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Notebook Battery Chargers?

Posted by Cliff on from the those-good-ideas-gone-undeveloped dept.

Nilatir asks: "Here at the University where I work we're checking out Dell notebooks to the students in the library and our main lab. While this is proven to be good for the students I'm having a hard time managing the batteries for the notebooks. By eliminating the floppy drives and using wireless APs to access network shares we were using two Li-Ion batteries in every Latitude and getting almost 8 hours of life a day from them. But, due to some students undying dependence on floppy disks, we were forced to drop down to one battery which will only last half the day at best. We now have an extra battery for each notebook with no way to charge them (even Dell's docking station has no charging bay). Have any slashdotters run into a problem like this and how you all resolve it? Does anyone know of external battery charging station for notebook batteries?" Will laptop makers ever learn that this is one of those accessories that would sell like hotcakes?

5 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. who said they don't have a charger? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
    You didn't say what _kind_ of Latitude but the Latitude X200 comes with an optional charger



    Optional External Battery Charger: While both the standard 20 WHr and optional 58 WHr batteries will charge when the X200 is connected to AC power, some customers appreciate the flexibility of a separate battery charger with AC adapter, priced at $79.

  2. EE Department? by mary_will_grow · · Score: 5, Informative

    I will assume this college of yours has an electrical engineering department. Ask one of us! We are friendly especially when project ideas are accompanied by a case of beer!

    --
    Why stick up for big business?
  3. Re:Hack by cybermace5 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's one idea, but anyone who tries it deserves an all-expenses-paid trip to the Darwin Awards winner's circle.

    If you try this, you almost certainly WILL lose property, and in the extreme case, life. Batteries aren't so innocent anymore, now that the days of ni-cad batteries are over. The power densities and chemistry are more powerful and more volatile. A Li-ion battery WILL EXPLODE IF MISTREATED. Chargers for these batteries include microcontrollers to precisely monitor and control the battery; in fact this is required by law.

    Never, ever mess with the battery. You'll be better off finding a solution that provides the correct DC input to the laptop's power jack...like the power adapter that came with the laptop.

    --
    ...
  4. Re:another alternate floppy suggestion by crow · · Score: 3, Informative

    On my Latitude C640, you have one battery-only bay, and one that you can swap between battery, floppy, and CD/DVD. There are only two bays, so you have no option for two batteries and an internal floppy.

    However, there is a cable that will plug into the docking station port and connect to a drive that you would normally use in the bay. So it can be done, but hanging a drive off of a cable is a pain.

  5. a Google question by extra88 · · Score: 3, Informative
    It's clear from a Google search "dell battery charger" that they've offered chargers for at least some models of Dell laptops. I gues you'd be helping yourself if you specified which Dell models you had.

    Dell Documents - Battery Charger Note this page is from their Asia Pacific site.

    Dell Introduces Thinnest, Lightest Latitude Notebook Ever