Battery recell service

[Forrest]

I would like to get my blue iBook G3 battery recelled - it’s completely dead. Google turned up no results. I’m in the US

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

chansbattery.ca can do it, you’ll have to ship to Canada.

 

[s_pupp]

About three years ago, I sent three worn out batteries to be rebuilt to Chans Battery Rebuild in Canada. Shipping of the dead batteries from the US to Canada was about $30 each via UPS, with lots of paperwork involved.

I had to ask for updates a few times to get my batteries rebuilt. I finally received two out of three back in good working condition. There was one that couldn’t be rebuilt because of a bad BMS, and I was offered a replacement rebuilt battery at a good price. I said “yes,” but have not heard from them since, and I am getting no response to emails.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Hmm. First time I’ve heard of a bad experience from them. Reviews have always been quite positive.

 

[s_pupp]

My experience was in 2020, and global complications of COVID-19 undoubtedly got in the way, but I am disappointed by my recent emails being ignored.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Ah, I’d cut them some slack for time related things then, but yeah, not responding to emails kind of stinks. Were the emails related to the business from back in 2020? It’s possible that they didn’t have records anymore or simply didn’t remember the original arrangements, after all, it had been 3 years if that’s the case.

 

[s_pupp]

The email was indeed about the battery that was offered to me back then for a good price. I included the prior emails for reference, so even in the absence of prior records, they had what they needed to get back to me. Perhaps the key is to keep trying.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Honestly, if I was in their position and someone contacted me 3 years after I offered them a deal, I’d probably decline because it had been so long and the Chance had passed. Like a warranty. Granted, I’d respond to you at least, but yeah it’s been 3 years. Don’t think there’s much to benefit in attempting to contact them further about it if they haven’t responded this far. A lot can also change in terms of battery availability in 3 years as well.
Just my thoughts.

 

[s_pupp]

I will clarify, yet, that I had agreed to the sale at the time it was offered.

 

[Forrest]

No US services? There used to be one or two in California.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I will clarify, yet, that I had agreed to the sale at the time it was offered.

Ah, alright. Yeah, I don’t know then. I hope it was just COVID related, because there is really no other place to go for this sort of thing. There used to be battery refill, but they were TERRIBLE. Horrendous from the reviews I’ve seen. CHANS has squeaky clean reviews, rare to see in the battery industry. Not sure what happened with your situation.

 

[s_pupp]

I’m glad to hear that my situation is not typical. They did a good job of the two batteries they were able to rebuild, and the prices were reasonable, particularly given the paucity of competition.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Yeah, their google reviews are about the best you'll find for any battery business from what I've seen. It makes sense for battery reviews to be unusually low - Lithium batteries love to fail very quickly sometimes out of the box after just a few cycles. once you're past those first few weeks, a good battery will probably stay a good battery, but stuff like that happens often and leads to bad reviews either way. That's to say, Chans having a 4.5 is most unusual. I'll get around to sending something their way eventually, probably either my ThinkPad T30 battery or maybe my Latitude D610, or a future thinkpad pickup. I've been meaning to buy myself a T430 for a while now, and I'd like it portable when I eventually get one - I'm fixing to build my personal "ultimate" Windows 7 laptop out of one.
I'll be sure to report on my experiences whenever the time comes though.

 

[s_pupp]

I look forward to hearing how it goes.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I'll reply here when I do - probably won't be for several months though, at least until after the june VCF East swap meet that I'll very likely be going to. Unless I find a T430 there! Hey, it could happen.

 

[kkritsilas]

i have just recieved a re-celled battery for a Pismo/Lombard from them. I have had nothing happen that would make me question their service or integrity. The battery is going through its second charge/discharge cycle, and everything is as expected. They not only replaced the cells, but seem to have cleaned up the case on the outside. They were reasonable on the cost to repair and the cost to ship the battery back to me, nad shipped the battery back on the exact date they said the would. I have two more similar batteries to send to them; the second battery will be going to them in a couple of weeks or so.

 

[rjkucia]

I was able to get a battery from @therieau earlier this year - maybe he has another one?

 

[CC_333]

I have a ~25 year old Lombard battery (original to the machine we have!) that, by some miracle, still holds a 50% charge and lasts a solid 1.5-2 hours!

I attribute this, in part, to the fact that for many years, said Lombard got a confused battery board not long after we got it and refused to recognize batteries, until about 12 years ago, as I was rebuilding it with new plastics (the original plastics started cracking pretty badly back in 2003 or so), I chanced upon a hard drive with Mac OS X Tiger on it (I forget why I had it, but it must've been for some other project), and it booted. Not only that, but in so doing, it somehow reawakened the battery! It's been working ever since!!

I have another (an aftermarket somethingorother) that also worked, but it's been quite awhile since I last checked it, and it's probably dead and unrecoverable by now.

At some point, perhaps I'll get it (or maybe one of the two others I think I have which were completely dead years ago) rebuilt, so what goes on here will help me to decide whether or not to send them to Chan's service.

c

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

I’d be interested to see if they can rebuild PowerBook 3400 batteries. No one here’s been able to do it because the BMS shuts down whenever the cells are changed. They obviously have the hardware to reset the BMS stuff as they can rebuild newer lithium batteries, so it would be interesting to know. I’ve got five 3400 battery packs but by some miracle every last one of them holds near original charge of around 3 hours, except for one that holds 45 minutes. So that’s to say they don’t need rebuilding yet. Crazy!

 

[CC_333]

@3lectr1cPPC We both got lucky! You with 3400 batteries, me with Lombard ones!

My Latitude CPi A*mumble*XT also has a battery that works somewhat well for its age, seemingly holding maybe a 30-60 minute charge, which is plenty for what I use it for (not much). I did put an mSATA-to-IDE adapter in it to speed it up, which probably helps reduce power draw so the battery can last longer than it might with a spinning drive.

Oh! And I also have a Latitude 600 (or 610? Does it matter??) with a working battery (I have no idea if it's original, or if I replaced it at some point; the past 5 years – during which time I got and fixed up the 600/610 – have been so weird and stressful (fires, floods, plagues), it's mostly a blur).

c