BLF Community Battery Pulls Overview Thread (Laptop packs and Tool Packs)

Been testing a few of the LG 18650 S3 cells and they seem to hold around 2150mAh at 1A down to 2.8V. After that they rebound to like 3.35v and I can tap another 100ma out of them at.2A so that’s pretty good I think.

I should get my power inverter today and my last asus battery. I’m planning on building the entire power bank in a Plano storage box that has a hinged top so i can do any maintenance that’s needed to it. Its also clear which I plan to cover most of it in vinyl wrap so well see how that goes. Should be the perfect size case as it fits the 18650 stacked no problem! Should make a nice portable multi use charger for anything I need….laptop etc.

Edit: Got the 3rd laptop battery, power inverter and pieces of equipment that will make me famous some day…hehe jkjk but anyway… Testing out the inverter now. Running it on a 12V power supply rated for only 5A…so I’m running my laptop on it and charging my phone…not the safest thing in the world but yea, it works and doesn’t get hot too!

I should probably make a thread for this…which I will if I find time…doubtful but anyway. Wanted to update everyone on my progress. Finished my mobile power wall…(Need to come up with a better name for it)

Pulled 6 Sony US18650GR (I think G7 version 2400mAh) out of an Acer AS09A41 laptop battery.

Need some advice. First pull.

I pulled from a Dell that’s about 3 years old 6, ICR 18650-22H Samsung’s.

One was dead and the rest read 2-3.5v.

I put them to charge in my only two chargers one a Nitecore I2 charger and a EBL charger.

2 batteries charged up fine. 2 charged mostly then got quite hot(not untouchable), so I pulled those off to cool. The other wasn’t charging quite right.

Let them set for a couple of days, checked the voltage and they all came down about .30 volts over a couple of days.

I then put them on the Chargers a couple more time and they eventually dropped less and less.

Most recent charge, all 5 even the two that got warm are now charging, cool, show 4.20 volt and are holding that like a new battery would.

Is this normal? Do 18650 pulled batteries need to be conditioned? Charged, charged, charged again until they are back to life. I have searched but couldn’t find the answer I was looking for. Or trash the ones that got warm.

Thanks.

Couple weeks back j found the same exact pack. 2 cells were dead the other 4 still tested over 2400. It seems with laptop packs it’s hit and miss abd it’s always surprises me. I’ll find packs 5 6 years old in the recycle bins and test at or near full capacity. And others just a couple years old complelty trashed mah wise

If they got unreasonably hot during charging. More then your normal temp for your charger enough that you stopped the charge then Ya I would recycle them. And keep the others. No need to take risks the bins will have plenty of 18650s for years to come to scavenge through. I hit my local Lowe’s up once a week. I use to work there so they let me dig through it. Home Depot Bogart’s the bin like your trying to steal something. It’s gotten to the point I don’t even care. When they say something I just walk out with the packs. They can’t do anything. And only loss prevention has the ability to really do anything. And they are only focused on keeping the merchandise from being stolen not recycled materials.

Sounds a little iffy if you ask me. I’ve had a few battery packs that are around 1-2V and I can charge them up just fine at a 0.1A rate…takes forever but they actually accept the charge. After that do some discharge testing. Since my imax B6 only does 1A it takes forever to discharge batteries…ugh, that’s the only thing I don’t like about it, wish I could do like 2-3-4AMP discharge… anyway. I’d do like maybe a 0.5A discharge test and see what capacity you get. Run it a few cycles and see if its worth keeping.

Just picked up 2 laptop battery packs off ebay. Seems to be some good deals all of a sudden. Got a supposed new lenovo 63wH 6 cell pack for $6! That should be around 2800-3000mAh per cell…excited to see what I get! I also got a new 9 cell dell battery pack for $9…again $1/cell is my goal here for new cells. Will update the thread sometime in the next two weeks or so once I get them.

I think I’m going to ask my company’s IT department if they have a recycling program or trash the laptop batteries we use… We’ve got over 4000+ employees so surely they see quite a few laptop batteries cycling in and out… maybe I can get my hands on a few.

