recovering lithium-ion batteries

If you\'re like me, then you\'re always looking for excuses to save money, patch or deconstruct something that looks interesting.
I found a way to meet all the above requirements!
I have affinity for lithium. ion batteries.
They have various shapes and sizes, energy-dense (
Hold a lot of energy)
, Has a higher voltage than a NiCad or NiMH battery and is able to withstand a high amp voltage.
Also, they do not develop \"memories\" or have high self
So you can store it for a long time.
Finally, they are suitable for multi-cell configuration.
Better yet, they are everywhere and available for free.
I will give you a crash in this tutorial-
How to find, extract and recycle lithium courses-
Ion batteries, let\'s get started!
Below is a link to some of the tools and projects I use!
IMax B6 LiPo charger: C4 charger/Analyzer: battery management/Protection Board: Kit cutter knife I said rechargeable lithium-
Ion batteries are everywhere!
This is the reason for making these batteries cheap because people tend to throw away old electronics that damage or stop working, but leave the batteries in.
I usually buy mine from thrift stores in order for the price of the clerk, or from old toys that people give away or damage, and donate for science.
What to look for is: hand-
Handheld devices, mobile phones, digital cameras or camcorders, portable DVD or video players, and my personal favorite laptop battery.
Rechargeable lithium has different chemical composition
Lithium cobalt oxide plasma battery (ICR-type)
Lithium iron phosphate or lithium ion battery ,(
You don\'t get these thrown away so often.
Lithium manganese oxide (IMR)
Nickel lithium manganese (INR)
Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NCA or hybrid).
You will find that the most common thing is-
Lithium cobalt oxide.
This is the best for energy density and power, but has an average to low discharge current and temperature threshold.
Their maximum discharge current is equal to or at least twice the capacity.
Besides, they are not very stable (Read: Dangerous)
Some kind of protection circuit is needed, among other types.
Now, let\'s not confuse lithium.
Lithium ion battery-
Ion polymer battery or LiPo battery.
In the LiPo battery, the electrolyte, anode and cathode, positive end and negative terminal are placed in the polymer bag.
Internal chemistry is similar to lithium-ion cells.
Depending on the device, the shape or size of the battery will vary, but for mobile phones or compact devices, the battery is usually rectangular and thin, or cylindrical, such as 18650 (
Common in laptop batteries)
Or 18500 common in hump packaging for cameras or camcorders.
If you want to know, the name of the battery contains its size.
\"18650\" means that the battery is 18mm in diameter and 65mm in length.
\"0\" is just hanging out.
These cells may have a single cell or multiple cells regardless of type or size.
Multiple cells can be in series, parallel, or a mixture of the two.
Even for small batteries, two small batteries can be connected in series or in series/in parallel.
This is due to the fact that some devices have increased voltage, which is more demanding than a single battery can provide or increase capacity.
Increase the voltage in series and increase the assembly capacity in parallel.
Unlike NiMH or NiCad batteries, lithium-
There will be some kind of protection in the ion battery pack, such as a battery management system consisting of IC and MOSFET or resistor, for regulating current, voltage, detecting short circuit, reverse polarity, and temperature
If there are multiple cells, some have an additional function to balance the cells.
Why do they need this?
This is because the chemical properties of the lithium battery make it sensitive to overcharging, overchargingdischarging (
Until the voltage is too low)
Short circuit, even over temperature.
Either of them could damage the battery or, worse, cause a fire.
Multiple batteries in series need a balance function to ensure that the current and voltage received by each battery are the same as other batteries.
If one battery charges more than the other, it will wear or damage faster.
The capacity of the package is also reduced.
These types of batteries also require special charging programs that are not required by NiMH or NiCad.
There will be more information later!
Now, before we go into the battery pack in depth, I want to talk about some lithium-specific safety projectsion cells.
If you are interested in RC, have an electric car and have experience with LiPo batteries, you can skip this, but if not, it is important to know how to mess up lithium
Ion batteries are dangerous.
I learned this! Why?
Due to their chemical properties, a 18650 battery can hold a lot of energy.
Tie 6 or more straps together and you have a lot of stored energy.
If they are short, safety considerations will come.
The most common type of lithium battery is short circuit, over charge or over discharge, which can cause heat, expansion, explosion or fire. what we don\'t want
The way to avoid this is to handle and charge correctly.
The most important thing is lithium.
Some kind of protection circuit is built into the ion battery pack or single battery to protect the battery from overcharging, short circuit or excessive discharge. Multi-
The battery pack has an additional function, called the battery management system, with a balance function that can monitor and distribute the charging current and voltage on each battery to ensure that the current and voltage of each charge are the same.
That said, you have to use the right charger, whether it\'s for a single battery or a charger that supports multiple batteries in the package, such as a balance charger.
