Any Home-Brew lighting fans there?

[Richard Bates]

Is a Lithium Ion battery any use to you? It's from an old laptop and
is rated at 14.4V 3Ah

Cost is postage only.

Email me.

--
Jesus was apparently betrayed by 8.3% of his disciples.

 

[Richard Bates]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 18:18:27 +0000, Richard Bates
<[email protected]> wrote:


Gone

--
Jesus was apparently betrayed by 8.3% of his disciples.

 

[Ambrose Nankivell]

Richard Bates wrote:
> Is a Lithium Ion battery any use to you? It's from an old laptop and
> is rated at 14.4V 3Ah

I'm a home-brew lighting fan of sorts (I've got a half finished kit in a
draw somewhere. Actually completely finished but needs an appropriate
charge), but if it's a Dell battery, I kind of need one for a laptop, if
that'd be an appropriate use.

If so, TIA,

A

 

[Pete Biggs]

Richard Bates wrote:
> Is a Lithium Ion battery any use to you? It's from an old laptop and
> is rated at 14.4V 3Ah

I'm the lucky recipient (thanks Richard).

I wonder if anyone could help with my first problem: connecting a lead!
Seems to require an inline 8-pin plug of some sort, about an inch long.
Are these plugs standard and where can I get one?

Perhaps I could use a socket or bit from an unwanted laptop that the
battery would plug in to.

Battery is labeled "20/30/56/57/58/59" and "00.01.ACA".

cheers
~PB

 

[Jon Senior]

Pete Biggs wrote:
> I'm the lucky recipient (thanks Richard).

Beat me by 3 minutes apparently. Good luck!

> I wonder if anyone could help with my first problem: connecting a lead!
> Seems to require an inline 8-pin plug of some sort, about an inch long.
> Are these plugs standard and where can I get one?

Any chance of photos? Either on a website or email some to me, I might
be able to track something down.

> Perhaps I could use a socket or bit from an unwanted laptop that the
> battery would plug in to.
>
> Battery is labeled "20/30/56/57/58/59" and "00.01.ACA".

Are those the only labels? Richard: What was the original laptop?

Do you have a charger? Do be careful with these as a bad charger could
prove "exciting"!

Jon

 

[Pete Biggs]

Jon Senior wrote:
> Pete Biggs wrote:
>> I'm the lucky recipient (thanks Richard).
>
> Beat me by 3 minutes apparently. Good luck!
>
>> I wonder if anyone could help with my first problem: connecting a
>> lead! Seems to require an inline 8-pin plug of some sort, about an
>> inch long. Are these plugs standard and where can I get one?
>
> Any chance of photos? Either on a website or email some to me, I might
> be able to track something down.

Will do later tonight, cheers.

>> Perhaps I could use a socket or bit from an unwanted laptop that the
>> battery would plug in to.
>>
>> Battery is labeled "20/30/56/57/58/59" and "00.01.ACA".
>
> Are those the only labels?

No makers name or model number, just "Lithium Ion Battery, Rating 14.4V
3000mAh, Made in Taiwan" and a warning notice that mentions explosion
The 8-pin aspect concerns me. I was hoping there'd just be a plus &
minus.

> Richard: What was the original laptop?

> Do you have a charger? Do be careful with these as a bad charger could
> prove "exciting"!

How about a Lumicycle smart charger designed for their Li-Ion batt, which
from memory is 14.8V 4Ah? I'm hoping to either use the battery as a
backupor build a cheapo second system. But I could pass it on to you if
I've bitten off more than I can chew.

~PB

 

[Richard Bates]

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 15:29:36 -0000, "Pete Biggs"
<pwrinkledgrape{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote:

>Richard Bates wrote:
>> Is a Lithium Ion battery any use to you? It's from an old laptop and
>> is rated at 14.4V 3Ah
>
>I'm the lucky recipient (thanks Richard).
>
>I wonder if anyone could help with my first problem: connecting a lead!
>Seems to require an inline 8-pin plug of some sort, about an inch long.
>Are these plugs standard and where can I get one?

>Perhaps I could use a socket or bit from an unwanted laptop that the
>battery would plug in to.

I asumed that you would extract the batteries form the plastic case. A
bag of bits is still sitting here - so if you want a knackered laptop
(minus RAM, minus LCD, minus HDD) from which you may be able to
extract the relevant connector and circuitry then let me know and I
can chuck it in a box and post it.

I've also got the charger - I never thought of that when I offerred
the battery up for grabs.

It shoves out 19V 2.64A

Again, if you want it then do let me know

The original laptop was sold by Time (not sure who actually
manufactures their stuff) and was from the Traveller range.

If you want the bits then I won't be able to post 'em until next week.


--
Jesus was apparently betrayed by 8.3% of his disciples.

 

[Pete Biggs]

Richard Bates wrote:

> I asumed that you would extract the batteries form the plastic case.

I was thinking it'd be nice to have some ready-made insulation + weather &
shock proofing. But, what the hell, I'll bust it open unless someone
persuades me otherwise -- quickly please!

cheers
~PB

 

[Ambrose Nankivell]

Pete Biggs wrote:
> Jon Senior wrote:
>> Pete Biggs wrote:
>>> I'm the lucky recipient (thanks Richard).
>>
>> Beat me by 3 minutes apparently. Good luck!
>>
>>> I wonder if anyone could help with my first problem: connecting a
>>> lead! Seems to require an inline 8-pin plug of some sort, about an
>>> inch long. Are these plugs standard and where can I get one?
>>
>> Any chance of photos? Either on a website or email some to me, I
>> might be able to track something down.
>
> Will do later tonight, cheers.
>
>>> Perhaps I could use a socket or bit from an unwanted laptop that the
>>> battery would plug in to.
>>>
>>> Battery is labeled "20/30/56/57/58/59" and "00.01.ACA".
>>
>> Are those the only labels?
>
> No makers name or model number, just "Lithium Ion Battery, Rating
> 14.4V 3000mAh, Made in Taiwan" and a warning notice that mentions
> explosion The 8-pin aspect concerns me. I was hoping there'd
> just be a plus & minus.

8 pins is what my laptop has. I suspect it's independent +ve and -ve for
each cell, as lithium are 3.6V each and I'd guess it makes sense to charge
in parallel and use in series. But it's just a guess. A multimeter would do
the trick, I guess.

A

 

[Pete Biggs]

Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
> 8 pins is what my laptop has. I suspect it's independent +ve and -ve
> for each cell, as lithium are 3.6V each and I'd guess it makes sense
> to charge in parallel and use in series. But it's just a guess. A
> multimeter would do the trick, I guess.

Is there likely to be any protection circuitry inside the case?

~PB

 

[Mike Murphy]

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 22:22:17 -0000, "Ambrose Nankivell"
<$firstname+'n'@gmail.com> wrote:

>8 pins is what my laptop has. I suspect it's independent +ve and -ve for
>each cell, as lithium are 3.6V each and I'd guess it makes sense to charge
>in parallel and use in series. But it's just a guess. A multimeter would do
>the trick, I guess.

Be careful with lithiums, they can be dangerous (risk of fire) and
also easily damaged if charged incorrectly. You can charge them in
series or parallel if the lithium charger that you are using says it
can.

In the model aircraft world they are revolutionising the sport but you
have to use a special charger. When charged in series you have to tell
the charger how many cells (in series) there are, although the more
expensive chargers can sense it now. A good charger that I can
recommend, that does both lithium ion and lithoum poly cells, is the
Schulze isl6-330d, see:
http://www.schulze-elektronik-gmbh.com/index_uk.htm

- Mike