Salvaged my first laptop 18650's

I've got a L-mini II on its way, so I figured I'd try to come up with some 18650's to use in it. Turns out that my wife just replaced her old laptop battery, so I popped it open and pulled out 6 cells.

Each cell measured around 3.9v when I broke them apart. I charged them all in my Pila charger, let them set for 30 minutes after pulling them out of the Pila, and then measured them again to find that all of them had settled to about 4.12v. I read a post here that indicated that as long as they don't settle below 4v within 15 minutes of charging, that they should be fine, but since I can't seem to find the post that said that, I'm suspicious that I might be remembering wrong.

Also, they were connected using thin strips of metal (tin?) that were spot welded 4 times on each end. I trimmed the metal as well as I could with diagonal cutters. Is that cool? or should I attempt to break the spot welds somehow?

Anyways, I think I have 6 usable unprotected 18650's to use when my L-mini II arrives. I figured I'd just post this just in case I missed something important that one of you might spot.

--flatline

You'll probably get more feedback when the mods move this to the battery section.

Since the L-Mini II has battery run down protection, you don't have to worry about over discharging your unprotected cells.

The trick with the salvaged cells is to let them sit for a few days and see if the voltage is stable or if it keeps dropping. If it drops significantly over a few days, the cells are bad.

Shoot! It didn't even occur to me to post in the other forum. Good thing we have such understanding moderators! lovecpf

Sounds like you are on your way. 3.9V out of the pack is a GOOD sign, they should be serviceable. I don't think the L-mini draws more than 1.2A, so non-IMR cells are perfect for this one.

Those little weld spots... I grind them off with a Dremel. I have found that they can scratch and gouge the + contact point in the light.

kramer5150 said:

Those little weld spots... I grind them off with a Dremel. I have found that they can scratch and gouge the + contact point in the light.

Click to expand...

I just recently purchased a dremel and have had very little experience with it. Which attachment do you find works best for grinding off the spot welds?

--flatline

The little round ball one, glittery metal sphere.
http://www.plumbersurplus.com/images/prod/5/Dremel-9935-rw-95698-161582.jpg

Always ALWAYS (!!) wear safety eye protection when using a Dremel.