Does anyone else on here build their own battery packs?

I've been building my own lipo/ion/nmh packs for years, but have recently been out of the loop for about a year. I just noticed that the forum I was on has been shut down, which was the gathering point for listing all stats. Anyone out there on this forum? I seem to remember there being someone on here who claimed to build batteries...if my memory doesn't fail me.

Are you talking "battery packs" for laptops (replacement batteries)?

I started a thread over 2 years ago where I was going to rebuild a laptop battery for a 12 year-old Apple laptop...unfortunately I got lazy & never got it done. Now I'm concerned that the $40 I spent on replacement cells may have been wasted.

- Nick

Dang . . . I had no idea you could build your own batteries..... Especially Mac Notebook ones at that . . . Will keep a eye out on this thread and if you gents have any links to info to check out would be gratefully appreciated

Cheers

TattooedMac said:

Dang . . . I had no idea you could build your own batteries..... Especially Mac Notebook ones at that . . . Will keep a eye out on this thread and if you gents have any links to info to check out would be gratefully appreciated

Cheers

Click to expand...

Sometimes rebuilding a laptop battery is not as easy as it sounds. If the wrong replacement cells are used...then laptop battery runtime can be a little as only 15-30 minutes.

I've read many stories where folks were trying to rebuild a laptop battery...they used pretty high capacity rechargeable batteries (something you might use for a digital camera)...did the rebuild...and got very poor runtime.

So the challenges are:

- finding the proper rechargeable battery cells (very important)
- opening the old laptop battery housing (without breaking it)
- disassembling the old "battery pack" (remembering how everything comes apart {including desoldering}...photos help a bunch)
- putting everything back together (including some soldering)

In my application...it would cost me approx. $40-$45 dollars to rebuild a battery (assuming I got the correct cells & put everything together properly) that would cost $100-$120 brand new.

It's definitely a project that's more complex than it sounds.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

It's definitely a project that's more complex than it sounds.

- Nick

Click to expand...

Ahh ok.. But we are here to be challenged arnt we.
Would pay to score a OLD battery somewhere to try out, dis assembling and what not . . . .
Does sound rather interesting though .... Thanks Nick

pigoo3 said:

Are you talking "battery packs" for laptops (replacement batteries)?
- Nick

Click to expand...

No, not for macbooks, just for uses with specific connectors. But I know it's possible to build your own laptop battery out of lion/lipo cells/packs, as long as the battery compartment can be taken apart. I don't think I will try that though. I've only built battery packs that connect to specific connectors for use in recreational/hobby things.

My old lipo charger(Bantam) has finally stopped working. That was more than $250! I'm looking to build a new pack for my new helicopter, as well as get a new charger/balancer, but I am out of touch with what is good now-a-days. Now anything Pigoo3? Know if Orion still make good lion/lipo cells?

pigoo3 said:

Sometimes rebuilding a laptop battery is not as easy as it sounds. If the wrong replacement cells are used...then laptop battery runtime can be a little as only 15-30 minutes.
- Nick

Click to expand...

So true! It can be tricky, but you can make a set that can out power and outrun another set for a lot cheaper than some other company will sell it for.