battery disassembly/repair?

Have you had any further luck repairing your battery?  How did you get it open?  I am interested in either repairing my battery, or removing the battery to use the case as a weight saving module.

Dell Inspiron 8200, BIOS A11, 512KB L2 Cache
Windows XP Professional, SP1
1.7GHz Intel P4-M
DIMM_A: 512MB PC2100 DDR KingMax
DIMM_B: 512MB PC2100 DDR KingMax
Hitachi Travelstar , 60GB, 7200rpm
Samsung 15" SXGA+, 1400x1050
64MB ATi Radeon Mobility 9000
Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2002
Dell TrueMobile 1300 MPCI Wireless

 

no i ended up just buying a new one at compusa and i took the old one and put it in the packaging and returned it.  they didnt know the difference.. maybe this will teach dell a lesson to make batteries that actually work.  i had 2 batteries, one of them i didnt try to repair, the other one i replaced the cells with , which i never ended up getting to work. i just threw it away, it was a mess, id recommend just not opening it, that way you can "exchange" it for a brand new one much easier.  basically to open it you just get a knife or some sharp object and stick it in the crack that runs all the way around the battery, starting with the connector to the motherboard, pry it apart, and work your way around the battery. i ended up getting frustrated and just pulled on it really hard and ripped the top off, the cells are taped in there with double sided tape that sticks really good so its kinda tough to get it off.  if you take it apart, you can kind of get it back together but it wont be perfect.

I have a Dell CPxJ. My battery just died. I'm interested in how you returned it to Dell. Was it a new battery under warranty? Also, does either Dell or some other vendor refurbish batteries at a reasonable cost?
I see from your experience that fixing the battery yourself may not be a good idea.
Thanks!

well i didnt go though dell, i just went to the local compusa. i dont think its exactly the most legal thing to do, but i was broke and needed a new battery.. so i just bought a new one from there and put the old one in the packaging and returned it saying i bought the wrong thing or something.  i dont know if you'd want to try that.  but since then i have actually found that lots of people take old battery packs from everything from cordless phones to electric drills and also laptop batteries and recycle them at best buy stores.  i have seen quite a few batteries from the dell cpx series laptops there, and i have actually found some that are still working.  if you have a best buy near your home, you might want to check in the battery recycling bin and see if you can find a working cpx battery.. good luck!

I'm just looking for the best price for a new battery at this point. I will try CompUSA and Best Buy. Also, I see new batteries sold on eBay for about $65 + 15 postage. Don't know what the local stores charge.

It's a good idea to return bad Ni-Cad and Li-ion batteries to a computer store for recycling. These have components bad for the environment and shouldn't be tossed in the trash.