Notebook Battery Chargers?

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?

Comments

spare laptops

[dnight]

I have the same problem, and we actually try to use one of the laptops that hasn't been checked out yet to top off the batteries. It's a pain in the ass, but at least the Latitudes have the LED battery indicator on the battery, and stop flashing the laptop power light when the tthings are charged.

It's one of the most damned expensive external chargers I've ever seen, though.

Re:spare laptops

[pacc]

Actually not a bad idea,
I guess the only solution would be to get some dockingstations, they can probably load the battery without a laptop.

Even that solution would be better off with a laptop with two extra slots in it.

Personally I can't imagine a lab without power, the weight of the laptops with just weight-savers actually makes it portable.

who said they don't have a charger?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Some Laptop Companies Offer These

[JLester]

I know Compaq, HP, and some specialty educational "mobile lab" companies make laptop charging stations. They have a space for the laptop and one extra battery for each. The one I looked at even had a spare power plug so the student can go to the station, plug in the laptop, swap the batteries, and unplug the laptop without shutting down or losing their work. I'm not as familiar with Dell, but at least call their education department and check with them. If they sell mobile labs, it's a good bet that they have something similar.

Jason

EE Department?

[mary_will_grow]

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!

"Universal" my ass

[Andy Dodd]

As much as I love Sarrio's products (His "universal" products are closer to being universal than anyone else, at least in ham radio circles), those "universal" chargers are such bullshit.

So what if it supports your battery chemistry? If it doesn't support the physical interface of your battery, it doesn't matter.

I'm willing to bet that that Sarrio charger doesn't do Dell batteries - Sarrio's specialty is two-way radio (esp. amateur radio), his notebook solutions are lacking.

If you're a ham, Sarrio and Batteries America (Actually, Batteries America may be owned by Sarrio, I can't remember) are amazing.

Common mistake

[Andy Dodd]

For many people "AC Adapter" = "Charger"

In fact, automotive power adapters for laptops are often marketed as "chargers", even though they're just a power supply for the laptop.

I had an NEC laptop that had an external charger. Haven't seen one for Dell or Acer/TI though.

A different approach

[joshuac]

why not an external USB floppy, and keep the dual internal batteries? Check out the floppy drive as a seperate item only for the students who feel they need it. That also buys you the ability to check out drives capable of handling different media beyond what the modular drive sold with the laptop (1.44MB floppy?) could handle.

instead of more batteries..

[jon doh!]

why don't you get an external usb floppy drive. they aren't nearly as expensive as an additional battery or a power supply, i think they're around $50.

Re:instead of more batteries..

[Cy Guy]

Alternatively, you could request that anyone that wants to use a 'built in' (ie installed in the multi-bay) floppy drive takes the AC power adaptor with them and plugs into a wall outlet.

I'm assuming of course that the Library is located inside and in a location that has continuous AC power. For the Lab you could buy extra chargers and have the AC power supplies always available at the work stations.

If this becomes the norm in the Lab it would also provide surplus batteries to be made available in the Library.

Any solution that involves the continuous partial discharging of the batteries will eventually result in dead batteries. Forget the so-called memory free battery claims for Li-Ion batteries, yes they were an improvement but I have never had a DELL notebook that hasn't lost at least 20% of its battery capacity within 6 months and 50% within a year.

--
DC SlashDot MeetUp at Dr. Dremos 10/24/02

another alternate floppy suggestion

[toast0]

see if you can get some ls-120 drives from dell to use in the cd-bay (its called the multibay on a compaq, i dunno what they call it on a dell), if it has a removable optical drive.

Don't tell students its an ls-120 drive though, cause you don't need them to get addicted to yet another futile media.... they read and write regular floppy disks quickly and more better than typical floppy drives, and they don't take up a usual battery spot.

Re:another alternate floppy suggestion

[crow]

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.

Re:Hack

[cybermace5]

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.

a Google question

[extra88]

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

Li-ion charger ICs commonly available cheap

[xtal]

You can get a battery charger IC cheap cheap cheap from any number of sources now. Most come with a example application that details how to build the charging logic. Do not attempt to charge a li-ion battery any other way, they will explode violently. I've had coin cells go off like small grenades by pulsing them with 1A @ 12V (don't ask).

Steve

Re:Li-ion charger ICs commonly available cheap

[cybermace5]

Yes, I have come across the controllers as well; my application was for a lead-acid battery though. Didn't investigate the Li-ion controllers any further.

The problem still won't be solved that way. Grab your laptop battery, look at the terminals: how many are there? Two? Five? What's inside the battery pack? Are you going to get that information without opening it?

Also, I had to ask. Why did you fry those poor batteries? ;-) Hey, maybe we could use that principle. Call a cell phone, it explodes...ok, I'll quit now.

Re:Li-ion charger ICs commonly available cheap

[xtal]

The extra terminals are usually control logic. A little investigation can reveal what they are, or you can do what I did: I got a half dozen Compaq notebook batteries for $5/each surplus and smashed up the cases and took out the cells, and made my own packs sans logic (with charger chip). I forget what I was doing with them now though, but with 20 or so li-ion cells you have about the same power as a mid-size lead acid.

Lead acid batteries don't need much in the way of charging intelligence. If they're 12V, the cheapest solution is to use a trickle-charger from an auto store.

The coin cells, heh.. well, I needed to use my meter and back in the day the only one I had was a crummy radio shack piece of junk that took coin cells. I figured if I pulsed some current into 'em, I'd get some measurements. It worked until I got greedy and did it a few times, then it went off with a LARGE bang and almost embedded itself into my arm. Not recommended.

Dude, don't buy a Dell!

[ngoy]

Well, I guess you don't have a choice, but the other two manufacturers that I am familiar with (Toshiba and IBM) have always had external battery pack chargers available. Toshiba had (and may still) a charger that had spots for two batteries to charge at once.

In your situation, I would recommend checking other departments for a non-repairable laptop that still charges (like a cracked lcd or something that the school will not pay to fix) and use that to charge batteries with. Or check eBay for a laptop that has similar damage but boots.

ngoy

Another needed feature of laptops...

[dalutong]

A tiny five-minute battery built in so when I switch in this charged-externally battery I can do it without having to plug myself into the wall. Otherwise the feature wouldn't actually increase my mobility...

Re:Another needed feature of laptops...

[Niten]

The Dells already do this to some extent, although to be safe you probably would want to (need to?) temporarily suspend the computer to do it. I can attest that my Dell Inspiron 8200 has an internal capacitor that is at least powerful enough to allow me to suspend (not "hibernate"; I mean a real "everything-is-still-in-RAM" suspend, not suspend-to-disk) the computer, swap batteries, and pick back up at whatever I was doing 10 seconds ago.

Re:Kick that floppy habit...

[haplo21112]

actually dell makes a cable to sttach the floppy to the Printer Port, surprised no one has meantioned that yet...I would think the real problem would be the loss of the CD/DVD Drive...

The floppy can be attached to the Printer Port

[haplo21112]

Dell Makes a cable to attach the floppy to the Printer Port on the laptop...it usually comes in the box with the laptop, it least with all the Dell laptops I have ever seen.
Why not use that..

Easy-peasy

[sharkey]

Use the special cable Dell has to connect the floppy to the floppy-connector on the back of the Latitude.