I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when we
could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects, it
is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK. I've
also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT be OK,
and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who said that
as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage output of
the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:07:14 -0000, "hungerdunger"
wrote:

I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when we
could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects, it
is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK. I've
also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT be OK,
and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who said that
as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage output of
the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?


Can you use it? Yes.

Safe to use it? NO!

Will the computer fail if you use it? Yes.

Will the battery fail if you use it? Probably, and it certainly won't
charge properly.

In short, there were a bunch of errors committed here. Trying to
cheaply fix up a laptop that was worth nothing anyway, getting cheap
and buying off eBay from China, accepting whatever junk they sent.

Get the correct battery, or junk the notebook (best move) and have a
beer. Forget the Chinese seller, and eBay the battery they sold you
and maybe you will recover *some* of the money you wasted.

"PeterD" wrote in message
...


In short, there were a bunch of errors committed here. Trying to
cheaply fix up a laptop that was worth nothing anyway, getting cheap
and buying off eBay from China, accepting whatever junk they sent.

Get the correct battery, or junk the notebook (best move) and have a
beer. Forget the Chinese seller, and eBay the battery they sold you
and maybe you will recover *some* of the money you wasted.


Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately my friend is chronically ill, and is
on an extremely tight budget. So while you or I might have junked the old
machine and forked out £400 for a much superior model, she is not able to.
She also felt that spending over £100 on a new battery was just not possible
at present.
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

On Mar 6, 9:03*am, "hungerdunger"
wrote:
"PeterD" wrote in message

...



In short, there were a bunch of errors committed here. Trying to
cheaply fix up a laptop that was worth nothing anyway, getting cheap
and buying off eBay from China, accepting whatever junk they sent.

Get the correct battery, or junk the notebook (best move) and have a
beer. Forget the Chinese seller, and eBay the battery they sold you
and maybe you will recover *some* of the money you wasted.

Thanks for the advice. *Unfortunately my friend is chronically ill, and is
on *an extremely tight budget. *So while you or I might have junked the old
machine and forked out £400 for a much superior model, she is not able to.
She also felt that spending over £100 on a new battery was just not possible
at present.
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

I've never heard of an 11.1 V battery - something is wrong here.

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...

I've never heard of an 11.1 V battery - something is wrong here.

No it isn't - I've got the battery sitting here in front of me.

You can also go here for a picture of it: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2twp9m

--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

hungerdunger wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...

I've never heard of an 11.1 V battery - something is wrong here.

No it isn't - I've got the battery sitting here in front of me.

You can also go here for a picture of it: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2twp9m

Maybe it's just me, but the quote from that ebay site says:

THIS IS A BRAND NEW GENUINE 11.1V, 4000MAH, PACKARD BELL EASYNOTE F5
SERIES BP-8X99 BATTERY. (THIS BATTERY CAN'T REPLACE 14.8V BATTERY)

Please tell us your laptop model and the voltage of your original
battery(11.1V or 14.8V), because we are NOT responsible for this mistake.

Sounds pretty clear to me.

--
Return address is VALID!

hungerdunger wrote:
"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...

I've never heard of an 11.1 V battery - something is wrong here.

No it isn't - I've got the battery sitting here in front of me.

You can also go here for a picture of it: http://preview.tinyurl.com/2twp9m

There are places that will rebuild the old battery. Look in your yellow
pages.
Lee

hr(bob) wrote:
On Mar 6, 9:03 am, "hungerdunger"
wrote:
"PeterD" wrote in message

...



In short, there were a bunch of errors committed here. Trying to
cheaply fix up a laptop that was worth nothing anyway, getting cheap
and buying off eBay from China, accepting whatever junk they sent.
Get the correct battery, or junk the notebook (best move) and have a
beer. Forget the Chinese seller, and eBay the battery they sold you
and maybe you will recover *some* of the money you wasted.
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately my friend is chronically ill, and is
on an extremely tight budget. So while you or I might have junked the old
machine and forked out £400 for a much superior model, she is not able to.
She also felt that spending over £100 on a new battery was just not possible
at present.
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

I've never heard of an 11.1 V battery - something is wrong here.
Lithium cells have about 3.7 volts per cell. 3 cells is 11.1 volts.
4 cells is 14.8 volts.

