battery update

HI All: Just to give you an update on the 'Toughbook batteries I have been testing. You can follow my other threads by search. This is about a company called Batteryrefill.com. I ordered a new battery from them for my CF-28 and it took a month or a little more before they had it ready and when I went to pay for it they would only except PayPal. I wasn't doing PayPal at the time and they would not except my criedit card. They didn't tell me this when I ordereed it. They said send a check. I decided I did not want to play their game so I never sent a check. Then, a week later I guess they decided they wanted my money after all so they billed my credit card and sent the battery. Instead of going through the hassle of sending my battery back I kept it because I needed another battery. I charged and discharged my battery six times (they suggested five times) and then started to use it. I never tested it for time but then it seemed like it was not lasting very long. They say that their batteries will last 20 to 40% longer than the original batteries. I gave it a test and found that it only lasted 57 minutes just running doing email. I asked them for my money back. They said it was after the month money back guarantee so they wouldn't do it. They sent me another battery. I did the charge recharge six more times and then gave it a test. It lasted one hour and thirty minutes. These are junk batteries. I have purchased at least a dozen batteries form them and have never had good luck with them. I bought three batteries from an outfit in Idaho and all of them are going great guns. The Cf-29 battery I ordered for a friend is going over five hours. So, what I'm saying here is I would not recommend buying a battery from batteryrefill.com. They also sell them under another name. I guess to give them a second chance at us. If you want a good battery buy one from the outfit in Idaho which you can find on my other posts. These batteries use Sanyo cells which are made in Japan and not China. The China batteries are absolute trash. Hope this will save some of you a bunch of hassle. Bye for now. Spark

 

Thanks for the info.
Both of these subjects have been covered in other threads though.

 

As the friend that is going over five hours give or take I agree with Spark on the Idaho batts. Plus I think it is good to bump certain things to the front once in a while as newbies like myself may miss them entirely. How would I know to search for Sparkwrite the battery aficionado if he wasn't the very creep that loaned me and thereby hooked me on Toughbooks.
I'm running two Yellow Tabs and one Idaho battery and they are all very good. The Idaho battery is the best of them all.

FWIW or 2 cents whichever is appropriate.

See ya Spark.

J

 

I agree it is totally worth a bump when there is more input on a subject.
What I should have said is using search before posting can be beneficial. This info could have been posted in a better place like the thread entitled "Any updates on BatteryRefill.com" which has several pages of reviews of this service all in one place, as opposed to a new thread that will likely get lost in the pile.
This helps people who have been here a while and noobs like us (I'm newer than you Gork ) find relevant information.

 

Maybe a link to the Idaho batteries? Please?

 

+1 link please

 

If the charge is on your credit card, do a charge back, sent them back their junk and be done with it.

Good Luck!

 

Actually... I think this is an important update and it raises a few points.

1. Pick your batteries CAREFULLY and where you buy them.

2. A CF-28 will tear through a battery A LOT sooner than will a CF-29/30 as they use the mobile chip that requires less power.

You will NEVER get the battery life out of a CF-28 that you will for a CF-29. The longest battery life that I ever had for a CF-28 battery was close to two hours. And that was on a high cap battery. However... I routinely get 4-5 hours usage out of CF-29 batteries. Plus... If you know your system and use its resources wisely... You can stretch that 4-5 hours out to last all day in the field. Hibernation and Suspend are your friends!

It used to be that people were crowing about batteryrefill.com. I'm not sure what happened... Perhaps they are not using the cells they advertise or their reset software is not doing what it is supposed to do.

Or....

 

My first post here I've bought my CF29 mk3 recently. Thanks to these threads I have been saved from buying those refill batteries.

I've bought a hi-cap one from psa parts. It gives me somewhere between 4 to 5 1/2 hours of fun on my new 'puter

 

altoproxima... Welcome to the fun! (And the forum!)

Hope our threads help you... Be sure to read through all the stickies!

 

thanks


i've been reading those stickies and faq's the past few days

 

www dot batteryuniverse dot com/Laptops/Panasonic

Battery Universe, Inc.
PO Box 819
New Meadows, ID 83654

I know nothing about this company. I have not dealt with them yet. This link was sent to me by an anonymous forum reader.

 

I have been quite successful purchasing new batteries for my Toughbooks off of e b a Y ™.

But, then again, I buy only new, genuine Panasonic batteries, such as these CF-VZSU29s for the CF-29, CF-51, and CF-52 Toughbooks.

This new CF-29 Mk5 of mine is equipped with one of the "yellow tab" CF-VZSU29ASU Hi-Cap batteries I recently got from an e b a Y ™ seller.

Gave $65/ea. for two of them: "New-in-the-Panasonic-box"! :yes:

 

I bought mine here it was a yellow tab. CF-vzsu29asu


Laptop Batteries, Chargers and Adapters Panasonic Raven ToughBook - PSA Parts co uk

 

HI: I never heard from batteryrefill so I sent them another email today after I did another test on the second battery they sent me. Today it ran a grand total of 1 hour and 15 minutes before it went into the coma. Great eh? I will wait and see if they just blow me off or if they want to keep sending me batteries. My Idaho battery is performing flawlessly. The link to his website is as follows: http://www.batteryuniverse.com

Bye for now. Spark

 

Spark,

Are the batteries you are getting from Idaho OEM or are they aftermarket? Some/most of the aftermarket ones won calibrate correctly and aren't recognized by the BIOS and other Panasonic programs.

 

HI Rick: The only thing I know is that the cells these people use are Sanyo, made in Japan and not the Chinese junk. If Panasonic uses Sanyo cells I can't answer that question. I do know that my Idaho battery lasts and lasts. Sometimes when I start the computer and it actually starts and I have half a charge after sitting for awhile I'm amazed and glad that I found batteryuniverse.com. When talking to the owner I found out that he has family in the same little town that I live near. Nice folks. Anyway, someone said about putting this thread as a permanent link or something. I have no idea how to do that and don't have the time to learn.Maybe one of you guys that really know the forum inside and out could just make up a battery info folder and all these type of post related to batteries can just find their way into it. I also want to apologize to poor Gork, who I have hooked so badly on Toughbooks. He was Jonesing the other day because he did not have a Toughbook to work on so I had to take him a couple of my old carcases so he could devour those till he gets a CF-30. Ooops, did I say that? Bye to all and try to have as much fun as you can while you have time to have it. Spark

 

Eggs? What eggs?

 

I ordered two batteries from Steve today at batteryuniverse. What a nice guy.

I asked about compatibility and he told me enough that I have no problem using his product. I am sorry I can't remember the entire 45 minute converstion. At the present time they are using Panasonic cells as Sanyo cells are sometimes not available or at least in short supply. He said that the Panasonic and Sanyo cells are the best.

I have some experience with clam shell batteries for extended field trips. (Clam-shells utilise AA batteries when off the grid and away from a charger). I asked whether anything was happening with that. His reply was to the effect 1. It is a credible idea but 2. the problem is in the tooling. It costs $30,000 to tool up for a new unit. The anticipated demand must be there to pay for at least the basic tool-up.

Another thing re: compatibility. My computer thinks that I am using a CF-VZSU29. I am using one of these. Panasonic ToughBook CF-29 Laptop Battery - Laptops This would relate to the chip Steve said that they were using in the battery. (as I understand it).

Steve had no media bay batteries.

With enough demand that would or could be worth the tool-up.

FWIW.

Respectfully submitted at sparkwrite's request.

Jeff