Opened laptop battery to replace lithium ion cells (Lenovo X61 tablet PC) -- Where do I get replacement battery cells?

Have you ever opened up your laptop battery to replace the lithium ion cells inside (if so, I could use the help as I'm stuck).

Here are the pictures of the operation on a Lenovo X61 tablet PC 8-cell

4500 amp-hour battery kidney-transplant operation.

The outside of the IBM Lenovo X61 tablet PC battery pack has the part numbers:

- FRU 42T4507

- ASM 42T5209

And the batteries themselves, seem to have numbers on them of:

- cylinders BCM 3A6 72653

- rectangles C 3 171353

Any idea where to obtain these lithium ion replacement batteries?

Reply to
JoeSchmoe
Loading thread data ...

Here is a pictorial tutorial, of sorts, for the first half of the Lenovo X61 tablet PC laptop battery replacement.

  1. Short:
    formatting link
    Direct:
    formatting link
    (the closing slash is required!)
  2. Player:
    formatting link
    That tutorial has 18 pictures showing all the steps in breaking open the dead Lenovo laptop battery pack seamlessly and easily.

The problem now is finding the batteries from the numbers on the batteries and soldering them back in w/o destroying them.

Any advice/help if you've done this before, is much appreciated!

Reply to
JoeSchmoe

I just bought 2 lap top batteries, one for Dell and one for HP. Found them at Mobile Track Power. Good warranty and good prices. Why mess with what you have? WW

Reply to
WW

I think its a waste of time and risky, those are machine welded, you will never get them as compact and fit back in place like machine made packs, soldering and the heat degrades cells, you probably have electronics in those packs which actualy may be bad , not the batteries, did you test the voltage of each cell to see if they realy dont charge , you might buy and solder them up and they will never fit back in the holder.

Reply to
ransley

Right off I am not familar with your bateries, although my guess(tm) is that you can find them on ebay or google if you search for lithium ion cells. Some come with tabs welded to them so you can solder them togeather eaisly and avoid destroying the battery via heat. If they are the right size and right chemestry they should work. The mAh rating will probably be higher on new batteries than the originals becuase of advancements in battery technology.

Just be careful and dont get these things too hot while soldering. They have been known to burst into flames like a flare. I highly suggest you buy the tabbed verison.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Kennedy

I fix about everything I can but not laptop batteries. Those have an internal circuit that keep the batteries from over charging and everything matches up with the computer BIOS to charge and extend battery life. What I do is search the web and buy a replacement battery with a decent warranty. I doubt you can even buy the new cells for what the entire new battery costs. Worst case of do it yourself repair would be a fire some day when it's charging or being used. Here's one on e-bay for 42 bucks says it has a 3 year warranty and the dude is a power seller with a decent track record. Free shipping

formatting link

and a laptop fire,

formatting link

Reply to
FatterDumber& Happier Moe

formatting link
and a laptop fire,

formatting link

To be quite honest I would be more afraid of cheap chinese batteries than building on myself. Have you ever taken one of those chinese made aftermarket batteries apart? It is scary to say the least in some of them and amazing that it works. At least if you build it yourself you know if you put good panasonic cells in it that shouldnt spontaneously combust. But if you arent expirenced at soldering and electronics, I cant say I reccomend you try this as a first soldering project.. As stated by "Mr.Fatter" they can catch on fire if not properly taken care of.. The biggest issue is when soldering is not to heat the battery. Get ones with tabs attached to them.

Reply to
Michael Kennedy

Ive made packs with tabs and the batteries were real hot when soldering, the tab transfers heat and soldering is tricky. Mine were a mess and would never fit back into a plastic case, freezing the cell first in your deep freeze will help but I think he will fail for several reasons.

Reply to
ransley

I just rebuilt a Nicad battery pack for my 20+ year old Milwaukee cordless driver drill. I found the batteries on Ebay for $21, so decided it was worth a try. I was successful and it's working great. But I do agree there are some real issues. In particular, I was very lucky that I got it to fit back into the battery housing. In the factory, the metal tab conductors are spot welded directly to the batteries and go from one to the next. When you DIY, you have to solder them and then when you stack batteries on top of each other the overall height increases. I got lucky because there was a rubber cushion on the bottom which I removed to give me just a little more room. Having been through it once, next time I could plan better to possibly change the wire routing to avoid any solder bump issues.

