$50 battery doubles run-time of the Acer C7 Chromebook, V5-171 notebook, more

Several of Acer’s inexpensive 11.6 inch notebooks use the same batter. The Acer Aspire One 756, Acer TravelMate B113, and Acer Aspire V5-171 Windows laptops and the Acer C7 Chromebook all have the same 3-cell battery and typically offer between 3 and 4 hours of battery life.

But if you pick up a 3rd party 6-cell battery you can get about twice as much run time.

Acer Aspire V5-171 battery

Liliputing reader WANg wrote in to let us know that you can use a Sanyo AL12X32 5000mAh battery in any of these laptops and get around 7 hours of battery life.

CDW sells the battery for about $50.

In some parts of the globe Acer also offers some of these laptops with higher-capacity batteries, but in the US it tends to position these notebooks as low-cost devices and only offers the 3-cell, 2500mAh battery option in order to keep prices low (and presumably to convince customers who want longer battery life to spend more money on higher-end notebooks).

Bear in mind, the extended battery is bigger and heavier than the 3-cell battery, so it’ll make these portable notebooks slightly bulkier. But that may be a small price to pay for the ability to fly from one coast of the US to the other and use your notebook without recharging it.

thanks WANg!

Posted on Monday, January 21st, 2013, 2:00 pm by Brad Linder | 25 Comments

Matt

This actually appears to be an Acer product. Similar to the standard Acer-branded 2500mAh Sanyo AL12B32 battery in the C7.
strider_mt2k

Well done!
ddevine

Awesome, but it does put the price of things up to $250… Why can’t manufacturers offer decent battery life by default? I don’t mind $20 being tacked on for that huge advantage.
Axat Tech

do you know that the chrome book the best selling wireless notebook of the last year.
marc

actually man be careful, i dont think that battery is compatible with the chromebook or some other models. from what ive gathered doing a little research online, the chromebook and some other 11.6 inch acer models that share the same chassis use 11.1 volt batteries at 49 watt hours. the acer one 756, 725, v5-171, and travelmate b13 models use a 14.4 or 14.8 volt battery at 37 watt hours. so just make sure you are getting the right one, cause ebay sells extended batteries for the chromebook and other 11.6 models for like 20 bucks, but they wont work one those other models.
marc

b113* not b13
WANg

Hey guys, just a quick follow-up on the tip (I wrote that one in). This is actually an authentic Acer battery – the AL12X32 is actually bundled with some Core i5 B113 models sold in the UK and the Oceania region. Also, this battery fits the C7 Chromebook – the one with the Celeron 847, not the C700, which has an Atom N570.

To give you guys an idea of what it looks like, here’s some side-by-side comparison photos of the batteries:

http://i.imgur.com/F85iw1J.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/I7K4lQq.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/a8i4AcJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/EVRUtUY.jpg

Acer provides new rubber pads in the package to raise the front end a slight bit – since the larger battery also induces an inclined angle (see the last photo on top).

With my V5-171 I have seen the runtime go from 4 hours to around 8, and that’s a fairly conservative estimate. Windows 7 has reported 11+ hours, but I would take that with a grain of salt.

Oh BTW, for those who are complaining about the pricing, I have seen other vendors listing the unit for $129, so $49.99 + S&H is already very reasonable.
WANg

And why would Acer do that? $220 is barely covering the cost of the machine – especially if google is subsidizing part of it. In fact, this battery is not offered by Acer Americas specifically so the upgraded AO756/V5-171/TMB113 won’t steal sales away from their S-series Ultrabooks. The fact that CDW carries the battery was a major fluke.
Abc

I feel suspicious about it. It`s 11.1V vs14.8V . Does it even work in your laptop?
Benmartin1974

I’d been pondering ordering a Acer Aspire V5 laptop for a couple of weeks. I read loads of reviews and this one was great http://search4laptop.com/ , I got my package last week and am very happy. I Would highly recommend to anyone still unsure
pcat

I have an Acer v5-171-9661. It comes with an AL12B32 which is rated at 14.8V and 2500mAH. I ordered and received the AL12X32 (made by ACER); it is a perfect fit for my laptop however it is rated at 11.1V at 5000mAH. I’m concerned about the voltage differential on a couple of levels.
1) If the computer is really designed around a 14.8 V power source then the computer will pull more current from the lower voltage battery to obtain the power it needs – does this compromise the life of my computer (circuit board traces and power management circuitry)?
2) The wall charger that comes with the system is rated at 19V. This will cause a voltage drop of at least 9 volts or more across the computer’s charging circuit for a battery that requires charging. Again is the computer and its power management circuitry rated for this – will it reduce the life of my computer?

