Nexus 5 battery replacement

[Sam1224]

So DW's Nexus 5 is showing it's age and she's complaining of diminished battery life. Wasn't too hard to find the tutorials for replacing the battery, the hard part appears to be sourcing a legitimate battery that actually works.

Does anybody have a link for a legitimate LG battery or a known good replacement? There are many listed on Amazon, but the feedback for everyone I looked at has many people claiming that they received used or knock off batteries that were worse than the ones they replaced to begin with.

 

[crxssi]

Funny you should post this. After I saw the Nexus 5X had no wireless charging, no additional storage, and no additional memory (and yet was physically bigger) I decided there is no point to upgrading now.

I was just looking through Amazon at replacement batteries the same as you were and reading ratings and reviews. There isn't a single product listing that I can trust to supply a working, new, correct battery. Not a single one! It is ridiculous!

I wouldn't mind gambling a bit when replacing a battery on a device that the battery is cold swapped, but the Nexus 5 is sealed so it is a HUGE effort and risk to changing the battery. And my mom's phone is also an almost two-year-old Nexus 5 too, so I have to change hers, and she lives 100 miles away. I can't stay there for days waiting to see if it works correctly or not.

 

[Sam1224]

Well I gambled and bought one from Amazon, I'll see how it looks when it arrives and decide whether or not to crack the phone then. Hopefully I get lucky and get a good one.

 

[bjrosen]

I bought a battery off of Amazon about 6 months ago. It looks like a legitimate LG battery but it only had half the battery life of the old battery. I tried to buy a battery directly from LG but they wouldn't sell me one unless I sent the phone in. I put the old one back in and gave up. I've ordered a 6P, Apple introduced forced obsolescence by making the batteries non-replaceable and unfortunately Google followed, the bastards have won.

 

[evostudios]

I'm in the same position as you. I want a new battery but all of them on amazon are so mixed. I've purchased batteries for other phones and haven't had much luck. Thinking about just taking a chance.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Sam1224]

Thinking about just taking a chance.

That was my thinking when I bought the battery, but if 6.0 actually increases battery life the way people are saying I may see if that works before I go replacing the battery.

 

[ianhanson85]

That was my thinking when I bought the battery, but if 6.0 actually increases battery life the way people are saying I may see if that works before I go replacing the battery.

Probably a good idea. I replaced my battery from a seller on Amazon. Battery seemed legit and wasn't any worse than the original battery, wasn't any better either. I received the OTA for 6.0 last Thursday and battery life is just crap. Idk if its got anything to do with my battery replacement or if we are doomed for the same results lollipop brought. I can barely get 3 hours screen on time. I miss kit Kat, was getting 4.5 consistently.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[crxssi]

I bought a battery off of Amazon about 6 months ago. It looks like a legitimate LG battery but it only had half the battery life of the old battery. I tried to buy a battery directly from LG but they wouldn't sell me one unless I sent the phone in. I put the old one back in and gave up. I've ordered a 6P, Apple introduced forced obsolescence by making the batteries non-replaceable and unfortunately Google followed, the bastards have won.

I don't understand why they do this. I had the same problem with the Nexus 10 and Samsung. Just sell me the damn battery! My money is green, I just need a new battery. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on "service" to refresh a phone that is worth maybe $75. And I can't be without a phone for several days while they "repair" mine.

So everyone just throws their phones away??? This is stupid. I am very angry.

 

[Sam1224]

Got the 6.0 OTA last night, will watch and see what battery life is like for a week or so. It may be that long until the battery gets here anyway, according to Amazon it still hasn't shipped yet.

 

[slave]

I hope a battery repair helps mine. I bought a battery from Amazon also, but it lasts about 4 hours on Marshmallow with only about 30 minutes of screen time. No way it's Marshmallow, it has to be that battery I bought

 

[Sam1224]

That would be my guess given the feedback people have left about these batteries. Curiously mine showed up yesterday even though Amazon thinks it hasn't shipped yet. It looks OK physically, but upon closer examination it has a "warranty" sticker placed over the date of manufacture on the battery so I can't tell how old it is.

