Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

What's your experience with Hong Kong replacement batteries - good or bad?

The BP-4L battery I just bought on eBay from a Hong Kong dealer has two problems.

1. One of the connectors wasn't making good contact. This was easily fixed.

2. When the battery is charged in the N810, it shows fully charged, but the battery status says 4 days / 3 hours, and battery-status reports 43% full.

Should I give Hong Kong another try, or give it up?

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

I bought a "new" NIMH battery from an HK seller on eBay a few months ago, contacts were dirty and it wouldn't hold a charge.

My money was refunded, but I wouldn't by from this particular seller again.

Every other experience I've had with HK sellers has been pleasant.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

For the record, there have been several threads on this topic. The most relevant I found are:

Battery Replacement N800
Possibly fake Nokia batteries - how unsafe are they really?
Replacement Battery for N800
Any High Capcity Batteries? (I couldn't find any of these for the N810)

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

This is what someone who knows stuff about batteries told me: Unless you plan on using your second battery almost as intensively as your primary, don't bother buying a second LiIon or LiPol battery; they age by simply lying there and are therefore almost always a waste of money. I should know, I have two spare batteries for my SE P910i that I barely even used and that now hold no charge.

If you do have an occasional need for longer battery life, one of those so-called "emergency" cellphone battery chargers can provide you, depending on how many batteries it holds, with 50 to 100% extra gogo-juice. The (now) added benefit is that there --still? -- are no rules about taking NiMh or alkalines in the airplane cabin.

And now, unless you are an under-the-counter supplier of novocain, go away. I want to die. :p

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

I have to agree with Karel when it comes to keeping spare batteries around.. it's mostly a waste. I've given in to the temptation of getting a spare battery now and then, but they only end up in the fridge (at best). For example, I got a great offer for a spare battery when I bought a digital camera, with higher capacity than the original. In 1.5 years I've swapped batteries once. Later I bought a replacement camera, and now I have three batteries.. two are never used.

(As for airplanes - no worries, in-cabin isn't a problem. The restrictions are in checked-in luggage.)

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

Unbranded HK Batteries tend to be overrated, missold and regularly underperform in my experience. Unless you happen to know which OEM sells to Nokia so you can purchase them directly at cost - I wouldn't bother.

One method they used to advertise over-inflated performance ratings is to specify mAh at a lower voltage and one method of misselling is to use the key words "up to". So for example - they'd sell a 3.7V battery and tell you it has a capacity up to 8000mAh [reading the small print, usually not on the website selling the batteries - the rating of 8000mAh is taken at 1.2V under critical temperatures and the highest density sample - the actual mAh is way lower at 3.7V say for example 400mAh! I'm making up the figures obviously to illustrate.]

At the end of the day I'd stick to official batteries if I needed a critical second battery. Personally I carry around a tiny retractable USB charging cable and keep the IT topped up wherever I can [I even have a small Car Adapter -> USB charging socket.] If I _had_ to be out and about for several hours (and I don't have my car) it's easy enough to get hold of a small "USB" personal charger.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

If you want your $10 batteries to last five years, you are probably out of luck. If you are perfectly happy with forgetting to charge your battery and waiting a few hours before you can use your tablet, you don't need a battery.

But I wouldn't be without my $20 worth of spare batteries, all two of them. They have worked perfectly and after almost a year's intensive usage (each battery has typically been charged at least once a day for more than 300 days), I can't tell the difference between the real Nokia battery and the fake Hong Kong batteries.

One thing having a spare battery is especially good for is reviving a Nokia that has gone dead overnight. Just put in a fresh battery and in the time it takes to boot up, you are good to go. (Unless you have a defective tablet, of course.)

I did also invest in a $10 battery charger, which even works on the real Nokia battery. It is also still working perfectly.

As I have commented before, I virtually never plug my N800 in. I have been relying only on the batteries. It seems too clunky to me to be plugged in, so I have to actually unplug if I'm listening to something on my N800 and I want to go down and visit the fridge. Puhlease! I just grab it and go.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

Oh, "up to" is the key weasel wording! I see what you mean:

"The rechargable battery provides up to 10 days of standby time and up to 3 hours of continuous Web browsing or media playback."

Oops, that is official Nokia lingo. Maybe "up to" isn't the key to deception...

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

Hey, no fair! You guys with the good HK batteries didn't vote in the poll!

Geneven, do you remember who you bought your batteries from?

