Removing the PCB from cells.

I know there are many tutorials, walkthroughs etc. on how to remove the PCB from protected cells but I thought i'd make a new one just to show my way of doing it with a 16340 battery

Ok, first of all, cut a straight line through the side of the battery but becareful to not cut into the metal ribbon going down the side...



Next you want to open up the battery by removing the wrapper carefully. You want to save the wrapper ovbiously for later...



Now you want to remove the white ring thingymabob of the top of the battery. It will come off in two layers so dont worry if you cant get the bottom half of it off...



Now once you've removed the top layer of the white thingy you want to cut the metal ribbon seperating it from the positive contact point of the battery WITHOUT SHORT CIRCUITING IT. You cant let anything metal thats touching the positive contact point come in to contact with the body of the cell because the body is all NEGATIVE....If you accidentaly create a short do'nt be scared to disconnect it quickly.



Once the ribbon is seperated from the positive contact point you want to grab it with your needle nose pliers and pull it and the PCB (Protection Circuit Board) off the bottom of the battery...You also want to remove the remaining ribbon of the positive contact point by twisting it off (without making shorts)



Now you have a bare cell sitting right in front of you...



Grab the white retaining lid thingy and put some glue on it...



then stick it back on to the positive end of the battery...



You now want to grab the cells wrapper and trim a bit off the end (negative side)



Now hold the wrapper tightly around the battery and put a thin strip of tape on it to hold it together...



Trim the tape and push the battery up to the top of the wrapper. You will have some excess wrapper on the end of the battery and all you need to do is trim it with a pair of scissors and voila! your done!









Now that you've removed the PCB from your battery becareful not to overcharge/overdischarge...

Dont let the batteries voltage drop to 2.6 volts or lower...

Thanks for looking

Good idea! re-wrapping the cell looks a lot cleaner :gj:

Nice writeup. This would also be effective:
$2.39 - 1M Black Heat Shrink Tubing (20mm) - DIY Parts & Components

I tried that once with a trustfire that had gone into protected mode and wouldn't come back out. Roasted my thumb when the protection connection shorted. Didn't try it again

Wouldn't it be easier to cut around the bottom of the battery and just push the whole thing through?

Probably, lol

I'l try it with some other cells I have lying around...

Thanks for the feedback

In addition to Lotus's comment, maybe use some other color then black and just use a laser to label the cell, in case you had a bunch of different mAh cells of similar sizes, just a thought.

This.... is not a good idea. That protection circuit in there is there to stop them from starting on fire as you well know. What superior benefit is there to removing this IC that would make it worth the risk?

Eitherway, thanks for posting this. Nice pics and its cool to see the board.

But the thing is these batteries come without circuits but I accidentaly bought the ones with it...

LaZeRz said:

But the thing is these batteries come without circuits but I accidentaly bought the ones with it...

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Ahh very interesting. Haven't paid much attention to that yet. Just ordered my first quad of 18650s and haven't had a chance to test them out. Again, what is the disadvantage of the protection system? (besides being slightly less efficent). Does it limit the peak current draw to something below what we like to use for 2W lasers? Will have to google this some more when I get the chance. If you know offhand feel free to share

I'm not that sure the first point is a very good idea - it limits discharge current for a reason too.

But the point I want to make is these batteries come in unprotected form so effectively these are just unprotected cells with a line down the side....

maybe someone should find the pic of the old guy that almost got his hand blown off from an unprotected li-ion battery....

ndrew2505 said:

maybe someone should find the pic of the old guy that almost got his hand blown off from an unprotected li-ion battery....

Click to expand...

Holy.... How'd that happen?

I posted this in the "exploding batteries" thread someone started, but it fits here too.

Ultrafire 18650 3000mA exploded