Anyone know a good place to get replacement batteries for old laptops?

[helio0centra@gmail.com]

I've got a Lenovo T520 which is a great machine but the battery is not great. I'm aware the cheapy chinesium batteries all have either really low end or worn out cells in them and they won't last even as long as my old genuine battery. But you can't get genuine batteries anymore for this machine so I need a quality after market supplier.

[gnuarm]

Not really.  I needed a new battery some years ago and bought one from an eBay seller with a high rating.  It would not properly fit in the battery slot, requiring the cover to be forced closed.  I didn't like that, and expected the latch to be damaged by this eventually. 

One nice thing about eBay is, they stand behind every purchase as long as you follow all the rules and a few additional things.

1) When the package arrives, video the opening so you have proof of what was delivered.  Be sure to include in a single, continuous recording, the tracking number on the package, opening and removing the item, and a close up of the label and item. 

2)  Make sure you meet all deadlines.  Some vendors will delay shipping, knowing the package will then not arrive until after the 60 days from ordering.  If it does not arrive in 45 days, file a refund request promptly. 

3)  If all else fails, you can dispute the charge on your credit card.  Just keep all the details and provide them to the credit card company.  They won't mind the volume.  Again, observe the 60 day time limit.

I've never lost a dispute this way.  I did order a second battery from another vendor and it worked fine.

Oh, one other thing, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER buy a USB flash on eBay.  If you pay enough, you may get a valid drive, but there are too many cheats to make it worth while.  Simply plugging it in to see if it works is not enough.  You have to fill the drive with data and then verify the data, to detect the fakes that are actually much smaller than claimed.  There are a few programs just for this.

[Hogwild]

Honestly, you're better off having your existing battery professionaly rebuilt with new cells. It's usually better quality and cheaper. Go to a place that does quality work, such as

Nica Power
www.nicapower.com
or
Chans Battery (London, Ontario, Canada)
http://www.chansbattery.ca/contacts

Both have very good reputations  for doing quality work.

[Berni]

Yep replacing just the cells is often the best way to do it.

They almost always use some standard cell size inside. So you just rip it apart (tho can be tricky sometimes due to ultrasonic welded plastic), buy some new cells of the same size and solder them in to the existing BMS circuitry.

Or if you don't want to get your hands dirty you can find a company near you that will do the cell replacement for you as Hogwild suggested.

[Mechatrommer]

Finding battery supplier is the easy part. Factory reject reseller is preferable, i have one local seller that sells good quality and tested rejects. The hard part is laptop manufacturers usually use stupid bms ic that needs undocumented reset sequence to turn on the battery pack when new batteries are installed. Not knowing that sequence, the pack will be rendered useless however good your batteries are, i have one that became paperweight that i dont know where i've put it now..

[Peabody]

It looks like this battery was used in a large number of laptops.  I'd be surprised if Lenovo didn't still sell them.  Anyway, they are available on Amazon as well as Ebay.  And it appears you can order one directly form Duracell, although at a much higher price.

https://www.duracelldirect.com/laptop-notebook/lenovo/thinkpad-t520-battery-adapter-charger.html

[wraper]

It looks like this battery was used in a large number of laptops.  I'd be surprised if Lenovo didn't still sell them.  Anyway, they are available on Amazon as well as Ebay.  And it appears you can order one directly form Duracell, although at a much higher price.

https://www.duracelldirect.com/laptop-notebook/lenovo/thinkpad-t520-battery-adapter-charger.html

Actually it's dirt cheap for a decent quality battery. I would not trust anything on ebay even at this price.