I have not able to get any answers from ACER. Their customer service does not work with the part numbers stamped on the ACER batteries. They use a KT numbering system and have no cross reference to the AL12 series numbering on the batteries. They will only recommend the origonal 14.8 V battery that came with the system for a spare.
Jon

This is great! So you’ve been this battery for over two months now, how are things going, any issues so far with the lower voltage?
Jon

I have a Dell Laptop at work, also a gen3 core I5.
It states a requirement of 19.7v on the back under the battery, my work ordered the high cap batteries, I checked them, and they are 11.1v.

I’ve been using this laptop on battery power for 18 months, no issues in regards to battery life, crashing, or bios voltage warning.
Ryan

So after reading this article, and the comments below, I decided to buy a AL12X32 for my AO756-2623 (Celeron 877). I knew there was a chance that it would not be compatible, but the risk was totally worth doubling the run time on this little beast. Unfortunately, this battery will not work with my AO756. It will actually run the laptop just fine, but it will not charge. Your battery indicator will flash orange, presumably to indicate a failing battery. I tried three different power supplies:

Factory PS: 40w (19v/2.14a)

Aspire 4339 PS: 65w (19v/3.42a)

Targus Universal PS: 65w (19.5v/4.61a)

The above power supplies will all charge the stock 3 cell battery with no issues.

Hope this helps those looking for an extended battery for their AO756.

P.S. – Acer, just make a damn extended battery for this thing already. : ]
Ryan

Welp, it looks like I am a liar. After flashing the latest bios (1.09), my AO756 will charge the extended battery.

P.S. -Acer, I love you.
http://www.liliputing.com/ Brad Linder

Glad to hear that! (not the bit about you being a liar… but the other partl
WH

This appears very misleading. The 756/V5 had a FOUR cell, 14.8 volt battery. A THREE cell (or 6 or 9 cell) is 11.1 volts. this would not be expected to be compatible. What is needed for the 756/V5/113 is a four or eight cell, 14.8 volt, for charging circuits, etc to work properly. This post should be revised or deleted.

I have looked every where for an 8-cell, extended battery for this computer. They do not appear to exist. Maybe someone will decide to do this.

Regards.
Chris Morris

WANg, is the AL12X32 (http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Sanyo-AL12X32-notebook-battery-Li-Ion-5000-mAh/2910487.aspx) still working for your Acer Aspire V5?
Chris Morris

So, what’s the verdict. Does the AL12X32 (http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Sanyo-AL12X32-notebook-battery-Li-Ion-5000-mAh/2910487.aspx) work with the Acer Aspire V5? If not, is there any other replacement battery that will?
neumann103

Is there a definitive answer on whether this works on the V5-171 (per the 14.8v vs 11.1v voltage concerns)? I have a v5-171 with an i3-2365 CPU if that matters. There are a lot of models that share the same shell but I am unclear if they have non-obvious differences -eg do they run the models with Celerons on different power?

Are there any other discount sources (DealExtreme, eBay sellers) people have found for this part? I live in the third world (Canada). CDW Canada does not carry this extended battery, and CDW in the US will not ship it to Canada. I have found a few vendors who have the Sanyo part available as a special order, but at $120.

I would gladly pay $50 for the battery life but at $120 it changes the equation into “I should have just bought a more expensive machine” category.

I understand that Acer intentionally does not want to cannibalize sales of more expensive machines and so they don’t necessarily market a version of my machine with this battery, however the listed specifications of various models of AO756, V5-171 and Travelmate B-113 are vague enough that an informed decision is difficult. I started off planning to buy a Celeron based AO756 but upsold myself to the V5-171 to get an i3 and a USB 3.0 port. If it had been apparent that a single model of the Travelmate B-113 had the bigger battery I probably would have upsold myself to that.

I get about 3 hours out of my stock battery (at full screen brightness) and I would be delighted to get to 5 hours on the bigger battery. Realistic?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-A-Freeman/1110800152 Tom A Freeman

is this for the C700 or C710 Chromebook??
http://profiles.google.com/oldrocker99 Frederick Wrigley

Just got mine, and it’s charging now. Slipped right in. Thanks for the tip about this deal!
MartinWollaston

Hi if anyone wants to buy a battery for me for a AO756 and send it to Australia, I will be very appreciative of this. Obviously I will pay for it plus a bit extra. I contacted CDW and they said they don’t ship outside the US. Regards, Martin.
http://twitter.com/hellen0102 hellen smith

hello,the battery is so cheap?i buy one from http://www.batterywood.com/laptop-battery/acer-aspire-v5.htm . the price is $90.95. battery has 1-year warranty.
MartinWollaston

Thanks for the info. Martin.

$50 battery doubles run-time of the Acer C7 Chromebook, V5-171 notebook, more

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