Third party Dell batteries (for Studio laptops)

I recently ordered a 9 cell replacement battery for my Dell Studio 1735. It's the second one I've ordered from ebay, these two batteries were from different vendors. Both batteries didn't work. Quickset nor the BIOS refused to "recognize" these batteries, so the system refuses to charge them. I get the same sort of message upon startup; the system doesn't recognize the battery at all. It's extremely frustrating, as I've already wasted $70 shipping back the first battery to the vendor, thinking that it was just a faulty battery that was shipped to me the first time around.

I've heard from Mastershroom that his battery bought from ebay works fine in his two Studio 15 laptops, so I'm not sure whether I just bought from two bad vendors in a row (they had high ebay ratings) or whether there's some kind of mod or hack I need to do in order to make use of the battery. It doesn't seem to matter if Quickset it running or not, the battery refuses to work either way. I wouldn't expect Quickset to make a difference anyway, since it gives me the "battery not identified" message on startup, anyway. Putting in the battery causes the indicator light on the charging port to alternate between orange and white.

Apparently, Dell makes their chargers and batteries proprietary with some circuitry inside the battery and charger. "Dell Battery Meter" identifies my original 6-cell battery with some text for the "battery identifier" field, but not with the 9-cell.

I believe I've just been owned by Dell. Anyone have anything to share or help?

 

I didn't have to do any modifications to the laptop or software or anything; the 9 cell I bought worked out of the box. Did you check out the seller I linked you?

 

RGM - I just ordered a 6-cell for my 1555 - also from a high-rated seller on ebay - and you've got me worried! For what it's worth, the (US) seller did guarantee that it is or will be a genuine Dell battery and that its brand new. That said, most people I know and work with have stopped buying computer related stuff from ebay because there are so many fraudulent sellers there now. I ordered my backlit keyboard from a mainland China seller - but at $23 I'm not so worried about that purchase ...

 

I also ordered a new battery for my Dell Inspiron B120 and it works fine, no problems at all the battery may not last as the original dell (my old battery last 4 years before getting completely useless) but at least is doing its job right now. Dell sell them form 130, too much for my budget

 

Has anyone tried the ones DealExtreme are selling? Chances are a lot of ebayers are reselling them.

 

Honestly, I don't know what to make of this.

Mastershroom, I looked at your vendor, but he's only offering a 6-cell battery for Studio 17 laptops. However, his product info is different from the retailers I've looked at before in that Mambate specifically says that his batteries include the proper logic boards.

Which gives me an idea... What if I were to order a proper "logic board" from somewhere and try to open up the 9-cell battery to replace what I assume is a non-compliant logic board inside my replacement battery? I've seen hacks for older Dell batteries where old battery cells were replaced with new cells for cheap. Is it too much of a pipe dream to assume that the logic board could be replaced as well? I don't think anyone sells the logic boards, anyway.

What if I were to try a different charger? Since Dell chargers are said to be proprietary as well, maybe I need a generic charger for a generic battery? I admit, I poorly worded my initial post. The replacement 9-cell battery I have had 10% life left when I got it, and my laptop will run off the battery, it just refuses to charge. I initially thought that the system would refuse to run off the battery, since most other people reported that. Even if the system doesn't "recognize" the battery, it'll still boot up with that replacement battery in it.

BlueDan, I know that Dealextreme sells laptop batteries, but they don't offer the right sort of battery for Studio 17 laptops. It wouldn't be surprising to see those batteries being resold on eBay, though, given that one could easily make a profit on those batteries by selling them as "genuine" batteries for more than what they cost at DX.