
Many households globally now own a Dyson handheld cordless stick vacuum cleaner, to allow convenient vacuuming of their area. Being cordless means there is a requirement to be battery operated, which is a part that perishes over time and leads to a reduced run time capacity of the vacuum.
When I first purchased my Dyson DC44 Animal vacuum in 2016, after a full charge, I was able to vacuum my entire house (not large) on a single charged battery and on the ‘MAX’ setting of the vacuum, which is approximately 7 minutes of continuous vacuuming. The motor head on the vacuum would collect all varieties of hair and the canister would be loaded with dust and debris.
Fast forward to 2019 and my DC44 was lucky to stay on for 35 seconds at the most and would cut out and fail to clean even a small area. I was so disappointed, firstly because my house does need to be vacuumed and secondly because I really did stretch my budget to allow the initial purchase of the Dyson vacuum, as they are a premium brand.
What is wrong?
So I set out to determine what could possibly be causing my DC44 to cut out the way it was. I took the entire unit apart and made sure there were no blockages or items stuck where they shouldn’t be. Checked to make sure there was a secure connect from the charger to the battery, also check to see if the actual battery was securely attached to the vacuum (there were reports of some Dyson handheld vacuums having loose batteries). All checks proved there was no obvious reason for the short run time, except for the battery itself.
After looking for information on the internet relating to Dyson battery replacements, I didn’t really find many details on what to do or how successful a battery replacement has been for other Dyson owners. From here I took to ebay to see if there are any replacement batteries for my Dyson DC44 model and sure enough there were many! I decided to look for a seller with reliable feedback and a reasonable price. There are many varieties of batteries to purchase but I determined I required a Type B battery (it has an extra part to allow the battery to be securely screwed into the Dyson base) and that I would try and get the highest mAh (milliamp hour) available, to hopefully provide greater runtime.

Solution?
An order was placed for a Type B 3,000mAh battery. Here is the link to the battery I purchased (please note I have no affiliation or ownership of the sellers site, I purely clicked ‘Buy it now’ and crossed my fingers):
www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-0A-Battery-For-Dyson-Vacumm-Cleaner-22-2V-Type-B-DC31-DC34-DC35-DC44-TypeB
The price was about $49.00
This is not a genuine part from Dyson and is an after market battery that suits a number of Dyson models, which are DC31, DC34, DC35, DC44, DC45 plus their Animal equivalents. Other models may have batteries available, just search for your model number online for a battery that may be suitable.
Interestingly, when the battery arrived about 4 days later, I was surprised to see the battery was actually a 3,500mAh model. So slightly larger capacity than originally purchased but I was happy to receive it.
Battery replacement
Removing the old battery require the canister and filter to be removed, plus two screws to be removed. One screw was behind the washable filter at the bottom and the second was on above the charging port on the rear edge of the Dyson vacuum. Once the screws were removed, I was able to slide the battery easily out of the unit.
Attaching the new battery was a little difficult, only because a bit of force was required to align the screw holes. A firm press of the battery into the Dyson unit, seemed to work and I’m assuming the battery fit more firmly due to the part not being a genuine Dyson part.
Outcome
The battery seemed to arrive fully charged and I was eager to see how well it performed over the previous battery that was lasting for such a short period of time. I also wanted to determine if it was simply the battery that had been faulty or was it a bigger issue that I faced. I was relieved to hear the Dyson vacuum still functioning after 1 minute of use. It sounded just as it had always sounded and was gobbling up dirt was well as it ever has in the past. On the ‘MAX’ setting, I was able to run the vacuum for 8 minutes 45 seconds, longer that I had ever been able to before!
So I decided to put the vacuum on charge and see how long it would take to charge. It took around 10 hours for the first charge to complete. Then I decided to try an endurance test again on the ‘MAX’ setting. This time it lasted 8 minutes 50 seconds, so very consistent with the previous running. I put it back on charge, this time it took roughly 8 hours. The next test I tried was to try it in ‘normal’ mode, this time I was able to used the Dyson for 21 minutes 16 seconds. How fantastic is that!?
One really interesting thing I noticed when comparing the original battery that came with my Dyson DC44 Animal and the new battery, is the difference in operating temperature between them. From new in 2016, I noticed the base of the battery on my Dyson would always be extremely hot to touch after vacuuming my house, with the new battery on ‘MAX’ or ‘normal’, it is not hot at all, in fact the entire unit feels the same temperature all over.
Analysis
DC 44 Animal – I will update the runtime over time as a review.
Replacement battery runtime – BRAND NEW:
‘MAX’ = 8 minutes 45 seconds
‘Normal’ = 21 minutes 16 seconds
Replacement battery runtime – After 1 month:
‘MAX’ = TBA
‘Normal’ = TBA
Replacement battery runtime – After 2 months:
‘MAX’ = TBA
‘Normal’ = TBA
Replacement battery runtime – After 6 months:
‘MAX’ = TBA
‘Normal’ = TBA