Ask Slashdot: Where Can I Find Good Replacement Batteries?

An anonymous reader writes: I have an old phone with a battery that barely works anymore. My current phone's battery is mediocre — I can put up with it, but I've been thinking about getting a new one. My four-year-old ThinkPad holds less of a charge than I'd like, and less than it did when I bought it. In all these cases, the only thing holding me back from buying a new battery is that I'm not sure where to find a good one. Searching for my phone's battery on Amazon (or any major online retailer) yields a dozen results, all fairly cheap. But which are reliable? They all seem to have varying reviews, ranging from "Perfect official factory replacement!" to "Garbage knock-off, worse than the battery I replaced." Part numbers don't seem to help, as the knock-offs replicate those pretty well. I ask you, Slashdot: where can I find a good replacement battery?

Comments

For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck with

[aussersterne]

Anker products.

As you note, the problem with batteries is there's just so much undifferentiable import crap. Lots of it has fancy packaging.

Anker is no doubt trafficking in generics as well, but they do have their own design department (even goods like their Qi chargers that are made out of glass and metal have logos embedded in them and don't look like everyone else's generics) and when I posted a lukewarm review on Amazon ("Seems to work, nothing impressive, but good that it works.") about a phone battery, a rep with native English contacted me immediately and asked if there was anything they could do or offer to improve my experience from lukewarm to stellar.

So that at least is indicative of a company that cares. Note that I don't work for Anker, but since that experience (the phone battery was my first purchase of their products) I've purchased a number of subsequent products and none of them performed more poorly than the original OEM equipment, so that's at least something in this world of mostly fake batteries.

Variation in online reviews

[Fwipp]

> They all seem to have varying reviews, ranging from "Perfect official factory replacement!" to "Garbage knock-off, worse than the battery I replaced."

This is because amazon lumps reviews from different sellers together. Once you've identified a potential seller/product you want, go into the list of sellers, and make sure to pick one with good reviews. It's going to be more expensive than from a place with 2 stars, but at least it'll work.

Re:Variation in online reviews

[hamjudo]

Sometimes the variations in reviews is due to variations in the product. Many years ago I worked in a brick and mortar store and resold electronics. I'd buy a small number of units from a supplier and test them. If they were good, I'd buy a bunch for resale. Assuming the customers didn't bring them back, I would buy more of the same, from the same vendor. Customers who were happy with units from the first few batches, were not at all happy with units from later batches.

I dissected customer returns. Again and again, the products in later shipments looked identical on the outside, but were "cost reduced" on the inside. For example, I would see empty places on the circuit boards where the filter capacitors were supposed to go. In one batch of one product, many of the units were dead on arrival, on the ones that worked when I unpacked them, the solder joints only lasted a few weeks. Once opened, I could see that the boards were either soldered at the wrong temperature, it was the wrong type of solder, or badly made solder. Every connection was visibly a cold solder joint. Either the factory had no quality control, or they ignored the quality control.

Other products looked identical inside and out, but based on the failure rate, the factory must have gotten a bad batch of one the components.

Even longer ago, I worked on a product that logged data to a Compact Flash memory card. It was an embedded product that needed to work across a wide temperature range, including in the winter in Minnesota. The big names like SanDisk would randomly swap component suppliers. Our largest customer saw less than a 2% failure rate, but that was way too much. We found a specialty supplier that charged 5 times as much, but they had a rigorous quality control process. They paid attention to the specifications. They tracked where parts came from, and promised that we would be able to test sample units if they needed to switch suppliers. Alas, the 2% failure rate from the earlier parts had already doomed that product line.

Get one that Amazon Sells, not Fulfills

[turp182]

Amazon offers 30 day returns. If it fails fast they will take it back. Be wary of items they just fulfill, return policies vary (and Amazon has great service). Compare the manufacturers warranties, ask a question on the Amazon item pages.

Read the most recent reviews. I've seen several "different item/different serial #" issues with Dell batteries. Items presented can change over time, they are mutable.

Don't rush. You've been putting up with the performance you are seeing, you can take it another week or two.

Anyway, that's how I buy batteries...

Crap Shoot

[zelbinion]

I just ran into this with my wife's Dell laptop. I tried an aftermarket battery at newegg that had some glowing reviews and some terrible reviews, but was cheap enough (about $35) that I was willing to give it a try. It sort of worked for about a month, and now won't charge at all. So, we wound up buying a replacement direct from Dell for $150. I also recently bought an aftermarket battery for an old Toshiba laptop, but it only lasts about 1.5 hours if I'm lucky. It was $15 from Amazon. I guess you get what you pay for. So, other than paying through the nose for a genuine battery from the manufacturer, I don't know where to get good quality laptop batteries anymore (it used to be you could find decent batteries at various places on line, but all I see is junk now...)

