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Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
Hi,
I have a Dell laptop which has developed a fault. It doesn't recognise its own power supply. A bit of internet research reveals that this is a common fault on this particular model, and it's a fault with the motherboard, so an expensive repair. At the moment for me the fault is intermittent. Sometimes the power supply is recognised and the thing will run happily from the mains and charge the battery, sometimes it isn't and it runs from the battery. Pretty soon a time will come when the battery goes flat, the power supply won't be recognised at all and it will be screwed unless I replace the motherboard. To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I could charge the battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Cheers! Martin |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
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Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
On 2 Dec, 19:20, jakdedert wrote:
While it may be a 'common fault', are you sure that the supply you are using is a genuine Dell supply? *I only ask because other companies sell a supply that looks very much like the Dell original, uses the same input and output cords and even has a representation of the Dell logo molded into the face....but is NOT a Dell supply, and will NOT charge my Dell laptops. *It will run them, but not charge the battery.* Closer examination reveals that it's really not much like a genuine supply. *It's much lighter in weight. *The quality of the cabling is markedly inferior. *It doesn't have the rubber cable retainer strap. There is no Dell information on the info sticker. *It says at the top, 'Replacement AC Adaptor' and gives a few specs. *At the bottom it says 'Made in China'. I got it with a Dell laptop from Craigslist. *The original owner complained the battery wouldn't charge. *Connection to a genuine Dell supply fixed that problem. jak Thanks for the idea Jak, but the charger is definitely OK. It came with the laptop from Dell, and has worked perfectly for the last two years. The fault has only developed recently, and not only will the charger now not charge the battery, it will not power the laptop at all. This is apparently a motherboard problem and has nothing to do with the charger itself. However, the laptop will run fine from a charged battery. Hence my need to charge the battery some other way. |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
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Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
That is too convoluted and time consuming and not worth the effot,
charging a laptop battery without the laptop. Do you tote? cuhulin |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
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Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
msg wrote:
wrote: snip To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I could charge the battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Regarding suggestions regarding a broken DC Power jack; I had made an unfounded assumption in your original post that you had eliminated any mechanical damage from your assessment; if the power jack proves not to be at fault, please report that here and I will provide links to the materials I described in my previous post. Michael |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
Thanks for all replies. The laptop is a Dell XPS M1210.
The reason I've come to the conclusion that the problem is more serious than the power supply or a loose power jack is a few postings around the net such as these: http://getsatisfaction.com/dell/topi...t_r ecognized It's a problem which a few people have and no one seems to have found an easy solution by just soldering on a new jack. The advice from Dell (according to those posts) seems to be that a new motherboard is needed. Michael, thanks in particular for your offer to post information about circuit diagrams and software concerning charging batteries. Frankly that sounds like it's going to go way over my head and be beyond my minimal understanding. I guess I was hoping someone would tell me that I could just put 12v DC across pins 3 and 5 for two hours and charge it and keep the laptop working that way. It sounds like I was being a little naive, so I thing it may be a trip to the repair shop and a new motherboard (or maybe just a new laptop!). Cheers! Martin |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
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Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
Adrian C wrote:
With what you have, and a meter - I'd start making continuity tests. BTW Replacement jack socket in ebay (UK) #190269916134 Less than £5! -- Adrian C |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
On Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:09:36 +0000, Adrian C
wrote: Adrian C wrote: With what you have, and a meter - I'd start making continuity tests. BTW Replacement jack socket in ebay (UK) #190269916134 Less than £5! This may not apply to this model, but I've seen a lot of older Dell laptops with cracked solder connections on a surface mount inductor near the power jack. It's close enough to the power jack to receive stress from flexing. The connections usually don't look that bad under casual inspection. I would re-solder everything near the power jack. Andy Cuffe |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
wrote in message ... Hi, I have a Dell laptop which has developed a fault. It doesn't recognise its own power supply. A bit of internet research reveals that this is a common fault on this particular model, and it's a fault with the motherboard, so an expensive repair. At the moment for me the fault is intermittent. Sometimes the power supply is recognised and the thing will run happily from the mains and charge the battery, sometimes it isn't and it runs from the battery. Pretty soon a time will come when the battery goes flat, the power supply won't be recognised at all and it will be screwed unless I replace the motherboard. To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I could charge the battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Cheers! Martin Do you have a port replicator? I own a Dell Inspiron 8500 and it only charges the battery if the AC adapter is plugged into the port replicator which is then attached to the bottom of the laptop. I have confirmed that the adapter is good and the problem is not the DC jack on the motherboard. I now always have it tethered to the port replicator for charging. |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
wrote in message ... Hi, I have a Dell laptop which has developed a fault. It doesn't recognise its own power supply. A bit of internet research reveals that this is a common fault on this particular model, and it's a fault with the motherboard, so an expensive repair. At the moment for me the fault is intermittent. Sometimes the power supply is recognised and the thing will run happily from the mains and charge the battery, sometimes it isn't and it runs from the battery. Pretty soon a time will come when the battery goes flat, the power supply won't be recognised at all and it will be screwed unless I replace the motherboard. To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I could charge the battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Cheers! Martin Charging lithium-ion batteries is fairly complex. Only two of the 8 contacts are used to power the laptop, but many more are used during charging in order to monitor individual cells. It is definite not just finding the right two wires. Good luck. I hate it when a complex thing is rendered useless by a simple problem. |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
