How I got my FREE 18650's ! Battery Porn Here

[Tractorshaft]

I recently got interested in flashlights, go figure? Well I happen to work at a place where the recycle crew are friends of mine.

They bring all of the computer stuff to me to "Thumbs-Up" or "Thumbs-Down" like the Emperor of Rome :thumbsdow Die! or Live!:thumbsup:..Well kinda like Commodus in Gladiator,...kinda..:touche: To the "Stash" or to the "Electronics Dumpster"....Oh the Drama!!

You can see in the background my Atlas 12" benchtop lathe has been converted to run a used treadmill motor...

"You know I loves me some Rebel Flags, DC power & Yak!

​

Anyways..I digress..In only two weeks of "Thumbs-Up" moments I have scavenged several laptop battery packs for their booty Man at over $12.00 for a "Cheap" 18650 , albeit a "Protected" one...I am pretty happy with having collected over 30 very nice batteries for my Muh haa muhaa Muhaaahhhaa (Evil Laugh) flashlight "Experiments"..

Here is a little gratuitous battery P0rN for you cheap geeks :duh2:

Enjoy

Jerry

[FONT=&quot]Some people are like Slinkies.....

They aren't good for much of anything, but they put a grin on your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.


[/FONT]

 

[jasonck08]

Cool, but I honestly doubt any of them are much good. I've opened up 5-6 laptop packs and only one pack contained what I would consider cells with acceptable performance. Most of the cells only held 60-70% of their rated capacity and had very high internal resistance. I got like 4-5 Samsung 2400's that did 2200, but other than that the rest were recycled.

The wrappers on those blue Panasonics look like cells that are 5+ years old. I wouldn't trust them. Also I see you have several cells that don't have the wrappers on... that is VERY dangerous having cells with no wrappers in a little case like that. They will short out and explode if your not careful!

 

[Tractorshaft]

Jason,

Thanks for the warning about the unwrapped cells! I appreciate the info! Most of these cells came out of the "Spare" battery packs that most of our laptop users had. I doubt that they have had any more than a few charge/discharge cycles. Some of the installed packs only contained a couple of usable cells, some were @ 0.0 VDC and I found that any of them <= 2.5VDC would not activate the chargers "On" circuitry. See, I am learning something about these Li-Ions already!

Your'e right though, you can definitely tell the difference in the capacity of the batteries simply by the amount of time it takes for them to reach a charged voltage of > 4.0 VDC.

They wont be used for any type of operational lights but are surely useful for testing, R&D and general mayhem

Jerry

You have to ask yourself? Are Hi-Powered Flashlights fun to play with, Well? Are they punk?

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[csshih]

mayhem, you say?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=246699

buahahahah........

 

[Tractorshaft]

Craig,

Excellent post on collecting old battery's! It seems that you could point some people in the direction of gold in the ground and they would complain that it was "DIrTy"...:shrug:

I dont care that some of the older battery's may be of a lower Mahr rating, the reward vs. price and time investment is more than a great deal! These little battery's are so handy for many other little non-flashlight projects too.

Best regards and thanks for the note!:thumbsup:



Jerry

 

[csshih]

Hey Jerry,

But be careful -- while digging for gold in the ground, you may come upon gas pockets!

The previously mentioned higher internal resistance causes more heat to build up while charging and discharging, which may cause thermal runaway.. and possibly the fire department sic'ed on your @$$


Stay Safe!
Craig

 

[jellydonut]

I've salvaged six 750mAh batteries from an old off-brand laptop battery pack - given that it's a chinese clone of unknown quality and brand I'm not sure what to do with them. I'm thinking of charging them, short circuiting them and throwing them far, far away.. Kinda like firecrackers.:tinfoil:

 

[jabe1]

I've salvaged six 750mAh batteries from an old off-brand laptop battery pack - given that it's a chinese clone of unknown quality and brand I'm not sure what to do with them. I'm thinking of charging them, short circuiting them and throwing them far, far away.. Kinda like firecrackers.:tinfoil:

Tape them up and take them in for recycling... seriously.

 

[Squidboy]

Hey Tractorshaft

I've been doing the same thing for a few years with no problems. Generally speaking if the individual cells are below about 2.8v before charging I'll chuck em out for recycling, however I have decent cells that have come back from 2 - 2.5v.

The way to look at it is your getting these for nothing if they last you a while fine, it cost you nothing compaired to those who pay $10 or more each for them.

I tend to keep a log of each battery's starting charge then charge them and take voltage ,then 2 days later and then week and month later. This will show you if you have any duds that are "leaking" power, it also gives you something to refer too later if you think they are giving you problems. Having loads just means that you can chuck the ones that give you problems.

This year I've been through about 8 battery packs and had 48 cells, after testing that came down to 30 or so and I gave half to a friend who is using them and getting a full nights fishing 4-5 hours from each in a p60 host with 3 mode r2. They are all holding good charge and he has had no problems with them at all.

I do have basic rules though:

No damaged cells at all, not even torn wraps
No unattended charging
Do not place charger on carpet (I stick it in the ammo can that I keep the charging gear in)

Stick to those and you be getting hours of light from them and have saved your cash for other things

 

[LED_Thrift]

I just opened up a Dell laptop pack my friend said didn't work anymore. Six Sony cells that all measured about 4.0v. Yeah!

Squidboy, what lights [or types of lights] do you use your cells in? Do you ever use two or three in series in a light?

 

[Squidboy]

LED_Thrift I mostly use them in single cell lights, the mate i gave batteries too uses a wf 502b , I also have two of those and a Jetbeam IIIM and have been thinking about a Dereelight.

I dont have any dual cell lights but the way I would view it is keep the batteries from the same power pack labeled/numbered as they tend to have the same volt drop after charging and in most cases are within .01 of a volt of each other. That way any two cell flashlights would be using closely matched cells. My experience anyway.