Using any other charger can cause lithium
The ion battery overcharges and causes a fire.
It\'s very simple to extract cells.
You need some basic tools, so here are some basic tools: a flat screwdriver.
It is good to have all kinds of sizes, but it is usually 3mm (1/8\")up to 5 mm (or 1/4\")
Everything you need.
As the blades are too large to accommodate small spaces, please avoid using thicker blades. Spudger (optional).
Solid metal case or solid plastic case.
Side cutter or flat cutter.
Used to cut labels or wires, or to open a battery box.
Both of these tools are OK, but I like my flush knives as they get better access to small spaces. Utility knife.
It works better than sp, but more dangerous!
Ask my fingers and hands how do I knowMultimeter.
There is no need for luck or anything new.
It\'s just to measure the battery voltage and see if they can be sold. Gloves (optional).
I say this is optional as the practical gloves for this task may not prevent sharp screwdriver blades or utility blades that slide out of joints at high speeds.
These are the tools you need!
You have batteries, tools, it\'s time to dig.
In this tutorial, I will take apart two battery packs.
One is universal 6-
Mobile phone packaging for HP Pavilion Dv 5 to Dv 6
A series of laptops and a bag from ancient times (2004 vintage)
Digital camera rated 7.
4 volts and 1500 mAh.
I think there are two cells in there, but we will find them.
Depending on the type of battery, the basic design will be almost the same, including a plastic housing containing a pad for insulation or buffering (
Foam, adhesive tape, or paper), the cell(s)
, Protective equipment/plate with internal connection, can be wire, label, wire and label.
By the way, I noticed universal (
Laptop battery, for example)
Real OEM (
Like a camera battery).
Sometimes the case is welded or bonded, but sometimes it is just combined with the label.
You will soon find out which method the manufacturer uses.
OEM batteries are usually bonded/welded, and cheaper batteries are bonded or clipped.
I like to start with a tool knife from the corner of the box first.
Find the seam between half of the two boxes.
Insert the knife along the edge.
Shake it back and forth and let it run in the box.
It should sink, so be careful not to cut the cells or things too deep.
Once you open it and open a small gap, it\'s time to get the screwdriver.
Use a smaller screwdriver to further open the gap by twisting.
Once you open more, go to the larger screwdriver to repeat.
In this case, you should start to have big creases.
Move the screwdriver up the seam of the shell and screw it while walking.
If you don\'t make any progress, repeat the first step before going back to the knife.
I don\'t think I need to remind you to be careful here.
If you\'re stuck, resist the urge to use a hammer, or break your Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel.
If you\'re as impatient as I am, it\'s supercareful!
The battery does not like to be cut off.
I have never used mine for the record.
Continue to work the screwdriver up and semi-separate the case.
You can use a strong spudger here as a wedge and keep half open when you use a screwdriver. Be patient!
It will give up before you!
Don\'t be afraid to be with it.
If necessary, pry the box open and dig out the contents.
After some fine work, you should separate the case completely or mostly and see the good things in it!
This is another interesting part of finding out what\'s inside you.
My two batteries happen to have a cylindrical one, but I will include a flat one so you can see the difference.
There are some pretty good Moli Energy in the laptop bag (now called E-One)brand ICR-18650J cells.
This is a smaller one.
A famous brand once located in Canada (now in Taiwan)
, But in a variety of devices.
I checked the data sheet and they have a capacity of 2400 mAh and a maximum rated discharge current of 4000 ma, 4.
2 volts full charge 3.
The nominal charge is 75 volts and the discharge is 3 volts.
The other bag contains some mysterious cells wrapped in plastic coated paper, but I measured them, they are 49mm long and 18mm wide.
I think it\'s 18500-size lithium-ion cells.
The battery box says 1500 mAh for them and 7.
4 V, so there are two batteries connected in series.
I think they\'re good.
This is an OEM package, but who knows?
In this case, we have the same basic features.
Both have a battery management board consisting of a protection and balance circuit.
The laptop battery adds another important function to monitor the thermal resistance of the battery temperature.
These are all designed for maximum capacity and low emissions, so you won\'t find any heavy
Working parts like some other protection circuit.
Look at how the battery is arranged. the laptop battery has 6 batteries in series/in parallel, so the 3 batteries produce 11 in series.
1 volt, 2 batteries in parallel, doubling the capacity to 4800 mAh.
The camera battery has 2 batteries in series, so the capacity is the same, but the voltage is double.
While it is OK to keep the battery connected, you will want to charge and analyze them separately.
The lithium battery in the battery pack is always connected by a point welding label connecting the positive and negative terminals, and care is required when cutting.
Use a side cutter or a flat cutter to carefully cut the label between the batteries to avoid short circuit between terminals.
