My Dell XPS 13 9360 laptop will be seven this September. Recently, Dell Power Manager began alerting me that its battery could no longer provide sufficient power to the system and needed to be replaced. So, I set about doing that.

Guidance

I found two helpful videos, one by Yu Felix from May 2022 and another by James of Brue Computing from August 2020. A third, by Jeff Geerling from June 2018 provided further advice about how to open up the machine.

Battery

Various sources indicated that I would need a PW23Y battery, but Dell no longer supplies one. Quite a number of other suppliers offered them, with a wide range of prices and mixed reviews. Worried about lemons, I picked one branded 2-POWER sold by a Duracell licensee, PSA Parts Limited, reasoning that it had a reputation built up over 25 years that it would want to protect. PSA Parts Limited is the registered owner of the 2-POWER trade mark in the UK and the EU. At £ 78 (including delivery by DHL Express) it was not the cheapest but it was not the most expensive either. The battery came with a leaflet explaining how to ‘run in’ the new battery.

Once it had been removed, I could see from its markings that the original battery had cells manufactured in China and had been assembled in China. The Korean KC certification mark indicated that the manufacturer was Simplo Technology (Chong Qing) Inc., a manufacturing subsidiary of Simplo Technology, Co. Ltd. of Taiwan (SMP). Its PPID (Piece Part Identification) was:

CH-0TP1GT-SLW00-785-833A-A02

CH indicating China, 0TP1GT being a Dell part number, and 785 being a date code corresponding to 2017-08-05.

Tools

Some precision screwdrivers and other tools would be needed to open up the laptop. Amazon supplied a 24-piece set branded JOREST for £ 7, that had everything needed for the job (and 18 other pieces) – and was nicely packaged for the price.

Replacement

The replacement was relatively straightforward, as the videos suggested it could be:

• remove the case screws (including the hidden one, under the XPS flap),
• use a plastic spudger carefully to pry the case base from the laptop (I started at the back right corner),
• remove the battery’s connector,
• peel off the peices of very sticky tape anchoring a speaker wire to the battery,
• remove the four battery screws,
• lift out the old battery, and then
• reverse the steps with the new battery in place, clicking the case base into place before replacing the case screws.

Now Dell Power Manager reports battery health is excellent. It also reports the new battery (rightly or wrongly) as a ‘Dell Battery’, the manufacturer as SMP, the serial number as ‘1027’ and the PPID as ‘CCDELLPN7550XDMYCOWTX00’, equivalent to:

CC-DELLPN-7550X-DMY-COWT-X00

This is a PPID that is not unique to this battery.