Haha Oh this ebay seller definitely made a mistake. New Lenovo ThinkPad 6 cell battery… 63wh and he sold it for $6. Lol whops. Bought it and it’s already shipped. Will have it today but went back and checked…all other batteries of the seller are $16 not $6. Lol

Got some great cells! Now I wish I would have ordered more…Oh well. Can’t complain for $1/cell…
Panasonic 18650BD - 3000mah cells!!!

Ah darn?!! Guess I can’t win all the time. Got an $9 auction of a battery with pouch cells that are completely dead…. And 3 panasonic 2800mah red cells…. Unfortunately they’re all 0 volts. Seems like I’ve been able to revive 2/3. The third started to get warm from charging and after I took it off the charger at 0.03A it slowly dropped to 1.5v so it’s definitely bad…Maybe I’ll cut it open for a look!

Wow I dominate this thread now…

Picked up a PA3612U-1BRS battery off ebay for $9.74. Wasn’t sure if it was going to be genuine or not. Ended up being a genuine Toshiba battery. 6 NCR18650 2700mAh panasonic cells! Another good buy! Not bad for $1.6/cell… The battery must have been old, they were all at 3.2V but I’m charging it right up with no problems! I’ve read these batteries age SUPER well. Same as a Tesla roadster cell!

It’s worth repeating that this only works for “factory” packs. Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. all get the first best quality 18650s in huge batches; for the off-brands it’s catch-as-catch-can. I have no problem at all running off-brand battery packs in laptops, but that’s a different story.

So far (it’s only been a few years) that’s the Very Best source I’ve found yet. If your company’s IT department requires factory replacement batteries, you swim in an ocean of free Coulomb storage. Lucky!

Notebook battery pulls:

HP 628668-001 11.1v 5225mAh, 6 cell, LG LGDBC21865 (ICR18650C2) 2800mAh 4.3v. Mfg date 2012/11 (between 2v and 3.6v, all charged good at 4.2v)

Lenovo TIS 2217-2548, FRU P/N 42T4677, 10.8v 5.2AH, 6 cell, Sanyo UR18650FM 2600mAh 4.2v. Mfg date 2010/01 (2 cells 3.6v, 4 cells 1.6v, all charged)

Toshiba PA3931U-1BRS, 11.1v 5700mAh, 6 cells, Sanyo UR18650ZTA 2900mAh 4.35v. Mg date 2011.07 (all cells 3.9v)

I keep asking the IT dept at work if they have any old laptops, or at least old battery-packs. :smiley:

Never do. :expressionless:

Someone got to them first!

Our IT just cleaned house and they've handed me 6 Dell packs with ICR18650-28As (4.35V). They're old, date code 2B12 (Jan 2011) but they hold at least 4.25V for a while. A number of my coworkers have been buying good lights from Nitefox and Sofirn so they will have batts that won't overcharge with potentially poorly calibrated chargers.

Actually, no. They use their phones as flashlights.

I even offered to sell any of mine (box-queens) at-cost or below, or buy ’em a good light from Amazon or whatever, and never had a single taker.

I once needed an 18650 to test a light, asked IT, and got back “Whut’s a 18650?”.

Guess no one even vapes or anything.

Ahh, I see. That's funny about the 18650. Some of our IT folks didn't know either. I guess they just heeded warnings not to open the packs. I get to bring 24 hour field operations and management together with technology. The guys prefer not to destroy their phones but it's taken them a little time for them to buy into lithium. We definitely have a few vapers.

Found a good deal on Panasonic NCR18650 cells for about a buck a piece. I got 2 of thes packs and they are genuine OEM battery packs. All cells measured around 3.4V out of the box, and my Opus BT-C3100 and XTAR Dragon chargers measured all cells very close to 3000mAh. The Opus charger showed just over 3100mAh on each cell and the XTAR Dragon showed just under 3000mAh. All cells measure between 35mOhms and 37mOhms using the XTAR Dragon IR probes.

Edit- in case the auction price changes, I payed $12.99 per pack of 6 cells.

What’s the date code on those?

That's the question I have too.