On the other hand, I bought a new battery for my phone (an HTC) and got a battery made by a company called Anker. It works great and have had no problems with it. Bought several more for my wife's and my mother's phones, and they work well too. You can find Anker batteries on Amazon.

Use Reputable Dealers

[Anonymous Coward]

B&H Video
Amazon when Amazon is the source

Pretty much don't look for price, look for details in the Specifications and Reputable Reviewers.. its finding these temporary sign posts that mark a good source.

More and more its random process

from experience.

[Anonymous Coward]

Go anker, they have worked very well in the past for my phones. Avoid andida, 2 sets of batteries Went bad in 32 days

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[Anonymous Coward]

Came here to say Anker. I purchased 2 replacement batteries for my phone (Galaxy s2x) + standalone battery charger as a bundle from Amazon.ca for $28 delivered.

Batteries work great, and the standalone charger seems to be able to charge any kind of battery I can throw at it.

My first attempt at ordering a battery on ebay for $9 was a washout - took a month to arrive, and was complete crap when it did.

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[Sowelu]

I can second Anker batteries, mine worked fine. I can't say I'm as thrilled with their wall-wart router, but that's probably more on me. Two data points isn't too useful, but if I had to recommend someone, I'd say "Anker didn't suck for me". No bigger help than looking at their Amazon reviews though.

Always buy spares when you get a new phone:

[w0mprat]

A tip: When you get a new smartphone these days, buy one or two spare batteries while they are widely available, and well before the device is deprecated and hard to find a good battery for, let alone an official one. Store your spare li-ion batteries with a half charge, and/or just alternate use of the batteries. Spare accessories are also a nice selling point if you upgrade and want to sell your old phone on ebay, or to a friend.

Li-ion batteries lose about 20% of their lifespan every year, I've had plenty that die faster, perhaps due to much more intense cycling and usage. Having spares you rotate means you'd still have most of your battery range after a year of ownership.

Re:Always buy spares when you get a new phone:

[Ichijo]

Store your spare li-ion batteries with a half charge

And at 0 degrees C.

I prefer eBay myself. They have the most selection

[chaosdivine69]

The trick to using eBay is that the seller needs to have a lot of positive star ratings and has a recent selling history - as in they do this to make money, it's how they eat. Not someone with a 6 star rating who hasn't sold anything for months to years. The more perfect a score (closer to 100%) rating the better. The more decent ratings the better. Also, this is critical, read the seller feedback, they're short, but they scream volumes. When searching for items, search for words like "genuine OEM" or "original (brand here) battery". Lastly, when paying, use PayPal since they cover your ass if/when a seller doesn't come through. It has happened to me before twice in like 7 years and PayPal has helped me out and refunded my money both times. I love eBay and have been using it for years. You can find some really obscure stuff and can land some great deals if you're patient, persistent and careful. No one likes getting fleeced or screwed over. Do you homework and you'll get exactly what it is you're after. One last thing, don't be afraid to email the sellers and ask questions. If they don't reply, don't buy from them. You can even be bold and ask to negotiate price (within reason). You'd be surprised what you can get if you're nice, respectful and within reason. My thoughts anyhow...

Re:More details, please

[starless]

I think the question is really intended to elicit general comments on good places to buy batteries, as much as one particular battery type.
That makes it of much more general interest to slashdot readers.

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[FuegoFuerte]

I'll second/third/fourth this... I had an HTC Arrive (Sprint's WinMo7 phone), and bought a couple Anker batteries and a charger. I switched from the HTC battery to one of the Ankers as my primary battery, because it lasted substantially longer. I still carry the universal charger when I travel, as it can charge my camera batteries, anything that charges over USB, etc. It's a little finicky to get it to contact the battery correctly sometimes, but overall it works quite well and is far more flexible than any other charger I've seen.

Re:Not that hard

[rsclient]

Actually, it is that hard. I needed some CR32032 batteries, and looked on Amazon. Guess what? There's a ton of sellers, claiming to sell from a ton of vendors. I'll guess that many of them will sell me a battery with the right physical and electrical form factor, but....

Which brands last longer?
Which sellers are selling official brands, and which are selling indistinguishable knockoffs?
Are the knockoffs actually worse?

Is something that looks more official and appears more reputable actually selling something better? Or am I paying for reputation and not actual quality?

How valid are the reviews? Are they astroturf? Does it matter? How can someone tell a good battery from a bad one, anyway, right after getting it. Are the just giving 5 stars because the batteries came quickly in nice packaging?

