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Best place to buy new or replacement batteries? And what about rebuilding batteries?

post #1 of 6
7/23/06 at 12:39am
Thread Starter 
Hello everyone,

I did a search, but there was no solid answer, so I'm posting this question in a new thread.

I recently got ahold of two laptops, an IBM Thinkpad 365X (circa 1996, Pentium 120mhz) and a Compaq presario 1800T (circa 2000, Pentium 3 600mhz).

The IBM's battery is a 9.6v Nimh rated at 2800mAH, and it's pretty much dead (it only lasts 10-30 seconds).

The Compaq's battery is a 14.8v Li-ion rated at 3600mAH. It lasts 10-15 minutes (maybe even around 20).

Anyway, I'm looking to replace one or both of them. Where is the best place to buy replacement batteries from (is there a particular store which has the best prices?)

Also, I know the battery sticky said that rebuilding is usually not worth the time and effort, but I was thinking that I could get 8 AA nimh (around 2500mAH, not very far from the original 2800mAH) batteries to replace the nimh cells in the IBM battery pack. Has anyone rebuilt a battery pack before, and if so, what are your thoughts?

Any information or suggestions regarding purchasing or rebuilding batteries is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.
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post #2 of 6
7/23/06 at 12:41am
120 mhz thats impessive, But I can't say I recall, I never heard of fixxing a battery, for that old of model, maybe look at a pawn shop...imo
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post #3 of 6
7/23/06 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by XxThorxX
120 mhz thats impessive, But I can't say I recall, I never heard of fixxing a battery, for that old of model, maybe look at a pawn shop...imo

Yeah, 120mhz, 810MB hard drive, 72MB EDO RAM (8MB built-in + 64MB Sodimm), 11" TFT LCD (I think 800x600 is the resolution with 16-bit color depth). And since it has no touchpad (only a trackpoint), it has a nice small footprint. The only "problem" is that it's about 2-inches thick when closed. If it had a battery, it'd be very portable, hence the reason for my search.
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post #4 of 6
7/23/06 at 4:14am
are you sure it's on the order of 2800mAh? because if that's true, i mean, i could put 6 NiMH batteries together for like <$10 and then have a laptop battery that would last like 2 hours. even with 4 2600mAh batteries, i dont even think i could get my digital camera to last 300 pictures of relatively rapid fire (i was at a convention taking pictures). i'm not sure how the numbers really compare, but i know laptop batteries nowadays are on the order of 70mWh. anyone know how the comparison is? if it really is that they are only that much, i'd be surprised. even if those 6-10 year old systems did have like half the power as current ones, i dunno if my NiMH's could give that much power. also, i'd almost suggest buying more expensive lithium batteries possibly, though the voltage from the lithium reaction is 3V, which isn't as convenient as 1.2V of NiMH without voltage converting things...
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post #5 of 6
7/23/06 at 5:00am
rebuilding laptop battery:
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread159142.html

cheers ...
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post #6 of 6
7/23/06 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by yee245
are you sure it's on the order of 2800mAh? because if that's true, i mean, i could put 6 NiMH batteries together for like <$10 and then have a laptop battery that would last like 2 hours. even with 4 2600mAh batteries, i dont even think i could get my digital camera to last 300 pictures of relatively rapid fire (i was at a convention taking pictures). i'm not sure how the numbers really compare, but i know laptop batteries nowadays are on the order of 70mWh. anyone know how the comparison is? if it really is that they are only that much, i'd be surprised. even if those 6-10 year old systems did have like half the power as current ones, i dunno if my NiMH's could give that much power. also, i'd almost suggest buying more expensive lithium batteries possibly, though the voltage from the lithium reaction is 3V, which isn't as convenient as 1.2V of NiMH without voltage converting things...
Yup, it's 2.8AH, which equals 2800mAH. I opened the battery a while ago, and it's actually 8 batteries (size 4/3A) connected in parallel, along with some basic overheating/overvoltage protection. When you mentioned 70Wh, You're comparing Watt-hours to Amp-hours, so you have to convert. As for buying Lithium batteries, I'd have to buy a different charger, and it'd probably have to be external. Lithium batteries need to have a different type of over-charge protection circuit built-in, so you can't use the same charger as for NiMH batteries. Now if I were to rebuild the Compaq battery, that would require Li-Ion cells.
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn
rebuilding laptop battery: http://www.notebookforums.com/thread159142.html cheers ...
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I've already had a look at the electronics-lab website (rebuilding a Li-ion cell), but I was wondering if any users had personal experiences or recommendations on where to buy replacement cells. Also, what are some of the better stores to buy batteries from?
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