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:32:08 -0800 (PST), "hr(bob) "
wrote:

On Mar 6, 9:03*am, "hungerdunger"
wrote:
"PeterD" wrote in message

...



In short, there were a bunch of errors committed here. Trying to
cheaply fix up a laptop that was worth nothing anyway, getting cheap
and buying off eBay from China, accepting whatever junk they sent.

Get the correct battery, or junk the notebook (best move) and have a
beer. Forget the Chinese seller, and eBay the battery they sold you
and maybe you will recover *some* of the money you wasted.

Thanks for the advice. *Unfortunately my friend is chronically ill, and is
on *an extremely tight budget. *So while you or I might have junked the old
machine and forked out £400 for a much superior model, she is not able to.
She also felt that spending over £100 on a new battery was just not possible
at present.
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

I've never heard of an 11.1 V battery - something is wrong here.

It's from China... g

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 15:03:22 -0000, "hungerdunger"
wrote:

"PeterD" wrote in message
.. .


In short, there were a bunch of errors committed here. Trying to
cheaply fix up a laptop that was worth nothing anyway, getting cheap
and buying off eBay from China, accepting whatever junk they sent.

Get the correct battery, or junk the notebook (best move) and have a
beer. Forget the Chinese seller, and eBay the battery they sold you
and maybe you will recover *some* of the money you wasted.


Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately my friend is chronically ill, and is
on an extremely tight budget. So while you or I might have junked the old
machine and forked out £400 for a much superior model, she is not able to.
She also felt that spending over £100 on a new battery was just not possible
at present.

What's that got to do with it?

Try collecting donations at local markets, charity, or other avenues.

And if she is so short of money, why did she gambol on a Chinese
battery from eBay? She has now lost more than she would have had she
just bought the proper battery from a reputable seller.

On Mar 6, 8:46 am, PeterD wrote:
On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:07:14 -0000, "hungerdunger"

wrote:
I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when we
could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects, it
is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK. I've
also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT be OK,
and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who said that
as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage output of
the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?

Can you use it? Yes.

Safe to use it? NO!

Will the computer fail if you use it? Yes.

Will the battery fail if you use it? Probably, and it certainly won't
charge properly.

Well, the range of the mobo switching supplies could be wide enough
that you could use either battery, and there could be ID pins (or
I2C bus) to tell the charge switcher what voltage to output, and
there are numerous battery suppliers who specify a 14.8V (8 cells
@ 1.85V per) pack for this model, but Packard Bell lists the battery
as 11.1V (6 cells @ 1.85V per), and a few battery sites indicate
that the two batteries are not interchangeable. Perhaps there was
a switchover from 6-cell to 8-cell during the production run (or
they reused the model number).

OP: Have you asked Packard Bell about this?
http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...&pn=PB03400601
(US readers - PB appears to still exist in the UK)

And are you sure the original battery is dead? This model reportedly
had a charging problem that was fixed with a BIOS update:
http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...ppn=PB03400601

TM

On Mar 6, 1:25 pm, wrote:
On Mar 6, 8:46 am, PeterD wrote:



On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:07:14 -0000, "hungerdunger"

wrote:
I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when we
could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects, it
is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK. I've
also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT be OK,
and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who said that
as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage output of
the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?

Can you use it? Yes.

Safe to use it? NO!

Will the computer fail if you use it? Yes.

Will the battery fail if you use it? Probably, and it certainly won't
charge properly.

Well, the range of the mobo switching supplies could be wide enough
that you could use either battery, and there could be ID pins (or
I2C bus) to tell the charge switcher what voltage to output, and
there are numerous battery suppliers who specify a 14.8V (8 cells
@ 1.85V per)* pack for this model, but Packard Bell lists the battery
as 11.1V (6 cells @ 1.85V per)**, and a few battery sites indicate
that the two batteries are not interchangeable. Perhaps there was
a switchover from 6-cell to 8-cell during the production run (or
they reused the model number).

