Dell "Fake" Battery Replacement

[notnik]

I have a Dell Inspiron 9400 and rarely use the battery, instead using the laptop as a desktop replacement and having it plugged in all the time. For those of you who haven't used a Dell Inspiron laptop, here is a picture of the underneath:


Dell 9400 Base


Dell 6000 base (easier to see)

As you can see, one of the corner legs/feet is placed on the battery, meaning the laptop becomes (physically) unstable if i remove the battery, which since i have it plugged in all the time I prefer to do or i'll wreck the battery.

While i can use a piece of cardboard or something, I was wondering if there was a kind of "fake" battery to put in place of the real battery to protect the case/contacts from dust etc.

 

[notnik]

I've been getting the "Your battery is reaching the end of its usable life" message.

My sister has an inspiron 6000 that's about 6months older than my 9400 and uses the exact same battery, but she has yet to get this message even though she uses the battery all the time.

Could the fact that i've NOT been using it (ie. discharging it) be the reason that it's dying?

I did read somewhere on a website that hadn't been updated in 3 years (it was a while ago, so can't remember the link) that laptop batteries should be removed once charged if they were not going to be immediately used, just as you wouldn't leave your mobile charging for a whole day..
but as the inspiron has one of it's feet on the battery i figured Dell wouldn't be stupid enough to put the foot there if the battery needed to be removed all the time.

I hate to think that i'm going to have to shell out £70 for a new battery on account of my not using the last one.. yet i don't want it to leak/go on fire when i'm using it or leaving it to compile or whatever..