Decent replacement phone battery supplier?

A couple of quid is in fact all the raw cells cost.,

At least with Samsung batteries, one thing to note is they only manufacture the originals while the phone is in production. So, when I came to look for a Galaxy Note 4 recently (made 2014), the 'Samsung' batteries on ebay/Amazon/etc were all fake - all the genuine stock is long gone. Ifixit didn't have one, so I ended up with a Ravpower from Amazon. Ravpower are one of those made-for-selling-on-Amazon brands, like Anker, Aukey, etc and their products are generally OK (not as good as Anker, but not trash). It's been fine, but I don't use it regularly so it's hard to tell long term.

The moral of this story is sometimes a non-OEM battery is better than a 'genuine' one.

Theo

Is there anyway of getting inside the battery pack with a dremel or similar and identifying what type of cells it uses, and then sourcing them ?.

Beware battery fires....

Are you sure that the battery is replacable on that model?

Please set-up a GoPro if you do that ...

Earlier fat models of phones tended to have replaceable batteries that sometimes came separated from the phone or fitted but with insulation over their terminals which had to be removed before use.

Modern thin ones tend to be hot glued together on a once and forever basis. Though they can be dismantled it is an interesting procedure typically involving a hot air blower and a sharpened paint scraper.

The pictures of the insides and replacement batteries for that model look very similar to the Moto E. I replaced the battery in an old Moto E by unscrewing parts inside the case, unglueing the double-sided sticky stuff and then separating the battery connector from the circuit board. (It has a connector that disconnects in a non-obvious way - DAMHIKT & DAM which non-obvious way because I've forgotten.) Just make sure you have the right screwdriver bits to hand before you start.

Nick

That's unnecessary. It's a single cell. The entire rectangular thing, is a cell.

Check out the operating voltage as proof.

The quoted voltage is 3.8V. It probably charge-terminates at 4.3V, and after it settles, the open circuit voltage is

The benefit of single cell packs, is you can run them flat without risk of reverse-bias. A charger designed for such things, will charge them all the way from zero. That's why the chargers for such things, are designed for the specific item or form factor, so you won't be using the charger for some other purpose. The form factor also prevents polarity reversal (only one way to insert pack). Some even come with three contacts, and one of the contacts is an "enable". This is intended to make it harder to short the pack. The one in the example is two wire, uses a female connector and is "fully armed".

Paul

Yep, just like a Duracell AA the thing is a cell, there aren't cells hiding inside.

In theory any lithium ion cell will do, but the trouble is finding one of the right dimensions to fit, as they're typically custom to the specific phone. Also there is probably a tiny PCB with a protection circuit inside, and possibly some temperature sensing. This likely attaches to the other terminal(s) and the phone may not turn on without it. Theo

Seems my model is too old for what they supply!...

I think thats sounds a bit like hard work!..

I've found a recommended one now thanks its part number CS-MXT155SL made by this lot who seems to do a lot of replacement batteries!..

Yes it is, theres a vid on Youtube showing how its done by the makers of the replacement I've now found thanks!...

I've found the exact one now thats its made by this lot!..

Agreed. I think the Chinese have figured out for themselves that skimping on battery QA is self defeating. My experience with two or three dozen non-oem phone, camera, and cordless tool batteries is that problems are very infrequent. I've certainly never had an extreme failure.

I've found the opposite with two phones and one camera. Replacement batteries (always described as genuine) have failed within 3 months. Batteries from another (random) supplier have since lasted well, so far. There was practically no price difference between the good and bad batteries.

Agreed. That's why I took caution in choosing a supplier.

I have replaced a few batteries in mobile phones, satnavs and tablets, and bargains from eBay and Amazon have mostly been nothing more than frauds. They recycle parts cleaning to look like new, not manufacture - a process with expensive tooling and QA, not all can afford. Have a look on eBay for factory tours.

The work (and risk for me) in disassembling a fiddly expensive phone, and having not to repeat that exercise again in a short time, makes it worthwhile.

Releasing double sided sticky tape from the back of a charged Li-Ion phone battery without damaging it and letting out the demon wisps, is not my idea of fun. Even worse if an overcharged damaged battery is boating. So the less time done with me wielding dental floss approaching the target in bomb disposal mode, the better :)

Then some would say I'm a bit of a wuss....

They have strange packaging ideas. Expect glossy marketing gimmicks inside with your battery :)