Cell Phone Batteries/Batteries Plus

[kaneohe]

Any experience w/ replacement cell phone batteries? Got one at the local
Batteries Plus store for about $28 after $5 coupon. Not the cheapest or the most expensive when compared w/ different places. Sort of worked for a few months.....had some trouble getting it fully charged a few times but eventually got there .........undid connector and reconnected a few times based on some internet search but really don't know if that helped or not.

Now it doesn't seem to want to fully charge.......unfortunately don't have spare phones/batteries/charger to try to isolate problem. Is this a common problem w/ replacement cell phone batteries? w/ Batteries Plus?

I know , as an analogy, that replacement printer cartridges can be of widely varying quality......the ones I've gotten in the last few yrs (cheapos in the $10 range) print ok (black text) for a few pages and then after a few months/pages starts printing in magenta.

Are replacement cell phone batteries like that? As a side note I think I remember when I searching for replacement chargers to have for troubleshooting, a lot of the stuff I found was pretty inexpensive......how about the quality of those....seems like the reviews were widely mixed from
very good to disaster (like no quality control).

 

[ERD50]

While I do think there can be quality differences, I have taken a chance on some pretty cheap suppliers I've found on the internet, and they seem to be fine. I stay away from ridiculously low prices, but the prices I've found are still far below the normal OEM or retail outlet prices. Both cell phones and cameras.

1800emart was one, but do your own dd. Check some of the amazon suppliers also.

edit/add - I am using an 8 year old ink jet printer, and it has been fed nothing but el-cheapo $2-$3 ink carts that last for ~ 200-300 pages for me. I use a BLK cart about every 3 months, and a single CMY color cart less often. No problems.

-ERD50

 

[KingB]

Take a look at the prepaid phones (Tracfone, etc) at Walmart or Target. If they have your phone, buy the whole package and just use the battery. It will probably cost you less than the $28 that you paid and you get an extra charger.

 

[W2R]

Could your phone still be on warranty, possibly? The only time I ever had a cell phone battery die on me, Batteries Plus didn't have one in the store so I went to Verizon to get a new one. Turned out the phone was still on warranty, so I got the new battery installed for free.

 

[kaneohe]

Thanks all for your comments/ideas/suggestions. The phone is old enough....some unknown exactly number of yrs that I suspect it is way out of warranty and doubtful? that they would still have the same model these days.
It did finally charge after close to a day on the charger......similar to the other problem times.......so perhaps a better characterization is very slow to full charge (rather than doesn't charge fully) if that makes any difference.....
so battery problem or charger problem (or the interface between charger and phone)?

and for ERD 50....thanks for your printer cartridge data. Ours is black & color in same cartridge......used quarterly for a few pages and likely to sit mostly unless till the next quarter which is typically when the black to magenta color change takes place.

 

[ERD50]

... and for ERD 50....thanks for your printer cartridge data. Ours is black & color in same cartridge......used quarterly for a few pages and likely to sit mostly unless till the next quarter which is typically when the black to magenta color change takes place.

Ahh.... try to print something with some B&W and color about once per week. That can keep the ink flowing and not drying out.

I have a little 'test page' where I set a word in bold repeated in black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. That will exercise each component.

-ERD50

 

[FUEGO]

2nd the suggestion for internet sources. I have bought cordless phone batteries (NiCad) and digital camera batteries (L-ion) off places like Amazon (some third party seller, don't recall who), and Ebay. One was a 2 pack for around $3-4 total (shipped), the other $2.50 shipped. All worked like they should. The OEM battery from the equipment manufacturer (Uniden and Canon) were about 5-10x the cost. Totally not worth it IMHO, especially if you are only out a couple bucks if the batteries don't work out.

I would definitely skip the batteries plus guys. Only time I have used them was for some specialty industrial electronics where I needed some watch batteries with metal strips attached (spot micro-welded ??) so I could solder these batteries into the PCB. They spot welded the strips onto the batteries for free, just charged me 2-3x what walmart would have for the same type batteries.

 

[FUEGO]

As far as printing, I bought a cheapo konica minolta B+W laser printer for $50 about 10 years ago (pagepro 1250W). Replacement cartridges off monoprice dot com were around $30 or so shipped and spec'd to last 3000-5000 pages. Crystal clear printing to this day (and super fast), and only replaced the cartridge once many years ago. I got tired of inkjets drying up and didn't want a weekly maintenance cycle print requirement.

Only problem is I don't think they have win7 drivers, so once all the XP computers die out, I may be SOL... In another 10 years!

 

[Animorph]

I've replaced a cell phone battery and cordless phone battery with the cheapest I could find on the internet. Both lasted longer than the original with no unusual behaviors. A few years ago obviously. I've had one laptop replacement battery that was a slow charger after it was fully drained. It's replacement is doing fine. The cost for both is still way less than the OEM price.

 

[Life_is_Good]

Another vote for Internet sources. I found OEM batteries from a vendor in the Asia Pacific region for several dollars. They were new and seemed to work fine. The only drawback was that shipping took a bit longer than preferred. Couldn't complain for a couple of dollars though.

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I bought extras for my old Blackberry and current Galaxy. All worked fine, got them for $2-5 each off Amazon.

 

[braumeister]

I've been buying many different kinds of batteries (although not for cell phones) from the local Batteries Plus store for many years, and have never had anything but good luck with them.

 

[Redbugdave]

What you have to be careful about when ordering or buying batteries for an older cell phone is the date the batteries were made and the battery capacity.

Many times the price has nothing to do with the battery you are looking for. The prices are all over the place for the same product. Many of the batteries on sale may be several years old, but new. Before buying one, I would look of find out what the manufacture date is. I would try to find a newer date. The capacity of the battery is important, also. Look at your own battery in your phone and see what the capacity is in mAh. A smaller mAh will give you less active time on your cell phone before you have to recharge.

I have a couple older cell phones and that is what I have found about batteries for them. Usually the battery places downtown are more expensive than looking on the internet for the same thing. I don't mess with the downtown battery places unless I need the battery now and don't mind with parting with extra cash.

 

[kaneohe]

Many thanks for all the subsequent replies........almost unanimous that internet batteries are ok. Guess I'll just have to get over my old worries about "too good to be true" el cheapo stuff.

Doesn't seem too promising about exchanging the new one at Batteries Plus since it does charge fully, altho it takes forever. They said they would have to put it on some overnight tester....don't know what it tests for............they do have a valid concern that it might be the charger so..........

anybody have experience w/ buying cell phone chargers over the internet. I guess I have the same concerns since they range from a buck upwards..............