Many thanks in advance for your help. I've been very disappointed with the Dyson service reps, who just try to sell me a new vacuum.

I have a V6 Cordless stick vac. It runs strong for exactly 10 seconds, then quits. Dead. I can plug it back in for a minute or for a week (it doesn't matter), and it will run strong again for exactly 10 seconds, then go completely dead again (with flashing blue light).

UPDATE 1: I only just realized that the vac has been on MAX mode and this problem only occurs on MAX mode.

UPDATE 2 (10 months later): It ran well for another 10 months on standard mode. Now it's dead -- just getting the red light flashing 32 times. Most likely an unbalanced battery pack.

The Dyson reps don't seem familiar with this problem. They ask about pulsing (which this vacuum did a couple years ago -- but I cleaned out the filter clog and that stopped). They just want to sell me a new vac, or a new battery for $95.

I would buy a new battery if I thought that was the only issue. Anybody seen this problem?

(and if it is just the battery, where would you buy from?)

UPDATE 3 (2 years later): I decided to purchase a 3rd party replacement battery. It was a stupidly simple solution. That was more than a year ago. It was like getting a brand new vacuum. Still going strong. The hardest part was deciding which brand to buy.

I chose the First Power brand, sold on Amazon. It wasn't the cheapest replacement, but compared to the other bargain Dyson-compatible batteries out there on sites like eBay, AliExpress, Amazon and elsewhere, First Power had not only the best warranty, but tons of evidence that they respond quickly to questions, and even try to make things right if it's been more than a year. It seems that every single brand has bad units. The question is whether they'll make it right if there's a problem. And of course, buying from Amazon, I knew I could get easy free returns if I did get a DOA unit.

I know that Dyson warns against "non-compliant 3rd Party batteries," but I would recommend First Power without hesitation. They offer several versions for the V6, including some that offer more battery life than the Dyson original, and one that is a new screwless design.

(I was so happy with my purchase that I returned to the First Power brand to buy replacement batteries and chargers for two different Nikon cameras, and traveled across Africa with those this summer.)

1. I've got a cordless Dyson v6 stick vacuum, I've had it about 4 years

2. 2 weeks ago, the battery was perfectly fine - I could do a decent amount of vacuuming around the house before it ran out, certainly enough that I wasn't expecting the battery to die soon

3. I normally leave it plugged into charger (turned on) at all times (aside from when using it). But as I was going away for 2 weeks, I decided to turn its power point off while away. At this point, it still had some charge and was working fine.

4. When I get back after 2 weeks, it doesn't work or charge at all. No light or anything at all when plugged into charger. Tried different power points, no difference.

Obviously given it's 4 years old, it seems likely the battery has just worn out. But given point #2 above, i.e. battery was lasting decently - would it just suddenly 100% die like this, simply due to me not leaving the power point for 2 weeks?

And if the battery is faulty... should I get some kind of warning light at least when attempting to charge it?