Any updates on BatteryRefill.com?

Anybody tried 'em out yet?

Seems like there was another thread with someone who got a bad one...

 

Tried em, got a bad battery, they are replacing, hasnt arrived yet. I tracked it, it should be here by EOW. Their customer service was Outstanding. I like them so far. If I can get a good battery this go round, I can chalk it up to bad luck. So far they seem on the up and up. I will definitely post when the new battery comes and what kind of charge I get with it. The bad one I have only gets an hour.

 

Also got one coming - have not got it yet to test but will let you know when I get it - only issue issue so far is turn around time - CS Rep told me to expect 2-3 weeks depending on how busy they are - He also recommended calling in my next order to speed up the process - ? I also thought the Customer Service was great when I called to check up on the status of my order -

 

Ive purchased multiple Toughbook battery from them. Out of...I think 5... I had 1 bad one. Called em up and they sent me a good one. Ya, their customer service is great!

 

kusa - what kind of time are you getting out of them ? generally

Thanks

 

With the unit listed on my signature, running multiple apps, and max brightness on screen Im getting average 3.5 hours. I was getting closer to 4 until I installed the wireless card and pcmcia 5 card reader. They just seems to suck battery a little more. If I disable the wireless and pcmcia while in the field I get the 4 hour time. Funny thing is that sometimes I get more...dont know if temp has anything to do with it...cold days in the mountains I get less. These are all blue tab batteries that have been refilled. I would like to get my hands on a yellow tab and see the difference. Toughbook says we should see a min. of 4 hours. My min. seems to be 3 on those cold days.

 

Idle Comment -
I've seen mention of temperature sensors and heaters associated with the hard drive connectors. Could that be affecting the battery time, since you say it appears shorter in cold weather, or could the colder temps be affecting the battery efficiency?

 

I have both a "blue tab" and a "yellow tab" battery with my 29. Can anyone explain what the tab colors mean?

 

Not sure with the 29, but with the 28's the blue tab means 5400mAh, and the yellow is 6600mAh.

 

Other than the unknown age of my batteries; you info seems to check, Modly.

The yellow tab battery lasts much longer than the blue tab on my 29.

Are there any other color tabs?

 

Blue Tab = 5.4Ah
Yellow Tab = 6.2Ah
Green Tab = 6.6Ah

I emailed back and forth with the refill place. They told me that they use the 2200mAh batteries. That would make theirs roughly the same as a Green Tabbed battery. I figured 4+ hours on that. I pulled the time OOTA. (Out Of Thin Air) Seemed about right to me considering that a good 5.4Ah battery will last me 2-3 hours depending on activity.

As far as the cold weather goes... It probably is a combo of the the cold making the batteries slightly less efficient plus you might have a hard drive heater in your caddy. (Have you checked? Might be worth a look.)

 

I have both hard drive caddies. Right now because of the low temp up here Im using the caddy with the "warming" wiring.

 

I beleive the hard drive heater only comes on prior to starting the laptop. You will know it is working if it is cold out and you go to start your laptop and it doesn't fire up immediately. The heater is warming the hard drive. Once it starts up... I'm pretty sure the heater cuts off as the hard drive generates its own heat.

 

Well, FINALLY got my warranty replacement on the bad battery I originally received from them. Ya, their turn-around NEEDS work!!! I am in the process of charging/discharging the battery 5 times as per their instructions. I will let you all know how the charge is on this battery.

 

Mine just shipped yesterday - 30 days turn around - hopefully it is good. I spoke with a CSR and he stated usual turn is 2 weeks when normal and 3-4 when busy. They also said to call them direct to order and not use web site, he stated that he could speed it up a little if he manually puts it in ? going to do two more if I like what I get and will do by phone to see if it helps.

 

I just bought a MP bay battery on eBay, and I'm trying to find a good yellow tab as well.

It sounds like BatteryRefill will take me time to get it, and I'm impatient as all hell.

