Your advice is incomplete and potentially dangerous.

You are correct that a replacement battery need not come from IBM, and
that it can be fabricated from generic parts.

However, some laptops use rechargeable batteries (based on any of 3 very
different chemistries), while some others use non-rechargeable lithium
batteries in a "long life" (3 to 10 years) configuration.

If you try to recharge a non-rechargeable lithium battery, it can indeed
explode with enough force to cause injury or death to the user. Lithium
batteries are not to be taken lightly, they have killed people and
caused the loss of limbs.

So, while the gist of your post is correct, it is absolutely critical
that, before trying to fabricate a non-IBM solution, the user finds out
exactly what kind of battery they are dealing with, and that the
solution be compatible with the existing battery and the laptop CMOS
battery circuit.

[Note, attempting to solder to a lithium battery is another way to cause
them to explode violently.]



Michael A. Covington wrote:

"ziliath" wrote in message
om...


So I've been shopping for a replacement for this
specific CMOS battery (FRU 12J1695) but I am finding
few places that have the original.


You don't have to buy it from IBM. Any sufficiently compact NiCd battery of
the right voltage will do.


1. I found a battery store locally (first one
I've ever seen) and they claim they can make a
new CMOS battery for $10 that will be compatible.
How likely is that? IBM's manual says using
any part but theirs may cause an explosion.


IBM's manual is trying to alarm you. IBM does not even manufacture the
original themselves, probably. Any electrically equivalent battery will
work just as well and just as safely. Explosions (bursting batteries) would
result from connecting it the other way around or possibly using the wrong
voltage or something else that is wildly off.


2. I found a store online that claims to sell
a compatible battery. Another (Index Computer...
that name sounds familiar in a bad way)
claims to have the original, but doesn't
say it's new. Anybody know of a reliable online
store for these batteries?


batteriesplus.com


3. I am aware that Lithium batteries will
explode if (A) they are shorted, or (B)
they are charged. But would putting in a
slightly incompatible battery cause this?
For instance suppose they get the voltage
wrong at the local store?


By "explode" they mean the battery itself would get hot and slowly burst its
seams. (Don't imagine mushroom clouds or windows blowing out!) If the
store connects it backward, they'll probably damage your motherboard
electrically, which is a more serious concern. But they're unlikely to do
that. If we tried to avoid every possible hazard we'd never repair
*anything*!