Just wondered if anyone had any ideas what cells I might find in a G3 iBook battery pack and how easy it would be to get to them? I have a completely unused battery pack from about ten years ago and wondered if it was worth plundering?
Well, 10 years ago I think they were using 18650s. However for such old batteries they will have very little capacity to start with and will have even less after 10 years passed. I personally wouldn't bother.
Oh well, there was hope for a minute 
Thanks for the advice.
You could do it anyways. :) Just for practice.
I’d do it. You can always use them as backup cells… even if they only have half the capacity of a new one.
For 10 year old cells you would be lucky to get more than 700 mah out of them.
I have cells as old as 2003 from laptop battery packs. Although most are no longer useful, you’d be surprised how robust those cells are, specially if they are Panasonics or Sanyo. Just hope that that battery pack was discarded Not because it was EOL, but from an iBook that had an early demise due processor failure, etc. If you have a hobby charger then you can be on your way to find out its discharge capacities. Good luck!
AFAIK the apple laptops use Lithium polymer packs.
Let us know what you find.
I got 9pcs MOLI 18650 cells from 12 years old laptop. Originally 1500mAH cells. Still got 900-1000mAH @ 1A discharge.
But their internal resistance is very high.
you can overcharge them and use them as grenades
We can’t say things like that over here - get arrested on terrorist charges!
Well, the battery pack is a spare that was bought and never used - still packaged up. Considering its age I can’t sell it on so there’s nothing to lose taking a look in there, just got to work out how to get in!
I Googled that model and I think the batt pack contains 18650s.
As you said the pack is unused, there’s a very high probability they are still in good condition. Brand-new 18650s self-discharge very, very slowly. I have 10 year old laptop cells that has 95% of its
original capacity.
if me, open pack carefully and check cells, charge, discharge (safely)… at least learn from it.
don’t throw it away. Im hardly find laptop packs here…
Well, the battery pack yielded seven Panasonic CGR18650A cells.
Unfortunately they ranged from 0.09v to 0.16v…long dead, I guess…
Maybe, maybe not. I have revived cells down to .5 volts in the past by shocking them back to life.
I did too
Any tips? Only got a cheap, basic DX charger ’til my Intellicharge arrives.
The first step is to take another fully charged 18650 and wire positive to positive and negative to negative. Only have it connected for 1-2 seconds. This will hopefully raise the voltage enough.
Could I use protected cells for this or would they trip?
They would probably trip. You could try it anyways.