 

Results are in!! After charging/discharging 5 times (I never saw a difference from the first charge) I am getting 4 hours 15 mins from the battery. That is with just surfing the web, or not really using it (ie light usage). Watching a Movie, I got just over 3 hours use. Except for the turnaround time, I am VERY pleased with them.

 

Same here - got it Thursday, took 4 weeks to get but well worth the money. Running now and I am on 5 1/2 hours with the new battery plus a media bay battery. Media bay battery gave me 2 1/2 and still showing 40% left on my main. Looks like I will have similar results as Doobi - also light usage just internet.

 

Well finally drained them both - got 6 1/2 hours out of a new main and a second MP bay battery - that 4 hours on the battery refill battery, love it. It did though give me a dead battery notice and forced standby when the media bay battery went dead. My 800Mhz I had before would switch seamlessly between them, small price to pay I guess. I did gain a OEM GPS that actually works though when I bumped up to my 1G - 28 so its not all bad.

 

I got a blue tab battery, in used condition, I get around 2 and a half to 3 hours battery life.

I'm going on a "trip" pretty soon where I'll be put in harms way(not posting any details on a public message board forum) and I'd like to get my battery at the spec of a new green tab. This has to take a backseat priority to getting a rubberized keyboard, and port cover replacement.

 

The backlit rubber kb is nice in those environments...no worries about failure...

 

Hey lowang, May the Lord bless you and keep you safe from harm on your journey... Thank You Sir.

 

I ordered a CF-28 Battery on 2-22-08 and got the battery around 3-14-08.

The only reason why I am bumping this post is that it included a $5.00 Discount Coupon. I figured maybe someone else would benfit the $5.00 savings.

Coupon CODE: EBAT2Q6K Exp 6/30/08

I got two coupon cards with both having the same code so maybe they arent one time uses.

 

They were really good about that with me. Everytime I ordered a battery they just gave a discount...I think they hand em out as part of there advertising. I never had to wait very long for my battery so Im surprised to hear about slow turn around. I notice that they are now advertising on ebay so they must be doing higher volume now.

 

I never got a refilled battery for my HP laptop. They got my old battery for the postage, and I had to dispute the credit card charge to get my money back. I'm sure my old battery is refilled and sold to someone else. I feel scammed -

 

i ordered on 7/23. it's now 8/5. im starting to get nervous especially after reading the influx of bad reviews on resellerratings.

 

well i got an email today. apparently they're waiting on battery cell shipments. a couple more weeks i guess. :/

 

Thanks for keeping us informed. I'm sure that there are several lurkers (like me) that are waiting to see how your experience turns out before making the plunge.

 

folks
i orderd a replacement batt from them a few months ago for my cf-28, I had to wait and wait for them to "get the cf28 cells from china" But eventually they did come in and i got my battery and it works GREAT!! I can get 3-4 hours on it and I cant be happier. The folks there were helpful and I have not had a problem with the batt at all. good luck

 

well here's the email they sent to me...

so it sounds like they're well intentioned, but just disorganized.

so here's what has happened so far:

July 23: Shipped my battery off to them.
July 25: Received an email announcing the arrival of my battery at their facilities.
August 6: I get the email telling me new cells won't arrive for another 2 weeks.
Today: The shipment isn't due to arrive for another week.

i hope my battery gets in by the end of the month.

 

Seems like these guys are really slow getting batteries out. I am glad I just bought a new battery off ebay.

-James

 

Update:

Aug 20:

So i guess my wait is down to its last 2 weeks i hope

 

It really is a shame. They are a good company, with great customer service, yet lack the skills it seems to put out product within a reasonable time-frame. FYI, I am STILL waiting on them to fix my battery; a yellow-tab that was getting just over 5 hours life but I had to send some others in so thought, what the heck, I will get this one done while I am at it... 3 batteries and 4 months later, and I still cannot get a battery to last over 2 hours from them... quite a shame!

In their defense, ALL of the other batteries I have gotten from them (6 in total, including 1 Media Bay for the 29) work perfectly and am getting 6+ hours from them (2.5 from Media Bay).

