Side Quest 3: 20 tips for recelling battery packs

Some tips for recelling battery packs extracted from my posts in various places.

Random Encounter 4: Use old battery cells as a new power source

After recelling the battery packs for the handhelds, it is important to test the capacity of those old cells. In fact, very often when a battery pack seems to be dead, it would turn out that only one or two of the cells inside the pack are depleted, while the rest are still functional.

Book of Sigmarion II: Chapter 2 Power Upgrade (recelling)

Carrying on the successful enhancement of the battery life of my Jornada 720 by replacing the old cells (1,500 mAh) with new Sanyo 18650 cells (rated at 3,400 mAh), I continued this exercise to revamp the batteries for my newly received Sigmarion II.

On the forums, some seem to refuse to believe that there are 3xxx mAh cells and cast doubt on their actual capacity. So before throwing in the new cells, this time I used the LiitoKala Engineer Lii-500 charger to test their capacity. This charger allows fast charge using 1000mA with two cells. So I will run this test a few times for these new Sanyo cells.

Book of Jornada: Chapter 2+ Revamped Battery Pack Duo

Yesterday I bought another pair of Sanyo 18650 cells which are claimed to hold 3,400 mAh. The previous pair worked so well (over 16 hours runtime!) that I found no excuse not to revamp the other aging battery pack. 

Book of Jornada: Chapter 2 Chou Henshin - Ultimate Rising Form (battery powerup)!!

CHOU HENSHIN!!  (Japanese, meaning "Super Transformation")

Exalted by the revival of his fellow Sigmarion III with enhanced stamina, my Jornada 720 is inspired to transcend his Ultimate Form to reach an even more potent level.

So today he once again visited the Solo Champion, who invoked the powerup ritual on Sigmarion III. Knowing the upcoming challenges ahead, the Solo Champion immediately prepared the necessary tools again and proceeded to the altar.

Book of Sigmarion III: Chapter 1 Revival of the Ancient Warrior (Part II): An experiment of solder-free battery repairing

Previously in the Book of Sigmarion III ...

The battery is dead! The cells are dead dead!

The only means to resuscitate the dead battery pack is by replacing the dead cells inside. They are 3.7V 18500 (NOT the much more common 18650!). 

My little champion proclaims, "Here came the rescue, my friend!"

Book of Sigmarion III: Chapter 1 Revival of the Ancient Warrior (Part I)

HOMECOMING

Here arrived my Sigmarion III, the 3rd generation of Handheld PCs by DoCoMo (a major mobile service provider in Japan). 

I won the bidding on the Japanese Yahoo auctioning site. This item only cost a bit more than 5,000 yen. An excellent deal in my opinion. In fact, from time to time the Japanese sellers would describe their listed items as "junk". However, more often than not things would turn out to be (much) better than expected. I have a very high respect for the Japanese for how they take great care of things they own, especially collection items and gadgets. As you can see, everything is in such an excellent condition. If the box had been (re-)shrinkwrapped I would even have believed that this is a (like-)new machine!