18650 batteries

[brewsterfrank]

i was just wondering if anyone has used 18650's that have came out of a laptop battery pack. i tore apart the battery pack on an dell and it had 12 of them in it. one of them was completely discharged and that was the problem with it. was going to fix it but a new pack was very cheap so i just bought one.and before i get the comments about protected batteries i took the one that was dead and pried the top + off and it did have a pcb in it. after this i had 11 186502 and nothing to try them on so i made a flashlight mod. turns out there were 5 of them that lost charge after 15-20 minutes. 6 of them are holding a good charge and last about two days of moderate vaping. at a full charge they are 4.03 and stop firing cartos at 3.2 so all in all i dont think im going to need to buy any batteries for a while. just thought i would share this. thanks for reading.

 

[Dalton63841]

That's pretty interesting...Too bad I only own a single Macbook Pro laptop...Just one single brick shaped battery in there...Although it can power the whole laptop for about 7 hours...I bet it'd run an atty for a while...Not that I intend to find out. I love my Macbook Pro more than my car or my e-cigs.

Still...I will keep my eye out for "bad" laptop batteries from now on if they actually have useful cells in there.

 

[NCC]

Not that I intend to find out. I love my Macbook Pro more than my car or my e-cigs.

That's just crazy. Anyway, you might find that "brick" houses 18650s. Pretty common.

 

[brewsterfrank]

yeah i just popped open the battery for my HP and it had 6 18650's. im thinking maybe hittin up ebay for old pc batteries might be a good idea.

 

[Dalton63841]

That's just crazy. Anyway, you might find that "brick" houses 18650s. Pretty common.

Actually no, I think they were at one time, but Mac's newer batteries are actually totally flat, to fit more battery in the space.

And to be fair, my Macbook Pro cost more than my car or my e-cigs...

 

[JuiceJunkie]

I have a few out of an old laptop pack as well. I'm not using them because they are not "protected" cells as far as I can tell. If I new they were, I would be using them for sure.

 

[bstedh]

I just opened up one of my sony laptop batteries as the charger in the laptop is dead and got 6 18650's. I do not believe they are protected but I am going to use them anyway. I am aware of all the dangers and cautions and precautions to take. =]

They are samsung 2600mah.

 

[VWFringe]

you can add protection circuits - they cost about $1.95 from All-battery.com, and their 32mm shrink tubing will cover them (their shrink tubing sizes are not by diameter). The ones from dealextreme have leads attached...I got some from all-bat and have to hunt for the flat wire now, but i didn't need to wait three months.

I also got 6 from a laptop pack, but i've spent more time on them than i care to admit, so free can cost... a lot

 

[kcofohio]

This thread inspired me. A while back, my place of employment was throwing out a bunch of electronics. While skimming through for salvagable stuff, I found some Dell laptop batterys. One still showed signs of life on the led meter.
After reading this thread, I carefully pulled it apart. Found 8 18500's all reading 3.6-3.7 on my meter. Made in Japan by Sony. Much better build quality than The Chinese. And so far, the ones I have used are holding a good charge.
So, thank you for inspiring me.

 

[bstedh]

This thread inspired me. A while back, my place of employment was throwing out a bunch of electronics. While skimming through for salvagable stuff, I found some Dell laptop batterys. One still showed signs of life on the led meter.
After reading this thread, I carefully pulled it apart. Found 8 18500's all reading 3.6-3.7 on my meter. Made in Japan by Sony. Much better build quality than The Chinese. And so far, the ones I have used are holding a good charge.
So, thank you for inspiring me.

Even the ones that didn't show life could still have good batteries in them. Some times only one in the pack will be dead. Just pull them out and see if they will take a charge. Also if you look on google there is a possibility of freezing them for a couple of days to bring them back to life. My understanding is that freezing them will break crystal formations in the battery that are killing it. Just make sure you search the info on how to do it correctly...

