Notebook Battery Chargers? 29
Nilatir asks: "Here at the University where I work we're checking out Dell notebooks to the students in the library and our main lab. While this is proven to be good for the students I'm having a hard time managing the batteries for the notebooks. By eliminating the floppy drives and using wireless APs to access network shares we were using two Li-Ion batteries in every Latitude and getting almost 8 hours of life a day from them. But, due to some students undying dependence on floppy disks, we were forced to drop down to one battery which will only last half the day at best. We now have an extra battery for each notebook with no way to charge them (even Dell's docking station has no charging bay). Have any slashdotters run into a problem like this and how you all resolve it? Does anyone know of external battery charging station for notebook batteries?" Will laptop makers ever learn that this is one of those accessories that would sell like hotcakes?
spare laptops (Score:5, Interesting)
It's one of the most damned expensive external chargers I've ever seen, though.
Re:spare laptops (Score:2)
I guess the only solution would be to get some dockingstations, they can probably load the battery without a laptop.
Even that solution would be better off with a laptop with two extra slots in it.
Personally I can't imagine a lab without power, the weight of the laptops with just weight-savers actually makes it portable.
who said they don't have a charger? (Score:2, Informative)
Optional External Battery Charger: While both the standard 20 WHr and optional 58 WHr batteries will charge when the X200 is connected to AC power, some customers appreciate the flexibility of a separate battery charger with AC adapter, priced at $79.
"Universal" my ass (Score:2)
So what if it supports your battery chemistry? If it doesn't support the physical interface of your battery, it doesn't matter.
I'm willing to bet that that Sarrio charger doesn't do Dell batteries - Sarrio's specialty is two-way radio (esp. amateur radio), his notebook solutions are lacking.
If you're a ham, Sarrio and Batteries America (Actually, Batteries America may be owned by Sarrio, I can't remember) are amazing.
Some Laptop Companies Offer These (Score:3, Interesting)
Jason
Re:Kick that floppy habit... (Score:2)
EE Department? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Hack (Score:3, Informative)
If you try this, you almost certainly WILL lose property, and in the extreme case, life. Batteries aren't so innocent anymore, now that the days of ni-cad batteries are over. The power densities and chemistry are more powerful and more volatile. A Li-ion battery WILL EXPLODE IF MISTREATED. Chargers for these batteries include microcontrollers to precisely monitor and control the battery; in fact this is required by law.
Never, ever mess with the battery. You'll be better off finding a solution that provides the correct DC input to the laptop's power jack...like the power adapter that came with the laptop.
Li-ion charger ICs commonly available cheap (Score:3, Funny)
Steve
Re:Li-ion charger ICs commonly available cheap (Score:2)
The problem still won't be solved that way. Grab your laptop battery, look at the terminals: how many are there? Two? Five? What's inside the battery pack? Are you going to get that information without opening it?
Also, I had to ask. Why did you fry those poor batteries?
Re:Li-ion charger ICs commonly available cheap (Score:3, Interesting)
Lead acid batteries don't need much in the way of charging intelligence. If they're 12V, the cheapest solution is to use a trickle-charger from an auto store.
The coin cells, heh.. well, I needed to use my meter and back in the day the only one I had was a crummy radio shack piece of junk that took coin cells. I figured if I pulsed some current into 'em, I'd get some measurements. It worked until I got greedy and did it a few times, then it went off with a LARGE bang and almost embedded itself into my arm. Not recommended.
Dell Laptop Charger (Score:1)
Common mistake (Score:2)
In fact, automotive power adapters for laptops are often marketed as "chargers", even though they're just a power supply for the laptop.
I had an NEC laptop that had an external charger. Haven't seen one for Dell or Acer/TI though.
A different approach (Score:5, Insightful)
instead of more batteries.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:instead of more batteries.. (Score:2)
I'm assuming of course that the Library is located inside and in a location that has continuous AC power. For the Lab you could buy extra chargers and have the AC power supplies always available at the work stations.
If this becomes the norm in the Lab it would also provide surplus batteries to be made available in the Library.
Any solution that involves the continuous partial discharging of the batteries will eventually result in dead batteries. Forget the so-called memory free battery claims for Li-Ion batteries, yes they were an improvement but I have never had a DELL notebook that hasn't lost at least 20% of its battery capacity within 6 months and 50% within a year.
--
DC SlashDot MeetUp at Dr. Dremos 10/24/02 [dc-geeks.org]
another alternate floppy suggestion (Score:2)
Don't tell students its an ls-120 drive though, cause you don't need them to get addicted to yet another futile media.... they read and write regular floppy disks quickly and more better than typical floppy drives, and they don't take up a usual battery spot.
Re:another alternate floppy suggestion (Score:3, Informative)
However, there is a cable that will plug into the docking station port and connect to a drive that you would normally use in the bay. So it can be done, but hanging a drive off of a cable is a pain.
a Google question (Score:3, Informative)
Dell Documents - Battery Charger [dell.com] Note this page is from their Asia Pacific site.
Dell Introduces Thinnest, Lightest Latitude Notebook Ever [dell.com]
Dude, don't buy a Dell! (Score:2, Insightful)
In your situation, I would recommend checking other departments for a non-repairable laptop that still charges (like a cracked lcd or something that the school will not pay to fix) and use that to charge batteries with. Or check eBay for a laptop that has similar damage but boots.
ngoy
Another needed feature of laptops... (Score:2)
Re:Another needed feature of laptops... (Score:2, Interesting)
The Dells already do this to some extent, although to be safe you probably would want to (need to?) temporarily suspend the computer to do it. I can attest that my Dell Inspiron 8200 has an internal capacitor that is at least powerful enough to allow me to suspend (not "hibernate"; I mean a real "everything-is-still-in-RAM" suspend, not suspend-to-disk) the computer, swap batteries, and pick back up at whatever I was doing 10 seconds ago.
UCLA pimpage (immature glee response) (Score:1)
Remember that Li-Ion prefers to be shallow discharged then immediately recharged.
Have the students charge the batteries themselves (Score:1)
So let the users frantically taking notes charge the batteries for them (I wonder if I should file a follow-up patent to use the USB mouse movements to charge the USB bus). Of course Compaq (now HP) owns this patent, so it looks like you will have to change vendors for you laptops.
(mod -1 Troll)
The floppy can be attached to the Printer Port (Score:2)
Why not use that..
Easy-peasy (Score:2)