Is my new battery genuine?

Do you have the old serial number from the previous battery that you can Private Message me? The serial number you posted looks like it is not a real Dell battery (at least at first glance). 

Best regards,

Brad

Hi,

thanks for your quick reply, though I can't tell if it's good or bad news for me :) of course the seller claims its genuine and it was not used before (0% wear level). However the nominal capacity written on the outside is 65wh while a diagnostic program read 57,72Wh, and after the 2nd discharge-charge cycle the wear level indicator jumped to 9% (if it goes like this it'll reach EOL in 2 months...)

Could this be because of the long time on the shelf?

Thanks again.

Hi,

thanks for the quick reply, I just can't decide if its good news or bad :) of course the seller says that its genuine and it was not used before (0% wear level), however the nominal capacity written on the outside shows 65Wh, while a diagnostic program found it to be 57,72Wh. But this would not bother me at all, if after the 2nd discharge-charge cycle the wear level indicator didn't show 9% - if it goes like this it'll reach EOL in 2 months... Could this be because of the long time spent on the shelf?

Thanks again.

Yes, it could well be the age of the battery.  Lithium ion batteries age,  used or not -- and a 5- year old battery has 5- year old cells in it and may not deliver its design capacity.

I know I sent you a PM to re-verify the Serial number since it looks like it has an extra character and different part # vs the original, but also, ejn63 is right with his assessment on the age (assuming it wasn't a random serial they used from a 3rd party). Just to add, for example if I remove one of the characters that looks wrong to me it is showing as 5 years etc. in an internal tool as well.

I can confirm the serial no. (double checked reading the matrix code). It is interesting, that reading the code of the old battery gives all the characters in 1 block, but the new one gives it exactly as I wrote, in multiple blocks separated with hyphens. So the extra digit seems to be in the 2nd block...

If the battery is in fact this old, what can I expect in the near future?

Thanks again to both of you.

If it is this old, it might not last as long (as mentioned by ejn63). The other thing that is interesting to me on the digits that were used is that the battery is missing the model number in the serial (meaning the battery, while not a Dell battery might not be as old since it is using different serial convention). For example on the Serial you gave me in PM on the original battery the serial number contains 5G67C, which is the model number for that one. The one you’re asking about does not have a part number/model to me, when they sold you the battery did the claim what model it was?

My notebook is an E5420 and a quick search gave the T54FJ as the compatible battery type. It seems to be quite common (also used in 5520/30 and 6420/30), and it was listed for these models.

So what do you think now: is it an old Dell, or a not-so-old not-so-Dell?

This model pre-dates your battery date code, so it is very possible the battery is five years old.  If that's a genuine Dell battery, it was indeed built in  August, 2012.

Right, so I meant the battery model of the original one for your system is listed as 5G67C (based on the serial number you provided in the Private Message you sent me, and you should see this after the first few digits), this number does not reference the model of the system or all the compatible battery types that work etc., just the actual battery model that it is (internally etc). The reason I think the serial number on the purchased battery is off/not real, is because there is not a clear part number included with it like there should be, and it has been like this for a long time (for this scheme). This even works on other Dell devices like monitors etc.

The battery you bought does not contain the model number within the serial number* and has 1 to many digits, so either it is very old, or generic like I mentioned. I am thinking it is generic just because it doesn’t contain the internal model number within it.

Let me know if you have any further questions. And ejn63 is correct on the time if it is real, but I do not think it is.