Dyson Replacement Battery Pack Review | Wirecutter

If you're looking to replace the battery pack on your Dyson cordless vacuum, we think your best bet is to skip the knockoff packs you can find on Amazon or AliExpress, and stick with the genuine Dyson packs'as painfully expensive as they are.

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We hired Lee Johnson, who has 10 years of experience designing and testing electronics (including a stint at NASA), to test and dismantle a few replacement battery packs for the Dyson V7. He found that although the third-party packs run the vacuum fine (at least while they're new), they are 'cheaply made battery packs' that 'for sure won't last as long' as the genuine Dyson packs'and probably not even long enough to make their low price worth it. More importantly, they may pose some safety risks.

When we opened up the packs, it was obvious that the knockoffs were of a much lower quality than the genuine packs.

The most important difference we found was that the knockoff packs used no-name battery cells. Or, at the very least, they weren't labeled like any known cells from big-name suppliers (such as Samsung, LG, Panasonic, and Murata, among others), which do quality-control tests to make sure the cells conform to industry safety standards and perform predictably. Maybe they're salvaged and relabeled (possibly damaged or depleted) cells, or they could be true counterfeits, without the same quality-control and built-in safety features as the brand-name cells.

Without getting too deep into the details of battery safety certifications and regulations, the takeaway is that lower-quality cells could cause performance problems, have shorter lifespans, or possibly pose some safety risks (the Consumer Product Safety Commission has a list of potential hazards, and The Atlantic has some horror stories). The Dyson pack, meanwhile, uses cells from Murata, a major lithium battery supplier.

The genuine Dyson battery pack uses cells from Murata, a major supplier of lithium-ion batteries.

Photo: Lee Johnson

The PowerExtra knockoff pack uses no-name cells, which have about only half the advertised capacity and may be missing certain safety features. Also note the soldering on the bottom right, which an electrical engineer described as 'sloppy.'

Photo: Lee Johnson

The genuine Dyson battery pack uses cells from Murata, a major supplier of lithium-ion batteries.

Photo: Lee Johnson

The knockoff packs aren't assembled very well, either. Johnson described the soldering on one of the packs (made by PowerExtra, $35) as 'sloppy' and noted that it had a ton of silicone insulation, possibly because of slapdash construction requiring extra protection against short-circuiting. 'I'm sure if we were able to charge/discharge cycle this pack until death it wouldn't last very long compared to the Dyson,' Johnson wrote in an . The other knockoff pack (by Dsanke, $35) has components that are very similar to the PowerExtra's, but the assembly is a little better. The control boards on both knockoffs also have no conformal coating (a resin that keeps dust and moisture from damaging the circuits, and also makes it harder to modify or reverse-engineer the board).

Battery control boards for (left to right) the genuine Dyson battery pack, the PowerExtra knockoff pack, and the Dsanke knockoff pack. The Dyson board has more components than the others (probably charge and discharge monitors and some safety controls) and a coating to keep away dust and moisture. The assembly on the PowerExtra is exceptionally shoddy (note the liberal use of silicone foam), and uses mostly the same off-the-shelf components as the Dsanke pack.

Photo: Lee Johnson

Basically, the cheap packs aren't likely to hold up to regular wear and tear like the genuine pack. Some Dyson packs do fail within a year (in which case they're covered by the warranty), but our sense from reading Amazon reviews and talking to people who have bought knockoffs is that they often fail after just a few months.

Finally, the third-party packs are missing some of the elements that you'll find on a genuine Dyson battery control board. We can't tell what all of the Dyson microcontrollers do'we searched for part numbers printed on the Dyson components and couldn't find them for sale. Our educated guess is that the knockoffs are missing some charge and discharge monitors and controllers, and a few safety monitors. When we asked Dyson for a rundown of the differences, a spokesperson gave us a vague 'we always advise against using anything other than genuine Dyson parts,' and 'third-party batteries often do not conform to safety standards and can be dangerous'they also often suffer from inferior performance.'

Performance-wise, the knockoffs were okay. We charged each pack to its full capacity. Then we hooked them up to some temperature sensors and ran them on the V7's max suction setting until they were dead. The knockoff packs 'don't have an obvious deficiency' in this regard, Johnson said.

