Tried replacing my laptop battery with a generic one from eBay

Found a $22 battery on eBay for my 5-year-old Dell, figured it was worth a shot. It charged fine but the laptop shut down at 30% battery every time within a week. Anyone else had luck with these cheap replacements or am I stuck buying the official one?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugo_jones2d ago

Ugh that's such a bummer dude, hope you can get your money back!

tylermurray1d ago

Hugo_jones nailed it, that $22 battery was probably made by the same people who make those fake iPhone chargers that catch fire. I tried one once and my laptop lasted longer unplugged than it did with that thing in it. Guess I learned the hard way that buying the official battery is cheaper than replacing the whole laptop.

emery8791d ago

Have you ever noticed how those knockoff batteries also seem to swell up after a few weeks? I made that mistake once with a cheap battery for an old camera, and it literally got stuck inside the thing. Had to pry it out with a butter knife, which was terrifying. It's like these companies just slap any old lithium cells together without any safety circuits. Definitely learned my lesson about going cheap on anything that holds a charge.