OP: Have you asked Packard Bell about this?http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...&pn=PB03400601
(US readers - PB appears to still exist in the UK)

And are you sure the original battery is dead? This model reportedly
had a charging problem that was fixed with a BIOS update:http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...c_02144&ppn=PB...

TM

* Make that 2 parallel strings of 3 cells: 3 * 3.7V = 11.1V
* Make that 2 parallel strings of 4 cells: 4 * 3.7V = 14.8V

wrote in message
...

Well, the range of the mobo switching supplies could be wide enough
that you could use either battery, and there could be ID pins (or
I2C bus) to tell the charge switcher what voltage to output, and
there are numerous battery suppliers who specify a 14.8V (8 cells
@ 1.85V per) pack for this model, but Packard Bell lists the battery
as 11.1V (6 cells @ 1.85V per), and a few battery sites indicate
that the two batteries are not interchangeable. Perhaps there was
a switchover from 6-cell to 8-cell during the production run (or
they reused the model number).

OP: Have you asked Packard Bell about this?
http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...&pn=PB03400601
(US readers - PB appears to still exist in the UK)

And are you sure the original battery is dead? This model reportedly
had a charging problem that was fixed with a BIOS update:
http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...ppn=PB03400601

Thanks for the useful reply and links Tony.

I've emailed PB twice, but to date haven't had a reply. I wasn't aware of
the charging problem , but will get the computer back tomorrow and update
the BIOS in case that solves the problem.
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

On Mar 6, 5:51 pm, "hungerdunger"
wrote:
wrote in message

...

Well, the range of the mobo switching supplies could be wide enough
that you could use either battery, and there could be ID pins (or
I2C bus) to tell the charge switcher what voltage to output, and
there are numerous battery suppliers who specify a 14.8V (8 cells
@ 1.85V per) pack for this model, but Packard Bell lists the battery
as 11.1V (6 cells @ 1.85V per), and a few battery sites indicate
that the two batteries are not interchangeable. Perhaps there was
a switchover from 6-cell to 8-cell during the production run (or
they reused the model number).

OP: Have you asked Packard Bell about this?http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...&pn=PB03400601
(US readers - PB appears to still exist in the UK)

And are you sure the original battery is dead? This model reportedly
had a charging problem that was fixed with a BIOS update:http://support.packardbell.com/uk/it...c_02144&ppn=PB...

Thanks for the useful reply and links Tony.

I've emailed PB twice, but to date haven't had a reply. I wasn't aware of
the charging problem , but will get the computer back tomorrow and update
the BIOS in case that solves the problem.
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address

You could also try contacting Mitac, the manufacturer of the laptop.
Based on the battery ad compatibility list, the Mitac laptop model
would either be 8399 or 8599. Their technical support page is not
encouraging - no entries in FAQ or technical bulletins, no access
to registration page for online Q&A - but maybe you could find an
email address to ask about interchangeability. BTW, ebay item
350025940814 is the listing for a 14.8V battery that states it is
not a replacement for the 11.1V pack, but I also found an online
ad that stated the two batteries are interchangeable (though that
may just be a mistranslation).
http://www.mitac-mtc.com.tw/index.aspx
http://www.battery-notebook.com/dis.php?pid=643

TM

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:07:14 -0000, "hungerdunger"
wrote:

I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she

HR Bob raises a good point. Maybe it's 11.1 volts *because* it is
dead.

Or maybe you are measuring in British volts. Volts sterling, I think
they are called.

decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when we
could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects, it
is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK. I've
also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT be OK,
and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who said that
as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage output of
the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?


