Laptop batteries?

[OperaTenor]

Anyone know of a good source?

It looks like I need one for a Vaio laptop. I googled the part number, and came up with all kinds of distributors, prices varying from $45(exchange) to $243(!!!!!!).

Just wondering if anyone has any personal experience or recommendation(s).

Thanks.

<small>[ 12-02-2005, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>

[BigJon@Work]

http://www.primecell.com/

[OperaTenor]

Thanks Jon, but they don't do Sony.

[OperaTenor]

So far, I've gotten a new battery(found a reasonable site on ebay), discovered the old dead battery apparently fried the inverter, and now appear to have another hurdle.

Do we have any computer gee...........uh, I mean, gurus out there who can tell me if the possible power problems have corrupted my bios/power management? I've gotten the computer up, but it seems to go wonky*(that's a technical term, right?) when the charger's connected and the battery's fully charged.

This is a PCG-F630 Vaio, and I'm starting to get the feeling I'm digging myself into too big a hole.

*Wonky - won't fully start up, intermittently shuts itself down in the process of not fully starting up.

(FWIW, cracking open a laptop with no prior experience or knowledge was something of an adrenaline rush. :whew: )

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Computer gee.....??? No, nobody here uses computers.

Have you tried poking a copper nail and an iron nail into a lemon? That might work.

[analog]

Originally posted by OperaTenor:
..... and now appear to have another hurdle.

wonky.......when the charger's connected and the battery's fully charged.


(FWIW, cracking open a laptop with no prior experience or knowledge was something of an adrenaline rush. :whew: )

You're bold, going where no man has gone before....

Did it lose the date and time? If not, the onboard battery probably kept your bios settings too.

Sounds like it could have a noisy power supply.
Does it run okay on battery without charger? If so, check for ripple out of your charger that might be upsetting the inverter. I'd expect <100mvAC across the battery. Measure it with and without the charger.

Can you get to the inverter? Probably it's made with surface mount parts that you can buy from Digikey if we can find what it needs. Hopefully it's the charger instead.

[OperaTenor]

Hi Analog,

To be honest, I haven't noted the date and time, I'll need to do that next time I'm able to get it to start up that far.

I thought it had all the earmarks of a bad power supply, too. I got a replacement inverter in the mail today and swapped it(hence the comment about adrenaline - first time cracking open a laptop). I really had hopes it would do the trick, but seemingly no. I had it running on the battery alone for a little while, then tried plugging in the charger(which is putting out the correct voltage, thank you, Mr. Fluke). A couple of minutes later, it winked out. That gave me the impression the charger might be suspect, but the computer has yet to come all the way up from that instance, regardless of the power configuration.

It's pretty much impossible to measure the battery itself. It has something like 8 tiny connectors, deeply recessed in its socket.

I'm loth to seek professional help for it............................................................................................yet.

[OperaTenor]

Hi again, Analog,

After shutting down my desktop computer, I decided to try the laptop once before going to bed, and it came up all the way(it's where I'm typing this post)! The date and time are correct. That being the case, you say my bios is probably not corrupted?

BTW, it is currently only on the battery. Gonna reboot for giggles, then plug it into the charger and see what happens.

[DavidS]

Originally posted by Selma in Sandy Eggo:


Have you tried poking a copper nail and an iron nail into a lemon? That might work.

You killed me with that one.
Thank heaven I use my laptop 99.99% of the time on mains power (like now), 'cos I know the battery can keep the thing going for about 10 minutes tops.

[analog]

Good sign, OT...

Mind you I never opened a laptop. It would however make hardware sense to use the onboard watch battery to keep both user selected bios settings and the clock energized. If you lose that battery i'd expect it to revert to default settings, date of around 999 BC, and complain at boot-up time. I really hope it's the charger. Maybe you have a car adapter to try - there's no ripple with engine off for sure. Your Fluke on AC oughta read the ripple if you can find a place to access. BTW is Mr Fluke a true RMS? They don't report high frequency AC ripple as well as older & cheaper type. But we're probably looking for 120 hz hum.

