Username/Email: Password: Login Register | Forgot your password? Rebuilding a Laptop Batte ry Oct 05, 2008 By Phil Hughes (/user/800012) When your laptop battery is about to give up the ghost, you are probably thinking of the typical three alternatives. The most obvious, of course, is "wow, what a great justification for buying a new laptop". With laptop prices falling and no such luck with battery prices, this almost makes sense. But, most of us will probably just bite the bullet and buy a new battery. The third alternative would be to replace the cells in the battery you already have. This article is about the third alternative. If you are not fairly skilled in working on electronics, this is not necessarily a good alternative. But, it is possible. Personally, I was inspired to do this the first time because the small (3-cell) battery for my ASUS laptop was very ill and I couldn't find a replacement. Financially, it also looked like a good choice. The out of stock new battery cost $129. I found the cells for a bit over $5 each. So, I ordered the cells and, expecting to have a success, ordered six more for a sick battery for one of my T23 ThinkPads. The first trick is to open the old battery without destroying the plastic or anything important inside. What you need to do is find where the two parts are glued together and work on the glue line with something sharp until you can open the battery. In the case of ThinkPad batteries, there are labels over parts of the glue line. So, first cut through the labels with a sharp knife. I then chose to use a wood chisel to first find parts of the plastic that will flex because there is open space behind them and then start opening in these areas. You may have better luck with a utility knife. Once you get the opening process started, a utility knife works best in some parts, the wood chisel in others. Just be careful not to cut too deep or you could damage circuitry or wiring inside. Also, remember that the goal is to be able to glue the battery case back together and have it fit in the laptop so cutting out a little plastic (possibly with a fine saw) may be better than an attempt to just open it up with the result of warping or breaking the plastic.
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Rebuilding a Laptop Battery
Oct 05, 2008 By Phil Hughes (/user/800012)
When your laptop battery is about to give up the ghost, you are probably thinking of the typicalthree alternatives. The most obvious, of course, is "wow, what a great justification for buying a
new laptop". With laptop prices falling and no such luck with battery prices, this almost makes
sense. But, most of us will probably just bite the bullet and buy a new battery. The third
alternative would be to replace the cells in the battery you already have.
This article is about the third alternative. If you are not fairly skilled in working on electronics,
this is not necessarily a good alternative. But, it is possible. Personally, I was inspired to do this
the first time because the small (3-cell) battery for my ASUS laptop was very ill and I couldn't
find a replacement.
Financially, it also looked like a good choice. The out of stock new battery cost $129. I found
the cells for a bit over $5 each. So, I ordered the cells and, expecting to have a success, ordered
six more for a sick battery for one of my T23 ThinkPads.
The first trick is to open the old battery without destroying the plastic or anything important
inside. What you need to do is find where the two parts are glued together and work on the
glue line with something sharp until you can open the battery.
In the case of ThinkPad batteries, there are labels over parts of the glue line. So, first cut
through the labels with a sharp knife. I then chose to use a wood chisel to first find parts of the
plastic that will flex because there is open space behind them and then start opening in these
areas. You may have better luck with a utility knife.
Once you get the opening process started, a utility knife works best in some parts, the wood
chisel in others. Just be careful not to cut too deep or you could damage circuitry or wiring
inside. Also, remember that the goal is to be able to glue the battery case back together and
have it fit in the laptop so cutting out a little plastic (possibly with a fine saw) may be better than
an attempt to just open it up with the result of warping or breaking the plastic.
Once you have all the pieces, it is time to actually build the new battery pack. I cannot
empathize enough that an error here can be dangerous. First, you are dealing with batteries that
if abused, can explode or burn. Additionally, the monitor circuit is always active so you are
working on operating electronics. Consider yourself warned.
I have found the best way to build the new pack is first take all the cells, the circuit board andthe connector out of the plastic case. Figure out how things are wired. That is, which cells are
in parallel, which are in series and, most important, which is the positive and which is the
negative end of each cell. There is also usually a thermistor (it looks like a little lump on the end
of two wires) and a thermal breaker attached to the batteries. Figure this out and, better still,
take a picture of it.