If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)

"hungerdunger" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when
we could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects,
it is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK.
I've also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT
be OK, and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who
said that as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage
output of the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?
--
14.8V and 11.1V batteries are different batteries and not interchangeable.
the higher voltage battery actually puts out 1/3 more voltage (3.7V / 11.1V
= 0.33) than the proper one, and this would likely stress or fry the voltage
regulators in the computer. I say likely because many voltage regulators
have a wide range of input voltages they can handle. Having the voltage
regulator drop an extra 3.7V will generate more heat, and heat is the killer
of all electronic components. Laptops are the most susceptible to heat
because of the limited air circulation in the small case. Depending on what
the ad said, you should have some recourse through eBay. If you paid
through paypal, you might have some recourse there. In my experience,
however, both these organizations' claims of "buyer protection" are a load
of ****e, they will not lift a finger to help you. If you used a credit
card to pay, even if you paid through paypal, your VISA/MC institute very
often has the ability to refund your purchase price.

If you're handy with electronics, you could calculate or measure the
laptop's current draw, and add in a power dropper resistor to the battery's
output based on ohm's law... if the unit draws say 500mA, then 3.7V / 0.5A =
7.4ohms. This resistor would dissipate 3.7V x 0.5A = 1.85W of power, so by
putting a 7.4 ohm, 2W resistor in series with the 14.8V battery you'd get
your 11.1V. You'd need to likely do some wiring/soldering, perhaps make an
exterior enclosure for the battery, and it might look ugly but it's simple,
cheap, and 100% functional.

Dave

14.8V and 11.1V batteries are different batteries and not interchangeable.
the higher voltage battery actually puts out 1/3 more voltage (3.7V /
11.1V = 0.33) than the proper one, and this would likely stress or fry the
voltage regulators in the computer. I say likely because many voltage
regulators have a wide range of input voltages they can handle. Having
the voltage regulator drop an extra 3.7V will generate more heat, and heat
is the killer of all electronic components.


No, that's not true. It would be if the laptop used a linear regulator, but
it does not, it has a switching regulator. The heat output of these is not
proportional to the difference between the input and output voltage.

"James Sweet" wrote in message
news:7bWzj.6111$oy2.2499@trndny07...

14.8V and 11.1V batteries are different batteries and not
interchangeable.
the higher voltage battery actually puts out 1/3 more voltage (3.7V /
11.1V = 0.33) than the proper one, and this would likely stress or fry
the voltage regulators in the computer. I say likely because many
voltage regulators have a wide range of input voltages they can handle.
Having the voltage regulator drop an extra 3.7V will generate more heat,
and heat is the killer of all electronic components.


No, that's not true. It would be if the laptop used a linear regulator,
but it does not, it has a switching regulator. The heat output of these is
not proportional to the difference between the input and output voltage.


Don't switching regulators as a rule allow a fairly wide range of input
voltages? Given that the duty-cycle can be adjusted for a wide range of
outputs, one might assume that said duty cycle could accomodate at least a
moderate range of input voltages... or not.

Dave wrote:

"hungerdunger" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old
she decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the
UK, when we could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other
respects, it is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it
will be OK. I've also spoken to a couple of other people who have told
me it will NOT be OK, and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our
local PC World who said that as long as the voltage of the battery was
less than the voltage output of the charger (which is 19v) it would be
OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?
--
14.8V and 11.1V batteries are different batteries and not
interchangeable. the higher voltage battery actually puts out 1/3 more
voltage (3.7V / 11.1V = 0.33) than the proper one, and this would likely
stress or fry the voltage regulators in the computer. I say likely
because many voltage regulators have a wide range of input voltages they
can handle. Having the voltage regulator drop an extra 3.7V will
generate more heat, and heat is the killer of all electronic
components. Laptops are the most susceptible to heat because of the
limited air circulation in the small case. Depending on what the ad
said, you should have some recourse through eBay. If you paid through
paypal, you might have some recourse there. In my experience, however,
both these organizations' claims of "buyer protection" are a load of
****e, they will not lift a finger to help you. If you used a credit
card to pay, even if you paid through paypal, your VISA/MC institute
very often has the ability to refund your purchase price.