 

[VWFringe]

I believe all old battery packs will have good 18650 batteries, but...
CONS
they aren't protected, and DIY is a pain,
they aren't protected, so you SHOULD NOT stack them, (CINGLE CELL MODS ONLY PLEASE UNLESS YOU PROTECT THEM)
they aren't high-drain, so 3.75 is where you live (AW's are more like 4v I believe)
they are lower capacity than an equivalent new cell
PROS
they are past break-in
whatever capacity you find they have will diminish slowly (so if you change them every 24 hours it'll stay the same with care - meaning don't drain them until they're weak or stop firing)
they provide me with 24 hours of vaping, not spectacular vaping, but they don't make 1 ohm low resistance attys I can use on it, so it's a matter of taste
(read as: I wish I'd bought some AW's instead of dicking with these "free" batteries for three months just to decide i'm going to just use them unprotected)

 

[kcofohio]

From the Dell battery pack, the 18650's have "US18650GR Sony ...ushima STG".
Upon examination, there looks to be a strip running along the side, which I assume would be a connection from + end to a pcb.
These batteries do charge up to 4.2v.

 

[VWFringe]

charge up to 4.2, but where do they stabilize and spend most of their time? not in AW land me thinks.

CONS (continued, lol)
cutting open the pack (dremel cut-off wheel, careful not to damage the insulation on the sides of the batteries)
separating the batteries (dremel cut-off wheel to cut through the stainless bus strips connecting the batteries)
carefully prying off the welded tabs (using thin needle nose pliers rolling it up like a sardeen can lid)
dremeling off the left-over weld spots on the batteries

 

[allmac]

A while back, I pulled a Skil brand 10.8volt cordless drill out of my boss's trash can. I opened it up and got 3 protected 18650's. All of my mods use 14500's, but it's nice to know that when/if I upgrade, I'll have some batteries to get started with.

The batteries don't have a maker's mark or mAh rating. Just a sequence of numbers printed on yellow heatshrink. Any guesses what brand they are??

 

[WillyB]

i was just wondering if anyone has used 18650's that have came out of a laptop battery pack. i tore apart the battery pack on an dell and it had 12 of them in it. one of them was completely discharged and that was the problem with it. was going to fix it but a new pack was very cheap so i just bought one.and before i get the comments about protected batteries i took the one that was dead and pried the top + off and it did have a pcb in it.

Interesting. I've only seen the PCBs on the negative/bottom, with a side strap up to the positive to complete the circuit on single cells.

This is the insides of an AW2900. I don't think I've ever seen a protected Japanese/Korean cell. AW adds their own.

Every laptop pack I've seen has a standalone protection/charging circuit wired up to the unprotected cells.

Something like this.

The other problem with old laptop cells is that they have been cooked, that's one of the reasons the pack goes bad so quickly. When you are running your laptop on AC, it's basically like storing your cells in an oven. Wanna get some mileage out your pack? Pull it when you are plugged in for any length of time. Many folks tend to use them like desktops. And also without the pack in there the laptop tends to run a tad cooler.

 

[CraigHB]

That would be the main thing about using an old Laptop pack for cells. If they're not outright fried, they're pretty tired. Li-Ions don't last that long in terms of cycle life and they degrade just sitting on the shelf. Even a 3 year old laptop pack would be pretty worn out. You'd have to take apart an almost new one to get the cells while they're still fresh. Though one thing nice about the laptop packs, the OEM ones use the highest quality Japanese cells.

 

[kcofohio]

No dremel, just an xtracto knife to break the seal, small flat tip screw driver, side cutters, and fingernail clippers.
The strip does run to the neg. end. Pos. end looks to be vented or elevated from battery + terminal.

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

actually there is a safe way to use them...I use these...Battery holder: Li-Ion 18650 Battery Holder (2S1P) With 2.6" long 20AWG & PCB

it means you have to get their charger but hey...instant high quality batts...and BTW I am using that with batteries from a laptop...panasonic batts are what AW uses I do believe...