Successul TiBook Battery Rebuild

[MacNewbie]

The maker space I am a member of, got a lot of 18650 cells donated. We have a full soldering station (multiple ones actually) and a guy managed to build an electric bike from these cells - using a spot welder to weld on the thin metal strips for the battery terminals, then soldering wires to them.

So I brute-forced the case on the completely dead battery, and spent at least 30 minutes documenting the wiring. Inside the battery are 2 small circuit boards, one of which is attached to the connector, and wires that go to certain locations.  There are 8 cells total, and they must be connected in a certain way. 

After much spot-welding, soldering, and testing, and lots of electrical tape being used to keep from making unwanted connections, I re-assembled everything and used some duct tape to keep it together. If I was doing it again I would figure out a better way to seal the battery back together, but the duct tape worked.

Now I have a 3-hour battery or so, on the TiBook!  Haven't really tested longevity yet but it does last...

[madalynmcworm]

The maker space I am a member of, got a lot of 18650 cells donated. We have a full soldering station (multiple ones actually) and a guy managed to build an electric bike from these cells - using a spot welder to weld on the thin metal strips for the battery terminals, then soldering wires to them.

So I brute-forced the case on the completely dead battery, and spent at least 30 minutes documenting the wiring. Inside the battery are 2 small circuit boards, one of which is attached to the connector, and wires that go to certain locations.  There are 8 cells total, and they must be connected in a certain way. 

After much spot-welding, soldering, and testing, and lots of electrical tape being used to keep from making unwanted connections, I re-assembled everything and used some duct tape to keep it together. If I was doing it again I would figure out a better way to seal the battery back together, but the duct tape worked.

Now I have a 3-hour battery or so, on the TiBook!  Haven't really tested longevity yet but it does last...

I recycled two batteries a few weeks ago ; ;

[Syntho]

I have a 1ghz TiBook that needs a battery replacement. What would you want for a battery? 

[MacNewbie]

I have a 1ghz TiBook that needs a battery replacement. What would you want for a battery? 

Do you want just the cells to be sent to you, or do you want to send me the battery and have me rebuild and test it?

The cells alone are almost $30.  It is not hard, it just takes careful work. And you need to be 100% sure that there are no shorts.

I could add new batteries, rebuild and test it, with the caveat that the battery case would need to be taped (I *possibly* could glue it carefully back together, no guarantees) for a total of $75 including return shipping to you (you send me the battery).

[mrhappy]

Now I have a 3-hour battery or so, on the TiBook!

Wow... that's fantastic!Nice work MacNewbie!!  Btw... I really got a 'CHARGE' out of your post! You took a battery that was 'TERMINAL' and 'CURRENT'ly have one that's working! That's really turning a 'NEGATIVE' into something 'POSITIVE' !!! 

[GaryN]

Keep it up Happy…I swear I'll make a barfing emoji.

[MacNewbie]

Now I have a 3-hour battery or so, on the TiBook!

Wow... that's fantastic!Nice work MacNewbie!!  Btw... I really got a 'CHARGE' out of your post! You took a battery that was 'TERMINAL' and 'CURRENT'ly have one that's working! That's really turning a 'NEGATIVE' into something 'POSITIVE' !!! 

Thanks for the BATTERY of compliments! 

[macStuff]

some photos would be great 

[MacNewbie]

some photos would be great 

It looks exactly like the existing battery on the outside.  On the inside, the cells I have are a slightly darker shade of green than the original.

This is with the cover off, old batteries shown

https://i.imgur.com/UIphze9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YLyS25l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/xCExd8w.jpg

[ctjalsma]

Just curious. Did you measure the voltage of the cells of the dead battery? Were they all still at least 2.6V or so, or were at least some of them at 0V or close to it? Reason I'm asking is I'm getting ready to try the same thing. Have the new cells and a spot welder, which I just got and am still practicing with. Replacing the cells doesn't seem that hard, what I'm worried about is the battery controller. I've played with a few others (not TI Book) and even with fresh cells they don't work, since the controllers saw a dead cell at some point and store that fact, then disable the battery (unless you can reprogram the controller, which I wouldn't have a clue to do). Supposedly one technique, which I plan to try with the TI Book batteries, is to first connect all the stages (cells) to a parallel good battery before disconnecting and removing the old cells. That way the controller never sees zero volts. So i was wondering if you had to do that, or if the TI Book controller isn't quite as fiddly as the ones I've tried.  I would just love to have a 3 hour battery again. Other than that the computers are great. 

[MacNewbie]

Just curious. Did you measure the voltage of the cells of the dead battery? Were they all still at least 2.6V or so, or were at least some of them at 0V or close to it? Reason I'm asking is I'm getting ready to try the same thing. Have the new cells and a spot welder, which I just got and am still practicing with. Replacing the cells doesn't seem that hard, what I'm worried about is the battery controller. I've played with a few others (not TI Book) and even with fresh cells they don't work, since the controllers saw a dead cell at some point and store that fact, then disable the battery (unless you can reprogram the controller, which I wouldn't have a clue to do). Supposedly one technique, which I plan to try with the TI Book batteries, is to first connect all the stages (cells) to a parallel good battery before disconnecting and removing the old cells. That way the controller never sees zero volts. So i was wondering if you had to do that, or if the TI Book controller isn't quite as fiddly as the ones I've tried.  I would just love to have a 3 hour battery again. Other than that the computers are great.

A few batteries were still ok, with at least two of them completely dead. The batteries appeared wholly dead to the laptop and none of the LEDs on the battery pack would come on.

I didn't have to do anything special, I just took my time in making sure before I took the pack apart that I knew *every* wire and every connection thoroughly and I wrote it down and took photos.  Then proceeded.  Beware - the pack is very tight and you might inadvertantly put it together with a wire touching something it shouldn't.  Before you put everything back 100%, let it sit for a few minutes, then touch each cell - if any of them are warm, there is something wrong and you have to re-check the wires.