I bought a 5 pack of non working batteries from eBay...

TheRedEyeBandit · Oct 1, 2017

So like the title says, I bought a 5 pack of non working batteries from eBay for $32 shipped. All batteries came in original boxes and one even still has the shrink wrap on the battery (top and sides).

Bad news is not one of them charges or lights up.Before l rip them apart and pull/test the individual cells, anything I can do with these to try and fix??

mike_kelly · Oct 1, 2017

Just a warning that there is a circuit board on the right side behind the connectors and if you stick like a knife in there to pry open the case, even right on the very edge, you can let the smoke out.

and there is a lot of smoke in there.

USMC86 · Oct 1, 2017

Well at least the description was correct- they are non-working.

mike_kelly · Oct 1, 2017

The one I let the smoke out was "non-working" too!

DaveB · Oct 7, 2017

Hi, You can try this: Press down on the battery switch and plug in the charger ( this will sometimes reset the Bat. logic )

DaveB · Oct 7, 2017

I can tell you from experience (BAD) that Mike is 100% correct. Be very careful with any lith battery. Here is my story, I had a dead battery in a iphone 3, I replaced it with a new one and decided to open it to see what makes them tick. In the kitchen i found the scissors and started to open this little bitty battery, first came the smoke that Mike talked about, then THE FLAMES, dropping it on to our "Butcher Block" counter top it started to spin and burned a 1/4 " deep hole before I could get it to the sink. I just can't imagine what a bat. the size of a solo would do. BE afraid very afraid !!!!

looninho · Oct 7, 2017

I was working at a research lab in Li battery, one day a student toke a Li out of its package and he burnt all the room.
He'd forgotten that Li is flammable in air.

So if you are curious and courageous take care to have a metal box near you and throw your Li in it when you see smoke!

TheRedEyeBandit · Oct 7, 2017

DaveB said:
Hi, You can try this: Press down on the battery switch and plug in the charger ( this will sometimes reset the Bat. logic )

Anything more to it then this? ie hold down for 20 seconds? .... I tried as you suggested and nothing unfortunatly.

I've still not cracked open a battery yet. Regarding all the fire comments, isn't it just that it's a plastic case surrounding individual connected cells??? Wouldn't smoke/possible fire only happen if you punctured one of those?

Sent from my K88 using 3DRPilots Drone Forum mobile app

USMC86 · Oct 7, 2017

go buy yourself the appropriate fire extinguishers first- and do it outdoors?

mike_kelly · Oct 7, 2017

No, there is a circuit board almost down the whole length of the right side, facing the plugs. I was teasing apart the case with a pocket knife and the blade touched the circuit brd inside and that was all it took.

RusArtm · Oct 9, 2017

If some one knows how to properly disassemble the battery case, please tell

Here is one battery disassembled video. May be it will help not to short circuit a battery while opening a battery...

fpvsteve · Oct 9, 2017

TheRedEyeBandit said:
I've still not cracked open a battery yet. Regarding all the fire comments, isn't it just that it's a plastic case surrounding individual connected cells??? Wouldn't smoke/possible fire only happen if you punctured one of those?

It’s not as bad and difficult as people are saying here.
If the battery doesn’t respond at all, then attach a voltage meter to the pins and press the button on the battery. If there is no reading, it could be that just the button switch is broken. If there is a low reading (anything between 0.5 and let’s say 8 Volts) the lipo is irrevocably defected.
To open a Solo battery:
- take a Dremel with a small cutting disk
- cut carefully about 2 millimeters deep once around the battery housing along the lip
- carefully cut deeper where necessary to pop it open

When open, measure the voltage of each individual cell. If it’s lower than 2.8-3 volts, it’s irreversibly damaged and can be disposed.

If the voltage is good, you may swap the switch and electronics from another battery to get it working again.

looninho · Oct 9, 2017

for death cell, maybe try to replace with Li-ion 18650 or 18500.
(4 cells in serial ) x 2 ranges in parallel.
If the capacity of the cell is 2600 mAh then they fit with the electronic. You can get greater capacity but have to mod the firmware with the SMBus.

you can google "Battery Firmware Hacking" to have an idea.

good luck

skyhax · Oct 11, 2017

The universal way to revive lithium batteries is with a dumb charger. That is any old charger that will trickle charge and not run tests. After an hour on a trickle charger the battery may charge fine with the OEM charger. I would be very careful doing this and would not really trust that battery. I would not fly over water with it ever.
pic where a guy shows bent plug to charge Solo batteries
http://www.voltaicsystems.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Solo-Cable-alone.jpg