Recycle LapTop Batteries

[TommeyLReed]

Hi all,

I have order 100 laptop batteries for my electric trike project.

At a average cost of $5-$6 per cell, you can save hundreds of dollars by recycling laptop batteries.

Your average laptop battery has 6 cells in them.

My video about recycle lithium batteries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCMjfmkoQnM



Tom.

[picowatt]

Hi all,

I have order 100 laptop batteries for my electric trike project.

At a average cost of $5-$6 per cell, you can save hundreds of dollars by recycling laptop batteries.

Your average laptop battery has 6 cells in them.

My video about recycle lithium batteries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCMjfmkoQnM



Tom.

That's some pretty scary stuff you got going on there.  All those batteries look like a Superfund clean-up site!

Seriously, lithium ion batteries are quite dangerous if not dealt with properly.  Do some searches for lithium ion battery thermal runaway, fire, explosion, etc.  Even storing them improperly can lead to either the terminals shorting to another battery or physical damage that can lead to a thermal runaway event, fire or explosion.

A large group paralleled, without proper electronic management, is pretty dangerous.  There is no way to balance the charges/loads or ensure all batteries in the group are at the same state of charge/discharge. When under a heavy load, a few good or better cells (lower internal resistance) may be trying to power the entire load and have too much current drawn from them resulting in a fire or explosion.  If one cell goes bad in the group, particularly a shorted cell, it will draw a lot of current from the rest of the pack, and again, there will most likely be a fire or explosion.

A large series string is just as bad because if one cell is weak, it will be reverse polarity charged by the other cells in the string when under a load.  Lithium ion cells do not take kindly to reverse polarity and again, a fire or explosion is likely.

Tesla autos use a large set of series strings parallel connected in groups but have an active 24/7 computer that monitors and balances the charge/discharge state of all the cells, as well as an active liquid cooled thermal management system.  The computer and thermal management system of a Tesla runs off the battery itself, and if the battery charge drops to a certain level (10-15% I believe) the battery will "brick" itself and disconnect all internal strapping connected/controlled by the computer.  One must then replace the entire battery pack (very expensive).  Tesla even has a service available to have the car call home to Tesla if the battery charge is becoming too low from sitting for too long at the airport, etc, and to either allow them to warn the owner or actually send out a truck to charge the battery.

The few cells I have around here are well packed and in such a way as to prevent their terminal from shorting to anything or receiving any physical damage (i.e., a dent)

I have a few flashlights that use a pair of lithium ion batteries in a series string.  In those flashlights, I use ONLY protected cells, which have overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage and reverse polarity protection built right into the batteries (they are slightly longer than a standard 18650 to accommodate the added circuitry ).

Besides the obvious Dreamliner incidents, there have been several aircraft cargo hold fires from improperly packed lithium ion batteries related to both commercial shipments and passenger luggage.  Hence, they are considered hazardous cargo requiring special considerations.

Although a bit pricey, and slightly less energy dense, LiFePO4 batteries are a much safer and forgiving chemistry, and better suited to an E-bike if great lengths are not to be taken to monitor and balance a large bank of lithium ion batteries.

Be safe, the hazards related to lithium ion batteries should not be taken lightly.

Don't burn your place down...

PW 

[picowatt]

With regard to charging lithium ion batteries, other than trickle charging at around C/300, which is supposed to be relatively safe, I strongly urge only the use of a decent quality smart charger for charging lithium ion batteries.  It is difficult to detect the end of charge point on a lithium ion battery and overcharging them can also make for a bad day.  Having had a cheapo charger fill a room with smoke after overheating a lithium ion battery and melting the charger, one learns to give these batteries a great deal of respect.

For 18650's and the like, a smart charger such as the Nitecore Intellicharger I4 is pretty decent.  However building a dedicated smart charger/balancer for a large bank of custom assembled battery packs would in itself be a substantial design project.

PW     

[TinselKoala]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzEHsJVZhA

[ramset]

what happened to the Boom??

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