 

it's good that their product is good enough that you can vouch for them. anyways, maybe we'll get our batteries back soon after they supposedly get their new shipments in on monday.

 

Just got an email from them today saying my battery was shipped to me. Usually takes 2 days to receive, so I should have it Monday. I will report back the test results of it...

 

Paul, what batteries are these? For the 28s? Also, any chance that you sent in known-dead [blinking red] batts? Looking forward to your test results.
Ron in SG

 

hey congrats man. no email for me yet :'(

 

I was just looking at their site, they say they ship replacement 1st is this still true? Do you save anything by sending your battery 1st?

 

I have bought 2 of them, takes awhile to get but them work well. 3-4 hours is about right. Note that the first few times I used them they seemed to have short life, but I think that is normal.

 

I have bought them for the 28, 29, and an old IBM thinkpad for a buddy. All were advance-swapped except for the 29 (both main and media battery). I'm not quite sure why that is... Two of the 28's I sent in had blinking red, but as I stated, they sent me the replacement first, and then using the same packaging, you send them the defective battery. When you get the batteries back, you don't really pay attention to the tab colors anymore.. From what they have told me, they should all give 5-6 hours for the 28's; and 6-7 hours for the 29's. This coming from their mouths when I drove down there to talk to them in person. I spoke to the CS rep; the Tech; and the VP at the time. According to them, all the chips in the batteries are the same, but programmed for different output. So, theoretically, they can take a blue-tabbed battery and re-program it to run as a yellow-tab and putting the right batteries inside to match? I'm not too technical with that field, so I may be butchering what they said, but I think you get the general idea.

I got my replacement yesterday! But as I was gone all day, I am just now getting to it. So, I will charge/decharge it the recommended 5 times and let you know what I am getting out of it.

 

Good post DOOB! Nothing like first hand knowledge. Thanks.

 

CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! Did their recommended charge/decharge 6 times, and then did a refresh through the night last night. I am only getting 2.49 hours from the battery. This makes 3 batteries over 4 months time, and I have requested a refund. I will no longer be using them. I hope those who are waiting have better luck!

 

Sorry to hear that Doobi. I am glad i never used them as the wait seems just way too long and now that i see they ship out alot of bad batteries i will make sure i just buy a new batt.


-James

 

oh no doobi

well, i havent received any word on my battery yet. hopefully they'll finish the job soon.

 

Another update!

i just got off the phone with batteryrefill.com.

the man was real nice, and i was able to change my return address from my original location to where i am now.

he also told me that the shipment is confirmed to arrive next week and that i should receive my battery in 1.5 weeks.

i guess it's all good now, i dont mind the wait especially since i haven't had the need to bring my laptop around to lectures and stuff.

 

My crappy job that I've been at for the last month issues all the techs a CF-M34, and 3 batteries. The only one I'm having problems with has a batteryrefill.com sticker on it. I get about one hour of "life" (The computer is sleeping for 10-15 minutes at a time, used for 5 minutes, then sleeping again), and it goes dead. The others can go 4 hours doing the same thing.

I'm pretty happy with the new green tabs I bought from that guy on eBay. With a full charge, and the media bay battery, the CF-28 I use can sit in sleep mode all week long, and still be ready when I need to use it, usually with enough battery power to do what I needed to do. (Mostly GPS maps in the new city/state I live in). I can easily get 4 hours of full time use with the green tabs, but they usually last much longer.

 

I sure wish I had the software to reprogram the batteries that I have... Simply swapping in new batteries doesn't guarantee that you will get positive results. If the chip inside tells it to play dead... It' dead! Regardless of the actual condition of the batteries.

 

I wish we had a battery schematic for the output pins. Then perhaps we could figure a way to break into it with a terminal.

 

It seems that if you know the input pins on the motherboard then that would tell you the pinout of the battery. Right ?

 

Well, there is another connector on the battery that isn't used to attach to the motherboard. They might be part of the same circuit though...