However, we did find that the knockoffs didn't run quite as long as the genuine Dyson pack. The PowerExtra ran out of juice in a shade under 5 minutes. The Dsanke lasted about 40 seconds longer. The real Dyson pack ran for 6 minutes and 30 seconds. This is despite claims from the companies that make the knockoff batteries that their batteries have higher capacities than the Dyson pack. The PowerExtra we tested, which disappeared from Amazon before we even finished writing this article (a common issue we've seen on Amazon with knockoff and counterfeit products), claims to have a capacity of 4,000 mAh (almost twice as much as Dyson's 2,100 mAh), but we found just 2,000 mAh printed on the battery cells. The other knockoff, by Dsanke, claims 3,000 mAh, but we found only 2,500 mAh.

We did find that the temperature of the third-party packs spiked and fell several times during charging, which can be a sign of lower-quality battery cells or pack design, according to Johnson. The Dyson pack did change temperatures, but it was a smooth curve.

The temperature of the third-party PowerExtra battery spiked and fell regularly as it charged, which Lee Johnson told us could be a sign of lower quality. The temperature of the Dyson battery pack didn't fluctuate up and down repeatedly as it charged, which indicates that Dyson's batteries are of a higher quality than the knockoffs we tested.

We looked at only two of about a dozen knockoff battery packs, but considering that most knockoff battery packs have similar prices and a lack of recognizable brands attached, we're pretty confident that they'll all be comparably shoddy.

Are the Dyson packs overpriced and overengineered? There's no doubt that they're wildly expensive. And there's some evidence that they fail at the same rates as battery packs from other brands (such as Shark), which almost always charge less for replacement packs. Though James Dyson once spouted off that the pack for the higher-end V10 vacuum could last for 15 years, a company spokesperson backtracked and told us that was engineer-speak, not a guarantee. (The Dyson warranty covers the battery pack for one year.)

Their price is high, but Dyson stick vacuums are the only great option we've found if you want the convenience of a cordless vacuum with enough cleaning power to basically replace a plug-in. If you need to replace the battery pack, the genuine pack seems like the safer choice (we can't find any examples of battery-safety problems), and it might save you some frustration and even money over time. If a Dyson stick vac doesn't seem like it's worth the money, get a plug-in vacuum.

 

Many people ask us about the battery life (run time) of the different Dyson stick vacuums.  Finding good data regarding this specification is difficult ' sources are scattered around online and some are frankly just wrong.  Battery life is a very important cordless vacuum characteristic so it is something you should know and something that should be accurate.  To help we have put together tables of battery life for the Dyson V11, the Dyson V10, the Dyson V8, and the Dyson V7.  We have also included suction power specifications because battery life and suction power go hand-in-hand.

Dyson V11/V10/V8/V7 ' Official Run Times

The following table provides the manufacturer's reported run time figures in the different power modes.  Some of these have been found in Dyson literature while others are the result of discussions with the manufacturer.  These figures are what we call 'official'. 

OFFICIAL RUN TIMES (MINUTES)

  V7 V8 V10 V11

LOW POWER
Motorized tool 

20 min 25 min  35 min 60 min

MED POWER
Motorized tool

N/A  N/A  20 min 40 min

MAX POWER
All tools

6 min 7 min 6 min 6 min

 

There are different run times for motorized and non-motorized tools, however we are not showing the run times for non-motorized tools in the table - these have become difficult to find for the V11 and for the most part consumers want to know the run time when using the vacuum with a motorized cleaner head.  A non-motorized tool will use less power than a motorized tool and therefore typically (but not always) has a longer run time.  Examples of non-motorized tools are the crevice tool and the dusting brush.  Motorized tools include the cleaner heads (direct-drive/torque-drive/high-torque) and the mini-motorized tool.

 

Also, you may notice that there is no MED power mode for the V7 and V8 in the above table. That's because they only have two power modes while the V10 and V11 have three (the V11 also has an automatic mode but you cannot measure run time as power varies ' see V11 review to learn more).

 

The power switches on the V7, V8, and V10 can be seen in the image below.  You will notice there are only two settings for the V7 and V8, while the V10 has three. 

 

 

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The power for the V11 is set within the LCD control panel which resides on the back of the handheld component.  We have taken pictures below of the three power modes in the control panel (ECO=LOW, BOOST=MAX).

 

Dyson V11/V10/V8/V7 ' Tested Run Times

We have all the different Dyson stick vacuums so we tested the run time for each and every one.  We ran each vacuum with its carpet cleaner head (direct-drive/torque-drive/high-torque ' depending on the model) on low pile carpet.  Each battery was fully charged, the power trigger was depressed, and a stopwatch was used to measure how long the vacuum ran before it stopped.  We also ensured the filters were clean and the dust canisters were empty, so each machine was starting from the same baseline.  We did not do the tests with non-motorized tools.  All the details have been recorded in the table below.

