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Unlocking "smart" batteries (Thinkpad example)

Bunsen

Admin-Witchfinder-General
Thought this article on Hackaday might inspire or suggest some possible attacks on those SMRT Powerbook batteries that sometimes won't play nice when re-celled.
 
Unlocking ThinkPad batteries
 
 

With the problem clearly defined, [Matt] had a few options open to him. The first was opening both batteries, and replacing the cells in the old (genuine) battery with the cells in the newer (not genuine) battery.

The second option was modifying the firmware on the non-genuine battery.

The third option is an embedded controller that taps into the SMBus on the charger connector, but according to [Matt], adding extra electronics to a laptop isn’t ideal.

The last option is modifying the Thinkpad’s embedded controller firmware. This last option is the one he went with.
 
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