If you're handy with electronics, you could calculate or measure the
laptop's current draw, and add in a power dropper resistor to the
battery's output based on ohm's law... if the unit draws say 500mA, then
3.7V / 0.5A = 7.4ohms. This resistor would dissipate 3.7V x 0.5A =
1.85W of power, so by putting a 7.4 ohm, 2W resistor in series with the
14.8V battery you'd get your 11.1V. You'd need to likely do some
wiring/soldering, perhaps make an exterior enclosure for the battery,
and it might look ugly but it's simple, cheap, and 100% functional.

Dave
Many laptops have batteries available that are at different voltages.
My Toshiba has available 3 cell 11 volts, 4 cell 14 volts, 6 cell
11 volts and an 8 cell 14 volt batteries. There is a switching power
supply (several actually) inside which works over a reasonable range
of battery voltages. Do not put a resistor in series, it will just
waste power and generate more heat.

On Mar 6, 12:35 pm, "Dave" wrote:
"hungerdunger" wrote in message

... I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when
we could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects,
it is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK.
I've also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT
be OK, and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who
said that as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage
output of the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?
--

14.8V and 11.1V batteries are different batteries and not interchangeable.
the higher voltage battery actually puts out 1/3 more voltage (3.7V / 11.1V
= 0.33) than the proper one, and this would likely stress or fry the voltage
regulators in the computer. I say likely because many voltage regulators
have a wide range of input voltages they can handle. Having the voltage
regulator drop an extra 3.7V will generate more heat, and heat is the killer
of all electronic components. Laptops are the most susceptible to heat
because of the limited air circulation in the small case. Depending on what
the ad said, you should have some recourse through eBay. If you paid
through paypal, you might have some recourse there. In my experience,
however, both these organizations' claims of "buyer protection" are a load
of ****e, they will not lift a finger to help you. If you used a credit
card to pay, even if you paid through paypal, your VISA/MC institute very
often has the ability to refund your purchase price.

If you're handy with electronics, you could calculate or measure the
laptop's current draw, and add in a power dropper resistor to the battery's
output based on ohm's law... if the unit draws say 500mA, then 3.7V / 0.5A =
7.4ohms. This resistor would dissipate 3.7V x 0.5A = 1.85W of power, so by
putting a 7.4 ohm, 2W resistor in series with the 14.8V battery you'd get
your 11.1V. You'd need to likely do some wiring/soldering, perhaps make an
exterior enclosure for the battery, and it might look ugly but it's simple,
cheap, and 100% functional.

Dave

Or he could just remove two cells from the battery pack (making
sure that it's one from each series string.

TM

"hungerdunger" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when
we could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects,
it is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK.
I've also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT
be OK, and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who
said that as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage
output of the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?
--


I don't think you'll find a definitive answer, but I would try it and see
what happens, the computer is not really worth anything and you already have
the battery.

I question the voltage of the original, 11.1 is not a multiple of 1.2V. Also
the voltage from the charger is irrelevant, it will be higher than the
voltage of the battery, it has to be, it is internally regulated in the
laptop.

The easy answer is that you did not pay attention to the eBay listing.
At this point, if you ordered it on your own initiative, the right thing to
do is consider it a bitter lesson learned.
My opinion is you should buy the right battery and try to sell the wrong one
on eBbay and eat what it costs you.
It is definitely the wrong battery.

Charlie (both a buyer and seller on eBay)


"hungerdunger" wrote in message
...
I'm trying to "renovate" a friend's old Packard Bell Easy Note F5280HR.

The old battery (11.1volts) is dead, and as the machine is quite old she
decided it wasn't worth spending over £100 on a battery from the UK, when
we could get one for half that price from China (via Ebay).

The battery arrived yesterday, and while identical in all other respects,
it is 14.8 volts. I emailed the vendor who has assured me it will be OK.
I've also spoken to a couple of other people who have told me it will NOT
be OK, and then I spoke to one of the tech guys in our local PC World who
said that as long as the voltage of the battery was less than the voltage
output of the charger (which is 19v) it would be OK.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer: can I use this battery?
--
Hungerdunger
To reply by email, remove the MARX from my address