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

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.

9X28

Doesn’t work. Take a look here: https://batterybro.com/pages/18650-date-code-lookup-tool

search “date codes” on BLF and there are posts stating that the old Panasonic cells with the dots around the top don’t work in the lookup tool.
This thread has more info.

I’ll break out my West Mountain Radio analyzer and run a few sweeps.

Seems that these may be made before 2009 according to: https://www.tomobattery.com/blog/how-to-know-panasonic-18650-battery-manufacture-date-code/

[New version of Panasonic 18650 Battery has 2 bars – a narrow bar and a wide bar. But the old version only has one narrow bar on the PVC. If you see a Panasonic 18650 battery has dot matrix on its top, it must be very old and be manufactured before 2009.]

I got a few panny-As like that, still chugging along!

I love the math

I have a Dell battery pack that i bought directly from Dell online but i don’t use the laptop anymore. I think it would be awesome if i could get some extra cells from it… Butttttt the problem is, i have no idea how to pull the cells from the pack lol.

Lots of youtube videos on taking apart laptop battery packs. It just takes a flat-head screwdriver or some other tool to pry things apart. Just make sure to not nick the cells, so you have to be careful.

Thanks. I think i will pass on this. It’s a pretty new pack. Maybe i can sell it or something. I have to actually DO what I’m trying to learn or i usually will for sure mess up