A nearly new Dell laptop fell from (atop?) luggage storage of a car on the highway. The device broke into pieces. Screen and housing badly fractured. What a shame. They did not slow downI rescued the LiPo battery pack - unharmed. I want to salvage it and use it to power a remote burglar alarm on my upcoming roof rack.The battery pack says it is rated for 5300 mah @ 11.3 volts.There are six Panasonic batteries in the pack. Each battery is somewhat fatter and longer than a standard AA battery "somewhat" means they are noticeably larger.With my glacial internet speed I have tried to research appropriate charging voltage and safe charging current but the sites do not load. I am getting frustrated.The batteries at present are untouched and have 11.1 volts.What is the significance of the "11.3" volt rating? Like a 12-volt battery where fully charged means 12.7 volts? Is the 11.3 volts the voltage limit for charging? 5300 mah would a 500 ma charge rate be excessive?I know LiPo batteries are rated 3.7 volts each so this pack would lead me to believe the 6 batteries are series parallel? I cannot imagine this size of LiPo battery having 5300 mah.11.1 volts per battery string. Double the amp hours - meaning each individual battery is rated 2650 mah.Is there a web site that furnishes the data on LiPo batteries? I need to configure the cutout voltage so as to prevent over-discharge.Whoopee

As a semi-avid RC'er, the best place to look is going to be on the RC forums. I doubt you are going to find a website with battery specs tho. Even in RC land there are many different manufacturers making the same capacity with completely different C rating both on charge the discharge. What you have there is a 3S Lipo, and the charge C rating might be anywhere from .5/C to 3/C, although I wouldn't charge past .5/C since that's likely all the wall wort did, if that. I have 5300ma batteries on my helicopter that can discharge at 40C+. That's 212A discharge ! But NEVER NEVER EVER charge them like that or you will see what damage a Lipo fire really does

great info Jeffi was going to ask, what did the info plate on the bottom of the laptop sayand suggest checking the RC web sitesthe model number from the laptop, would allow finding the correct wall wart infowhich would supply the charging volts and amps

Close to AA in size is an 18650 cell, 11v is three cells in series. If you have a current limited source, you can charge them at or just under 12.0v, or 4v per cell. You will have to bypass the internal protection circuitry.For safety sake, never exceed 4.2v per cell. When the current draw drops, remove voltage.This isn't a full charge, but close enough. You'll need a proper Li balance charger for that. Luckily Li don't need to receive a full charge, they are not damaged from undercharging like lead acid.

3 Cells? VOLTAGE limit 12.7 volts?Limiting current is a snap. But voltage cutout point is elusive. I'm not going to pay no stinking $112.00 for a charger plus 8.75% tax and sixteen dollars in postage. = Two Megawatt chargers? Ni Modo José Curvo.I did access one RC site. They were fixated on C-rate like they have a bad case of hemorrhoids. The discussions were juvenile at best. 1 C Constant current until what? A point of voltage? Current diminishes until a calculated threshold? At what resting voltage is the battery pack not over-depleted?Wonnerful...Lots of RC Forum opinions by people who have opinions not facts...

Whoops Novice Question Alert...The laptop says FOURTEEN VOLTS. The damaged charger brick says 19.0 volts. Two printed ratings for the cells: 5,300 then 5,600 Then 11.25 volts.This is like a fart in a whirlwind.Two three-battery strings = 5,300 mahInternal protection circuitry? They have breakers as thin as a newspaper page? I did notice two white wires coming out of the middle of the pack, but if there's a thermistor in there I would believe it - no way in hell is a cutout device .002" thick going to be in there? Or is it (?) or are they built into the battery itself?I'll limit the rate to C1. If the battery decides to burn, let it tackle a foot thick concrete floor.BTW when I posted my last entry neither Mr Wizard's nor Gordon Three's responses were there. Told ya I have Sundial grade connectivity.

Correct LiPo Charge Rate? | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

SCVJeff
Explorer
May 22, 2016
NinerBikes wrote:
His 18650 batteries are not LiPO Chemistry, which ends up with 3.6V per cell, fully charged. More like Lithium Manganese chemistry is what he has, 4.2V, fully charged. Like in that big bad boy green laser you bought down at Quartzsite
I need to go look at mine because you can cycle through a bunch of charge routines. All I use is LiPo

