Author Topic: New battery for laptop?  (Read 559 times)

Offline Roobarb

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New battery for laptop?
« on: Friday 25 September 20 16:29 BST (UK) »
I have an HP Pavilion laptop, I've had it for more than five years, can't remember exactly when I bought it. In January 2019 I needed to buy a new battery as the existing one wouldn't hold its charge. The ones from HP were very expensive and I ended up buying one elsewhere that cost £25.

I now have two problems:

1. The battery I bought is now the same as the original one in that it doesn't hold its charge for long.

2. When I plug the laptop into the charger the bit that goes into the computer is loose and if I move it the slightest bit it stops charging.

My questions now are:

Is the problem with the plug due to where it's going into the battery? Or is there a fault with the plug itself?

Is it worth buying a new battery? If the plug is faulty too, is it worth buying a new battery plus a new plug?

I know a lot of this technology has a built in life, average lifespan for a laptop is apparently between three and five years. Built in obsolescence as my mother used to call it.  >:(

* Added  - I have an Android tablet but prefer the laptop for some things. Having to now write this on the tablet as the battery is pancaked!
Bell, Salter, Street - Devon, Middlesbrough.
Lickess- North Yorkshire, Middlesbrough.
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Offline candleflame

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #1 on: Friday 25 September 20 16:38 BST (UK) »
Not a direct answer Roobarb, but we have a laptop on windows 7 where the battery didn’t work anymore, so I just took it off and I operate it on the mains. It means you can’t change rooms without switching off and plugging in again say downstairs,  but for me it’s worth it as I do most of my genealogy writing up on there.
North East of England

Offline KGarrad

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #2 on: Friday 25 September 20 16:39 BST (UK) »
I had a similar problem with a Sony Viao (so old it was running Vista).
Got a local PC dealer/repairer to attempt a fix, which was partially succesful.

Far better, IMHO, to buy a new laptop ;D
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline Roobarb

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #3 on: Friday 25 September 20 16:50 BST (UK) »
Candleflame, I hadn't thought of taking the battery out,  I suppose if I did that it would at least tell me where the problem lies with the plug connection. It's currently on charge but I'll see what happens when that's finished,  thanks.

KG, I thought someone might say that!
It's not quite that old, it's successfully running Windows 10 but it is getting slow. It drives me mad, all these sneaky ways of parting us from our cash.
Bell, Salter, Street - Devon, Middlesbrough.
Lickess- North Yorkshire, Middlesbrough.
Etherington - North Yorks and Durham.
Barker- North Yorks
Crooks- Durham
Forster- North Yorks/Durham
Newsam, Pattison, Proud - North Yorks.
Timothy, Griffiths, Jones - South Wales


guest189040

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #4 on: Friday 25 September 20 16:56 BST (UK) »
The power connection does not usually go direct into the battery module.

You can generally take out the battery and run the Laptop on mains power.

A replacement battery from a third party manufacturer will more likely be produced with low capacity cells and hence short operating life.

A HP battery seems to be £50-60 whereas an OEM version is £20-25

If you are happy with the Laptop buy a genuine HP battery, if not buy a new Laptop but do buy on performance rather than price, in other words if you are thinking of a £300 Laptop, buy on at £450.

My own ASUS cost me £700 in 2013 and it has not put a foot wrong as I wanted one that handles Video Editing and Image manipulation I wanted a reasonable model so paid more.

As for running slow download CCleaner (free version) and run it, it will free up memory and clear trackers, remove unlinked files and speed up your Laptop.  The paid for version is only £15 and does quite a bit more.

Offline Roobarb

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #5 on: Friday 25 September 20 17:05 BST (UK) »
Thanks Biggles. If the plug doesn't go into the battery then presumably the wobbly connection must mean the plug is faulty. Not looking good is it?   :(
Have just bought a new tablet because the old one needs charging every day, it's a good job I haven't spent much in the last six months if I need to buy a new laptop too!

Thanks for the tip re CCleaner, I'll give that a go.
Bell, Salter, Street - Devon, Middlesbrough.
Lickess- North Yorkshire, Middlesbrough.
Etherington - North Yorks and Durham.
Barker- North Yorks
Crooks- Durham
Forster- North Yorks/Durham
Newsam, Pattison, Proud - North Yorks.
Timothy, Griffiths, Jones - South Wales

Offline Calverley Lad

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 26 September 20 10:51 BST (UK) »
Roobarb: The problem with the laptop power socket is a common fault with aged usage.
The usual fix is to resolder the socket back to the motherboard, 5min job once access to back is achieved!
So say a 1hr job to restore power to the battery connection.
 Brian
Yewdall/Yewdell/Youdall -Yorkshire

Offline Roobarb

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Re: New battery for laptop?
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 26 September 20 14:08 BST (UK) »
Thanks Brian, I wouldn't have a clue where to start with that! Actually I've just found out that it's a problem with the charger plug itself. I was able to use one from another HP Pavilion laptop, I found as soon as I plugged it in it was more snug and is successfully in use now.
Bell, Salter, Street - Devon, Middlesbrough.
Lickess- North Yorkshire, Middlesbrough.
Etherington - North Yorks and Durham.
Barker- North Yorks
Crooks- Durham
Forster- North Yorks/Durham
Newsam, Pattison, Proud - North Yorks.
Timothy, Griffiths, Jones - South Wales