cordless phone battery replacement

[Tom7227]

In checking on line I find replacement batteries ranging from $5 to nearly $20 supposedly for the same rig. Anyone know what could account for the difference in price, or advise on which to buy. At $20 I could nearly replace the whole phone with a new one.

[LightningBG]

I've always just replaced the phone.

[harvey lee]

I have went online and bought some cheapie's and they work fine. I did buy 2 at the same time as the shipping gets to be a bit.

My cordless phones were like $120.00 so I do not throw the phone away if it's simply a battery.

I think with shipping and the 2 I paid like 24.00. Thats a few years ago too.

If you have a less expensive phone, I would say throw the phone.

[delcecchi]

In checking on line I find replacement batteries ranging from $5 to nearly $20 supposedly for the same rig. Anyone know what could account for the difference in price, or advise on which to buy. At $20 I could nearly replace the whole phone with a new one.

If you are willing to pitch the phone anyway, why not try the cheap ones? I bought a cheap replacement for my wife's cell phone and it worked great until the rest of the phone died.

[Jim Almquist]

Most all of the replacement batteries are 2 or 3 AA rechargeable's so I go to Wally world or the hardware store and find the one that has the highest amp hour rating (It will look like 2100ah )and if it has the wrong connection type I just cut off the old one and solder it on the new one.

[Tom7227]

Ok, I am wondering what the difference is between the cheap and expensive units. If all it is is price then the answer is simple. I somehow have accumulated 4 cordless phones that don't work and found that the battery packs are all different in size. That doesn't make sense to me but I guess that I'm not an engineer. In my simple world they would all be the same and the price would be lowered due to economies of scale. Since there's about a gazillion different ones I simply wonder what the more expensive ones have that the cheap ones don't.

[LightningBG]

(It will look like 2100ah )

Is that supposed to be 2100 mAh?

Otherwise we should be powering our shacks with these things.

[Jim Almquist]

When it comes to the batteries I will be cheap and just look at the Amp Hour rating. When it comes down to choosing a cordless phone that is were I am picky. The brand that I have found through work and at home that has the best build and clarity is the Panasonic brand. When we would install them for customers I was always amazed at how good they sounded even at long distance's and they could take a beating. I am not sure if I have ever replaced the batteries in the set we have and now we don't even have a land line.

[CJH]

Ok, I am wondering what the difference is between the cheap and expensive units. If all it is is price then the answer is simple. I somehow have accumulated 4 cordless phones that don't work and found that the battery packs are all different in size. That doesn't make sense to me but I guess that I'm not an engineer. In my simple world they would all be the same and the price would be lowered due to economies of scale. Since there's about a gazillion different ones I simply wonder what the more expensive ones have that the cheap ones don't.

As stated, you have to look at the specs. more often than not the more powerful/durable batteries will cost more, but you will have to replace them less frequently.

Pretty much all of the manufacturers use their own spec battery and plug connection. This is a barrier to using a competitors batteries. Obviously there are workarounds/knock offs out there. I sold phones and other electronics at BB in college for a few years, and the amount of different batteries is crazy. Panasonic has been the best mainstream phone brand for quite a while (IMHO) with Sony probably second. I have some Panasonic cordless phones that are probably 6-7 years old and still work flawlessly with the original batteries.

[delcecchi]

Ok, I am wondering what the difference is between the cheap and expensive units. If all it is is price then the answer is simple. I somehow have accumulated 4 cordless phones that don't work and found that the battery packs are all different in size. That doesn't make sense to me but I guess that I'm not an engineer. In my simple world they would all be the same and the price would be lowered due to economies of scale. Since there's about a gazillion different ones I simply wonder what the more expensive ones have that the cheap ones don't.

The guts are probably standard cells. The packs are proprietary to enable bigger profit margins on replacements.

What the expensive ones have is mostly a higher profit or more levels of distribution. They might also have somewhat higher quality cells inside but that doesn't account for going from 5 to 20 bucks.

And I am an engineer.... for what that is worth.