So I’ve got a Librem 15 rev 3 that I bought about 18 months back and it’s been working rather well. However I noticed today that the internal battery is down to 74% of capacity and I was wondering: How do I go about replacing the battery in the laptop? I don’t want to send it off for this and would prefer to do the work myself assuming it’s possible as I have no problem opening up the laptop.
For starters, where would I even order a replacement battery for it? Secondly has anybody done this with a Librem 15 before and if so, how did it go?
I’m not sure if we offer battery replacements as individual SKUs yet, but it doesn’t hurt to shoot support an email and ask. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure the part # is U753-TS44-111, and is commonly found on ebay etc (eg, https://www.ebay.com/itm/153149023997)
MrChromebox, I appreciate the reply. I emailed support after reading your response and have yet to hear back. I took it open myself to check the battery in my unit and it appears that the part # you specified is correct (though my battery lists each of the parts of the part # separately, it’s clearly correct). After searching for some sellers, it appears that your ebay source is in fact the best option available so I have gone ahead and placed the order. On the upside replacing the battery appears to be dead simple. Once the case is opened, it is secured with two additional screws and a single connector. Switching it out should be a non-issue.
Beyond that I’d like to just say that it would be nice if this kind of stuff was documented. It’s a little silly to have to ask this question about a laptop that is 18 months old. Purism really ought to offer batteries for purchase on their store along with some basic instructions on how to replace them. While I do enjoy the hobbyist nature of this laptop for the most part, in situations like this it’s just annoying as all I really want to do is replace a battery that is obviously starting to die.
FWIW I received the battery I ordered from eBay yesterday (much earlier than anticipated) and I was able to install it without issue. Going through my second full charge/discharge cycle now and so far so good. Thanks for the help @MrChromebox!
I got my Librem 15 v3 in Nov 2018. 18 months - battery is not holding a charge and will shut down spontaneously at any level of charge. Now I cannot find a replacement from Purism or any source. Any news?
Thanks for the tips. A used battery doesn’t sound appealing - may have issues too. It’s problematic that a USD$3,000 laptop needs a new battery after 18 months and the unfortunate choice of this battery format which now seems irreplaceable. Hope there will be new ones at some point…
If you are on mains when this happens then you might want to look at your power management settings. Of course that comes with the risk that, while you have a failing battery, you have an actual mains outage.
Spontaneous shutdown only occurs when running on battery only. Symptoms:
Laptop plugged in, will sometimes show 100% charged.
Upon unplug, battery immediately shows a reduction - sometimes 92%, sometimes less.
When apparently charging, in many cases will never get to 100%.
When running unplugged, will spontaneously power off anywhere between 30% and 75% power remaining.
Laptop runs uninterrupted when on main power.
It certainly does appear like a faulty battery. When recently discussing with Support, I point to a 2014 MacBook Pro I have which holds a charge extremely well.
I suppose things can happen with batteries (that’s why they aren’t covered after the 1st year under the 3-year warranty I bought with the laptop) so not unheard of to have a flawed battery, but still problematic that replacements have disappeared. Perhaps it points to a design flaw and the batteries are no longer made, by anyone, for this reason? Unclear, but now I have an expensive laptop that has become something of a desktop machine. I hope Purism can find a supplier or come up with a plan to help customers like me. I know these batteries were used in some Dell systems too, so not just a Purism thing.
Maybe a Purism trade-up program or somethign with special considerations for this?
Used battery received after purchase via Purism (a while ago, and the only new or used battery I’ve seen anywhere) - back to normal operation. It’s too bad this battery is no longer available anywhere. I wonder why this would happen. Did no laptop designer want to use it ever again?
Why was it $3k? Well, it wasn’t quite that much. I think I added a number of options at that time. It was $2,743. I don’t even see that model for sale on the Purism site now.
As you can see - seems like 18 months is not atypical for the battery. My used one is holding up well so far though.
