SO I just did my first laptop pull and I find little info on this problem in the Laptop Pull stuff above. The cells have lots of adhesive stuck to the sides from where they were assembled. I am not anxious to try to scrape it off even with my fingernails for fear of tearing the wrapper but I don’t want to use them with the sticky stuff all over them.
Is it OK to use acetone to remove the adhesive, or is it better to try to gently scrape it off? Or is there some other way of cleaning them?
Thanks.
BTW, it was an HP laptop and it yielded 8 Samsung ICR18650-22E cells that all had at least 2.8v so I am starting to charge and test them.
The wrappers are tough, I wet a paper towel corner with Goo Gone and wipe the sticky areas, let it sit awhile and the rub with paper towel and finger nails.
i’ve done a couple laptops before for the stash of 18650s… all were decent cells.
the black stuff? i just kinda gently do the fingernail thing. A little here, a little there. i dont rush it, i dont do it all at once. I got a TEENSY little of what is almost a tiny tear? so… i do it gently and a little at a time.
small price to pay to get batches of decent 18650s, i figure, i cant complain.
depends on the cell . Some have pretty flimsy heat shrink . Most sony panasonics and sanyos have a tougher plasic … the samsungs are pretty thin and tear up when you scrape junk off of them .acetone is a bit overkill IMO ….I use 96% rubbing alcohol and save the stronger stuff for screwing up nicer stuff like radios .
Thanks, y’all. Looks like a combination of delicate elbow grease and maybe a chemical solution for the last remnants. I am laughing inside because, like so many times with this obsession hobby, the time spent is probably not worth the money saved, but it is the challenge of conquering plastic and metal!
Took the first 4 cells off the charger and the good news is they all charged to between 4.18 and 4.22V and showed over 2100mah of capacity, but they all have internal resistances in the 120-130 range. I’ll see how they test after resting a couple of days, and the second half is on the charger now.
Yeah, make sure it’s worth keeping before going to the trouble of cleaning it!
I usually try to get the big/easy chunks of stuff off before charging though, as I would rather not have a bunch of “debris” falling into the charger cradle track. However, I don’t break out the IPA until I have the keepers sorted away from the duds.
Also, you might want to pick up some spare battery wraps. You can get 50 for about $5 from a few different places online. They are good to have on hand, as you will inevitably have cells with torn/damaged wraps.
you can just tape them up or hit them with nail polish or epoxy etc to fill any nicks in the heatshrink .
i keep meaning to buy some heatshrick tubing but never get around to it and 5+ years later and about 200 laptop pulls i still don’t “NEED it ”
to me the greatest revealation on laptop pulls was the solder blob …itis the greatest invention since reverse threaded tailcaps.
i use that tape that is in laptop packs sometimes too
yolo!