 

[crxssi]

That would be my guess given the feedback people have left about these batteries. Curiously mine showed up yesterday even though Amazon thinks it hasn't shipped yet. It looks OK physically, but upon closer examination it has a "warranty" sticker placed over the date of manufacture on the battery so I can't tell how old it is.

How slimy. No question in my mind these vendors are just reselling old, used, pulled batteries with a completely unknown life as "new".

I know it is a waste of time, but I still plan on calling LG.

 

[Sam1224]

How slimy. No question in my mind these vendors are just reselling old, used, pulled batteries with a completely unknown life as "new".

I know it is a waste of time, but I still plan on calling LG.

Please let us all know if you get any answers from them. It really is inexcusable that there is not a reasonable OEM solution for this issue.

 

[crxssi]

I know it is a waste of time, but I still plan on calling LG.

The phone model number is a D820. Battery seems to be a BL-T9.

Yep. Called today. Waste of time. They will not sell batteries. They want you to send in the phone and be without a phone for 2 weeks and will call back with an estimate of how much it costs. The reps have no idea what a battery replacement costs and claim it will be between $20 and $150 (but he says the $150 is for replacing a cracked screen).

I told him I can't be without a phone for 2 weeks, and I am a technician and can and have replaced "non-replaceable" batteries in other devices several times with no problems. Made no difference. He then told me about the LG V10, and I told him I want a Nexus and I don't want a huge phone. Then he said Nexus 5X, and I told him I was not interested in a device which has no wireless charging and the same limited storage and memory of their model from over 2 years ago.

So yeah, we are screwed. Only choices are gambling with used, old, damaged, and fake batteries off Ebay or Amazon, most misrepresented as "OEM" and "new" and "genuine". Ebay has no real reviews or feedback, and Amazon shows reviews all over the map- from mediocre to phones bursting into flames to totally dead to works great.... often all from the same "vendor".

 

[artworksmetal]

I bought this on Amazon in August - B00LD7S6YQ (can't post the link).

It was OEM. It was new, manufactured in April or May I believe. I can't my battery life is outstanding as a result of the switch, but now I can't really blame an old battery. Too many other things to blame.

 

[slave]

I bought this one, my battery lasts about 4 hours

 

[Jonneh]

The Nexus 5 isn't so bad for battery replacement. The hardest part is the beginning, prying the back off with a heat-gun and a Sesamo without warping the backplate or breaking one of its many clips; its clips are holding it tot he rest of the phone. After slowly prying up with the sesamo tool, the clips start letting go one-by-one, with a few tough ones here and there. The good news is replacement (black) backplates are cheap as well, I saw some for ~$3 or 4 dollars. The red backplate is the expensive and harder-to-find one. I got one for ~$20 though.

Once opened up, the battery is sitting right at top (edit: by "at top" I mean under the backplate without other components in your way. Technically it's at the bottom of the phone). Just disconnect its flex cable and pry it out with the sesamo again. Plop the new battery in, hook it up, and pop the backplate back in...and you're good! MUCH easier than replacing other Nexus 5 parts. =)

 

[bjrosen]

You can't buy a decent replacement battery. If you look on Amazon all of the batteries have terrible reviews. I gave it a try last summer, the new battery lasted half as long as the old one, I ended up switching back. The real solution is to upgrade to the Nexus 6P, that's what I did. I was really happy with the N5 but after a few minutes with the 6P the N5 just looks sad. The battery life on the 6P is much better than the N5 and the Amoled screen is spectacular.

 

[crxssi]

You can't buy a decent replacement battery. If you look on Amazon all of the batteries have terrible reviews. I gave it a try last summer, the new battery lasted half as long as the old one, I ended up switching back. The real solution is to upgrade to the Nexus 6P

Except it is not an upgrade, it is a downgrade. It is physically bigger and it has no wireless charging.

 

[brosko]

Except it is not an upgrade, it is a downgrade. It is physically bigger and it has no wireless charging.

exactly what I have been saying!!