We have all the different Dyson stick vacuums so. We ran each vacuum with its carpet cleaner head (direct-drive/torque-drive/high-torque ' depending on the model) on low pile carpet. Each battery was fully charged, the power trigger was depressed, and a stopwatch was used to measure how long the vacuum ran before it stopped. We also ensured the filters were clean and the dust canisters were empty, so each machine was starting from the same baseline. We did not do the tests with non-motorized tools. All the details have been recorded in the table below.

 

TESTED  RUN TIMES (MINUTES)

  V7 V8 V10 V11

LOW POWER
Motorized tool

23 min 28 sec  27 min 28 sec  40 min 17 sec  55 min 14 sec 

MED POWER
Motorized tool

N/A  N/A  20 min 23 sec  44 min 17 sec 

MAX POWER
All Tools

6 min 22 sec  7 min 45 sec  7 min 14 sec  12 min 52 sec 

One thing stands out to us in the table above.  All except one test provided a better run time than that claimed by the manufacturer.  That's quite respectable.  The only unit that had any shortcoming was the V11 in Low Power mode ' it did not quite make the 60 minute mark as suggested by Dyson.  However, in our opinion, the V11 figures are still exceptional and it outperformed all the other units. 

 

Note: The V10 Motorhead is a slightly different machine from the V10 Animal and the V10 Absolute.  It has a different cleaner head, a longer wand, a smaller dust canister, and it even weighs less. The figures in the above table are for the V10 Animal and the V10 Absolute.  Our tests for the V10 Motorhead show slightly shorter run times.

 

 

Another battery related consideration is recharge time.  The batteries for each series (V7, V8, V10, V11) have different specifications:

 

V7: 21.6 V / 16.2 A / mAh / 46 Wh
V8: 21.6 V /18.5 A / mAh / 65 Wh
V10:  25.2 V / 20.8 A / mAh / 66 Wh
V11:  25.2 V / 21.6 A / mAh / 91 Wh

 

The battery recharge time for the V7 is 3.5 hours, however when Dyson brought out the V8 it had a larger battery and recharge time jumped to 5 hours.  They brought this back down to 3.5 hours with the V10, and with the V11 it is about 4.5 hours (although some sources quote shorter V11 recharge times).  Recharge time can be important if you do lots of cleaning and sometimes have short periods between cleaning sessions.

 

You may also want to watch our short video (below) where we walk through the run times for the Dyson cordless vacuums.  We cover both the official and tested figures and even discuss recharge times. 

 

Dyson V11/V10/V8/V7 ' Suction Power

Dyson measures suction in Air Watts. The following table provides suction figures for the V11. V10, V8 and V7.

 

SUCTION POWER (AIR WATTS) 

  V7 V8 V10 V11 LOW POWER 21 Air Watts  28 Air Watts  15.8 Air Watts  26 Air Watts  MED POWER N/A  N/A  33.8 Air Watts  38.6 Air Watts  MAX POWER 100 Air Watts  115 Air Watts  151 Air Watts  185 Air Watts 

 

The above suction power table is a helpful accompaniment to the run time table - you can now see what kind of suction power you get for the duration of the run time.  This is important.  A long run time is useless if the suction is poor.  Here we can see that the clear winner is the V11.  It has more power in all modes than the other vacuums, except the V8 in Low Power Mode.  However it has almost the same power in Low Power Mode as the V8 but it lasts twice as long.  In addition, the V11 lasts longer in Max Power Mode than all others while putting out substantially more power.  This is mostly the result of the larger V11 battery.

 

You can also see that Dyson is tuning these units for certain combinations of suction power and run time.  For example, even though the V10 has a much larger battery than the V7, it is putting out less power in Low Power Mode. They've tuned the V10 such that in Low Power Mode it is more focused on longer run times (and thus less suction).  Is this the result of some kind of optimization whereby they've found a way to get quality cleaning at the lower suction and are therefore able to save power and provide longer run times?  Or is this perhaps simply a move so that they can make marketing claims ' such as 'more than 40 minutes of run time'.  We're not sure but looking at both suction power and run time tables for these cordless vacuums generally helps to narrow down the best vacuum for your cleaning/timing needs.  Looking at one table in the absence of the other does not give you the full picture and can be misleading.

 

You may want to check out our short video on Dyson cordless vacuum suction power (below):

 

Nigel Russco has been reviewing and testing vacuums for over 14 years. He is a professional engineer and uses his review platforms to help consumers determine which vacuum cleaners are the best for their cleaning needs. Follow Nigel on facebook or view his vacuum review videos on the Vacuum Cleaner Advisor YouTube Channel.

 

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