Salvaged 18650's worth anything?

[davidg5700]

Hello,

I am new to this forum, but have been brought here many times through the google.

I've scavenged a lot of 18650 cells from laptop battery packs that have died for one reason or another. Often, it is one cell that has croaked and the others are fine, or at least as far as I can tell.

What I have done is pulled them out of their packs after putting them through whatever charge cycle they would take. I stripped the cells from whatever packaging and internal components they were attached to and read the voltage. Anything below 3.7 I tossed into the recycle pile. Most cells were 4.1 to 4.2.

I've been holding onto them thinking I would do some sort of solar charging project with them. I don't know whether this would be an appropriate use or if there is something else they would be better suited for. Any ideas? Are they worth holding onto or should I just take them to be recycled?

Thanks.

 

[how2]

I think anything below 2.5v should be thrown away. But I'm not to sure. 4.2v is fully charged. 3.7 is empty. Try charging them and see if they hold the charge.

They seems good to me.

 

[Mr Happy]

If they read 3.7 V after a full charge cycle they are presumably dead.

Most people around here use 18650's for flashlights. You can re-purpose them after removing them from their original battery pack, but you must then be very careful about charge and discharge protocols. A proper charger is essential, and electronic protection against over discharging, over charging and short circuiting highly desirable.

You could use them for a solar power project as long as you provide proper electronics as above and do not just hook up a solar panel to the battery. However, many people find lead acid accumulators are better suited to this application.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

I'm sure you, like me, are ankle-deep in 18650's and don't know if they're good or not. What I do is I charge them all up, and whichever ones drop the fastest, I drop them the fastest (to the local Li-Ion recycling store).