Anyone familiar with Dell XPS 13 battery charging circuitry? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: dmitjuice
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 31, 2021, 06:00:21 am
content: Per EU right to pepair, a consumer can manipulate the circuitry within the laptop if he so wishes.In my case, my laptop is about 7 years old and is no longer any warranty.I bought two compatible batteries for Dell XPS 13 9360, however, since they're not OEM batteries, the BIOS firmware in the Dell laptop refuses to charge them:."WARNING: An installed 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."Now, there must be a way to emulate an OEM battery or somehow bypass the check for genuine battery? Is it possible that a particular signal is sent from OEM battery to (no idea, don't think it's CPU) some IC through one of the wires inthisconnector that connects battery and motherboard?

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2021, 07:01:38 am
content: Stick it on eBay. Buy something else.As someone who wanted to buy the coveted Dell XPS 13, I waited for it to finally become available in my country. Touted as a great laptop for Linux. Anyway when released here, you couldn't buy the laptop in Australia without paying a Windows tax.And Dell (Australia's) attitude towards warranty if you dare to load software other than the holy Windows, you void your warranty. Which, by the way is actually illegal as far as warranties go in my country.Do yourself a favour and rid yourself of any Dell product as swiftly as you can.

author: abdulbadii
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2022, 05:16:40 pm
content: Nothing to do with new batteryIts BMS, Battery Management System, circuit has been detected unacceptably incompatible so that OS programmed to refuse refuse ittry to extract the original/old to be correctly assembled to new battery

author: 1audio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2022, 07:11:53 pm
content: ?? I have replaced the battery in my XPS 13 9360 twice with no issues. I got the most recent from Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G3WTHRC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1and its working fine. I'm not rushing to upgrade and loose the USB A connector so I'll keep maintaining it.In the US Dell has been great for supporting their products with lots of published service info. Their OEM Vendors seem to have no issues selling parts direct on Amazon and eBay. In other markets there may be local issues at the management level. I have always bought refurbs or second hand units. But availability outside the US may be much more limited. The vendors are really squeezed but Dell (and the other big names) so the secondary market probably is important. E.G. I was told by a vendor that Dell pays $7 in an open outcry phone auction for the 80W laptop supplies that they sell for $80+.

author: Audiorepair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2022, 11:30:57 pm
content: Quote from: 1audio on January 01, 2022, 07:11:53 pmDoes that not suggest that the replacement batteries are rubbish?That has been my experience with laptop and phone battery replacements.If you can get a proper one from Dell, then maybe that is the best option.

author: Gerhard_dk4xp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2022, 07:32:04 am
content: Quote from: Ed.Kloonk on December 31, 2021, 07:01:38 amHonorable proposal wrt ebay fraud.I'll stay with Dell for laptops. My Transpiron was good, my Precision is good, and theXPS13 is good, too. All ran/run Linux without any problems. You can get the XPS13with Linux pre-installed; I did read that even Linus T. has one.My Precision and the XPS-13 run Linux Mint 20.x here and both have VMware with avirtual Win10 machine to run the usual CAD apps. The only snag on the XPS13 is thatI got no 3D acceleration for the VMware on XPS13, so Altium board layout does not work.Would be nice to have if you are in the Icelandic dessert with the motorcycle and acustomer calls for help :-)BTW dumb "foreign" chargers don't work with the Precision laptop. The Interface tothe charger has a 3rd wire for communication. The Dell chargers talk with the laptop.I once had forgotten to take the charger with me and I lent an Inspiron charger from afriend. It was successfully determined that the charger could not deliver the required240W and the CPU speed was cut down to fit.Gerhard

author: dmitjuice
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 02, 2022, 10:58:34 am
content: Quote from: abdulbadii on January 01, 2022, 05:16:40 pmI actually have the old one, and was thinking of analyzing each signal of the wires in the connector (see first post) using scope.How do I swap what's inside the Li Ion OEM battery with the NON-OEM one?

author: 1audio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2022, 06:29:29 am
content: ?? I'm on my 3rd battery because I use the machine a lot. The batteries are good for 500 charge cycles at best. My XPS13 is 4 years old now.The only specifics in the battery is the battery protection circuit. That is standard practice in all batteries and should not be fiddled with. A cheap battery may not actually have the same capacity as an OEM one but you can get an OK idea of its health by running a discharge/charge cycle. You should do one after you install a new battery anyway.

author: Audiorepair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2022, 06:47:47 pm
content: I'd be interested to know how long the original battery lasted, and how long the replacements did.I currently have a Dell laptop on it s first battery, for use at work, always run on battery.It's good to know I can get the same thing from Dell if I need to.I have had very poor experience with replacement phone batteries in the past.The ones that come with the phone seem to be leaps and bounds better than anything you can actually buy.

author: 1audio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2022, 04:15:44 pm
content: I seem to get 2 years of pretty heavy use from a battery. I must have had this for 5 years now. My current gripe is the touchpad- I replaced it since the original had become wonky. The replacement is not an improvement. Its like the driver changed and is too sensitive in some axis.

author: Audiorepair
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2022, 06:40:20 pm
content: So how does the Dell original battery compare with the non Dell replacements?

author: 1audio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2022, 05:08:37 pm
content: I did not notice a difference. I was not keeping detailed records. The replacement batteries are virtually indistinguishable from the original it seems. Probably from OEM vendors overstock.