1272 How To Reuse Old Phone Batteries

[michailnicki]

Got my hands on a bunch of laptop batteries. Right now i made a few 12V battery packs and i run my nightstand lamp / phone charging and random projets. Most of the packs i made are just around 4-6Ah each but i can hotswap them and im charging them with a solar panel taped to my window. Never ran out of charge and im running them for over a year now. Planning to make a supercapacitor stabilised high punch current batterypack as an offgrid energy storage. Upcycling is great!

[Alex-tjzo]

WOW !
I've had this idea for such a long time about reusing somehow different old lithium batteries and your video comes right on that path. 😃👍
Now you've got me hooked for what's next 😄
Thank you so much Rob !

[sevenowls]

Brilliant! Took me back to my time in a camera store in the 1980s: I used to keep used SX70 Polaroid instant film packs, as the batteries in them were still good and physically flat (and squidgy) and could be used to power all sorts of little projects. They weren't rechargeable of course. Cheers!

[ecospider]

I charge my recycled batteries up to 4.2v. Then let them sit for 2-4 weeks. If the voltage stayed above 4v I write that voltage on the pack. Then when soldering them into parallel packs I use matching voltages.

I do this because if you have a cell that will discharge to 4.05v and you put that in parallel with a bunch of cells that stayed at 4.18v the whole pack will get drained down to 4.05v from self discharge.

[ecospider]

When I reuse old batteries I always put the final pack in a fire resistant bag or metal case. That way if they burst into flames you only have smoke damage to the area it is in. Without that it can easily start a fire.

[marktunney]

Ha ha. That lad who brought them just dropped his coffee.
Three thousand !!!!

[matthewellisor]

Wow! Those are good friends indeed. 10+ kWh, that's what I'm planning for my first bank. I just ordered some PV panels and trying to scrounge some storage. (Thought about Bromine but I'd rather not have that much in the house.)

The protection circuits that I find on phone cells typically use a DW01. I wouldn't bin all those, they'll be useful for many projects.
Big Clive has a video titled: "Simplest solar light possible, using old phone battery." or something very close to that. It's a good example of how to make use of those protection circuits.

[zylascope]

I think you said between 3 and 3.7v is a cell that's in excellent condition. I didn't know that. I didn't know that the ones at 2.5v could be recovered. That's amazing. Great video. Great neighbours, you have there, Rob.

[ChannonWW]

Awesome awesome gift, a gift to knowledge also because it's science..👍🇺🇲🤔

[petergambier]

Thanks for posting this interesting film about the humble phone battery Robert, isn't it amazing what people throw away?

[mikebond]

I’ve been waiting patiently albeit anxiously for this series.

[bens]

Awesome. I just pulled one of these out of the battery bin at work the other day, not really sure how I'd check it. Followed your instructions and sure enough it's a good one--3.7V.

[ronniepirtlejr]

Hey Robert, I agree with you about the batteries below 2.5 volts will probably be dead as a doornail! However, I have learned from some of Big Clive videos. Some of his electronic devices he purchases from poundland come with a dead 18650 battery in them. 0 volts. He applies a trickle charge while keeping an eye on the battery temperature. If the battery still has life in it, once it reaches 3 volts, he will disconnect the charger and watch the voltage to see if it plummets. If it does, you have a bad battery. If it doesn't, the battery will probably recover to be a good battery again.👍

[Teknopottu]

Remember, people, when you store your lithium ion batteries/devices using them, it is best if the battery is nor empty or full. Both is harmful because of the chemistry. About 50% of charge in your phone/tablet/gadget or 3, 7ish volts is best for storage. Battery may show 4, 2V after two years of storage but the total capacity has lowered. Not sure about how much it was but anyways, when with couple or many cells, better to keep them working better.

[kafkaian]

What does TnT stand for? What's changed?

[queenstreetsystems]

excellent video thank you! please could you explain why lithium "wears out" ?

[JohnAlexanderICT]

Couldn't you check the voltage using the tabs before you went to the trouble of desoldering? I'm thinking that would reduce the time wasted on unrecoverable packs....

[Xswitchblades]

In my mind a pouch battery has a better shape than a cylindrical one
It feels tidier and has better use of space Thank you for this!

[JohnBoen]

Nice score!

I do a lot of small electronics projects, and use these quite often. AT&T knows me when I walk in - but man, never had more than 5 :)

For smaller form factor: My favorite small project battery is from discarded e-cigarette... these contain a 5x1x.5 cm 3.7v. 280 ma battery that normally heats a wire. Good amperage...

[mamupelu]

Is it the same thing as a flat laptop battery? Looks like its a bunch of those side by side.