Dell PERC 5i / 6i battery

blakerwry

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Have you tried batteries+?

I have replaced batteries for various devices there before. They can make custom packs out of generic cells for just about anything. Cost isn't the cheapest, but it may beat ebay + shipping. The batteries on a PERC are pretty small... My guess is $30-$40 for a new battery. Be sure and bring the old battery with you if you go.
 

Stereodude

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Have you tried batteries+?
No, I haven't.
I have replaced batteries for various devices there before. They can make custom packs out of generic cells for just about anything. Cost isn't the cheapest, but it may beat ebay + shipping. The batteries on a PERC are pretty small... My guess is $30-$40 for a new battery. Be sure and bring the old battery with you if you go.
I could probably replace the cell in it myself too. I hadn't really given that much thought. I'm not sure off the top of my head where to find a good LiPo cell though.
 

Stereodude

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Anyone got a source with reasonable prices on Dell PERC 5i / 6i batteries? It seems that on Ebay if you want a new Dell battery you're paying ~$50. Used ones with maybe half of their life left are just over $30. The most promising thing I found was a seller in HK with new non Dell batteries for just under $25 shipped.
I decided to buy one of these to try it after another battery failure. So far I haven't gotten the replacement battery to work. The battery doesn't seem to be communicating correctly. That or it's just not working right.

percbatterystatus.png


Reportedly the proper replacement procedure is to connect the battery to let it charge for several hours and then reboot the PC. After that it will work. I'll try it, but I'm more than a little :skepo:


I also decided to take apart a Perc 5/i battery. It appears to have a non cylindrical oblong Li-Ion cell. I'll have to take a picture and post it later. I'm thinking to rework one to use a 18650 cell in a holder. Not sure if that will work or not.
 

Stereodude

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I think the $20 battery off ebay is damaged or bad. It still reads 0V.

I tried connecting an 18650 to the PCB from an old battery It correctly read the voltage of the cell, but still would not work. I'm guessing the permanently stored data in the controller prevents it from working.

Maybe I will take the new battery apart and see what's in it.
 

MaxBurn

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You don't have to reboot. When mine triggers a relearn and discharges the battery the log files show that the battery is below threshold disabling cache and it comes right back after it is above threshold. Would just be silly if it required a reboot of an enterprise box. My servers off right now but I know that the absolute and reactive state of charges are not supposed to be zero.

Did I send you the battery before that? If I recall right I was reading the log files wrong when I requested a new one from the guy I bought the card from because it said below threshold but I didn't let it complete the cycle, so I requested a new one from the seller when I likely didn't need it. That's why I thought it was good.
 

Stereodude

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Did I send you the battery before that? If I recall right I was reading the log files wrong when I requested a new one from the guy I bought the card from because it said below threshold but I didn't let it complete the cycle, so I requested a new one from the seller when I likely didn't need it. That's why I thought it was good.
The battery I got from you worked. I'm not sure which PC it ended up in, so I'm not sure if it is still working or not.

I tossed in the towel and bought a New Genuine Dell OEM battery off ebay for $45 shipped. IMHO it's way too much money relative to what the used working PERC 5/i and 6/i cards w/ battery go for, but I don't want to screw around with this any more. I've got better things to do. It's clear the microcontroller on the battery's PCB is storing some data permanently, so it's not possible to rejuvenate a battery by just replacing the Li-Ion cell. As for the $20 replacement from Asia, I don't know. With a reading of 0V it seems the cell in it is bad, or something is loose / disconnected inside the battery. I will probably complain to the seller, but I'm not going to waste money sending it back if they ask.
 

Corvair

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Well a reboot after about 5 hours of charging yielded the same results.


Glad to hear the replacement worked.

Those Dell server RAID controller battery modules kinda suck. If they sit around, for even a few months sometimes, they'll go bad -- permanently.

By the way, did you get even with the failed battery? :)


700011.jpg
 

Stereodude

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Glad to hear the replacement worked.
Apologies if I wasn't clear. The $20 battery is a light brick. It won't do anything. The $45 "new" battery I got works fine, though I'm not sure it's actually new. The battery shows 3 cycles on it. It has a working capacity of just under 1700maH though so it should last for a while.

By the way, did you get even with the failed battery? :)


View attachment 498
Nah, I'm not real interested in a Lithium fire.
 

qpit3a

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Oct 2, 2014
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Battery repair

I decided to buy one of these to try it after another battery failure. So far I haven't gotten the replacement battery to work. The battery doesn't seem to be communicating correctly. That or it's just not working right.

percbatterystatus.png


Reportedly the proper replacement procedure is to connect the battery to let it charge for several hours and then reboot the PC. After that it will work. I'll try it, but I'm more than a little :skepo:


I also decided to take apart a Perc 5/i battery. It appears to have a non cylindrical oblong Li-Ion cell. I'll have to take a picture and post it later. I'm thinking to rework one to use a 18650 cell in a holder. Not sure if that will work or not.

This is a very old thread and possibly no-one is bothering with the Dell 1950 anymore (in a professional sense anyway). I did take one of these Perc batteries apart and replaced the battery with a 2200mAH one from eBay, works great and is charging. Unfortunately have to dedicate a drive slot to fit the new one in as there are some temperature sensors? that were taped onto the old battery which I wanted to tape to the new one (for safety I guess). Looks ugly but seems to be working. Cost less than $10 (with one spare battery too)..
 
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