Click the images for a larger version.
Ok, I didnt wind up buying the Energizers, Wal-Mart had some Rayovac ones that were much cheaper plus I had a coupon. 12 batteries wound up costing just under $17. This was one 8 pack (LD715-8OP) and a 4 pack (LD715-4OP).
These batteries only claim 1400mAh, but just from using them in my camera so far, I believe this rating to be more honest then the Energizers @ 2500mAh.
So now it was time to cut and tin a lot of jumper wires (i reccomend 22 gauge, 20 seemed to be a tad bulky in comparison to the original red wire in the pack.
Here is a shot of the lame soldering skills i posess...
Be VERY carefull to only apply heat to the batteries for as short of a time as possible, I did all my soldering in 3 steps...
By doing this, it allowed ample time for the batteries to cool off before soldering the jumpers onto them.
With all the batteries soldered, I noticed the wires holding them together took up more room in the case then the original tabs (duh :P)... so i had to trim the "bridges" out of the covers...
This allowed the 2 halves to fit together nicely.
I then used some scotch tape i had laying around to tightly bind the 2 halves together, then ran supergule around the seams in between the tape, once this dried, i went back and glued the portions previously covered by tape...
This looked really crappy, so i broke out some 100 grit sandpaper (just general purpose aluminum oxide paper) and proceeded to sand the case...
About a half hour later, it looked nice to me :)
I then ran a scotchbrite pad (think the green side of those common green/yellow kitchen sponges) over the whole thing, this cut down the scratches from the 100 grit and made it look pretty nice and feel quite slick. It slipped NICELY into the ThinkPad :)
Oh, i also broke out the multi-meter and measured pins 1 and 4 beforehand (these are supposed to be pre-charged batteries), the meter read 11.83v, IBM says 11v is "optimal" in the hardware reference.
I then fired up the Windows 95A that came installed when i bought it... hit Fn+F2 and the battery meter popped up...
Wow! 2:32 minutes... so I let it run while i organized photos for this page, it actually shut down at 5% after about 2:45 minutes.
Then i broke out the charger and plugged it in...
Whee... charging... then i finally went to sleep... the machine arrived about 5:30pm the day before, I am very obsessive and it was now 5:32AM... OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disoreder) anyone?
Ok, done, well sorta. The old battery when it exploded had corroded the pins inside the laptop for the battery. Pin 1 broke off after removing/inserting the battery. I apparently used up the last flex it had in it when i re-inserted the battery the 1st time :P
So I broke out the soldering iron and rigged a new connection, it works, but not being a spring is dodgy at best. No point in replacing the bad CMOS battery at this point. And I had promised my wife to slow my E-Bay buying down... A new motherboard typically sells for about $50 with shipping... but my OCD kicked in again and I said to myself, "I'll just do a quick search and see.", well... there is a "Buy Now" for $10 with $15 shipping, my daughter was standing there and said "CLICK IT NOW"... I was already moving the mouse to the "Buy Now" button :P
So, stay tuned for "Part 3" when the motherboard comes in when I'll tear the rest of the machine down and replace the faulty motherboard :)
Back to Part 1