Firstimer powerwall

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LishFish

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Apr 16, 2017
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Hey everyone,
As mentioned in my intro I am trying to hit a Goal of a5kwh battery.
So far I have about 100ish from old laptop batteries and brought a battery charger for them.
I have figured out most of it but have a few questions to get kick started.

1. Where is a good place to source old laptop batteries besides ebay and gumtree?
(So far I have been paying $2for laptop batteries if they have over 5 and $5 under 5)

2. What is the best sizing tinned copper wire to be able to fuse every battery?

3. What's something cheap that can be used to test the mah of a cell?

Looking forward to building as money allows. I will be keeping you all updated as progress is made.
I am in Australia and therefore all dollar values are in AUD. :)

TIA
LishFish
 
Welcome to the forum! :D

If you're saying $2/laptop pack, then that's pretty good. Most laptop packs will have 6 cells, that makes about $.33/cell. Not bad, but could be better. What we usually do is go by the pound. I bought $200 worth of packs at $1.50/lb. I'm not sure of the exact weight of a pack since I don't have scale that can weigh that little bit of weight.

Look at AverageJoe's pages and video's. He'd done extensive reviews on fuse wires and what to use and what not to use.

So far, right out of the box workable, the cheapest and semi-most reliable, is the amphour tester that's been floating around eBay and Banggood. It's the ZB2L3. Not all titles will have that in them, but at least you can see what the tester looks like. It's fairly easy to use, straightforward and clean. You can do a search for "18650 capacity tester" and that'll help narrow down the results.
If you want a better more accurate tester, the Opus is one of the recommended testers, as it does charge/discharge/amphr/resistance testing. Do a search in the forums for Opus and you'll get a lot of hits on it.

You have several mates on here that are also from Aus, including the main big cheese, Pete (HBPowerwall) :) So you have local support.

Again, welcome, and g-luck!
 
LishFish said:
1. Where is a good place to source old laptop batteries besides ebay and gumtree?

3. What's something cheap that can be used to test the mah of a cell?
Click to expand...

1. if possible dont pay anything^^ get connections to electronic-stores, or work in one yourself. make it a service for them, not a sale. dont annoy them^^

3. i decided to get the all in 1, opus bt-c3100 v2.2, but dont use it in your bedroom, when, and it will, the fan kicks in, you better do not love silence^^ cheap isnt good, get yourself one to start and advance as needed
 
Have you tried all the computer repairers / shops in your area?
This has been the most successful forme :cool:
 
I buy from computer recyclers but they sell by the ton around here and you might not want to jump in the pool quite that deep right away.
 
Thanks all for the replies.
I will defiantly have a look at AverageJoe's pages and Videos.
I was unaware you could buy cells cheaper let alone for free.
Will defiantly look around at battery places/electronic stores.
MajStealth do you have an example of this?
If money allows I am more then happy to buy in the tonnes :D :D - Does anyone have a place they go too that I could go check out?.

P.s. Preferably if I can look in Adelaide. Might be a bit hard to get my sister in QLD to send down 1 tonne of batteries :D :p
 
you mentioned "make it a service for them, not a sale. dont annoy them"
Wondering if you had an example of that?
 
well, i work in an it-company, we stockpile literally hundreds of ups-batteries over a year, same with old pcs and other dead hardware. i doubt it is that much different in other companies. i would be happy if at least something of that trash gets away without the need to distract me from my real work. i have to say, i did not check other companies yet, it is planned but yeah
 
Always make it a service and then you add a bonus on top like some money for cake or what not :) Not many will resist that
 
Update.
So I contacted a whole heap of computer repair places, only a few got back to me and one told me they just throw away dead laptop batteries. :(
I went into battery world as well and they refused to give away batteries as they "promised their customers they would recycle them" and apparently its "extremely dangerous" opening them up.
Anyway Ive been hitting up gumtree and facebook heaps lately so much im sure people would often see my name pop up, from this so far 1 person has responded and 2 liked my posts. I am really struggling to obtain these blasted cells, I really need help here on this one and am happy to buy half a tonne of someone that either is in QLD or SA that buys them by the tonne
 
With the place that "throws them away", did you tell them you would be willing to take them off their hands for 'em? Possibly even at a small payment to them for doing so?

I still think craigslist, or something similar, is still going to be your best option. Just make the title "Get $$ for your old Laptop/Powertool Batteries!!!" That's what's I put down.

Just and FYI, there is a difference between laptop cells and powertool cells. Laptop cells are designed for low amp draw and long capacity. Powertool cells, on the other hand, are designed for high amp draw, lower capacity. The powertool cells will most likely be rated at 2C or better; whereas the laptop cells are more along the lines of .5C - 1C.
Just something to keep in mind when/if you get powertool packs and pull the cells out. Don't get those mixed with your other cells (though, it probably wouldn't hurt them really). Use those cells in a different pack that would require a higher amp draw (say, DIY starter pack, Lithium battery for your car/motorcycle/lawnmower/etc)
 
Yeap told battery world its for a project and they still refused. Wasnt going to mention I can pay because she already seemed annoyed at me for even wanting them in the first place.
I also told that place that throws them away if they can contact me next time they have them and I can take them off their hands.
I was also unaware that power tool cells were designed differently, I will keep that in mind when getting them.
In my ads I mention "Money paid for old/dead lithium ion batteries". Generally a dead laptop battery still has good cells in it.
Not Sure we even have craigslist here in AUS.
 
LishFish said:
Generally a dead laptop battery still has good cells in it.
Click to expand...

Yep, I have several laptop packs that the silver strip came loose from one or more of the cells and all the cells tested excellent. In other words,I pulled them out of the packs and they still had 3.5+V in each of the cells.

I've actually had several packs with excellent cell condition. I'm pretty surprised with the results. Now just gotta get off my lazy bum and finish the pack dismantling and cell recovery :p
 
Update:
So today I managed to score 2 laptop battery packs for free! :D Total between them had 14 cells, now bringing my total up to 129 cells. These recovered cells had some that were over 3.8v but none under 2.5v so a pretty good score if I do say so myself
 
So my battery charger finally came in yesterday the 26th. Its managed to revive 6/9 samsung 18650s that were at 0v, the other 3 it just did not like at all, still exceeded my expectations. The battery charger I ended up getting was the Xtar VC4, only things I dont like about it is it only has a max 2.1a input over 4 slots and that I can only see the mAh thats gone into the battery, cant check the proper capacity.

Has anyone got any recommendations for something cheap to test the true capacity of an 18650 cell?

TIA
LishFish
 
Opus does it pretty well. but if you want true capacity and proper accuracy you need to spend some hundred bucks :) I use iCharger personally but on the other hand the Opus is good enough for me.

Yes, I have tested the Littokala and the other 2 thats out there and common but i never liked them and have gone with the opus.
 
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