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Is there battery refurbish service?
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:29 am
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:29 am
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I have 4 Kodak DCS batteries, none of them very good.
New ones that are sold are not new but old stock.
Is there some service that would replace the cells inside battery casing?


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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:14 am
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:14 am
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I know a company in Berlin that does such services, if the inner cells are still available.
I used them for some older flash system. Took some time but worked well
http://batterie-center-kg.de/shop.htm

Contact is Mr Hladik
email: info@batterie-center-kg.de
phone: +49 30-721 21 20


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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:42 pm
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:42 pm
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Wow those are expensive! Embarassed

Battery Bob has replacement batteries (with new cells). Battery Bob: BLI258 (search for Kodak DCS for models other than PRO).

There are several cell-replacement companies in US, also companies that sell new cells and ready-to-install cell packs with the safety and charging electronics already wired. Cost of cells/cell pack replacement is about half cost of new battery. DIY can save some.

I disassembled a NiMH pack for IBM Thinkpad, put easy to replace AA NiMH cells in it(!) -- but there's only enough charge for about 1/2 hour (Li-ion batteries pack twice the charge in the same space, and they don't lose as much voltage, so last much longer.)


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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:24 pm
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Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:24 pm
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As Visualopsins says it shouldn't be too difficult to replace the inner cells on a battery pack.
I did so in the past for Canon EOS batteries. Normally in a battery pack there is more than one cell inside, and normally only one of the cells is failing. So taking apart several failing battery packs, you can rebuild some.













As you can see in the pictures, there is an electronic board inside each battery pack. This is made up of a microcontroller and several auxiliar components that controls the cell charge inside the battery pack. LiIon batteries are quite sensitive to discharge: if you allow them to discharge below an specific threshold, the battery dies. So this electronic board takes care of cutting off the cells prior to get to the dangerous discharge level (among other things).

Replacing the individual cells is a matter of ingenuity, each case is different. Some are soldered directly to a small iron piece, others are soldered by wires or narrow metallic bands. In some cases I did buy equivalent cells on eBay (really cheap), not always the same size. Obviously the choice is to get a smaller (in size) one, solder and pad the hollow areas.

Hope this helps.
Regards.
Jes.


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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:10 pm
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:10 pm
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Thanks for advice.

Two 3,7 batteries.
There seems to be metallic strip from the electronic part to the positive terminal of the first battery only.
The outer metallic shell is positive and the small insulated part is negative.
The red posivit cord goes directly to camera.

Does this sound right?





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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:26 pm
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:26 pm
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Seems it is not very easy to find 3,7 V flat batteries anywhere. Confused


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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:56 pm
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:56 pm
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kansalliskala wrote:
Seems it is not very easy to find 3,7 V flat batteries anywhere. Confused


If you have more than one battery, it's possible that one of the cells would be good in each, so from two batteries you can build one...

I've found these: http://www.megabatteries.com/cat_featured_items.asp?cat1=24&cat=2&id=500&uid=1753

Other option is to build an "empty" battery (without cells) and drive the two power leads outside through a small hole, and then connect a bigger battery outside...

Good luck,
Jes.


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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:31 pm
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 11:31 pm
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Prismatic UF653450R 3.7 Volt 1100 mAh Li-Ion Rectangular Battery US$9.99 (onlybatteries.com used to be aspencer1.com -- they have offices in US and Canada, is Canada to Finland less postage? I've bought from them since before 2000, always a pleasure. edit: onlybatteries.com and megabatteries.com are the same business(!))

Definitely try to make at least one battery using the good cells from all the batteries. Measure voltage on each cell, should be obvious which are exhausted. Tip: cut & solder the flat 'wires' -- avoid attempting to solder directly to battery, it could short & heat maybe inflame or even explode. Google: How to rebuild Liion batery pack (This one is pretty comprehensive!: How to rebuild a Li-Ion battery pack)


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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:59 am
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Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 7:59 am
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visualopsins wrote:
Prismatic UF653450R 3.7 Volt 1100 mAh Li-Ion Rectangular Battery US$9.99 (onlybatteries.com used to be aspencer1.com -- they have offices in US and Canada, is Canada to Finland less postage? I've bought from them since before 2000, always a pleasure. edit: onlybatteries.com and megabatteries.com are the same business(!))

Definitely try to make at least one battery using the good cells from all the batteries. Measure voltage on each cell, should be obvious which are exhausted. Tip: cut & solder the flat 'wires' -- avoid attempting to solder directly to battery, it could short & heat maybe inflame or even explode. Google: How to rebuild Liion batery pack (This one is pretty comprehensive!: How to rebuild a Li-Ion battery pack)


Thank you very much, it seems to be exactly the right size.

Definitely not trying to solder battery directly. Results from making Polaroid 4,5's not encouraging. Smile

Will also probably make one casing that holds 5 AAA's.
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