Battery "shorting" in Laptop ?

I recently purchased 2 older Laptops on Ebay. One works fine...the other doesn't work at all.....except it will "light-up" the indicator when a battery is installed to "charge"....I don't know if the battery charges however. BOTH Laptops are essentially the same ( Compaq 2500 ). I plan to use the Hard-Drive from the "non-working" Laptop as an additional (exterior) Hard Drive.

BUT...I have a question. When I inserted a "fully-charged" NEW Battery into the "non-working" Laptop (plugged into AC) ...that battery immediately became DEAD. After a few minutes in the "working" Laptop ...it was fully restored of charge.

Apparently...there is some sort of "short" in the "non-working" Laptop. Would anyone have any guesses as to WHERE (specifically) such a "short" might be located? I am planning to use some parts from this machine...and wonder about the possibilities after possibly discovering this "short".

What's your guesses ? :confused

THANKS,
Bruce (56Wrecker)

 

Hi,

New Batteries do not come charged. They may have some charge or just a "Surface charge" that dissapates as soon as a load is put on it. Wait a while and see if it charges.

Good Luck, Jim

 

Jim,
THANK YOU for responding to my inquiry! Perhaps I didn't make it clear in my posting....I used a "fully-charged" battery....NOT just a "new" battery. It went to ZERO charge upon inserting into "broken" Laptop. Upon removal from the "broken" Laptop.....and insertion into the GOOD Laptop...the New Battery showed NO CHARGE. But after only a few minutes charging....It was back to 100% (or near that)....which also surprised me.

It seems that some "short" in the "broken" Laptop had completely, if superficially, drained the NEW, "Fully-Charged" battery almost IMMEDIATELY.

I wonder where that "short" might "most-likely" be located in the "broken" Laptop??? I'd like to use some parts.

Bruce (56 Wrecker )

 

Hi Again Bruce,

That suprises me also. If indeed the battery was drained imediately bay a short the battery would have been too hot to touch. Don't think you have a short. Most of the battery charger is in the battery case so that's probably OK. Must be something with the portion of the charger in the Laptop and that's on the Mother Board.

More good luck, Jim

 

as jlphlp says most of the charging circuit is in the battery case,incorporated in this circuit is an overload sensing circuit which temporarily disconnects the battery for a preset amount of time when a current overload is detected, this could mean that there is a short circuit or something taking excessive current in the dodgy laptop

 

ps try dissconnecting hardware like the harddrive for instance, and then plug the battery in and try again

 

THAT would explain why/how the NEW Battery showed O charge and then recovered so quickly ! (The Overload Sensing Circuit ) GOOD to know !

AND as Jim (jlphlp) said, there is probably at least ONE problem on a section of the Motherboard.

I am Planning to remove the Hard Drive anyway....and attempt to use it as a "transportable" Exterior Hard Drive....so I'll use your suggestion, robbo26.

THANKS MUCH !!!
Bruce (56 Wrecker)