My adventures in rebuilding a 701C battery (small pics)

[ozzymud]

I finally got myself a 701C, the main battery was leaking badly, it had swelled to the point i had to open the case to get it out. I took lots of pictures along the way (thumbnails are 391K), I created a webpage of my efforts thus far with said images (click them for larger versions)... the address is http://www.conradshome.com/thinkpad/701/battery/

This is part one of many in my restoration attempt of my 701C... I need to make a trip to Wal-Mart for replacement NiMH cells... then i will be putting it back together and then replacing the CMOS battery.

I was suprised that this machine actually booted up, I had to "fdisk /mbr" 1st, but after that it booted into the installed Windows 95A

Anyhow, i read many horror stories about cracking open the batter housing and it breaking into many pieces... As you can see in the webpage... I ended up with two... a top and a bottom

MORE TO COME

EDIT: Part 2 is up... [http://www.conradshome.com/thinkpad/701 ... /part2.htm

[Harryc]

Interesting project. Please be sure to let us know how you get along with the battery rebuild.

[ozzymud]

Well... 5:30AM... just got it back together... Fn+F2 reports 98% and 2:32 remaining

Will try to get pics up later today or maybe tomorrow.

I didn't bother doing the CMOS battery for now... as the corrosion had ate away one of the springy pins on the motherboard for the main battery (solder rigged that up well enough, but it's flaky). So I'll be on the hunt for a new motherboard.

But the battery case went bak together i think REALLY nice

Gonna grab some sleep now, ran the battery down, plugged into AC to let it charge while i sleep

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is a pain... I just couldn't stop once I started (UPS arrived at 5:30PM, It's now 5:30AM ), haha

[craigmontHunter]

I know the feeling about the needing to get something done, and not being able to do anything else untill then. This is an awesome thread - while I understand that the NiMH have memory effect, if you were able to recell all laptop batteries that way, rather than the lithium cells.

This also gives me hope that at some point I will be able to get a system from that era and get it running

[ozzymud]

Ok, getting ready to work on "Part 2".

I also just confirmed payment on a 701C "NEW" motherboard on ebay for $25 shipped: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

So must wait for it to get here

On a secondary note... NEW NiMH batteries advertise NO memory effect, The ones I wound up using are Rayovac (I know cheesy batteries, but CHEAP with the coupon I had )... LD715-8OP (8 pack) & LD715-4OP (4 pack) claim on the packaging:

1. Takes up to 8X more digital photos (vs Energizer Ultimat Lithium when recharged 20 times)
2. Recharge 400 times
3. NO MEMORY EFFECT
4. Takes up to 3x more digital photos (vs Energizer Max)
5. Takes up to 300 photos (per charge)
6. Works in ALL chargers

I believe all modern NiMH are this way now, memory effect is no longer an issue

The specs however are only 1400mAh, which i believe are one of the most honest at this point from the ~2:30 min runtime I'm getting. (Originals were 1900mAh, Energizers claim 2500mAh). The Toshiba's this guy used TH-3 claim 2000mAh.

Anyhow.. off to work on the battery page

EDIT: Part 2 is up... [http://www.conradshome.com/thinkpad/701 ... /part2.htm

[Tasurinchi]

As others said before this is a great post! Keep us updated!

[ozzymud]

Just waiting for the replacement motherboard... then I'll add a Part 3 with pictures of the old & new motherboards and my dis/reassembly of the 701

[Harryc]

Can't wait for part 3 .

[ozzymud]

In the meantime, I added a more portable version for download...

An E-Book Version (PDF)

I will keep it updated as well when I update the page

[ozzymud]

Well... I'm a moron...

Bottom System Board (25/75MHz) 25H4883

is what i bought from eBay... but it aint what I needed Oh well, got a spare now... $25 shipped... no big loss

just ordered the correct Top System Board 04H8343 ($27 shipped from http://www.acsoutlet.com/04H8343-ThinkPad.aspx )

These guys actually list a battery for the 701... $175 !!! that's just nuts

P.S. I printed tpvol2.pdf to another pdf, only includes the section for 701's (much easier to browse/search through

http://www.conradshome.com/thinkpad/701/701_hmm.pdf

[kenzking]

Neat project you have going. Thats intense that you successfully rebuilt the battery, great job.

Reminds me of my laptop, its frankenstein laptop because its made out of so many different parts, but it looks brand new now and runs great. I'm very OCD about it kind of like you said on your page.
I bought a 600x with a broken power jack. Resoldered one from a 600 motherboard on it. Put in a brand new looking screen and keyboard from a 600e. Upgraded the processor from a dell.

I could have had a new laptop with all the money I've put into my 600x. But what fun would that be?

Good luck with your project!

