Battery recell service

[3lectr1cPPC]

I’ve had far worse luck with Latitude C Series batteries. (That’s the great thing about them, they’re mostly interchangeable between the Latitude CP through the Latitude C640 and any latitude with the C series Modular bay). I have 5(?) maybe 6 packs, not sure, and one of them works, holds for about as long as yours does. I had another one that worked but some cell crapped itself recently and it suddenly went from 60 minutes of charge to dead as a door nail while I was using the darn thing. Then shortly after I got a big parts lot of CPi stuff (with an A366XT) that came with I believe 3 batteries, one worked.
My Wallstreet battery is still good for a couple hours too!

 

[CC_333]

Yeah, I guess we can't have everything....

Incidentally, I just discovered that I apparently bought a Latitude C610 from the last CC surplus sale I attended, probably back in 2017 or so. I totally forgot I had it!

A few years ago, I got a collection of C-series accessories (optical drives, AC adapters, etc.), and included therein was a battery that is labelled, "Caution-Not for use with CP, CPi, and CPiA". I've been pondering what to do with it, and I don't know if it works because I can't use it in my CPi (which until today was the only C-series Latitude I had access to), but now I have my rediscovered C610 I can try it in!

c

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Huh! I’ve never seen a battery labeled that way. My C610’s battery doesn’t have any markings like that, but it is totally dead. Has been since I got that C610 back in 2012(!)
Oh, and there’s a NiMH CMOS battery in the C610 that leaks. You’re going to want to remove it, it’s right under the keyboard. Just unscrew the keyboard screws and it’s right there it remove.

 

[CC_333]

Oh, and there’s a NiMH CMOS battery in the C610 that leaks. You’re going to want to remove it, it’s right under the keyboard. Just unscrew the keyboard screws and it’s right there it remove.

Good to know. I have it here and will take a look at it now.

Thanks!

EDIT: Got it! No leakage that I can see!

EDIT #2: I thought I'd test it with my voltmeter, because I'm curious to see if it still has a charge, and it does! 0.39V!! This battery might still work.

EDIT #3: I left the backup battery in for a few minutes while charging my other main battery (which appears to be workign somewhat!), and the voltage is now up to ~3.3, so the backup battery is still good. Should I keep it installed? I mean, if it's working, why not?

So long as I remember to check it every now and then, of course!

EDIT #4: As for the main battery, it has gone up form 0% to 64% in a matter of about ~10-15 minutes, so I'm not optimistic that it'll run for more than a few minutes.

c

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

EDIT #3: I left the backup battery in for a few minutes while charging my other main battery (which appears to be workign somewhat!), and the voltage is now up to ~3.3, so the backup battery is still good. Should I keep it installed? I mean, if it's working, why not?

Ehh... it's up to you. These are supposed to reach 7.2V, so if it doesn't reach there, definitely not. If it does, I still would remove it. IMO keeping date and time isn't worth the threat of it leaking over your board. It's a pretty bad idea, especially since you might forget and leave it for a few years. One of my C610 logic boards had corrosion on the connector for the CMOS battery, so they can definitely leak.

What's confusing is that the board in question is the original board from my C610 back in 2012, which has issues so I bought a replacement. The board's connector has corrosion, as if the battery had begun leaking down the connector, but the battery that I can find that was the original isn't leaking yet. It's completely flat of course. Could it be the battery from the parts laptop board that's now running in my C610? Can't be, I swear that that one didn't come with a battery installed. I also SWEAR I remember my original C610 battery leaking down the wires like they all do (and then I sent it off to ewaste), but the one I can find didn't. I know the battery I found didn't come from any other laptop, maybe I'm remembering wrong and the parts laptop did come with a battery. Guess I'll never know.

Edit: After several minutes of charging it hit .7 volts. So I guess it isn't completely fried, but it's staying out.

 

[CC_333]

Hmm, OK.

Meanwhile, the main battery reached a full charge after about 20 minutes, and the run time was ~45 SECONDS, so it's pretty much shot I think.

I'll exercise it some more though. Haven't got much to lose. Maybe I can get the runtime up to the 1-2 minute range....

It's also a rather light battery, so it was probably had a very low capacity even when new.

c

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I think some of the c-series batteries were only 4-cell, so yeah. Lithium batteries usually don’t gain capacity through exercise like NiCad and NiMH packs can. It’s total toast. Send it off to CHANS!

 

[CC_333]

I think some of the c-series batteries were only 4-cell, so yeah. Lithium batteries usually don’t gain capacity through exercise like NiCad and NiMH packs can. It’s total toast. Send it off to CHANS!

Maybe I will!

I also have a box of iBook clamshell batteries I could send.

And batteries from various other Dells...

And HPs! And a ThinkPad!

I better not get carried away, as I'm sure it can get quite expensive.

Also, it's taking closer to 30 minutes to charge this time around. An improvement?

c

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Hard to tell. Just gotta wait until it’s full and see.

 

[CC_333]

Hard to tell. Just gotta wait until it’s full and see.

Yeah.

Exercising it does seem to be having an effect. I had to leave home for a couple hours, so I left it to charge.

When I got back, it was oddly stuck at 46%, but when I checked runtime, I got almost 4 minutes!

I'm charging it again, and after 30 minutes, it's only up to 30%, so perhaps as the BMS wakes up, it's getting a sense for the cells' capacities and calibrating itself.

It has probably sat idle for at least 5 years, so the fact that it works at all is pretty impressive, I think.

Maybe I should start a separate thread in the Lounge for this?

c

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Hmm. I may have been completely wrong on the capacity not improving then! Yeah sure, make a new thread if you’d like. Maybe we need a general thread on old batteries that are still working against all odds. It seems to be a pretty popular topic here.

 

[CC_333]

Hmm. I may have been completely wrong on the capacity not improving then! Yeah sure, make a new thread if you’d like. Maybe we need a general thread on old batteries that are still working against all odds. It seems to be a pretty popular topic here.

Done! (I'm posting this for anyone else who wants to participate).

c