Every try this with your laptop battery?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Every try this with your laptop battery?

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:12:37 PM EDT

I've got an HP/Compaq laptop that is a couple years old and the battery stopped taking a charge. Yellow light where the power supply plugs in flashes yellow when power supply is disconnected to run on battery power. HP Total Care Advisor reports battery as defective.

I let the laptop drain the battery completely and then took the battery and put it in a ziplock bag and placed it in my freezer overnight. After letting the battery get back to room temperature I put it back on the laptop and it seems to take a full charge. Laptop seems to work fine now.

Anyone ever try this fix with their laptop batteries? If so how did it work for you?

I did order a replacement battery off Ebay just in case.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:17:03 PM EDT

[#1]

i have frozen drives but never a battery

i suppose if you had a weak connection freezing could "shrink" things enough for a temp fix but i'd expect the next bump or high temp to put it back to failure rather quickly. in theory at least.

if that actually worked you might try opening the battery and checking for a lose or broken contact on the cells. if it actually takes a full charge the cells likely are not bad and it would be a quick easy fix.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:17:37 PM EDT

[#2]

I'll have to remember that one.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:18:34 PM EDT

[#3]

I've heard of it, but I've never tried it.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:19:16 PM EDT

[#4]

I've done it with hard drives, never with a battery...

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:24:10 PM EDT

[#5]

Did you try draining the battery and recharging it with out freezing it?

What fixed it? The drain and charge cycle or the freezing?

Ive been told that fully draining li ion batteries and recharging may bring them back to life but never heard of freezing them.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:27:20 PM EDT

[#6]

Interesting, never heard of that. When my laptop battery stopped holding a charge i bought a new extra large battery.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:27:30 PM EDT

[#7]

Has something to do with allowing the battery to take a charge again.

I've rebuilt Nickel Cadmium and NiMH radio batteries before but the laptop and netbook batteries are sealed with no screws and the Lithium batteries may have gel battery media as far as I know. Supposedly freezing brings the gel back to life in some way.

Been running this laptop for an hour on battery and it says it still has a 69% charge left.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:30:38 PM EDT

[#8]

I have a sony vaio that needs a new battery.

Playing such games with it helps for a bit then it quickly goes back to being a junk battery. Mine never did recover to taking a full charge in reality, if it ran on the battery if did not run for hours but just minutes.

I have another laptop and don't worry about it now. This laptop came with a spare battery so I swap em around and use them both.

The sony has some other issues as well so it currently just sits around for now.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:32:06 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Has something to do with allowing the battery to take a charge again.

I've rebuilt Nickel Cadmium and NiMH radio batteries before but the laptop and netbook batteries are sealed with no screws and the Lithium batteries may have gel battery media as far as I know. Supposedly freezing brings the gel back to life in some way.

Been running this laptop for an hour on battery and it says it still has a 69% charge left.

Maybe, but it could also be that the battery monitor circuitry (inside the battery pack) has a bad connection and freezing it made the connection work a bit better as others mentioned.

I don't know how it fixed it, but good work just the same

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:32:08 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Did you try draining the battery and recharging it with out freezing it?

What fixed it? The drain and charge cycle or the freezing?

Ive been told that fully draining li ion batteries and recharging may bring them back to life but never heard of freezing them.

Did all of that. The battery refused to take a charge at all. I googled the problem and found the freeze fix. None of the sites said it would work for sure but many recommended giving it a try as it was rumored to work. Seemed to work on mine.

I did order a knock off battery off of Ebay just in case. The only thing I use the laptop for is streaming movies to an HD TV so it doesn't get used much.

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:33:18 PM EDT

[#11]

It has been my experience that typically things don't fix themselves.

I would think that is a temporary "fix".

Posted: 9/10/2010 2:58:10 PM EDT

[#12]

Have done that with Fire Dept. pager batteries for many years, have always had pretty good results also.

When the technology went to the Lithium Ion batteries there seemed to be no more need for the practice.

YMMV

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:04:33 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

i have frozen drives but never a battery

i suppose if you had a weak connection freezing could "shrink" things enough for a temp fix but i'd expect the next bump or high temp to put it back to failure rather quickly. in theory at least.

if that actually worked you might try opening the battery and checking for a lose or broken contact on the cells. if it actually takes a full charge the cells likely are not bad and it would be a quick easy fix.

Me too...

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:04:58 PM EDT

[#14]

(very) cool story, bro!