[ozzymud]

Yea, I know what you mean... for the money I've spent in the last year on antiques... coulda bought an Alienware M18x

But I truly enjoy watching decade+ old harware come back to life... and the looks on peoples faces when I unzip the bag and pull some OLD clunker out

[craigmontHunter]

And given the choice, which is more likely to be stolen? an old clunker is probably the safest place to keep your data, provided the hard drive is still good. All you need to do is surround your system with fancy new ones (think a conference/meeting), and your laptop's chances of being stolen decrease significantly. A fancy system needs work to make it un-theftworthy (i.e. covering it with duct tape )

[ozzymud]

provided the hard drive is still good.

I don't trust the old spinning hard disks of their age... I use BRAND NEW "drives"...

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=96357

Slow CF cards on IDE adapters run quite fast on OLD hardware...

[craigmontHunter]

I agree, caution should be taken, but the only fully functioning spinning, IDE hard drive I have is the 6gb toshiba out of my first laptop (which I got second hand for 100$ 5 years ago) - everything else has issues, the new 40 and 80gb ones I bought, and the 40gb out of my t41. I guess I am just hard on disks

[Unknown_K]

I still have working IDE laptop drives in the 100MB range (SCSI desktop drives in the 40MB range), basically all the bad ones are long dead by now leaving the good ones still functioning. Most newer laptops drives probably die of overheating something you dont have in the very early laptop models pre 3d graphics and high speed multi core processors.

[ozzymud]

True, the older drives that still work prolly have a lot of life left in them, but i box em and shelve em, they WILL die eventually if used regularly. CF Cards are cheap now, and easily replaceable.

Plus with the added benifit of being ultra power conserving, I have several machines where the battery is near useless with a hard disk in the machine, but I actually get usable time from em with CF cards as the hard disk. Even one that will not survive relocationg from the bedroom to the livingroom (like 2 minutes of battery), it easily survives the trip with a CF card

[ozzymud]

Ok, finally got the replacement board (correct one this time)...



Just waiting on the Torx T1 (jeese that thing is TINY) to come in, then I can put both NEW (NOS) boards into it

[ozzymud]

Ok, all the parts are here, and the Torx T1 finally came in, so this weekend I will write up the "Part 3"


GEESE that T1 is REALLY small.... (clcik for high res 1.9MB image)



My camera can't even capture detail in close up mode good enough

[ThinkPad560X]

Thats nice to see, If my guess is right, all ThinkPad batteries use this kinda AA battery in them. That would make a fun project for my ThinkPads mostly for my olders such as my 380Z. By the way my 701C battery is still running a full 100% charge, the other 2 are leaking tho. The guy I bought the 701C from came with the imprinted ThinkPad battery lether case too.

[ozzymud]

I just got a Ni-MH for my 760 series, but the good/bad news is it holds a NICE amount of charge... won't be ripping it open in the near future. I have one Li-Ion that i opened, definitely a lot more circuitry then the Ni-MH and then there is the risk of fire when soldering Li-Ion batteries.

What I would REALLY like to do is put some spring contacts into the case (the normal AA length is much shorter then the stock batteries) and make them easily replaceable... like in a TV remote. The 701 itself would act as a "lid" for the battery case, on the 760 series, a doner remote could provide the "latch" for the lid.




P.S. I ain't forgot about "Part 3"... just been too lazy to write it up as it just wound up being a motherboard replacement, nothing really fixed, just replaced.


EDIT: Just uploaded pics to part 3 of the contacts on the motherboard that I replaced, along with some pics of the rebuilt case that was damaged from corrosion. I didn't put any of the images of the actual dis/re-assembly, this looks much better in the hardware maintenance manual's exploded views. I also updated the PDF version of all 3 pages combined.

[Temetka]

This project is pure win.

I loved reading your posts about the rebuilding process and as well as reading the web page itself. I have only 1 question. What did you clean the board that goes in the battery pack with? Surely not soda pop.

As a retro hardware lover myself all I could think of while reading this was how insanely cool it was.

[ozzymud]

Surely YES, Coca-Cola... been using it for years to clean battery corrosion... whether it be on something electronic or a car battery... Been drinking the stuff for as long... amazing how well it tastes and cleans

It is the Phosphoric Acid in the Coke that does all the work, doesn't hurt anything electronic as long as you rinse/dry well before using

[paul*robertson]

But I truly enjoy watching decade+ old harware come back to life... and the looks on peoples faces when I unzip the bag and pull some OLD clunker out

Me too, and also newer is not always better, despite what "they" would like you to think.

[ozzymud]

Like I've said in other posts, if a machine suits a purpose, I don't really care what the model year is. My son enjoys playing all those old dos games on P1 class machines. Same goes for software... to this day I still use Paint Shop Pro 7

[ThinkPad560X]

I don't know if its me, but is everyone elses Batteries dying very fast? My ThinkPad X60T and R60 Don't even hold a charge anymore just shows a blank battery icon with a lenovo bubble coming up saying battery faild and even my Lenovo ThinkPad SL500 battery is lossing battery very fast. Other than that my IBM ThinkPad 701C and 560X battery holds very good battery charges and their from 95/96 era Not only is the new style batteries dying fast on laptops but power drills and cellphones are dying in a fast rate compaired to the 90s rechargable batteries.