It was also a bit tricky because the batteries had some charge in them, so I had to be careful of what I was doing and not short them out and have a meltdown.

In the case of a laptop battery pack I'd carefully weigh the cost of trying and failing vs the cost of a new battery pack. Also, I found places that will rebuild your battery pack for you for the cordless drills. Similar may exist for the notebook battery. However, the pricing for the rebuild was so close to the price of a new battery pack that I would have gone with the new one.

I have an older Gateway notebook and after having bought one replacement battery for it, I finally gave up. I realized that 99% of the time, the way I'm using it, I have power available. I may take it on a trip, but I don't use it on the plane, etc.

Reply to
trader4

Once I find the cells, I'll definitely get the ones with soldered tabs as I'm OK (but just OK) with soldering.

I found this web site "How to rebuild a Li-Ion battery pack", implemented for Fujitsu - Siemens Lifebook S- Series FPCBP25 battery pack at Electronics-Lab.com.

They found Panasonic lithium-ion replacement cells at

formatting link

Reply to
Joe Schmoe

The question of why is a good one ... the answer is it's sheer cost! :)

The factory new battery is on the web for about $150. I'm worried about the knockoffs which cost around $50 to $75.

BTW, I found some more references of successful rebuild DIYs which I'm going through now as my biggest problem at the moment is finding the replacement cells (later it will be fitting it all back together).

- HOW-TO: Rebuild your laptop battery by Engadget

formatting link

- Rebuilding a Laptop Battery Oct 05, 2008 by Phil Hughes

formatting link

- Refilling laptop batteries! February 17th, 2007 in Projects, Technology

formatting link

- Can laptop batteries be repaired? by Isidor Buchmann Cadex Electronics, December 2001

formatting link

- DIY Laptop Battery Rebuild: by Kevin O'Brien, NotebookReview.com on

1/30/2008
formatting link
Reply to
Joe Schmoe

Thanks for those references!

Jonesy

Reply to
Allodoxaphobia

--snippety--

Google around and you can find references to building a simple spot-welder for batteries -- check the RC model airplane folks.

Isaac

Reply to
isw

I thought batteries used in these packs had to be matched to avoid problems with reverse charging etc that might cause them to explode.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Matched - No. Assuming you install them with the correct polarity and the protection module is functioning correctly, the explosion risks are from another category. There is also a connection sequence for attaching the module to the series-connected cells. IIRC it starts at the most positive terminal and progresses to the negative end last.

But matching IS important in that the protection module monitors cell voltage DIFFERENCES. This has a two-fold effect. If the diffences exceed a certain threshold value, the pack will be disabled by the module. Below that threshold value, end-of-charge voltage will be determined by the highest cell voltage (which leaves the others less than fully charged) while end-of-discharge is conversely determined by the lowest cell voltage. So as the differential increases the usable capacity reduces in the interests of safety.

Reply to
who where

Hi Isaac,

Welding the tabs without destroying the battery the biggest gotcha so this home made battery tab spot welder DIY idea is great!

The Poor Man's Battery Tab Welder

formatting link
Build your own CD battery tab welder for $100
formatting link
DIY Capacitive Discharge Spot Welder, AKA Battery pack maker
formatting link
How to hack a dead laptop battery
formatting link

Reply to
Joe Schmoe

Hi Brian,

What do you mean by "matched"?

Note: All the existing electronic circuitry for the Lenovo x61 tablet laptop lithium Ion battery is intact.

The only thing we're changing out is old cells for new cells.

What do you mean by "matching"?

Reply to
Joe Schmoe

Joe Schmoe wrote in news:i73ulu$4e1$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

the charge levels and voltage at full charge have to be close to equal. If one cell is at a lower charge level,it will run out first,then REVERSE charge,damaging that cell.Possibly shorting,exploding,or starting a fire.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

No, that would only apply to packs without a protection module (such as NiXX chemistries). LiXX protection modules will intervene and open-circuit the pack when the lowest cell voltage reaches a predetermined threshold - usually 3v0.

Reply to
who where

I give up, what or where is "Mobile Track Power"

Reply to
ng_reader

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.