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Tube🍂Time's posts Post Back to profile
Tube🍂Time

i made a replacement standby battery pack for my Thinkpad 700C!
21 September at 15:44 | Open on mastodon.social
25 comments
Tube🍂Time
Tube🍂Time

haha it has a list of disclaimers rolled up around it. that is just so IBM.
21 September at 15:45 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time
Tube🍂Time

and it is three very tiny cells wired in series! these are 1/3AAA cells.
21 September at 15:46 | Open on mastodon.social
arjjra
Tube🍂Time

the replacement cells i found are meant for solar garden lights, apparently?
21 September at 15:48 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time

i 3d printed a jig to help me weld the tabs in place. you'll see why in a bit.
21 September at 15:49 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time

yes, the little cell goes in the round hole.
21 September at 15:49 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time

then i put down a little 3d-printed plastic spacer, and then the first nickel strip goes on top of that.
21 September at 15:50 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time
Tube🍂Time

two cells done, now i just need to weld them all together.
21 September at 15:51 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time replied to Tube🍂Time

now you see the trick. the first tabbed cell goes positive terminal down. the tab sticks out in the groove in the front. then the other cell gets arranged in the little trough that holds it at the correct angle.
21 September at 15:52 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time replied to Tube🍂Time

then i bend and mush the cells together after welding, and line it up for the last cell. the trough has enough room to support 2 cells.
21 September at 15:53 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time replied to Tube🍂Time

i didn't grab a photo of me welding the solder tabs, but it's a similar process. lastly i put a length of heat shrink over the whole thing to hold it all together and insulate it. sadly the precut length of heat shrink is just a tiny bit short. oh well.
21 September at 15:55 | Open on mastodon.social
drewelmore replied to Tube🍂Time

@tubetime Very cool! But what did you use for a disclaimer? :-P

21 September at 15:56 | Open on mastodon.sdf.org
Tube🍂Time replied to Tube🍂Time

quick fit check, and it works! these cells have a button on the end that is 1mm longer than the original, so i had to flip the battery pack around to get it to fit.
21 September at 15:56 | Open on mastodon.social
Michael Katzmann🐈 replied to Tube🍂Time

@tubetime ..yeah, I had to do the same thing to replace the aging backup battery in my HP8665A sig gen.
21 September at 18:13 | Open on mastodon.radio
Nixie
Joe Pasqua

@tubetime I need to replace the "secret” internal NiCd in a Palm Vii and those cells look like they might be close to the right diameter. Can you tell us the dimensions?

21 September at 16:05 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time

@bitsplusatoms 10mm x 16.25mm including the button at the top.

21 September at 16:18 | Open on mastodon.social
Joe Pasqua

@tubetime Thank you. The Palm battery is 10 x 61 (including the nickel tabs on the ends). I'll take the wrapper off mine to see how it is composed.

21 September at 16:22 | Open on mastodon.social
Harvey Sandstrom

@tubetime Very coincidentally, I recently discovered these cells when I was looking for something non-lithium for a small wearable.

21 September at 16:52 | Open on mastodon.social
Tube🍂Time

@cd0 yeah it is giving me ideas. you can also get small lithium cylindrical cells meant for vapes.

22 September at 1:36 | Open on mastodon.social
abortretryfail

@tubetime You know, props to whoever was sourcing components for IBM back then that those things didn't leak all over the place.

Hopefully your new ones keep their act together as well.🤞

21 September at 15:55 | Open on mastodon.social
Robey ☠️
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