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  Arya • 11/10/2020 at 11:51 • 0 comments

  What do we have?
  

  0. A gaming laptop from Alienware with broken battery

  1. Broken Alienware battery from that laptop

  2. Working Alienware battery from a different laptop

  Ain't no Alienware warranty on this laptop anymore, and being tethered to a wall socket at all times makes a laptop into a shitty desktop. Fixing the dead battery is likely a no-go - the controllers are black boxes, there's people that know the details about them but it costs money, and I'd need to re-cell the battery anyway - spot welding batteries in a live pack isn't my favourite pastime.

  When plugging the 2. battery into the laptop, the laptop would work wonders. Internally, it looked really similar - same cell arrangement and very similar controller board.

  Solution - put guts of the 2. battery into the 1. battery case. However, I'd need to shorten these metal strips:

  It's not as simple - as soon as you disconnect any of the metal strips, the battery controller bricks itself (rightfully so), as it needs to see valid battery voltages at all times without any interruptions - anything other than that is a sign of battery malfunction, and any laptop manufacturer wants to steer clear of that. Consequently, there's no simple way to "reset" a battery controller from such an occasion, either. However, with the power of magnets and kapton tape, I got it done.

  
  

  Precautions:

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