Adding 18650 batteries to Harman Kardon Onyx portable speaker

joq

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Hi,

I have an Harman Kardon Onyx Studio, which has at most 5 hours of playtime.
The original battery is 3.7V, 2600mAh, Cylindrical Lithium Ion Rechargeable Battery
This is the battery that is inside:
xUXubUI.jpg


Without the wrapper, this is the battery:
dRizLOV.jpg

It is an LG battery, the same that is in the Xiaomi Mi Powerbank.

My thought is that I buy 4 more batteries, maybe buy an Xiaomi Mi Powerbank and take the batteries.

But my problem is that the original 18650 does have some protection circuit, with a white wire connected to it:
DsnkD2e.jpg


As you can see there is some kind of PCB on there, I have seen a lot of protected cells, but they don't have the extra white wire connected to them?

Does anyone know if there is a PCB that can take 4pcs of parallel 18650 batteries at the same time? Or do I have to have one protection for each cell?

Suggestions are very welcome!

Thank you!
 

FRITZHID

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I'd think you could just use protected cells.
I'd have to determine exactly what that 3rd wire is for (I'd have guess either charging OR a monitor circuit) and find some 26650s to boost your Ah up.
How much runtime are you looking for?
Parallel them to the b+ & b- terminals.
Lithiums are far more tolerant to parallel setups than series.
 

Bruno28

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I have this sound system and I'm thinking of adding two 3400 Panasonic non protected. Did you manage to figure out the white wire? Can we ignore it with unprotected cells?
 

FRITZHID

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I have this sound system and I'm thinking of adding two 3400 Panasonic non protected. Did you manage to figure out the white wire? Can we ignore it with unprotected cells?

I'm thinking no. That white wire has something to do with charging, if left disconnected (assuming the system still operates properly) there would be no control over discharge/charge..... Not a good idea with lithium batts. There's a whole huge section in this forum about that.
Protected cells will safeguard you from burning down your house.... Imho, a good idea.
 

Bruno28

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So I should get protected cells and ignore the white wire?
Or could I parallel two unprotected 18650 into that single pcb ? And still be safe to use.
 

FRITZHID

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I'd use paralleled protected in that set up. Period.
Can go larger with higher Ah cells, but I wouldn't skimp on the protected factor. There's no guarantee that the built in protection/charging circuit will handle higher Ah or multi cell configurations. Not worth the risk to persons or property.
 

JasonJ

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Parallel is the only way to go on this unless the stereo can accept 2x-4x the input voltage.

If you can connect two or three 18650's in parallel to the protection circuit and then just pack them up, you should be able to double or triple your runtime.
 

FRITZHID

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Parallel is the only way to go on this unless the stereo can accept 2x-4x the input voltage.

If you can connect two or three 18650's in parallel to the protection circuit and then just pack them up, you should be able to double or triple your runtime.

ASSuming that the built in protection circuit can handle it.
 

krystalnx

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I have this sound system and I'm thinking of adding two 3400 Panasonic non protected. Did you manage to figure out the white wire? Can we ignore it with unprotected cells?

I plan to do exactly the same thing. But I have the same interrogation on this thread, does the protection circuit will handle nicely 2 3400 batteries ... (Personnaly, I plan to remove the original one completely ; I'm not an expert but I imagine having different capacity cell in parallel can have unwanted side effect).

If someone succed in this mod please keep us informed :)


Also, I'd really like to add a 3.5 mm jack (in parallel of the bluetooth option, no need for circuit selection etc), if you have any advice on this feel free to share.
 

becks87

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Many many moons later i found this thread, and i was wondering. can i just replace those batteries with more powerful ones so i dont need to add different/parralel and protected cells?
 

funboat

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Dec 19, 2013
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This speaker is louder when its plugged into the 19V wall adapter. What would happen if we used a 5 x 18650 serial cell carrier for 21VDC to plug into the wall plug on the back? Would the increase of 2VDC in voltage destroy it? If this will work, I dont mind removing my cells from the carrier to recharge them.

I just checked the voltage of the adapter and it reads 19.04VDC, so it appears to be a precision adapter... which makes me think it may not be a good idea.

Anyone venture to guess?

I have a large 18 x 18650 parallel pack, so I might just add a DC plug-in on the side of the speaker and run the wires to the stock protection circuit on the factory internal cell. It wont be as loud as when plugged into the wall adapter, but it should be reliable.
 
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