BTW the spare battery is for use while travelling outside the U.S. I plan to use the N810 to grab email at convenient hotspots, including in airports, and then, on long plane flights, read PDFs and check the plane's position. In hotel rooms, where AC plugs are not always conveniently located, I will use it for email, reading U.S. newspapers, and listening to NPR and the BBC. (The sound quality is better than my travel shortwave radio.)

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

I would sum up HK made batteries in 3 Words. Place them in a sentence as you please.

Cheap ! !

Shite ! !

Garbage ! !.

This goes for laptop batteries ( so called LiIon, NiMh etc ) and others.

Attachment 754

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

I did mention mAh; not actual usage times ... afaik mAh don't vary from manufacturer's sales specs (ok - they do within certain tolerances, ages, temperatures, etc) whereas usage times do vary depending on whether the machines are crunching numbers or sat idle ;)

So yeah - "up to" pretty much sums it up imho.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

The actual specs do vary a bit. There was (is) a _huge_ thread about replacement batteries for the Palm Tungsten T3 over at Brighthand, last I checked (a year or more ago) it was some 90 pages.

Because of little available room in the T3 (not to mention that the original battery is hardwired in), after lots of research we ended up with a very small selection of possible replacement batteries. And because of the huge interest and that a few enterprising individuals went ahead and procured and prepared lots of batteries we had the possibility to compare performances. A standardized battery measurement test was developed, and the net result was that the actual capacity seemed to vary up to some 20% or more, IIRC. Some people would measure nearly 6 hours, for example, others just above 4. The battery I tested was around 4.5 hours. And this was from a big batch of batteries bought directly from the Korean vendor.

(Something else: We found that the same battery that our resident mod'ders procured was sold from different resellers, sometimes under different brand names, and it was advertised from everything between 1100mAh to 1500mAh. From what we could figure the real capacity would be something between 1050mAh and 1250-1300 mAh or thereabouts. Certainly 1500mAh was greatly exaggerated.)

(My memory may not be entirely accurate though, so for those who want to check the gargantum thread about batteries for themselves, here's a link: http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?t=74036
110 pages.. with my configuration.)

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

Aye +nods+

I'd imagine the tolerances were/are MUCH higher with cheaper HK manufacturing processes that aren't under (more?) stringent Nokia QA tests.

Most OEM batteries are sold as being XXmAh capacity which to me implies a minimum target of XXmAh. Most HK batteries are sold up-to XXmAh which to me implies a maximal XXmAh [more than likely - they'll work out theoretical maximums given battery volumes and don't actually test the real capacity at all!] with no minimal capacity at all!


My qualitative experience of replacement HK mobile phone batteries for the Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones wasn't good in _all_ cases - they simply didn't stack up to the original equipment at all.


That's not to say they weren't good value for money though :D they were just not as good capacity wise! For the best bang-to-buck ratio you'll need to compare capacity vs cost.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

I have 2 original Nokia BP-5L's, one in the device and the other on charge. On long trips when I need more than 2 I use the Sido's that came with the charger. They are fine, do the job and last almost as long as the Nokia's

I also have some fake Nokia lookalikes which seem ok too. I just don't like the subterfuge; at least Sido put their name on theirs.

Some of the HK dealers are excellent and replace goods if they are unsatisfactory. Others ignore correspondence and don't. But, overall, they provide us with an excellent facility and great value for money. I have a pile of batteries, chargers, cables, adapters, that I bought cheaply and which perform perfectly.

Just because the Nokia logo is on something doesn't mean it won't explode or break in the first month and yet costs 6 times that of the HK items. The Nokia wall charger that came with my N800 failed after 3 weeks - list price £25. I bought a HK item for £5 and that hasn't failed yet.

What's the moral? Just because it is expensive doesn't guarantee it to be good. Just because it is cheap doesn't necessarily mean it is rubbish.

TA-t3, Thanks for the informative post. The battery scenario is not all cut and dried.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

I've found a possible intermediate alternative:

Some BP-4L replacements are being sold on eBay under the brand name Lenmar for about $17 - $18 including shipping. The spec is 1200 mAh and sellers are in the US and Canada. Looks like Lenmar makes a lot of other battery types too, including BP-5L.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

Where do you think the 'official' batteries are made? China, of course, in the same factories where those sold from Hong Kong are made. The only difference is the label on the outside.

Re: Hong Kong Batteries - Experiences?
 

Actually the label on the outside is not the difference. The one I bought looks like a genuine Nokia battery. (I haven't scraped the hologram to check the serial number because I may yet have discussions with the seller.)

There is a 2005 date on the back, so it might be an old QA reject (a connector pin was crooked) or overrun. Or it could just be a bad counterfeit.

The relevant difference is whether it went through QA (and passed).