I think these are all reasonable questions, but I don't have an answer to any of them. I'm hoping that someone has done a real comparison, and can provide some kind of solid data.

NLee the Engineer reviews

[mattack2]

I'm not sure if he reviews all different types of batteries, but "NLee the Engineer" reviews tons of rechargeable batteries (and other stuff, as you'll see at the link) at Amazon, and he seems to really know his stuff.

Basically, after you've found what you're looking for, his reviews seem to be very knowledgeable. He'll knock bad products and give good reviews to good ones.

His link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/p...

Re:For 3rd party batteries, I've had good luck wit

[Carnildo]

The nice thing about Anker is that they're honest about being a third party. Entirely too many companies do their best to visually imitate OEM equipment.

Cell phones with non-replaceable batteries?

[Futurepower(R)]

An even bigger issue than buying replacement batteries is replacing batteries in cell phones that are said to have batteries that aren't replaceable.

It shocks me that companies can be so hostile to their customers as to force them to buy new cell phones after the inevitable degradation of the batteries.

Replacement batteries.

[JWSmythe]

Here's my experience. Buy something from eBay or Amazon.

Well, we've bought a lot of batteries from various people I've been harvesting laptop batteries for the 18650 cells to put into phone recharging backs so we can play Ingress for effectively limitless hours, and for eCigarettes. That's given me a look inside them, and what condition the actual cells are. Leftovers, I sell to friends and friends-of-friends at cost.

The recharge packs I have take 4 18650's, so if I get 2500mAhcells, I have a 10000mAh pack. I went with carriers that have a physical on/off switch, rather than the soft switch like the Anker has, so they can sit a long time without discharging. I haven't needed to change batteries on them yet.

Generally, I buy from eBay. I'm looking for the higher cell counts, and aiming for about $1 to $1.50 per cell. So a 8 cell pack I want to spend $8 to $12 on.

When I crack them open (always more work than it sounds) they all have the standard overheat sensors, which was the concern before about exploding batteries. They have all been wired well. Out of say a couple dozen packs, I received one that had a dented cell in it. It didn't hurt the performance of the cell, but since it was dented, I refused to use it or give it to anyone. Some of them, I've damaged the wrapper, so I re-shrink wrap if I'm in urgent need of them, or I dispose of them.

Regardless if it says on the listing that it's an OEM or 3rd party pack, almost all of them have had no-name cells in them. I did get a few true Sony, Panasonic, or Sanyo cell, but they are rarer.

They've all tested out to be the listed capacity, and they all have worked at the expected life expectancy.

The only big exception was the battery for my old cell phone. It originally came with a 1400mAh battery. The only cheap seller listed 1600mAh for about $10/ea. I used them, and they were fine, but they only lasted as long as my original battery when it was new. When they finally started failing, I pealed the stickers off, and the original markings showed they were 1400mAh batteries. If I had been paying extra for the extra capacity, I may have been upset. Since I just needed batteries that worked, it didn't matter much.

I played Ingress a *lot* with my phone though that period. That draws a lot of power, so I kept a couple spare batteries in my pocket all the time so I could swap them as needed.

My new phone came with a much larger battery (part of my selection criteria), and I don't play as much. I let it charge in the car when I'm driving. If I'm walking, still carry the external pack, just in case I need it.

So.. Pick something cheap on eBay. Look for listing saying they're "new". Don't expect a higher capacity batter to be any better than the original battery. Since you're looking for cheap, you can generally afford to get a spare. :)

Non-replaceable component

[DrYak]

So which phones would that be where the batteries cannot be replaced?

Apple's iPhone are designed with battery that should not be replaced by the end-user. The only official policy is that you should bring a phone with a dead or dying battery to the shop for replacement, whereupon the salesperson will try to persuade you to buy a new phone because replacing the old battery is almost as expensive as the newest shiny toy.
You can try to replace them, but it's non trivial, you need to actually disassemble the phone, which might void your warranty.

Compare with any other brand sold in Europe:
You just to :
- buy a replacement (either the original part from any phone shop, or by a 3rd party like mugen)
- power off the phone
- open the battery lid (just pushing a button)/swap the batteries/close the lid
- power on
- don't forget to throw the battery in the appropriate recycling bin instead of putting it into trash.
That's it.

(Please note: air-mailing lithium batteries has a special regulation. Some postal service just refuse to handle them "on security ground", even if they are standard conformant, the proper paperwork is filled, and (like everyphone battery, unlike some modelling batteries) the protecting electronics are actually embed inside the battery itself. That's plain stupid. And it might block your possibility to return the battery for RMA)