Charge Led Rapidly Flashes Amber and Green When Using Non-Dell Battery

Summary: The battery does not charge, and the LED flashes repeatedly amber and green. This occurs on the Dell Pro Rugged 13 RA13250, Dell Pro Rugged 14 RB14250, Latitude 5430, and Latitude 5430 Rugged. ...

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Symptoms

There are two errors that can occur when using a non-Dell battery.

  • A warning message is triggered, and the battery does not charge when a non-Dell battery is used.
  • If the battery is changed to the non-Dell battery without shutting down or rebooting, the LED rapidly flashes through Amber, Green, Amber, Green.

Non-Dell battery error messages:

  • "WARNING: The primary battery is not identifiable and this system will not charge this battery pack. Using an incompatible battery or a third party battery may increase the risk of fire or explosion. Only Dell batteries should be used in Dell computers, and Dell batteries can only be purchased through Dell. You can order an authentic battery at www.dell.com/batteries"
  • "WARNING: The secondary battery is not identifiable and this system will not charge this battery pack. Using an incompatible battery or a third party battery may increase the risk of fire or explosion. Only Dell batteries should be used in Dell computers, and Dell batteries can only be purchased through Dell. You can order an authentic battery at www.dell.com/batteries"
  • System Logs will record waring messages as shown below.
    warning shown in system logs

Affected Platforms:

  • Dell Pro Rugged 13 RA13250
  • Dell Pro Rugged 14 RB14250
  • Latitude 5430
  • Latitude 5430 Rugged

Cause

The Embedded Controller (EC) cannot charge the non-Dell battery as BIOS behavioral spec.

Resolution

The original Dell battery should be used to resolve the error.

Affected Products

Dell Pro Rugged 13 RA13250, Dell Pro Rugged 14 RB14250, Latitude 5430 Rugged, Latitude 5430
Article Properties
Article Number: 000362464
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 08 Sep 2025
Version:  1
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