How To Salvage Batteries For Projects

Batteries aren't always cheap especially when you use a lot of them, so in this video we are going to take a look at where to find them and how to get them up and running again
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[AntonFetzer]

Cells that are at voltages all the way down to 1V can be successfully revived by trickle charging them with small currents like for example 100mA for several hours.

I have revived several cells in that way. Some of them have a reduced capacity but are perfectly usable otherwise.

Cells that are at 0.00V are totally dead and I had no success reviving those. But if there is some voltage, they can be slowly brought back above 3V.

[Lucasimo]

When I salvage 18650 cells (from faulty electric bike batteries), I always make sure I run them through a discharge testing device (this is a very useful thing!). If they closely match (85-90% match) their capacity rating at 1C and 2C discharge rate, then they are kept. Any that fail this test are taken to my local battery recycling centre. Usually I find around 60-70% of the cells inside a faulty e bike battery are good to continue using. Power tool lithium batteries don't tend to yield good results. I get around 30-50% good cells from these. Most likely because power tools draw more bursts of high current which stresses the cells. 18650s are very useful for a wide range of builds. For me, I have made mobile phone charging power banks, batteries for our LED Tron costumes (we can often be clearly seen at Glastonbury festival as a duo) and currently for a large power wall in our camper van.

[kwadkrazy]

Actually the 18650 cells can discharge all the way down to 2.5v before they take any damage, but below that you gotta be careful with them. So a 2.6v cell is actually perfectly usable, and probably as healthy as a cell you find at 3.3v, although you can't judge by the voltage alone

[fedexsmartpost]

Another pro tip: Salvage electric mobility scooters, I got 35 high quality Panasonics from one.

[SharonKlinkenberg]

Thanks for the vid. Do you need to take the metal plates off, the ones that you cut with the plyers. If so, how?

[nelchan]

TIPS : If you're planning to reuse it as a power tool battery and you don't have a spot welder, just leave the old nickel strip on the battery so you can solder it correctly and securely.

[SEKKC-PC]

British Accent Gets a broken nose if speaking it in US America. American Accent in America.