If you have old laptop batteries, or old lithium ion powered hand tools, some of the older ones use 18650 sized lithium ion (Li-ion) or lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) cells.
Well, I had a whole bunch that I was getting rid of because they were taking up space and presented a slight fire hazard. While I recycled most of them, I kept one pack that was the newest, but still old (over 5 years old) and not usable for the laptop it was intended to power anymore. The laptop was a Dell Latitude D610. The pack has a 6 cell pack and the plastic case was easily disassembled and the individual cells removed.
They are spot welded together with some charging electronics, but easily separated with a careful use of a needle nose plier to sort of wrap and roll the spot welded contacts from the batteries, leaving just barely any tiny leftover nubs on the cells contact pads.
When I tested each cell, I had two that measured 3.8V and the rest were around 2V. I decided that meant I could easily make a 2S TX or video RX pack that might be close to the 2500mAh capacity of each cell!
The specs for each cell: (2350mAh capacity, 1428mAh max charge rate)
http://www.rosebatteries.com/pdfs/Panasonic CGR18650D.pdf
I used:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172128319128?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Some 22 AWG silicon wire, a 3 pin JST male connector (with the appropriate female pins) and a XT60 battery side connector (male connector with female bullets) to make a 2S 18650 pack that allows me to swap in and out individual cells.
I'm terrible with graphics and photos, but decided even a terrible picture is worth many more poorly constructed words, so here's how it was setup:
The end of the red/black wires went to the discharge connector (in my case a XT60 since I had them handy and my DIY Quanum V2 FPV goggles have a XT60 on them and this pack will primarily power that).
This will replace the old fatshark 2S battery I was using which only gives me about 30 minutes of use due to the small 750mAh size and the fact that my VRX is a combo VRX/DVR which coupled with the largish screen of the V2 goggle, eats up the 750mAh 2S battery to a point where I can power the screen, but not the VRX after about 30 minutes of use.
Well, I had a whole bunch that I was getting rid of because they were taking up space and presented a slight fire hazard. While I recycled most of them, I kept one pack that was the newest, but still old (over 5 years old) and not usable for the laptop it was intended to power anymore. The laptop was a Dell Latitude D610. The pack has a 6 cell pack and the plastic case was easily disassembled and the individual cells removed.
They are spot welded together with some charging electronics, but easily separated with a careful use of a needle nose plier to sort of wrap and roll the spot welded contacts from the batteries, leaving just barely any tiny leftover nubs on the cells contact pads.
When I tested each cell, I had two that measured 3.8V and the rest were around 2V. I decided that meant I could easily make a 2S TX or video RX pack that might be close to the 2500mAh capacity of each cell!
The specs for each cell: (2350mAh capacity, 1428mAh max charge rate)
http://www.rosebatteries.com/pdfs/Panasonic CGR18650D.pdf
I used:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172128319128?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Some 22 AWG silicon wire, a 3 pin JST male connector (with the appropriate female pins) and a XT60 battery side connector (male connector with female bullets) to make a 2S 18650 pack that allows me to swap in and out individual cells.
I'm terrible with graphics and photos, but decided even a terrible picture is worth many more poorly constructed words, so here's how it was setup:
The end of the red/black wires went to the discharge connector (in my case a XT60 since I had them handy and my DIY Quanum V2 FPV goggles have a XT60 on them and this pack will primarily power that).
This will replace the old fatshark 2S battery I was using which only gives me about 30 minutes of use due to the small 750mAh size and the fact that my VRX is a combo VRX/DVR which coupled with the largish screen of the V2 goggle, eats up the 750mAh 2S battery to a point where I can power the screen, but not the VRX after about 30 minutes of use.
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