Hi i've got an old crappy pc laptop which has a duff battery i took it apart today and its filled with 18650 cells (panasonic brand) can i use the cheap DX in there ? will they be safe using the laptop to charge ? and it they are ok should i use protected to standard cells.
I have used saved laptop batteries in all my lights for a long time now. Never had a problem
with them.
If you have a good quality charger which cut off at 4.1 volts I dont think there is nothing to
worry about.
Sorry what i meant to say was can i replace the batteries in the battery pack with new ones from DX ?
If you know to solder the batteries together in series you should save a lot of money.
Thanks for that mate, yes i can solder so i should be ok there, now just need to know weather to use protected or normal cells?
You don't need/want protected, and it won't fit anyway. You need flat+tabbed cells, often with proprietary tab shapes.
It's not worth it. It's impossible to source the right items and it's very hazardous to do a hackjob. Just buy the cheapo chinese laptop batteries off ebay. They basically do the hard work for you for a pittance.
I have tried it once. I used unprotected batteries, as in the original battery. There is a small
electrical board somewhere in the batterybody. Most often near the contacts.
I think that is the protection, so be carefull to locate it and connect it in the proper way.
Unfortunately i have an evesham laptop and can't find a replacement battery pack.
It's not impossible, but I would highly recommend at least finding tabbed batteries, and be very careful. Wrap stuff up in electrical tape if not sure about anything. You're talking about 6+ unprotected cells in a confined space.
electrical board somewhere in the batterybody. Most often near the contacts. I think that is the protection
It's an all-in-one charger/protection. Proper battery units' circuits also contain temperature monitoring probes, etc. Very well engineered.
I've kind of wondered if the cheapo chinese replacements skimped out on the more sophisticated functions or they're nice enough to copy wholesale, but I've never been curious enough to actually buy/destructively take apart working samples just to find out.
btw, what's a 'evesham'? is that a 'generic'? even urbandictionary is at a loss
edit: nevermind. it's literally a Evesham brand laptop, lol.
Most laptops, especially generics, these days are OEMed from Quanta or Compal. It might be quite difficult, but there's an off chance you might find exactly the generic battery on ebay.
for a robotic lawnmower LawnBot (3P/7S, 29,5V). I used 21 protected 2600mA cells from DX and took the protection off. So I was able to use the solder tabs already on there. You cannot solder directly on the battery. It might get to hot. There was a huge protection board in it, wich I reused. It is charging right now. I hope it will work. It seems to be ok, so far.
the battery pack is made by a company called absolute. part no 11268 but can't find one anywhere!! it is quite an old machine i only have it because it was FREE !!
Don't solder directly to 18650s. They are going to get too hot then Bad Things can happen. You can build a battery pack welder for not a lot - especially if you happen to have big (I mean 1 farad) capacitors for the car stereo that can be borrowed.
There are folks who have the gear and will rebuild battery packs for you - last time I looked they weren't that expensive. Then the laptop died of other causes before I ever did get the pack rebuilt.
The battery pack I made is working well. (see post #9)