You'll spiral in on it. At least that's what I do.

I appreciate your DIY prowess - No Surrender!!!!

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Originally posted by analog:
...You'll spiral in on it. At least that's what I do...

:Yikes: Not a phrase I'd ever use, having an aviation-type mindset like I do.

In the cal lab, we made a habit of checking for power supply noise with an oscope.

[barfle]

Originally posted by Selma in Sandy Eggo:
In the cal lab, we made a habit of checking for power supply noise with an oscope.

While a dyed in the wool electrogeek like myself has one of those, how many civilians would have one and could tell the difference between it and a proctoscope, not to mention what to do with the probe?

[Shapley]

RE: Oscope

I would expect any elctorgeek worthy of the name to have a Heathkit Oscope sitting on the basement shelf, right next to the TRS80 computer with the 8" floppy drives....

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Originally posted by barfle:
...tell the difference between it and a proctoscope, not to mention what to do with the probe?

:eek: Climbing back onto my chair again, now that I can breathe. Holy moly!

[analog]

Originally posted by Shapley:
RE: Oscope

I would expect any elctorgeek worthy of the name to have a Heathkit Oscope sitting on the basement shelf, right next to the TRS80 computer with the 8" floppy drives....

Actually mine's a 1965-ish HP-180, bought on Ebay when I acknowledged vacuum tubes are probably never coming back. It replaced my Tektronix 535, about the same time I gave away all the TI-99's.


Flathead Fords forever! Push-pull 6BQ5's rule! (How's that for American Graffiti?)

Let's wish OT good luck. Im rattling the chicken bones, for backup.

<small>[ 03-10-2006, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: analog ]</small>

[Shapley]

I never had a TI-99, I barely recall them. I had an Atari computer, don't recall the model. I had started saving up for a TRS-80 , but the time the IBM-PC and then the clones hit the market before I ever had enough to make the purchase. The TRS series were replaced by the TANDY-PC line, which couldn't stand up to the bargain-basement PC (literally, since they were usually built in somebody's basement). My first PC was a mail-order unit, a 386-66, I think. Ran DOS, and I later installed Windows on it. I finally took it out of the basement, cleaned it up and gave it to one of my wife's co-workers, who needed a simple computer to do word processing on. It had WordStar 6.0 and Wordperfect 5.1 installed when I gave it to her. She used it for about a year before finally buying something from this century.

V/R
Shapley

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Old computers! Woody, in the pattern shop, had a Trash80; my friend Sharon had the TI-99. I had a C-64, and then a 8086. Hot stuff. After that, the computers have been built on somebody's kitchen table; we don't have basements out here, thankyouverymuch.

Latest computer purchase was a Dull for my daughter. If it ever goes south, I'll probably be in OT's boat and wishing for chicken bones.

[barfle]

The first device I had that might be called a computer was a HP-41C, a handheld calculator that could be programmed to follow routines that evaluated variables and had if-then-else programming steps.

I built my first 8088 PC, which I used until the hard drives (two 32MB) got pretty unreliable, had a 386 for a while until I built a Pentium server for my MCSE classes. That mother board started dropping peripherals and I built my latest P4 machine with XP Pro.

I just dumped an S-100 machine with dual 8" floppy drives on eBay. Now there was a power supply!

My oscilloscope is a B&K dual trace, 100MHz that is going to require a bit of cleaning up before it's really useful again. When I lived in SoCal, my garage was an adequate workspace, but here where weather happens, my electronic workshop is still waiting for the laundry room to be finished. In the meantime, the switches have collected enough contamination that I wouldn't trust the calibration within an order of magnitude. BTW, working overtime this weekend, so the doors aren't going up for a while.

[OperaTenor]

Since I'm a mechnogeek instead of an electrogeek, you'll pardon me for not owning my own oscope. And Barfle, you're right, I wouldn't know what to do with the probe.

<small>[ 03-10-2006, 05:38 PM: Message edited by: OperaTenor ]</small>

[Shapley]

OT,

At the risk of sounding quaint:

Have you tried smacking it on the side?

V/R
Shapley