In the T2x series ThinkPad batteries, things are quite well organized. The black wire goes to
the negative end of the cell string. The red and orange together (one is the thermal breaker) go
to the most positive. White goes to the 3.7V tap and yellow to the 7.4V tap.
You are most likely going to have to solder the battery tabs together or connect them with short
pieces of wire. Try to make the connections as compact as possible. While everything may
appear fine, when you try to put the top on the battery pack you may discover you need to re-
solder connections and/or file down any lumps.
I start building the new pack within one half of the battery pack case. Double-stick tape will
hold the cells in place as you work on the battery. Hot glue can be used to stick cells together
and hold down the thermal breaker and thermistor.
When you get all the cells in place, start soldering the wires from the circuit board. Once again,
remember that the circuit is live so touching a wire to the wrong battery terminal can mean so
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Nov 29, 2009.
I rebuilt my Dell E1505 6 cell battery yesterday. I used cells from
www.batte ryjunction.com 18650 cells 3.7V 2600mAh. The 6 cells with meta l ta bs welded
on the ends were ~$52.00 including shipping. You can get cheaper cell s with less mAh, but
you don't want to put smal ler capacity batt eries in your pack, for a number of reasons.
The battery works just fine and the batte ry meter on the computer seems to be adapti ng slowly to the new
higher capacity pack. The hardest part of the process is getting the battery case apart.
Good luck.
Awsome Post (/content/rebuilding-laptop-battery#comment-344397)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Oct 22, 2009.
Such a great idea... I'm definitely going to try replacing the cel ls in my wife's Dell D610 laptop. We got
it 1yr ago as an off-lease system. I've already replaced the battery once (with an ebay "genuine"
replacement) but it only lasted a few months. Now both batteries will only hold a charge for approx.
45min. I've got some experience working with electronics / soldering so this process doesn't seem too
daunting. If it works, it'd be a super economical way to breath new life into the laptop.
Rebuilding a Laptop Battery (/content/rebuilding-laptop-battery#comment-342631)Submitted by Anthony (http://www.batterieswholesale.net) (not verified) on Sep 05, 2009.
It's good if you know how to or you have a knowledge in e lect ronics coz i f you try to risk your laptop it
could be blown away. Some people are troubleshooting their laptop battery but the success rate isn't
good... If you want a risk then try it....
I replaced it, but charge AND discharge really fast (/content/rebuilding-laptop-battery#comment-338142)
Submitted by diegugawa (not verified) on Jun 10, 2009.
I replace the old cells from my battery as well, but when I charge the battery it charges really fast, and
later it discharges at almost the same speed.
I put new 18650 with "2400ma" each, and the other cel ls were 1800ma. I wondering if the circuit doesn't
like this higher amount of amps in the battery.
How can I fix this?!?!
I am using a apple powerbook G4 with Leopard in it. I have 2gb of ram... (just in case someone wondered)
Thanks!!!
I think the circuit inside (/content/rebuilding-laptop-battery#comment-339400)
Submitted by Cimo (not verified) on Jul 08, 2009.
I think the circuit inside the batt ery records the charge of the battery and when new cells
are installed the charge and discharge cycles are as they were last recorded (this is a
protection mechanism) - to be able to use the new batte ries I think you have to reset the
microcontroller in the circuit.
The higher mA is OK - the higher it is, more time you can get. But there is also a limitation circuit inside
some batteries that won't allow more current to flow than designed for.
Hope it helps.
regards.
I think the circuit inside (/content/rebuilding-laptop-battery#comment-352785)
Submitted by leo hemmerly (not verified) on Jun 11, 2010.
I think the circuit inside the bat tery records the charge of the battery and when
new cells are installed the charge and discharge cycles are as they were last
recorded (this is a protection mechanism) - to be able to use the new batteries
I think you have to reset the microcontroller in the circuit.
The higher mA is OK - the higher it is, more time you can get. But there is also a limitation
circuit inside some batte ries that won't al low more current to flow than designed for.
Hope it helps
how do you reset the microcontroller... i have the sa me problem..???