NeXT
Veteran Member
Right, about that TransNote.
When I got it the battery sucked. Being the original battery it was in no mood to see life beyond five minutes. Unlike almost all the other Thinkpads made after 2000 however the battery for the TransNote never saw enough demand for chinese batteries to surface on ebay so at best all you can find are other dead batteries or NOS batteries on Amazon which I wouldn't hold hope for being all that good. My first great idea was to send the battery in for a rebuild and leave the dirty work for them. Half a year and two returns later it was apparent that Radio Shack could not do the job and I couldn't find anyone else in town who would do it either. I was left with no choice but to rebuild it myself.
This sounds really easy given that there's pages all over the internet on recelling your pack but the TransNote had to be different from the others like a retarded kid eating gravel on the playground. Unlike the others which use the super common cylindrical "18650" cells I use the flat rectangular "103450" cells, not to be confused with their lithium polymer cousins. These are apparently not only harder to source but more than twice the price ($25) compared to other first-brand 18650 cells. I was forced to look around and see if I could buy other chinese battery packs that might hold them because then at least I had some sort of assurance the cells would have a high amp rating. After failing to find laptop packs holding the right cells (sure there are photos but no model numbers) I looked elsewhere and found the NP-120 camera battery. It was basically a single 103450 cell with a charge controller. They could be found for amazingly cheap on ebay so I took a gamble and bought four for $4 each.
The first batch gave me a few useful bits of info. For starters once gutted you could see the batteries were brandless wonders. I had no hopes of a real life boost at this point because off-brand chinese batteries generally suck, especially when they are not rated for computer use. The second thing was that unlike 18650's, it's illegal for battery stores to spot weld 103450's in my part of the world. Apparently their chemistry is different and more unstable so unless the tabs are added at the factory nobody is going to help you at the risk of the cell exploding. This also limits me to buying cells that are pre-tabbed so brand new first brand cells off ebay or wherever were out of the question and I wasn't about to purchase a spool of ribbon and a spot welder for one job. In my first batch of cells I had already ripped the old tabs off before knowing this. Oops... $18 later I had another four on the bench.
>>IMAGE<<
Again in typical chinese fashion the second batch of batteries were different. This time the tabs for both polarities were on the same side. The wiring inside the pack would have to be rearranged to fit this change.
THIS...
BECAME THIS...
The tabs would be used to attach everything together. Electrical tape was used to separate the cells to keep them from shorting. A strip of cardboard was used to also prevent shorts. Once the pack was reassembled it dropped into the old plastic enclosure.
From here I trimmed back the leads and carefully reinstalled the charge controller. Once everything was soldered in (and a notch was cut in the tape so the temperature probe contacted the physical cells) we were ready for a charge.
>>IMAGE<<
When dropped in sans AC adapter the computer POSTed so the rebuild was a success so far but the battery was in need of a charge. I plugged in the AC adapter and left it to do its work, occasionally checking to make sure the cells were not overheating.
The final results were amazingly lackluster. With the defective cells the rebuild service had given me before later blowing one of my safety fuses and trying to give me the run around the warehouse I at least had 45 minutes of life. With these mysterious chinese cells the charge rate never exceeded 690ma and after an hour had bottomed out at 10ma. I might be putting too much blame on the cells there. It could also be the charge controller was completely confused with the new cells and it had not yet seen a full cycle.
>>IMAGE<<
Another 45 minutes later I finally decided it was ready and give it a discharge.
>>IMAGE<<
30 minutes tops. The life is even worse than before. Sure we can conclude out of this that new cells will work but unless you can get cells from a more reputable brand like Samsung or Sanyo or Panasonic AND you know someone who can spot weld the tabs on for you I doubt you'll ever get optimal life out of the battery again.
When I got it the battery sucked. Being the original battery it was in no mood to see life beyond five minutes. Unlike almost all the other Thinkpads made after 2000 however the battery for the TransNote never saw enough demand for chinese batteries to surface on ebay so at best all you can find are other dead batteries or NOS batteries on Amazon which I wouldn't hold hope for being all that good. My first great idea was to send the battery in for a rebuild and leave the dirty work for them. Half a year and two returns later it was apparent that Radio Shack could not do the job and I couldn't find anyone else in town who would do it either. I was left with no choice but to rebuild it myself.
This sounds really easy given that there's pages all over the internet on recelling your pack but the TransNote had to be different from the others like a retarded kid eating gravel on the playground. Unlike the others which use the super common cylindrical "18650" cells I use the flat rectangular "103450" cells, not to be confused with their lithium polymer cousins. These are apparently not only harder to source but more than twice the price ($25) compared to other first-brand 18650 cells. I was forced to look around and see if I could buy other chinese battery packs that might hold them because then at least I had some sort of assurance the cells would have a high amp rating. After failing to find laptop packs holding the right cells (sure there are photos but no model numbers) I looked elsewhere and found the NP-120 camera battery. It was basically a single 103450 cell with a charge controller. They could be found for amazingly cheap on ebay so I took a gamble and bought four for $4 each.
The first batch gave me a few useful bits of info. For starters once gutted you could see the batteries were brandless wonders. I had no hopes of a real life boost at this point because off-brand chinese batteries generally suck, especially when they are not rated for computer use. The second thing was that unlike 18650's, it's illegal for battery stores to spot weld 103450's in my part of the world. Apparently their chemistry is different and more unstable so unless the tabs are added at the factory nobody is going to help you at the risk of the cell exploding. This also limits me to buying cells that are pre-tabbed so brand new first brand cells off ebay or wherever were out of the question and I wasn't about to purchase a spool of ribbon and a spot welder for one job. In my first batch of cells I had already ripped the old tabs off before knowing this. Oops... $18 later I had another four on the bench.
>>IMAGE<<
Again in typical chinese fashion the second batch of batteries were different. This time the tabs for both polarities were on the same side. The wiring inside the pack would have to be rearranged to fit this change.
THIS...
BECAME THIS...
The tabs would be used to attach everything together. Electrical tape was used to separate the cells to keep them from shorting. A strip of cardboard was used to also prevent shorts. Once the pack was reassembled it dropped into the old plastic enclosure.
From here I trimmed back the leads and carefully reinstalled the charge controller. Once everything was soldered in (and a notch was cut in the tape so the temperature probe contacted the physical cells) we were ready for a charge.
>>IMAGE<<
When dropped in sans AC adapter the computer POSTed so the rebuild was a success so far but the battery was in need of a charge. I plugged in the AC adapter and left it to do its work, occasionally checking to make sure the cells were not overheating.
The final results were amazingly lackluster. With the defective cells the rebuild service had given me before later blowing one of my safety fuses and trying to give me the run around the warehouse I at least had 45 minutes of life. With these mysterious chinese cells the charge rate never exceeded 690ma and after an hour had bottomed out at 10ma. I might be putting too much blame on the cells there. It could also be the charge controller was completely confused with the new cells and it had not yet seen a full cycle.
>>IMAGE<<
Another 45 minutes later I finally decided it was ready and give it a discharge.
>>IMAGE<<
30 minutes tops. The life is even worse than before. Sure we can conclude out of this that new cells will work but unless you can get cells from a more reputable brand like Samsung or Sanyo or Panasonic AND you know someone who can spot weld the tabs on for you I doubt you'll ever get optimal life out of the battery again.