I have an antique Toshiba Satellite laptop that has a knackered battery - it will hold its charge for around 3 minutes! It's an old machine that mostly gets used for tuning my megajolt, so I don't want to spend any significant amount on it.

A genuine Tosh battery is around £80, but there are a lot of 'other make' batteries around that claim to be compatible and are a lot cheaper - as little as £35 + p&p. Trouble is, I'm a little wary as even the big manufacturers can't get Li-ION right, so I don't know how trust-able the 'other makes' are.

So, does anyone have any experience of laptop battery suppliers, good or bad? Recommended suppliers, or ones to avoid?

cheers,
David

get one from ebay

Had a look on ebay - nearly all suppliers are in China or Hong-Kong, and by the time you've added P&P you're getting near the UK supplier's price. They also say that their prices don't cover import duty or VAT, so goodness knows how much the final cost would be.

Apart from them, there was 1 UK supplier on ebay who's prices were no different from the regular on-line suppliers, and 1 fairly cheap second-hand battery - which I'm dubious about.

So - back to the original question!

I'm sure I saw some "universal replacement" type jobbies recently which I think plug into the external power port, hence not needing to fit the battery bay. Was either Maplin or ebuyer.com - I think.HTH

if its just for megajolt, why not just use the laptop plugged in? my battery's shagged on my laptop, i just use it plugged in the wall (doesn't even have the battery in the computer any more)

I'd need a very long lead when I'm out driving! I want to use it for data logging.

I've tried using a power supply that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket, but that's hard on the car's battery, and I can't have the laptop plugged in and running when starting the car (big volts drop and spikes).

No, a new battery is the simple answer - I just want to find a trustworthy supplier.

cheers,
David

I used to have the same problem, laptop battery was so completely pooped that it couldn't keep the laptop running for 5 seconds or so of cranking when the fag lighter goes off. I ended up using one of the many spare car batteries from my collection just to run the laptop (I keep salvaging batteries from every car I scrap, got about half a dozen that are probably all scrap now they've been sitting about for so long...). It'd last me a good few days worth of tuning between taking the battery inside for an overnight charge.

I have a Toshiba CDX440 for use with my megasquirt and it does not even have a battery. Cost me just £22 from ebay.
I bought a 12vdc to 240V mains inverter
and ran it small car car battery.
You could run it from the car's battery.

You can get inverters for less than £30

I've got a Tosh the same as you. Got one off Ebay from a London supplier who works thru a PO Box address. First battery OK for about 2 weeks then died, payed to send back and the next would not charge properly, sent it back and they said that Toshiba had set their laptops up to "reject" non Tosh batteries. I could send back for a modded one....I decided on a refund!

Suspect original one is the only real option...cheap batteries made from cheap cells which aren't up to high charge/discharge rates.

Mine is 14.4v 6.6Ah which for the size is a real workout for current cells let alone cheap Chinky crap.

David

I have an old panasonic toughbook with a similar problem.

I took my battery to cellpack solutions in South Shields who refurbished it for me (new cells), I think they also do mail order

It's been spot on ever since.

Hope this helps

[Edited on 25/8/07 by fatfranky]

I've got a similar laptop, bought a new batery off ebay from HK for £23 inc P&P last week, recieved in a few days. Battery seems fine, is giving ~ 2 hrs usage. Seller was Pandawoods ...... hope this helps!