Laptop Battery

[D'Animal]

Anybody know of a good place to get one?

It is for my old Compaq Armada E500 laptop.

All I can find is batteries for the Compaq Presario at laptopbatterydotnet

and

laptopbatteriesdotcom does not offer batteries, only car adaptors.

simplemico has them for $56.00. A few other companies prices rangce from $55.00 up to $100.00 for the same applicaitons.

Anything specific I should look for? They are all LI-ION re-Chargable battery packs.


Any suggestions?

 

[D'Animal]

Here is what is confusing me. Same model,same description but three differnt prices on the same page. They all say high quality.

COMPAQ Armada E500 battery, COMPAQ Armada E500 batteries.

 

[firetruck41]

I bought one from an online retailer, wasn't too sure about 'em, but they were legit and shipped the next day and got exactly what was advertised. There were several options, refurbished or OEM, I ordered and received OEM new. The company is Laptop Parts, Notebook Parts, Accessories, Electronics and More from GetPartsOnline.com , I used the part number on the battery to do asearch and find the battery, it was a very good deal.

On your link above, one of the batts is 6000mAH, while 2 of them are 6600mAH, maybe one is OEM, and the other isn't?

 

[D'Animal]

On your link above, one of the batts is 6000mAH, while 2 of them are 6600mAH, maybe one is OEM, and the other isn't?

Is the difference how long they hold a charge?

 

[firetruck41]

amp hours is basically the capacity of the battery, so in theory the 6600 mah has a larger "gas tank" and should last longer per charge.

 

[D'Animal]

Thanks!

 

[e9999]

recent experience:
had to replace an OEM Dell battery (Sony?)

did some research, found a wide range of prices for the seemingly same specs battery. Went with the best specs, guaranteed japanese cells, higher cap than OEM etc, but still less expensive than OEM. Some return warranty if defective. Seemed like one of the best online aftermarket place.

Well, after 3 months, it looks like the capacity has already dropped significantly whereas I went 3 years with OEM... Problem is they don't call drop in cap for battery a defect...

Sooo, caution is advised...

 

[uberhahn]

I've been in the same boat recently, for two different laptops. I purchcased an OEM extra-capacity for my Dell, and an aftermarket extra-capacity for my sony.

The OE is the clear winner in my experience. Capacity has remained constant over the last 1.5yrs of use, whereas the aftermarket is down about 30%. The difference was price, as the OE was 60%higher in cost.

FWIW, I did also purchase an external battery pack from batterygeek.net. Worth a look if it fits your needs. Mine is a constant travel companion (in the car and "field"). Roughly 6hrs life, based on your model.

uberhahn

 

[D'Animal]

Thanks, I would love to get 6 hours of life on a battery.

 

[uberhahn]

Long-life tips

The external is great when mobility isn't too much of an issue (in the car, available storage, don't have to carry it in a briefcase, etc.).

My only "good" OE battery life came from my Dell extra capcity OE battery and
my Itronix GoBook3 (standard life batt was 5.5 hrs - sadly sold). That thing was so cool. It had a built-in way to callibrate a battery after every full discharge...

Some basic tips i've garndered over the years of having to drag a laptop around unplugged (for best battery use):

- dim the screen as much as possible (even if it makes it a bit dark for optimal viewing). This has had the biggest impact on battery power in the last 10 years of my carrying a laptop.

- if you have no need for internet connection, turn off you WiFi (either the built-in WiFi or your plug-in card). WiFi is the second biggest drain on the battery (close to 400mW).

- Take the time to go through your running processes and minimize or remove them. You would be suprised to see how many non-essential programs are running in the background with zero benefit.

- Open your battery settings and set your hard-drive "OFF" time to 5 minutes or less if you can stand a little bit of a delay.

Clearly, these are the basics. You can also download battery management programs that keep an "eye" on drain and control CPU time a bit better.

You've probably taken a look at most of these, but I thought I'd put'em down anyway.

Doing all of this on my Dell Latitude (among others) has increased my up-time on battery only by at least 45minutes.

uberhahn

 

[ginericLC]

Try looking at Parts Express - Amplifiers, Head Units, Speakers, Wiring Kits, Subwoofers, Dampening They have some laptop batteries.

 

[landtoy80]

OEM. Does that mean you buy it form Gateway?
Many of the batteries say "meet or exceed original OEM specifications"