Inspiron 7370 Battery Calibration

Question

The original battery in my Inspiron 7370 swelled up until I couldn't use the track pad 'click'. I purchased another Dell branded battery (Couldn't find one for purchase directly from Dell's site, so I had to buy on eBay). The replacement battery is installed and I can click on things again, but when operating on battery, it will shutdown at ~70-80% charge with 'Critical Battery Trigger'. The Critical battery level setting in windows control panel is set at 5% so it doesn't seem to be an incorrect setting. Last time it shut down @ 70%, I powered it back on without plugging it in and There was a 'battery critical' error. When Windows restarted it displayed 1% battery remaining. I plugged the charger in and it instantly jumped up to 69% remaining. There has to be a calibration function somewhere, Right?!? I tried contacting Dell via twitter, but I'm out of warranty, so they stone wall and direct me the phone number for their 'fee' support line.

fireberd · Answer

I would suspect the battery is the issue. Buying one on e-bay is iffy. Will the user take it back?

Here is the source for an original Dell battery from company in Austin (near Dell).

https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=category&id=141&subid=1177&refine=battery

Shadow351 · Answer

So there's no battery calibration?

Well, I don't think I want to put anymore time & money into this piece of junk, it's going in the trash where it belongs. I've had nothing but issues with it. Should've returned it when the touchscreen started flaking out at a week old.

fireberd · Answer

I had similar problems with a touch screen Toshiba laptop.  Worst PC purchase I ever made.  It was scrapped.

Shadow351 · Answer

I haven't owned a Toshiba since my Satellite 100CS (which I still have, and other than the battery, still works). My HP laptop from College served me well for 8 years (that includes 5 years of being carried to all my classes everyday), but I've heard HP's quality has gone downhill since then. I'm probably gonna have to go Lenovo, both my parents have them as company computers and my sister owns one and they all seem happy with them. Dell, never again.

fireberd · Answer

I had a first generation i7 Lenovo laptop. It was S L O W.

I'm a retired Network and Hardware Help Desk Manager and have dealt with computers since before PC's.

The Dell laptop I have is the best I've had in 20 years. It gets used daily (and all day) in my recording studio. Its not a touch screen model. It was sold by Dell as a gaming laptop and has extra cooling and the reason I bought this model for my recording studio.

Mary G · Answer

Batteries are completely redesigned now ever since thin light laptops and exploding batteries happened . There is no calibrating like batteries from years ago. Read this from Dell-

https://www.dell.com/support/article/en-us/sln128667/dell-laptop-battery-frequently-asked-questions?lang=en

You should know that you can run your computer on the adapter alone with the battery removed now.

Inspiron

Inspiron 7370 Battery Calibration

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