On 2 Dec, 19:37, wrote:
Hi, I have a Dell laptop which has developed a fault. It doesn't recognise its own power supply. A bit of internet research reveals that this is a common fault on this particular model, and it's a fault with the motherboard, so an expensive repair. At the moment for me the fault is intermittent. Sometimes the power supply is recognised and the thing will run happily from the mains and charge the battery, sometimes it isn't and it runs from the battery. Pretty soon a time will come when the battery goes flat, the power supply won't be recognised at all and it will be screwed unless I replace the motherboard. To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I could charge the battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Cheers! Martin I don't know about Dells, but for Lenovos you can buy standalone battery chargers. Have a look on eBay. Another Bay alternative is to buy a dead "spares or repairs" machine with a different fault. Even if it won't boot, it will hopefully charge a battery. Chris |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
On Dec 2, 12:37*pm, wrote:
Hi, I have aDelllaptop which has developed a fault. It doesn't recognise its own power supply. A bit of internet research reveals that this is a common fault on this particular model, and it's a fault with the motherboard, so an expensive repair. At the moment for me the fault is intermittent. Sometimes the power supply is recognised and the thing will run happily from the mains andchargethe battery, sometimes it isn't and it runs from the battery. Pretty soon a time will come when the battery goes flat, the power supply won't be recognised at all and it will be screwed unless I replace the motherboard. To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I couldchargethe battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Cheers! Martin when you find out let me know |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
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Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
rebel wrote:
Based on experience I'd still lean towards the mobo being the problem, but doing the PSU test certainly will identify the problem area. Hope so :-) Doing a little research, the extra pin connector is for a Dallas 1-Wire serial id chip that Dell have built into their own manufactured power supplies, to limit their customers to only purchasing them and not a compatible. If it is the PSU at fault, further googling suggests that replacement supplies from Dell are actually not that horrendously expensive (e.g. £33 inc delivery for UK) -- Adrian C |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
On Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:07:40 -0600, jakdedert wrote:
IMM, the OP has not thoroughly diagnosed the problem. His internet research could very well be valid; but without real-world testing, it's still only opinion. To date, he has not indicated whether he has tested the power supply. In fact, he stated that it categorically could 'not' be the problem (although that answer was in response to a different query, regarding aftermarket supplies which are known to produce nearly the same symptoms). Since most recent Dells use the either the PA 12 (65 watt, original equipment for his unit), or the PA 10 (90 watt) supplies, it's pretty easy to find someone with a known-good supply to sub. In fact, the PA 10 is also a substitute for the any laptop supplied with a PA 12, making it even easier to find a sub. IMO, this is good policy from Dell. I wish other makers followed this model of not tying their supplies to a particular unit. Given that this is least expensive possible solution--as well as the cheapest/easiest--I urge the OP to at least explore the possibility. Try your supply on a known-good laptop; or try a known-good supply on yours. If it turns out to not be the case, obviously he'll have to explore others. Agree. We were in Vegas back in October and had left our Dell PA10 behind on the west coast. Found a laptop repair place and (with Vostro under arm) we verified that the new PA10 they had was 100% kosher before buying it. Any reputable outlet selling the genuine PA10 would do the same, so the O/P should have reasonable opportunity to check out whether in fcat his PSU is U/S. Based on experience I'd still lean towards the mobo being the problem, but doing the PSU test certainly will identify the problem area. |
Charging a laptop battery without the laptop?
On Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:20:29 -0000, jakdedert wrote:
wrote: Hi, I have a Dell laptop which has developed a fault. It doesn't recognise its own power supply. A bit of internet research reveals that this is a common fault on this particular model, and it's a fault with the motherboard, so an expensive repair. At the moment for me the fault is intermittent. Sometimes the power supply is recognised and the thing will run happily from the mains and charge the battery, sometimes it isn't and it runs from the battery. Pretty soon a time will come when the battery goes flat, the power supply won't be recognised at all and it will be screwed unless I replace the motherboard. To get to the point I could easily keep the PC running if I could charge the battery without it being in the laptop. Anyone know what my chances are? The battery has eight pins. I presume it has some circuitry inside which means it's not as easy as guessing the right two pins and putting a current across them. Cheers! Martin While it may be a 'common fault', are you sure that the supply you are using is a genuine Dell supply? I only ask because other companies sell a supply that looks very much like the Dell original, uses the same input and output cords and even has a representation of the Dell logo molded into the face....but is NOT a Dell supply, and will NOT charge my Dell laptops. *It will run them, but not charge the battery.* Closer examination reveals that it's really not much like a genuine supply. It's much lighter in weight. The quality of the cabling is markedly inferior. It doesn't have the rubber cable retainer strap. There is no Dell information on the info sticker. It says at the top, 'Replacement AC Adaptor' and gives a few specs. At the bottom it says 'Made in China'. I got it with a Dell laptop from Craigslist. The original owner complained the battery wouldn't charge. Connection to a genuine Dell supply fixed that problem. I've bought loads of Latitude D600/D610/D620/D630 chargers from Ebay, and they've all worked fine. They look like genuine ones and work fine. The only one that did not work in a D610 or later (the D600 didn't do the check) was a Trust universal charger from Maplin. It did as you said above, with a message to that effect. -- http://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com You can ship a 40 lb child UPS 2nd day air for around $60.00, but don't forget the air holes. |
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