I have done 300 charge cycles, and I can't really see that the battery is overheating.. Is it possible that i just got a flawed battery?
     
    kahuna_socom, Apr 9, 2008
    #6