Are battery chargers on ebay a safe replacement for conked out laptop battery?

November 7, 2010 11:05 PM

Laptop Battery conked out. Safe to buy on ebay?

Hi,

First time newbie to metafilter. Joined a while back but this is my first question!

This weekend my battery charger gave out for my dell laptop. I've been looking on Ebay and I see a bunch of dell oem laptop battery chargers being sold for 10 dollars or less which is way less than what dell is charging. Is it safe to use these battery chargers?

posted by touareg to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

I use 'em. They get hot and sometimes pull apart, but by and large, they're fine.

Try to go for a seller with good feedback from a number of buyers with good feedback.
posted by k8t at 11:10 PM on November 7, 2010

I'm using one right now and it is just fine.
posted by ssg at 11:24 PM on November 7, 2010

Off brand battery charger? Yes, I would use one of those.

Off brand battery? Hell no. Maybe you've heard of those cases of exploding laptop batteries, or cell phone batteries? Almost always a case of a person using a cheap, off brand replacement.

Litium Ion/Polymer batteries are very safe... when properly assembled and quality controlled. If you cut corners they can be seriously dangerous.

In particular @k8t, I wouldn't put a bulging battery anywhere near my person. That's a really bad sign.
posted by sbutler at 11:55 PM on November 7, 2010

Should be reasonably safe, but it doesn't hurt to observe a simple precaution: Always plug the charger into the wall first and then into the laptop. In the event your charger malfunctions, this may (emphasis on MAY) give you a chance to realize it (e.g. by tripping a breaker) before frying your laptop.
posted by Dr Dracator at 2:46 AM on November 8, 2010

Probably safe. A good value? Probably not. Batteries are usually cheap for only one reason: they are old. Old lithium ion batteries die quickly.
posted by gjc at 3:35 AM on November 8, 2010

I think OP wants to buy a charger, and not a battery, correct? I've used them for my old Dell laptop and they're fine. Sometimes the laptop says it "doesn't recognize the power source" but aside from the warning popping up (annoying), there wasn't any functional problem that I could tell.
posted by miss_kitty_fantastico at 5:32 AM on November 8, 2010

Chances are you are fine buying batteries and chargers from ebay. I've bought a battery (non-OEM) and charger (OEM) for an HP laptop from ebay. Neither have given me problems.
posted by puritycontrol at 6:34 AM on November 8, 2010

I know somebody who swears by http://atbatt.com/. He's bought a few genuine Dell batteries from them from 50 to 100 dollars less than what Dell charges, and shipping is free.
posted by msbrauer at 6:47 AM on November 8, 2010

I was talking about a charger, not a battery.
posted by k8t at 8:07 AM on November 8, 2010

Response by poster: I'm looking for a battery charger, not a battery. Thanks for all the feedback so far!
posted by touareg at 8:37 AM on November 8, 2010

nthing atbatt - I am very pleased with the Dell battery charger I bought there, plus I had a good experience with their customer service.
posted by elerina at 11:39 AM on November 8, 2010