How to rebuild a Li Ion laptop battery? [closed]

How to rebuild a Li Ion laptop battery? [closed]

I have an aging Gateway NX560XL laptop. The battery is toast and a new one, even aftermarket, starts at $130. So, to experiment, I began tearing apart the old battery to see what can be done. I found it used 8 standard size 18650 Li Ion cells arranged two cells parallel then in series (like: ====). Some online shopping revealed ~$7-13/ea replacements depending on mAh output. My plan is to load test to determine the bad cells and replace only those, as I read that typically only 1 or 2 may be bad.

Asked by: Guest | Views: 302

Total answers/comments: 2

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bert [Entry]

"Typically, the batteries are connected to each other via spot welded tabs. You could solder wires to the batteries you found, but it might not fit afterwards. Make sure you use a wire with enough current carrying capacity (i.e. 14 AWG). Theses batteries do get hot and pass a lot of current during peak loads. You can also build yourself a spot welder rather cheaply if you want to try this route.

Make sure the case is well closed after your repair. Epoxy should do the trick.

There are a few tutorials on the web as well."

bert [Entry]

Unless you have experience with electronics and soldering I wouldn't risk it. Batteries put together incorrectly have an unhealty disposition to extreme exothermic reactions (i.e. blow up) which can be quite fatal if you are close.