Hello From Baltimore, MD

Hi everyone. I became interested in 18650 cells after watching a Youtube video on breaking open laptop battery packs a few months ago. I've since harvested probably over a hundred 18650 cells from various sources. I'm in the process of charging/discharging them with an Imax B6 to determine relative capacity. I hope to build large 1 kWh 4.2v packs for a powerwall type application, but that's a long way off still. As I go through the process of binning these cells, I'm getting closer to building packs. I have a few questions regarding how to best combine these cells as well as balancing, so I thought I'd join and ask the knowledgeable members here as questions come up.

I'm still learning about Li-ion battery tech in general, but I've learned a lot, both from this forum and Youtube, so I'm glad to be joining. Thanks for reading, looking forward to interacting more with the members here soon

Welcome to the Forum.

I used to live in Annapolis from 2011 till about 2015. A few weeks ago I was cleaning up my computer bookmarks, and I came across a refurbished computer store where I bought some laptop computers. I deleted that bookmark, but If I I was still living up there I would go to that store to see about getting dead laptop batteries. I think the name of the store was PC retro and they had several stores around the DC/Baltimore area.

Good Luck.

Thanks Riplash, I appreciate the suggestion. I asked a local mom and pop computer store if they would be willing to let me take their dead batteries, but they said they couldn't do it for "legal" reasons. I haven't tried PC Retro yet though. I'll give them a shot.

The legal aspect of things is that if you "buy" them, and have them sign a contract that fully relinquishes them of all responsibility, then it should be ok. Look about getting the legal document done (probably find some examples online) and present them with that. Especially if it gets notarized.

That's the sort of tip to go into the FAQ wiki