[ltp] Almost dead battery

[Stefan Monnier]

> The shop cuts open the plastic battery case, solders/welds
> replacement cells to the original circuit board, then
> seamlessly repairs the cut.  The battery looks "original"
> to X-Ray and visual inspection, so that airport security
> doesn't complain when you fly with your Thinkpad.

I think it's generally called "battery refill".
An Internet search for "laptop battery refill" turns up a small number
of candidates.

> Perhaps one of you already knows of such a source.

I've used such a service here in Canada some years ago for a battery for
my thinkpad X30 (and it worked great), but they stopped offering
the service.

IIUC the problem is a mix of various problems:

- It's a dying market (with batteries getting less and less standard and
  harder and harder to take out and replace).
- It was not cost-competitive: lots of expensive (and somewhat
  dangerous) manual work by skilled individuals.
- It was not reliable: apparently in many cases the battery's charging
  controller IC refused to work with the new cells.
- It was based on "send your battery and we'll return it refilled" which
  means spending several days without your battery.
  In practice that meant that I first bought a second battery and only
  when that second battery seemed to get near its end of life did
  I send my first for a refill.  Of all the users of laptops, there are
  sadly few who keep them long enough to need a third battery.

It's hard to make a living in those conditions.

:-(


-- Stefan