I just won this auction for a steal $2.76 shipped and with a micro-SD card reader!
Battery for Asus A32-F5
I’ll post whats inside. 4400mAh 11.1V 6 Cells - I am guessing sanyo 2200mah what do you guys think it will be?
They are listed as buy now for $8.49 or $8.79 w/ Micro SD card reader
There could be a problem with that pack. Everywhere in the original listing it says “new battery for ASUS”. That probably means that this pack is a clone, with cheap Chinese cells inside.
Time and time again, I have bought clone cells for cameras, GPS units, laptops, that performed worse new than the original worn out authentic cell I was hoping to replace.
At least you didn’t spend a lot for it.
Yep, I won't consider a battery pack unless it says "genuine" or something similar in the title. Still, for $2.76 it's probably not a bad buy, just don't expect it to be filled with new name brand quality cells. I hope you'll let us know what's inside.
Here is a pic of that pack from the ebay site.
“Made in China”
It's okay if the pack is made in China.
Let-There-Be-Light wrote:The same color. They have the purple ring on the top. and no markings that Google has seen. Actually, now that this thread is going Google will know what a NLKA58 NLKA58 NLKA58 NLKA58 is hopefully? Thank you very much Sir! Mine have 6 vent holes if that’s the little holes around the top. You mention “engraved marking” on the wrap. Mine have none. I’m near sighted and looked at them a lot under a bright light. TY for clearing up my mystery. You probably saw how long your son’s laptop was lasting on battery and set his power options to High Performance, then when he complained bought him a new pack so you could have the good one to tear down
Most Sanyo's have label on the wrapper that is hard to see. It looks a bit like a water mark. It will be 3 parts "SANYO x" "UR18650xx" and a "date code". The label goes along the length of the cell. Some Sanyo's don't have a label. Here is an example. Date code is too low to see.
Hi all!
Its a snow day here in CT, I would like to confirm how to test the “harvested” cells with hobby charger (Accucel6) Do I just discharge to 3V using the NiMh mode, let cool, then recharge to 4.2 in LiOn mode, then read mA on display?
Thanks in advance!!
leaftye, apparently you are correct. That pack you displayed is an authentic ASUS pack, made in China. That pack would probably have good cells in it. The other pack on EBay is not an authentic ASUS pack but rather a clone and probably has junk cells in it. Like I said, it will be VERY interesting to find out exactly what kind of cells are inside.
As always, it is not a good idea to make generalizations such as ALL packs make in China are no good.
I think that when buying new packs for laptops, it is of utmost importance to buy authentic packs made by the original computer company.
Processengr wrote:
Hi all! Its a snow day here in CT, I would like to confirm how to test the “harvested” cells with hobby charger (Accucel6) Do I just discharge to 3V using the NiMh mode, let cool, then recharge to 4.2 in LiOn mode, then read mA on display?
Thanks in advance!!
That will work. For charging the type is called "LiPo" on the Accucel6. You don't have a choice on cut off voltage (i.e. 4.2v). At least not on my model. For 3 volt discharge cut off, you can just use the "LiPo" type. I usually discharge test to 2.5 volts using the "NiCd" type.
At least one of the two batteries I pulled apart was Chinese made, but Japanese cells. But it was sold and clearly a selling point that it had Japanese cells. One would think its hardly something you would keep schtum about…
You measure capacity with a discharge test. Fully charge the cell at a low rate of 700 or 800 ma, to ensure full capacity. Then discharge at 1 amp, read the mah after the discharge has finished. Different cells have different specifications as to there finally discharge voltage. If you can find a datasheet for the particular cell you have it should list the safe low voltage limit. Like these Panasonic cells. http://industrial.panasonic.com/www-data/pdf2/ACA4000/ACA4000CE254.pdf
They can be discharged down to 2.5v, you don’t have to take them down that low but that is how they test and specify the cells capacity. Cut off point set at 2.75v will still get you very close to the cell’s specified capacity. If there is no datasheet, you can use 3v as your cut off point to be on the safe side, that’s where most other cells are set. The higher the discharge rate the lower the cells capacity will be (with the higher load and voltage sag the cell reaches 2.5v sooner), in the datasheet above I think they run the test at 590 ma down to 2.5v. They do list other rates in the top right graph. I have no idea why they are showing a higher capacity at a discharge rate of 5900 ma.
If you wish to discharge down to 3v the lipo setting can be used, if you wish to discharge the cell down to 2.75v use the discharge test for Nimh and set the cut off voltage to 2.75v.
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I’m to slow, ImA4Wheelr beat me to it. 
yeah I am not expecting NCR18650B’s 
would be nice though lol.
There seems to be a lot of listing on ebay of this replacement pack so I figured someone should try it out. At $2.76 I would be happy if it came with “china”fire cells, so if they are junk it doesn’t hurt too bad… but you guys will know to stay clear of them!
There should be a sticky thread that keeps track of cells harvested from packs.
A sticky thread would be good if someone manages and updates the data, otherwise it becomes too cumbersome to weeds through hundreds of posts, many of which won't directly reference the battery pack in question, to find the information you're looking for. Then there's another problem if that person becomes inactive. Have you considered starting a wiki page on http://flashlightwiki.com/?
Moderator007 wrote:
. . . I’m to slow, ImA4Wheelr beat me to it.
Not really, Moderator's answer is better advice. I agree you should discharge to 3v if you don't know the cell can go lower safely.
I understand what you are saying but I was thinking more along the lines of everyone posting their results there. Just like how this thread has become…. it has been extremely informative; thank you dchomak!
I'm thinking the same thing, but unless someone compiles all that information, then eventually you'll be stuck sifting through hundreds and hundreds of posts spread out among many pages. That's no fun.
Google doc perhaps?
Ok, my stats after charging to nearly 3.0v and letting them sit for 1 week (Sony Green cells)- measuring with the same meter:
Cell# Voltage Voltage
Feb 7th Feb 14th
2 3.07v 3.03v
3 3.04v 3.00v
4 3.04v 3.01v
5 2.97v 2.92v
6 2.99v 2.95v
7 3.00v 2.95v
8 3.03v 2.99v
9 3.03v 2.99v
So how do these numbers look? They stayed above 2.0v so they should be fine (according to the advice given above). I put cell #6 on my new SoShine SC-S7 charger to see how much mAh it takes (I know this is not the same as a proper discharge test, but should be a good indicator of approx. capacity.)
-Garry
Got it today:
Identical pack, and identical cells. Same date codes too. Pack looked a little bit used though (shiny plastic part had some wear/scratches).
All cells are 2.45-2.6v.
Pack was ridiculously easy to open. Pried the seam where it normally connects to the laptop, popped it open a bit, and ripped it apart with hands. All in about 60 seconds.
Had an "OOPS" moment and popped cell #6 out of the charger while checking to see if it was getting hot (after it had charged for 2hours) so I lost the data for that cell. I then popped in cell #7 and here is the data:
2,670mAh (roughly), sounds reasonable to indicate a "good" cell. Cell came off the charger at 4.16v, now settled down to 4.15v (not sure if the charger is just cutting off a little early or what. That cell #6 that popped out I finished in my i4 and got 4.20 after "rest" from the charger. I'm going to be testing some used worn out old laptop pulls with the SoShine as well.
-Garry