Mr. Wizard: I was just looking at the site and found they now have a few retail locations. For me it would be cheaper to get rolled for my wallet than to let it make it through the door with me...
MrWizard
Moderator
May 22, 2016
My first watt power meter, came from hobby King
I think they have a West coast warehouse now
NinerBikes
Explorer
May 22, 2016
His 18650 batteries are not LiPO Chemistry, which ends up with 3.6V per cell, fully charged. More like Lithium Manganese chemistry is what he has, 4.2V, fully charged. Like in that big bad boy green laser you bought down at Quartzsite
SCVJeff
Explorer
May 22, 2016
Just like here you need to read through all the BS to find logical answers. If you are looking for LiPo chargers, the cheapest place to find them is HOBBYKING. The main warehouse is in China but they now have several US and other international based warehouses around the globe.
NinerBikes
Explorer
May 22, 2016
An 18650 Li ion cell should be charged to 4.10V per cell. 4.20 is maximum, but will shorten battery life. No, you can not recharge it with the borg.

if you could use what is left of the lap top, and the brick charger to recharge it, that would be fine. Just stick the battery stick back in teh laptop, and plug in, and see if the battery recharges fully. REmove stick when ready to use.
rexlion
Explorer
May 21, 2016
I know you should not exceed 12.6V in the pack (4.2 x 3), but beyond that I could only conjecture. Yes, R/C hobby chargers are not cheap; they have tons of flexibility and capability (the right tool for the job), but since your investment is nil you can afford to experiment with whatever's on hand. (For you, that doesn't include solar, unfortunately... I bet a panel and an adjustable controller would work wonders.)
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
May 21, 2016
Shoot!
The battery pack is three batteries in series, two parallel strings. Assembled, soldered, sealed and has one black and one red 16 AWG sticking out of the pack.

I do want the 11-whatever volts. Not only for the luggage alarm but it would power a nifty 11-volt, 10-watt LED chip. Great emergency lighting. Maybe four hours worth max. Cigarette lighter charger cord, and a No.1038 10-amp voltage regulator circuit for car charging. I have yet to find a 5 amp hour 10 watt LED rechargeable lamp.

If push comes to shove I can always recharge it with the BORG®
landyacht318
Explorer
May 21, 2016
a 14500 lithium cell has a diameter of 14 Mm and a length of 50MM
an 18650 cell is 18mm diameter and is 65mm long.

individual protection circuits add a smidge of width and a mm or 3 of length to the battery.

An appropriate charger for many tyoes of cells would be this

http://www.amazon.com/Nitecore-Integrated-Displays-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00L1XYX4Y

It has a 12vDC input as well as 120/240vAC

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?391851-Test-Review-of-Charger-NiteCore-Intellicharger-D4

I have many 18650 cells i extracted from failed laptop battery packs. usually only one cell fails and takes out the to other n parallel with it. The cells I have are from 9 cll packs that cost only 22$. They are not good high capacity cells and do not retain their capacity very long.

panasonics make some of the best lithium cells.

I use my 18650s in my Headlamp and a portable USB power source, adn save my panasonic NCR18650Bs for tasks where run time is more important, the laptop extractions are just swapped out when they can no longer maintain the desired output on my nitecore HC50 headlamp, which is a 565 max lumens on Turbo, but cuts back one it gets hot or the battery cannot maintain the voltage needed to drive the cree led this hard.

http://www.amazon.com/Nitecore-Integrated-Displays-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00L1XYX4Y

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?391851-Test-Review-of-Charger-NiteCore-Intellicharger-D4
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
May 21, 2016
Whoops Novice Question Alert...

The laptop says FOURTEEN VOLTS. The damaged charger brick says 19.0 volts. Two printed ratings for the cells: 5,300 then 5,600 Then 11.25 volts.

This is like a fart in a whirlwind.

Two three-battery strings = 5,300 mah

Internal protection circuitry? They have breakers as thin as a newspaper page? I did notice two white wires coming out of the middle of the pack, but if there's a thermistor in there I would believe it - no way in hell is a cutout device .002" thick going to be in there? Or is it (?) or are they built into the battery itself?

I'll limit the rate to C1. If the battery decides to burn, let it tackle a foot thick concrete floor.

BTW when I posted my last entry neither Mr Wizard's nor Gordon Three's responses were there. Told ya I have Sundial grade connectivity.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
May 21, 2016
3 Cells? VOLTAGE limit 12.7 volts?

Limiting current is a snap. But voltage cutout point is elusive. I'm not going to pay no stinking $112.00 for a charger plus 8.75% tax and sixteen dollars in postage. = Two Megawatt chargers? Ni Modo José Curvo.

I did access one RC site. They were fixated on C-rate like they have a bad case of hemorrhoids. The discussions were juvenile at best.

1 C Constant current until what? A point of voltage? Current diminishes until a calculated threshold? At what resting voltage is the battery pack not over-depleted?

Wonnerful...Lots of RC Forum opinions by people who have opinions not facts...

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Correct LiPo Charge Rate?

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