Is this a legitimate battery from Amazon?

[A Friendly ShyGuy]

Hello. I wanted to ask if this battery on Amazon looks legit. I have a Dell Inspiron and the battery no longer holds a very good charge.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Futurebatt-Inspiron-312-1021-312-1022-Compatible/dp/B074V6JNPT/ref=asc_df_B074V6JNPT&mcid=45f25104b4063ba7956635e532e6f7cb?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80058300289782&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583657833875430&psc=1

[Skipple]

It depends on what you mean by legitimate. If you mean an OEM Dell battery, almost certainly not. These batteries are Chinese knock-offs, but will still do the job of holding a charge, at least for 6-12 months. I find they fall off from there. Limit the max charge to 80-85% to increase the life of the cheaper cells.

[PDifolco]

14 minutes ago, A Friendly ShyGuy said:

Hello. I wanted to ask if this battery on Amazon looks legit. I have a Dell Inspiron and the battery no longer holds a very good charge.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Futurebatt-Inspiron-312-1021-312-1022-Compatible/dp/B074V6JNPT/ref=asc_df_B074V6JNPT&mcid=45f25104b4063ba7956635e532e6f7cb?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80058300289782&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=m&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583657833875430&psc=1

A battery is a battery, they don't make "fake" ones full of sand or whatever  

Looks like a low quality one, but it will do its work for a time

[Monkey Dust]

16 minutes ago, PDifolco said:

A battery is a battery, they don't make "fake" ones full of sand or whatever  

Looks like a low quality one, but it will do its work for a time

They may not be fake, though you may not get anywhere near the advertised capacity, the big problem is are they safe? E-scooters and cheap e-bikes have a reputation for catching fire. I wouldn't trust a random unbranded lithium-ion battery off Amazon.

[da na]

I repair a great deal of old laptops and often order batteries from Amazon.

From my experience, Futurebatt is one of the more reliable sellers. Futurebatt, Tree.NB, and Fancy Buying are the three sellers / companies on Amazon that have consistently provided solid batteries for the price.

It certainly won't hold quite as much charge or last as many cycles as the original, but if you really can't afford the extra 2-3x for a proper OEM battery, it won't explode. 

[Needfuldoer]

If you're worried about quality, and buying a first-party replacement is prohibitively expensive, check eBay for a used OEM battery. (Search for it by part number.) You may find some that are in better shape than yours.

 

No-name third party batteries are usually fine, but they're cheaper because they generally use lower capacity battery cells. Sometimes they use deceptive labels or even outright lie about their actual capacity. (Cheap 18650 lithium cells are notorious for this.)

 

This is one reason I like buying Latitude business laptops instead of Inspiron "consumer" laptops; parts are easy to find and inexpensive, especially a couple years later when corporate refresh cycles circle around and the old models flood the market.

[Skipple]

24 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

No-name third party batteries are usually fine, but they're cheaper because they generally use lower capacity battery cells.

I still can't believe a company hasn't come to be re-celling old used OEM batteries with high quality cells. It's very expensive to get OEM batteries for even business class laptops that are 4-6 years old.

[Needfuldoer]

24 minutes ago, Skipple said:

I still can't believe a company hasn't come to be re-celling old used OEM batteries with high quality cells. It's very expensive to get OEM batteries for even business class laptops that are 4-6 years old.

Problem is they'd be fighting a two-front battle on price. "If I'm paying that much, I might as well pay a little more and get one from the manufacturer." "Why should I pay that much for a third party battery when this third party battery costs half as much?"

 

There's a cottage industry for rebuilding expensive specialty batteries and batteries for vintage computers, but there are still too many options for modern laptops.

[A Friendly ShyGuy]

On 2/4/2024 at 9:40 AM, Needfuldoer said:

Problem is they'd be fighting a two-front battle on price. "If I'm paying that much, I might as well pay a little more and get one from the manufacturer." "Why should I pay that much for a third party battery when this third party battery costs half as much?"

 

There's a cottage industry for rebuilding expensive specialty batteries and batteries for vintage computers, but there are still too many options for modern laptops.

I bought the battery and the battery light flashes amber and blue. It also tells me the battery can't be recognized on startup. I tried searching google for answers but I didn't really find anything helpful.