Revive an Old Laptop Battery Cell or Repair (Li-ion)

First, you need to read the battery voltage using a multi-meter. If the voltage is below the minimum charging level, the battery is probably in "sleep mode" and you need to jump-start it using a special Li-Ion charger with a booster as it will not charge regularly. - Ion charger. This will be the initial battery revival. After that, the battery has to go through several complete cycles of charging and discharging. There is scientific evidence that it can be helpful to freeze batteries when they are empty and then recondition them after they are fully charged.

Li-ion batteries, also known as lithium-ion batteries, are widely used in most modern electronic devices, including smartphones, laptops, cameras, personal technology gadgets, power tools, and more. These are rechargeable, high capacity, less self-contained. -Discharge, and quite a large number of charge cycles that make them widely popular.

If you have a Li-ion battery that looks dead, it's worth trying to revive it before reusing it.

Let me explain a little more about each of these stages.

Revive an Old Laptop Battery Cell or Repair (Li-ion)

1. Battery deconstruction

You can skip this step if you are recharging an 18650 Li Ion battery or a single-cell battery. Otherwise, if you want to revive a laptop battery or power tool battery for example, you need to deconstruct it, because the actual battery cells you are looking for are packed inside a plastic case.

You will need a proper spooler tool kit to separate the plastic case.

Multipurpose Sputter Tool Kit

Considering the different battery cases available in the market I will not be able to explain how I can deconstruct them individually. However, common sense and a little patience will help you in the process.

Here is an example of a laptop battery case with a 6 x 18650 Li-ion battery:

2. Read the battery voltage

The first thing you should do before recharging the battery is to read the voltage using a digital multimeter.

You need this information to see if the battery has been converted to sleep mode Each Li-ion battery has a protection circuit that acts as a protection that shuts off the battery when the battery is over-discharged. This happens when the battery is not charged for a long time. The protection circuit for most Li-ion batteries puts the battery in sleep mode when it discharges to any value between 2.2 and 2.9 V / cell, depending on the manufacturer.

It is not advisable to revive any batteries with voltage below this "over-discharge" level as they are either dead so they will not charge anymore, or even if they are charged the capacity will be too low so the battery will be unusable.

3. Plug the battery into the charger with revive function

Chargers with revive function (also known as a charger with wake-up or boost feature) are very different from regular Li-Ion chargers. Although the regular charger will not charge the battery while it is in sleep mode, the battery charger with booster applies a small charge current which activates the battery protection circuit and if the cell reaches nominal voltage, the charger goes back to normal. And the battery continues to charge normally. All this is done automatically by the charger.

Wait until the battery is fully charged.

4. Charge and discharge the battery

Once the battery is fully charged, note the capacity and allow it to start discharging overnight or the following days. Notice how fast they lose charge.

Go through the charging / discharging cycle one more time. Measure battery capacity.

If it loses power significantly, you should probably reuse it, otherwise you have a good chance of successfully reviving it.

5. Freeze the battery

There are some scientific findings that freezing lithium batteries improves safety and battery life.

For that purpose, place the battery in an airtight bag, then refrigerate the bag for about 24 hours. Make sure the battery is completely protected from moisture, so that it does not get wet.

Take the battery out of the freezer and let it thaw until it reaches room temperature (usually it takes 7-9 hours).

6. Fully charge the battery

After the battery has recovered to room temperature and no moisture is left behind, you need to proceed with a full charge using your regular Li-Ion charger.

After the batteries are stored, they completely lose their charge and we have to fully charge them again.

So far you have completed all the necessary steps to revive the lithium ion battery. Hopefully, it has been successful.

About Debmalya Datta

Welcome to our blog “CYBER SUGGEST“. Debmalya Datta is a professional Blogger, Developer, Social Media Influencer, Digital Marketer and Entrepreneur. He loves doing work which makes him happy, that’s why he choose Blogging and Educate people. You will love exploring educational stuff on our blog. Live your dreams as much as you can. Be a SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER