How to refurbish a T2x battery ?

[polityk]

Hi all!
At the begining I have to apologize if the topic was posted here, but I couldn't find any relevant answer...
I have a T2x battery with dead cells, and I want to replace them, but the problem is with the electroics.
I have to some how clear the eprom and program it with new information, but unfortunatelly have no idea how.
I found a description for one kind of PCB's placed in those batteries (I pasted it below) but for one that I have I found nothing.
Could you please help me ?
My PCB:
http://www.members.lycos.co.uk/rafalb1/ ... attery.JPG

The description that I found:
I have not tested it because I have other kind of PCB, but it was found on a trustworthy site for electronic maniacs (www.elektroda.pl)
1) download: http://www.soft32.com/Download/free-tri ... 736-1.html
2) solder an interface (1st picture)
3) you need those pins from the interface:
1- +5v
2- GND
3- CS
4- SK
5- DI
6- DO
4)When you have the interface connect it. the program should tell you "Adapter OK" if everything is correct.
5) UNSOLDER ALL CONNECTIONS TO THE CELLS! the PCB must be alone
6) Solder wires from the interface to the PCB as shown on the picture (2nd picture), warning! solde CS to the AS358D's leg, not PD point.
7) take GND from the black wire going to the cells
8 ) solder +5v to the small capacitor near SL394
9) now you can read the eprom, save the old one.
10) upload a new file chosen from ones in the zip archive.
11) unsolder the interface, solder the new cells, put it all together and charge the battery fully. Check all with battery maximiser.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The PCB:
http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6760/t2xtw5.jpg
The interface (very cheap cost)
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/299/interfaceid7.jpg
The files:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... F007BB3A75

[ambientscape]

Why don;t you get yourself a new battery? There are tons of them off ebay. This refurbished job is dangerous......

[christopher_wolf]

I would lean towards getting a new battery as that job might take up too much time and resources to be practical for a one time battery cell replacement.

[polityk]

you're right, but I have a new one (about 30 cycles):P
it died suddenly and I have some problems trying to replace it,
so I thought of making one battery out of 2 :]
It's not so dangerous If you don't mess with the settings,
if you have a 3500mah battery you HAVE TO program it with a 3500 file, not 4000 :]
The job takes a few minutes and only a few resources because parts for the interface are very cheap where I live it would be less than $5.

[vlyne]

You seemed determined to go ahead so I won't even attempt to dissuade you.

But, you've got to ask yourself a couple of questions first:

1) Why did a "new" battery die so quickly (30 cycles)?

2) Even if you did succeed in making one good out of two bad, how long is the hacked good one likely to last? I suppose you'll still have some other good cells in the leftovers but at some stage you're going to run out and those solder joints are going to weaken.

Have you checked to see that the A/C adapter is OK?

If all else fails, you could still use the good cells for a flashlight or some other less stressful use.

Reminds me of that scene from a Clint Eastwood movie: "Do you feel lucky ....?!" etc

Good Luck!

[tfflivemb2]

you're right, but I have a new one (about 30 cycles):P
it died suddenly

Can you define "died suddenly"?

[polityk]

vlyne -
1) a long story with a broken mainboard....
I'll explain everything later..
2) i think it'll work as long as a new one

I checked everything twice and I'm sure that the old motherboard is bad and the new battery, nothing more.

tfflivemb2 -
as I said I'll explain it later...
If it won't be possible to replace the battery I'll have to "hack it" :]


I'm determined to flash the battery's memory, but just need a "howto" form my type of PCB :] anybody knows anything about it?

[tfflivemb2]

The reason that I asked is because 30 cycles is too low...even if it had been sitting for a year or so.

If you know someone that also has a T2x system, you could have them drain the battery completely then recharge it. It sounds like the cells discharged unevenly. Sometime draining them 100% will reset them.

[polityk]

nope, doesn't work...
I tried everything, even charging the battery directly...
I am sure that my old motherboard crached battery's electronics and i want to put my old electronics into the new battery to make it work.
It's all about the electronics.

[vlyne]

OK, I think I understand now. So to summarise you have:

1 toasted T2* battery B1 with supposedly good electronics but bad cells

1 toasted but new battery B2 with bad electronics (which you think also has a corrupted EEPROM) but good cells

An EEPROM swap won't work, you think, because the batteries are of different capacities.

So, reprogramming an EEPROM is no problem (a bit of a pain tho') but I would suggest you take it to an electronics workshop or find someone with an EEPROM programmer - much, much easier. Otherwise you'll have to construct the kit you found - there's a bunch of others out there as well. The last problem you face is the program to use for the EEPROM for B2. For that you'll need to either get it from someone who has done this before or else take apart a good battery and download its EEPROM contents - you can do this with your kit and from memory attaching 3 thin wires to read off the contents. Is the Smart_Battery_Workshop an alternative battery management software for the EEPROM?

OK, you say a straight swap won't work but I'm not convinced. The job of the electronics is to monitor the voltage and current flow to and from the batteries. Provided the batteries have the same charge/discharge curve the electronics should work fine. Someone correct me here if I'm wrong.

[polityk]

You understand it correctly

"So, reprogramming an EEPROM is no problem"
If so, then please give me some tips how to do it with my electronics
I want to make the eeprom programmer because it should be as simple as shown on the picture in my 1st post.

Smart_Battery_Workshop is a program which allows you to upload/download and mess with the eeprom. i haven't used it yet...

the capacities doesn't matter at this point because:
A swap won't work because the electronics will remember that te B1 - as you called it - had over 200 cycles and its capacity is 1/3 of nominal.
all those information can be chcked in battery maximiser, and are not current - live - info, but read from battery's eeprom.
If you just swap electronics the battery won't charge because it'll still think that it is dead.

[vlyne]

A swap won't work because the electronics will remember that te B1 - as you called it - had over 200 cycles and its capacity is 1/3 of nominal.
all those information can be chcked in battery maximiser, and are not current - live - info, but read from battery's eeprom.
If you just swap electronics the battery won't charge because it'll still think that it is dead.

I'll PM you separately on the programmer as this topic is running close to a Forum restriction.

As for the electronics, the EEPROM contents shouldn't be reprogrammed as it's meant to be non-volatile?? There are memory chips on the electronics board which is where I suspect the battery cycles and other information are stored and updated. Once the board is disconnected from the battery cells this memory should be erased but the EEPROM contents should be still there. It doesn't make sense to me for the EEPROM contents to be reprogrammed continuously by the operating system. And, if it was, you should be able to figure out a way to write to it?? There may well be capacitors that will retain the volatile memory for a long time and you'll need to find those and safely discharge them - again, I'm guessing, once you disconnect the cells, an appropriate resistor at the exposed battery terminals (100 ohm or more, and test for voltage with a high impedance meter) should be sufficient. This should reset the volatile memory contents so unfortunately the original cycles will be lost.
Cheers

[BruisedQuasar]

You might want to heed the sound advice to just buy a new battery. I discussed repairing my T23 spacebar because my factory refurbished unit was 6 months old and looked brand new. I tried regluing the plymer cone under the spacebar and it worked.

I was advised to just get a used keyboard off eBay for $5. I tried the fix and it worked for a few months. Like I was warned, if I fixed it either other keys would go or the fix would not last long. three months later the spacebar was shot. The Enthusiast members told me of a member who sells used keyboards for $5 and fair shipping.

I bought one and installed it. It looks used but it works better than my new looking keyboard ever did. I did not realize how spongy mine was until I got the used one!

T23 battery packs are plentiful and not that expensive.

[polityk]

I'm tired of writing that I won't buy a new one...

Does anybody know what to exactly do to flash the batery's memory ?
I need some kind of a 'manual' preferably like the one I posted at the begining.