Battery just caught fire

is there such a thing as fake dell chargers?

The reason I ask is that I've ordered one from a third party since dell don't sell it themselves.

I've emailed the seller for clarification anyway.
 
glen8 said:
is there such a thing as fake dell chargers?

The reason I ask is that I've ordered one from a third party since dell don't sell it themselves.

I've emailed the seller for clarification anyway.
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Yes, anything like that is heavily faked due to the £:eek: cost of most of the official outlets.
 
Merlin5 said:
Thanks brendy. Well so far so good.

20161107_123103.jpg
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Great stuff, get your data and place that laptop into the retirement box. :D
exc.gif
 
I found all the parts I need and it comes to £53.

Screen Bezel
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Vost...295658?hash=item2351cdc6ea:g:y6QAAOSwBahVZzWv

Palmrest
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Vost...579396?hash=item1eb559ca04:g:y9cAAOSwXrhXmdjX

Base cover
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW...630108?hash=item2c98e3d91c:g:NEQAAOSwq5lTqzwl


The problem is the cost of a genuine Dell battery (on dell support site, not ebay) is expensive and pushes the total to over £200. Which makes me wonder if that's worthwhile. I saw a working second hand one for £135 with apparently original battery and charger. Alternatively, is there a brand new laptop out there under or around £300 with backlit keyboard?
 
Merlin5 said:
I've stripped it right down to the bare bones several times and removed the motherboard for various repairs. I've changed the network card, DC Jack, thermal paste on cpu and gpu a few times, replaced the hard drive, backlit keyboard, the dvd drive, battery, psu and even replaced the whole screen.
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Merlin5 said:
Just had the scare of my life. In bed using laptop and all of a sudden a crackling sound and thick smoke thick wafting in front of me
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Think I've diagnosed the cause. :p
 
Heh. :D Nah, I think I'm not too bad at computer DIY.

Someone on the Dell forum just suggested the person who sold me the battery probably just replaced the cells, and it was probably missing the required circuit protection that a genuine battery would have.
 
I think this is a crappy chinese copy
I generally do not have a problem with chinese products
but this one has failed spectacularly
I have shorted out laptop battery cells by accident in the past
but none of them did that
 
tres kun, yes, it probably was indeed a cheap fake.

What about me not using my cooling pad, would the cooling vents being blocked by the duvet cover have raised the temperature high enough to cause this? Although I have had it plonked on my bed without the pad plenty of times.
 
Ok, rules that out.

Next question to rule things out. I replaced the laptop rear DC jack (that the charger plug pushes into) earlier this year as the original one stopped working properly. I tightened it down recently as the charger and battery weren't getting any power. And after tightening it, everything was fine. Battery always charged fine up to 100% .

Could the DC Jack do anything to overheat the battery, if for instance it wasn't genuine? It's only a very small component. Bought it from ebay.
 
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Nah, my money is on a failed 18650 cell, Google them, when they fail they fail quite spectacularly. They are mass produced and range from decent to downright dangerous.
 
Interesting. Didn't realise it's just an 18650 inside. I bought a couple of Sony 18650s for when I was vaping but they were IMR safe chemistry ones.
 
Batteries should regulate their own power to prevent cell damage, and the circuit that controls the charging will be part of the laptop. I wouldn't say it's possible for a non-genuine AC adapter or repairing the DC socket to cause a problem of this nature.
 
Thanks Caged.

Well today I've started using the laptop again and it's working fine. The only downside is I must remember not to unplug it to carry it around before shutting down as there's no battery. I'm checking the temps with HW Monitor and they're fine. There's still a mild lingering burnt smell from the battery area wafting from the side vent but I imagine that will eventually go. There's no heat from anywhere and I'm using my laptop cooler. In fact, had I used the laptop cooler when the battery melted, it wouldn't have burned my duvet. Now I've got to spend £25 replacing it. It was brand new. :p :(
 
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Your a braver man than I. After that I would not use the laptop again.

Did look rather frightening though, thats never happened to me *touches wood*
 
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