Sharing: New genuine Toshiba laptop battery pack on Ebay - 12 cells - $16.99 (incl shipping)

I think they're 2200mAH cells.

Good find, with free shipping! I have a 106B so will test and check cell IR for reference. I ordered today.

Mike

Amazing deal. I got mine today. It was shipped priority mail, which makes it an even better deal.

Ordered one too. I have more than 120 cells (AA, AAA and brand-new laptop batt packs) coming in. This is getting crazy I should say!

Illuminaria, I am looking forward to hearing your discharge results. I was really surprised at the resting voltage of these cells. At $1.08/each these will make great cells for my 2x18650 leadlamps and lower amp lights.

I'm not even a fan of 18650's and have very few dedicated 18650 lights, but I figure that with the shipping fiasco over lithium ion batteries right now, I might really regret it if I didn't take advantage of great deals on battery packs.

I should have them by next Tuesday. I will use them to feed my SRK.

I was suckered into paying $8 for 4 Ultra-Fire 3000mAh batteries that measured 700mAh with around 144mOhm, IR.

LOL, I sent them back for refund with bad review. I was contacted by seller who was “broken hearted”. For a bribe of a revised review, a replacement of 4 new batteries with two (dangerous?) chargers would be sent to me. Sure >) ! I replied I would test the cells and write the review based on what he sent. Still waiting…

Your link should be a much better deal :beer:

The Toshiba packs in the OP are sold out.

I ordered more and when I went to pick them up they said the 1st ones sold Sept. 30th, but the listing should have been taken down but wasn't. I got a PP refund and they said they'd call me if they found any more in the Brooklyn warehouse.

My green Sony’s came today, same date code, capacity and initial voltage as yours. IR was all over the map in the low discharge state, around 280mOhm but will check when fully charged and run capacity when time permits.

I went ahead and made solder buttons on 8 cells before initial charge this afternoon. I have a SRK so did not want to damage driver board contacts.

I have to get ready for possible Tropical Storm Karen party tomorrow night, so time is short.

Tuesday I should have my second set from RMM’s link. I ordered some of the battery protect buttons so will experiment when received.

protect buttons

Those buttons cost twice as much as the cells.

With the price of the protected cells they should be a bargain? I bought 5 to test but need to find the yellow insulation tape. Nice to not have to pay for shipping, no? :stuck_out_tongue:

There's a lot more to adding protection circuits to individual cells than just sticking that PCB on and re-wrapping.

And who sells the button tops? I don’t see it in the pics.

Ordinary soldering iron won’t do?

I always thought the protection was spot welded onto the cell.

I'd recommend stripping down some protected cells first to see how they're put together. The insulators and spacers to keep things where they should be aren't readily available and if you don't get it right you'll have a fire hazard much more dangerous than the unprotected cell was before you started monkeying with it.

Absolutely, thanks for the warning and indeed monkeying around can lead to bad things, no? My apologize if post suggested I was just going to slap the bugger together.

I have looked at several pictures showing parts needed; several are shown at place of purchase from my link. Anyone try this? Soldering is required so proper PPE highly recommended with avoiding heat damage to cells. I will post pics when I find all I need. All critiques welcome!

@tatasal I did use solder to make the button tops, sorry late night post. They are working just fine, having four in my SRKing.

Thanks!

What are you planning to use them in, do you really need protected cells? I hate them, personally... I'd much rather check them myself with a meter (and I have a hobby charger, so knowing what's really going on is a bit easier). Any cells that are mismatched enough to need protection circuits to be safe shouldn't be used together in series anyway, all the cells will be limited to the level of the weakest one that cuts out first. If it's for single cell or parallel cell lights, you don't need protected cells and the headaches they bring.

That pretty much exactly sums up my way of thinking as well. I just avoid anything that need cells in series. Easy to do with lights, but I do face the problem the odd time with the AA battery packs in my VHF radios. They take 5 AA cells and I’d prefer to use 2 X 14500 cells and 3 dummies, but those packs will not take the protected 14500 cells. Sounds like my solution to that problem is to obtain a suitable hobby charger. What do you recommend?

I have only the SRK and two other single cell lights, nothing in series. So nothing that really needs them, it’s just an $1.30 experiment on my part. I like to build things;)

Agree, I use unprotected LiPo’s in my heli’s and always(!) measure them. However, my piloting skills tends to take things apart.

I like the idea of protected cells for people that don’t :frowning: There are several pictures around the web showing what the single cells can do when things go wrong. I’m not naïve enough to think that protected cells are the whole answer; at least at this point in development. Certainly if these are to go mainstream they need that extra measure of safety for the density of power contained?

Thx!

I only have a sample size of 1 to go on for hobby chargers, I have a Turnigy MAX80W - essentially the same everything as the more common Accucell-6, just with a little more current. I think the Accucell-6 was backordered when I bought it, and the price was close so, you know how that goes.

I'm waiting until models capable of doing the 4.30v/4.35v cells are available, pisses me off to have a big pile of cells that the hobby charger can't fully charge. I have to top them off manually with an adjustable DC power supply.

I think ultimately the answer will be safer chemistry (or wider adoption of the safer chemistries that already exist). External protection circuits only do so much, the demon is still inside that metal can and it doesn't get the chance to escape often, but when it does...