The first process of any DIY project is the tear down process. Breaking apart the battery casing can be a chore. The first step in the process is peeling away the stickers and exposing the seam of the battery. This is where you split the two halves that have been glued together. Good luck. Here is one tip, small snipers make the job take a long time. Try to keep the casing intact to be able to use for the reconstruction. This will make the finished device look less threatening to others.

After the cover is removed and all excess plastic is out of the way, you should see the individual cells. Make sure to carefully pop the cells off the glue base and do not short circuit any wires. It may be helpful to make a diagram of the wire leads before fully disconnecting the wires. A diagram can be useful when it comes time to reconnect to the charging circuit. The next phase of the rebuild is probably the most expensive and time consuming. Check out the video that shows the process. Remember each laptop battery is different and this article only show you the basic steps.

Video by Kipkay, Check out his Youtube Channel

Finding the appropriate sized battery can be a strenuous process. The process looks at battery size, cell capacity, and several other things. The internet searching may take almost as long as the shipping. Of course, this is the most time consuming because you have to wait for the shipping. Once you have the battery cells securely in your hand it is time for installation. The first step of the rebuild is prepping the batteries for install. Verify that the batteries are in the correct position and orientation compared to the diagram you made before.

Start by grouping the batteries with positive and negative sides. Hook the battery groups up to the power leads as the diagram you created states. Follow the diagram step by step, soldering as you go. Generally you will attach one group to the red power lead, followed by the groups of batteries in series and ending with the black power lead at the rear. After the soldering is complete and the wires are all done, congrats you have a battery. Add some protection by replacing the plastic parts you took off.

And last but not least… Don’t forget to buy your replacement cells from us at http://www.batteriesinaflash.com/assembly-cells/li-ion – The most common cell used is the 18650 Li-Ion Battery. Be sure to replace the cells with the same type of battery size.

As fun as a project as this seems, is it really worth the time and effort? It is worth the experience, but unless you replace all of the parts you probably are not going to get your money’s worth. It is hard to make a self built battery match refurbished or brand new batteries performance. On the plus side, it is a cool experiment that may earn you some respect. It is not something that should readily be pursued for a long term use.

WARNING: This blog and video are for informational purposes only and should not be attempted by anyone unless you have the proper equipment and understand the risk involved. The steps outlined are not exact steps and only general guidelines. Lithium Batteries are very volatile when not handled carefully and properly. We do not assume any responsibility for the attempt of this project.

Batteries are an essential laptop element. The technology available today, and the vast amounts of power spots make batteries an under the radar risk. However, if you are in a car ride, or an eleven hour plane ride to Japan a battery is what you need. Of course, everyone knows the basic tips. Stuff like, dim your screen, minimize processes, disable the wireless and so on. These tips can help get that bit of extra playtime on your flight, but there are more.

Processes eat up a chunk of the processor, which in turns eats up battery life. However, what some people may neglect to realize is that the hardware is one of the biggest components to battery use. Power management utilities can help reduce the impact of internal hardware on the battery life. Some ways to optimize your hardware is by disabling unused ports and components such as VGA, PCMCIA, USB, or Ethernet. If you are on a plane or car ride, disable the wireless too.

The process for disabling these components is right in the Device Manager. Another technique is to create hardware profiles that you can switch to in certain scenarios. These profiles will remember which processes and hardware ports to shut off when selected. These profiles can be set up to turn off selected components to optimize your battery life. Third party software can also help in this type of function. An additional feature of some software is turning the display off instead of going to a screen saver.

These techniques help out for each charge, but what about the longevity of the battery itself? Damaging the battery means a shorter life span. Two things hurt a battery more than anything, wrong amperage on the AC adapter, and heat. Overheating can be a major problem, and can reduce the battery longevity severely. To avoid the heat, use a cooling pad for your laptop. Avoid keeping the laptop on fabrics or any surface that blocks the cooling fan. Another factor to overheating is dust. If the fan is clogged, the laptop is not being cooled.

Keeping a neat workspace can reduce the amount of dust that attacks your system. Room temperature is the ideal setting for batteries. Try not to store the battery in areas where the temperature gets above eighty degrees Fahrenheit. If the battery is not room temperature, let it return to room temperature before using. If you are using an AC adapter, consider taking the battery out while doing so. Also, remember to clean the contacts periodically with rubbing alcohol. All of these techniques will help keep a healthy battery for longer.

If you are in the market for a new laptop, you can consider certain upgrades to maximize your battery life. When buying, look for ultra low voltage processors that use less power. Solid state storage devices have less moving parts and require less energy. Finally, an LED display uses less energy than the traditional LCD screens. If you can help it, go for a smaller screen, smaller equals less power used, and more battery life. Finally, make sure you purchase a good battery. Knowing your batteries will help you choose a good battery.

Pretty much everything you want will be on sale at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas so why not take advantage of it! But what to buy, there are so many things to choose from, all shiny and new. How are we to know the best price, the best product and which are the ones that will leave us with the bitter aftertaste of Buyers Remorse.

We’ve taken a stab here at compiling some of the more popular items that you might be looking at while out and about, drawn across from various sources across the web for your convenience. Of course a lot of these actual rankings are purely subjective (for instance if you have tiny square fingertips you might like the iPhone keyboard more than I do) but they do at least provide some means of comparison.

Top 10 Smart Phones / PDAs

(As according to Rumor Gadget)

The good folks over at Rumor Gadget have compiled a list of the top 10 smartphones on the market at the moment. Though obviously what you can get will depend a lot on your current carrier and how trapped you are in your current plan (ironically enough the follow up call from AT&T on my complaint got dropped). But it seems the overwhelming favorite this year is the iPhone 3GS, the sleek design, slick marketing and simple UI have combined to make Apples iPhone a standout hit.

Top 5 Basic Phones

(As According to CNet.com)

Not everyone wants or needs the often bewildering array of functions that a smartphone is capable of. Thankfully they still actually make phones that are mainly used to make calls (and send texts of course) but smaller and simpler is often better !

CNET.com has put together a nice listing of what they consider the best of the basic cell phone options. They put the Motorola i335 at the top of their list, citing its benefits as a low cost, easy to use and rugged platform with good audio quality.

Top 10 NetBooks

(As According to PCWorld.com)

Netbooks are light, small, portable and not exactly dripping with processing or graphics power. But if all you want is basic computing on the fly then they are an outstanding option. A Netbook is also great value, the top rated Toshiba NB205-N310 (by PCWorld) Netbook we feature here is currently retailing at around $380 or so.

A common problem with netbooks is a keyboard so cramped you feel it could only be used properly by a small woodland creature. But the NB205-N310 has a fairly roomy keyboard for a netbook, almost the same as a standard laptop keyboard.

Top 5 Digital cameras under $100

(As according to About.com)

Cameras are brilliant, but on the odd occasion you’re either giving one as a gift or you’re trying to take a photo somewhere you don’t want to take an expensive one. Thanks to the ever reliable onward march of technology you can now get a fairly serviceable digital camera for under a hundred dollars. The good people from About.com have come up with a list of cameras they consider to be the best of this ultra low price range.

The camera that they put at the top of the list for this product was the PowerShot A470 by Canon. For the price it’s fairly sturdy and takes a passable photo, and if you drop it over the edge of the Grand Canyon you won’t be too far out of pocket.