Be careful not to damage or remove the protective package outside the cell, because you can also shorten the metal body while cutting the label.
We don\'t want naked batteries.
Use a needle nose clamp to remove the label by pulling it down. Be careful.
The cutting edge of the label is very sharp!
Now that you have the battery, is your effort worth it?
The problem with recycling batteries is that you don\'t know how well they are taken care of and how old they are. Lithium-
Ion batteries are sensitive to over and underdischarging.
When they are discharged too deep and then fully charged, they lose capacity.
You can check the aging of the battery pack and measure the voltage (if able)
, Or check the date code on the board inside.
Most of the time, these batteries will be dead, I mean, dead. Lithium-
Ion batteries do not like to discharge below the over-discharge voltage, usually between 2. 5 and 2.
Up to 75 volts.
Below, the cell goes into a \"sleep\" state, or is dead and it won\'t charge again, and if you do manage to charge, the capacity will be low and unusable.
If you can measure the battery before taking it apart (
Like our camera battery has exposed terminals)
You\'re looking for 4.
The single battery is 2 to 3 volts, so our laptop battery is 12 volts full of electricity.
Discharge 6 V and 9 v.
I measured it after my anatomy. it\'s a beautiful-much-dead 5.
Each battery reading is 6 volts at about 1. 8 volts.
The shape of the camera battery is much better, the packaging display is completecharged 7.
9 volts, each battery at 3.
9 V, but we don\'t know how healthy they are or how much they have lost in capacity over the years.
If your battery is less than 2 volts then they are \"dead \".
\"If they read 0 volts then they go into a dormant state and they may not be worth keeping even if you bring them back to life because they will be damaged.
Recycling correctly.
You can save very low voltage batteries, but you need a special charger that can \"fix\" dead batteries, or use some technology to rejuvenate them.
You have a battery, but it\'s dead. Now what?
Because you can revive them, nothing is lost.
If you have a balance charger designed to charge your LiPo battery, it will most likely revive your lithiumion cells too.
Or, if you have a digital multi-charger with the \"Restore\" feature, that\'s OK too.
I am using Chinese clone of SkyRC iMax B6 charger and Zanflare C4 multi charger.
Zanflare has the ability to recycle the battery and has the analyzer function, but iMax does not.
To use Zanflare, just plug in the dead battery and get the charger to work.
Always start with the lowest possible charging current.
Zanflare dropped to 300 mAh so that\'s OK.
It will take a while, but be patient.
Let them fully charge and remove from the charger.
Let them sit for a night or a few days to see if they lose their charge.
If they have an obvious self
Get out of the hospital and throw them, but if they still hold the charges then it is likely that you have resurrected them, but when you use them, the time will tell you if you are successful.
You can run some test cycles on them and see how much life they lose by charging
Or two discharge cycles and check the capacity.
If your charger has a battery analyzer function, you can also measure the internal resistance of the battery, which Zanflare does.
Because many variables affect internal resistance, it is OK to use a little salt, but usually the number about 230 is a good number.
If you do not have a Zanflare or other Charger/analyzer with The revive feature, you can use the LiPo charger.
Now, as a safety feature, most of these chargers do not charge the battery under 2. 6 to 2.
5 V range, but there is a workaround.
Be careful!
Charge lithium batteries
Ion cells like NiMH can cause bad things to happen!
Set the charger to NiMH mode where you can manually select the charging current.
Set the current to 200 mA and start charging.
Monitor the voltage until the voltage exceeds 2.
8 and stop the charging process.
Set the charger to LiPo/Li-
Turn on mode and charge at low current, such as 200 to 300 mA.
Let it run until it\'s completely-charged.
Then discharge at the low setting of 500 mA.
Let it discharge fully and note the charging capacity and discharge capacity.
Charge the battery again, note the charging capacity and you should have a baseline of battery life.
The numbers close to the original capacity are good, but if your cells discharge quickly, heat or heat, and low capacity, then it\'s time to recycle it.
The laptop battery is good, about 2400 mAh on average, showing the original capacity of all the batteries.
The camera battery is not doing very well.
The battery is severely degraded and the capacity drops from the new capacity of 550 mAh to the full charge of only 660 mAh and 1500 mAh.
This makes sense because it was the original battery 14 years ago!
I may use them in another not high Project
Because these 18500-size batteries are not easy to find, drainage is required.
I hope you will be inspired and informed.
You should know what to look for when looking for a battery and how to remove the battery (safely! )
Check and recover recovered lithiumion cells.
Collecting these batteries from a device or battery pack can be fun, challenging and educational at the same time!
Besides, you save a lot of money.
You can find a lithium that has been used but is still completely viable. ion cell(s)
A fraction of the cost of buying a new one. Cheers!