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:10:37 PM EDT

[#15]

Lithium Ion batteries like those in laptops aren't supposed to have a memory like NiCad batteries do.

Been running 2 hours so far and that is about as good as it did when new, show 33% still on battery.

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:16:40 PM EDT

[#16]

Just had the last of my two battery packs die on my craftsman cordless drill, I'll let you know if it works.

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:19:20 PM EDT

[#17]

tag

Posted: 9/10/2010 3:19:47 PM EDT

[#18]

I have a Dell battery that is near failure on an Inspiron 1720. Draining the battery now and will give this a try. Replacement is over $150.

ETA: here goes nothing

Posted: 9/10/2010 4:07:11 PM EDT

[#19]

Replacement 18650 Li-Ion laptop cells for cheap

Posted: 9/10/2010 4:07:53 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
I have a Dell battery that is near failure on an Inspiron 1720. Draining the battery now and will give this a try. Replacement is over $150.

This one?

Posted: 9/10/2010 4:10:09 PM EDT

[#21]

I would do this with zip drives and wow the newbz

Posted: 9/11/2010 1:18:34 PM EDT

[#22]

DrJester,

Did it work for you? Mine is working fine.

Posted: 9/11/2010 1:23:42 PM EDT

[#23]

When I take it out of the freezer do I need to put it in the oven or microwave or anything before putting it back in the laptop?

Posted: 9/11/2010 1:29:59 PM EDT

[#24]

Quoted:
When I take it out of the freezer do I need to put it in the over or microwave or anything before putting it back in the laptop?

Yes, pre heat oven to 325 then place battery on cookie sheet NEVER on the rack thenlet it sit for 15 min.

Don't use my advise.

Posted: 9/11/2010 1:33:01 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:
I'll have to remember that one.

Posted: 9/11/2010 1:42:40 PM EDT

[#26]

Tried it on my cordless drill battery and its still dead.

Posted: 9/11/2010 1:50:22 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Tried it on my cordless drill battery and its still dead.

Got a welder?

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:02:28 PM EDT

[#28]

I've read that batteries end up lasting less than they could because people keep them in their machines when they are on AC power...on AC, the battery should be taken out if you are able to.

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:08:02 PM EDT

[#29]

I have done that for cell phone batteries.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:09:09 PM EDT

[#30]

Have to give this a shot, my laptop battery won't charge past 46% or last longer than ~20 minutes.

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:22:28 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
I've read that batteries end up lasting less than they could because people keep them in their machines when they are on AC power...on AC, the battery should be taken out if you are able to.

I always left mine attached to the laptop as I thought the manual stated to leave it on the laptop when plugged in. I'm going to have to check the manual again as I think you are correct. I just read that if you aren't using the battery power for extended periods that the battery should be removed and stored not connected to the laptop.

My laptop operates fine plugged in with battery disconnected so I think I should take the battery off if not needed.

I have digital camcorder batteries that are Li Ion and they are 10 years old and work fine but I store them not connected to the mini camcorder.

Li Ion batteries are not supposed to have a memory but I read you should charge them before fully discharged.

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:22:40 PM EDT

[#32]

Can someone please expound on the "freezing a hard drive" trick? I have a hard drive that died and I would like to recover some data from it.

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:23:48 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
When I take it out of the freezer do I need to put it in the oven or microwave or anything before putting it back in the laptop?

No, let it set at room temperature until it reaches that temperature then remove from bag so condensation doesn't form.

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:26:26 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
Can someone please expound on the "freezing a hard drive" trick? I have a hard drive that died and I would like to recover some data from it.

http://www.lancelhoff.com/freeze-a-clicking-hard-drive-to-recover-data/

Posted: 9/11/2010 2:45:07 PM EDT

[#35]

Freezing will crystalize the dendrites and a quick recharge dissolves them. Brand new battery!

Or that might be B.S. and I don't know what I'm talking about

Either way, neat trick if it works.

Posted: 9/11/2010 6:22:38 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
I've read that batteries end up lasting less than they could because people keep them in their machines when they are on AC power...on AC, the battery should be taken out if you are able to.

completely untrue with modern batteries.

Posted: 9/11/2010 6:38:23 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
I've read that batteries end up lasting less than they could because people keep them in their machines when they are on AC power...on AC, the battery should be taken out if you are able to.

If you do that, your laptop crashes the minute that AC power fails.

Personally, I don't mind taking a small hit on battery lifespan in order to have the uninterruptable power that an installed battery provides.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Every try this with your laptop battery?

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