In mid-December, I tried to order a replacement battery for my 1998 vintage Gateway Solo 2500. An online vendor named USB Phone World listed the exact replacement, in lithium-ion chemistry and 55% more capacity than original, for what wound up with Christmas discount code to be $52 and change with free shipping and"usually ships same business day".

I contacted them around the end of the year, checking if my battery had shipped yet; I was put off , told it should be"in stock" by the following Monday, 1/6. This started a chain of events, where each contact they'd ask for more time to ship, offer me a"gift" (merchandise I didn't need), and"confirm" the item was to ship the following Monday. I was planning to file a PayPal dispute if I didn't have a tracking number by the evening of the 20th of January (five weeks after they took my money), but wound up having a heart attack and needing a triple bypass, which delayed things by a bit over a week.

I managed to get back in contact with them on the 28th, by my arithmetic the last day to file a PayPal dispute (45 days from purchase); they reluctantly refunded my money and insisted on sending me a"gift" I'll probably never use, and as of that day were still showing this battery as"usually ships same business day" --

all of which serves as lesson to me to verify stock before I try again to order a battery. Still, I'd very much like to get a battery ; it'd be the last step in making a laptop that's been an oversize MP3 player for around ten years into a useful computer again.

So, can anyone recommend a vendor for either an original Ni-MH replacement Gateway p/n 6500104, the lithium-ion upgrade 6500099 (verified compatible according to Gateway's own spec page for my exact model number computer), or instructions for disassembling the pack to replace the cells myself (it appears to be glued or themal welded shut).

(Mods: I have chat transcripts and saved web page image to back up every word above, but if management is concerned, you may delete the vendor name)

I've used ebatts.com with success.

Since you won't need to keep it and can experiment if you buy a new one.

(it appears to be glued or themal welded shut).

Me being a motorcycle mechanic. I used my mini die grinder and dremeled cut the outer edge on my Amrel Laptop
Battery housing. I rglued it with super glue after replacing the internal battery cells I found onlinbe.

It was pretty simple actually. YMMV.

Some cordless drill batteries are compatible as rustcollector may inform you also. I think I remember he took that route when changing out battery cells in his laptop.

I get my old out of date new laptop batteries from China on Ebay. The cheapest ones I can find.
My IBM T23 and A22M laptop batteries are good for about 1 and a 1/2 hours after buying them over a couple
of years ago.

yes, it is possible, but I do not really want to recommend anyone to solder li ion cells. If the cells inside your pack sit with spring clamps or something, I would try to find replacement cells for it. just cut it open! lol

Lithium fires really suck, fyi.

Ni-mh should be safer to build on your own, even if they do produce hydrogen, and the charger would be correct for those, just some comments.

I am looking for a supplier of real battery packs myself

Yep, I wouldn't consider changing cell chemistry if I replace the cells myself. As noted, however, if I stick with Ni-MH replacement cells (same chemistry as original) there's nothing to lose but the cost of replacement cells and time to change them out -- and I deal with cordless power tools at work, so have a pretty good idea what not to do to rechargeable batteries (directly heating Li-ion cells is a bad idea). Besides that, I'm pretty sure there are electronics inside the pack (temperature sensors, at a minimum) in the Li-ion version that aren't present in the Ni-MH pack. Based on voltage, the original pack should be eight Ni-MH cells, but I'll have to be able to measure length and diameter to get the correct size (4000 mAh comes in varying diameter-length combinations).

Rust, the charger circuitry in this computer is on the motherboard, Gateway swears up and down on their tech-specs site that this exact part number computer was capable of managing Li-ion, so if I can get a replacement, I'd rather go that way -- but that won't keep me from spending <$25 on replacement cells in order to have a usable backup battery, even if I can find a new Li-ion pack.

Yep, my Dremel is one of my most useful tools -- bought used in 1987, I've used it for everything from profiling cuts while fabricating a motorcycle muffler, to gunsmithing. I was just hoping someone would know a generally applicable trick that wouldn't requiring cutting blind into the case. I'll check with ebatts.com and see if they can confirm actual existence of a battery pack before taking my money...

Aha, found an eBay vendor with this exact part number in stock, already sold eight and shows two remaining. Estimated delivery from Las Vegas, under a week. __{{emoticon}}__

Oh, yea. Dremels are the best thing since sliced bread. You can get into more trouble with those if you are not too careful. It's better to just cut slowly several times around instead of cutting until you get through. I once had cut open a Toshiba laptop battery to rig it to use a variable circuited power supply. It worked great until my grand daughter turned up the juice. Smoking motherboard stink all over the house for three days.15 volts @9 amps will do it.

Take good care of your old dremel, they don't make them like that anymore

rust collector wrote:Take good care of your old dremel, they don't make them like that anymore

I'm well aware of that. No threaded nose, so I can't use the latest generation accessories, but I have a router base and router table that fit it, and most times I use it freehand with an abrasive cutoff disk or cylindrical burr (hand carved a slide safety toggle from steel key stock with that bit).

I bought a pair of brushes for it most of twenty years ago, found there was only one more pair in stock at the hobby store, and the part number was discontinued -- I have that one remaining pair in my tool cupboard; barring abuse or accident, I should be able to get another 25+ years out of this one.

Given all the seam lines on this old battery are straight, I might use a hobby knife instead of the dremel to make the cuts. Less likely to cut through the case of a cell with that...

Voltage is critical, as is current capacity. Too much voltage is bad, but too little current capability will make stuff not run just like too little voltage.

Sigh.

The vendor I found on eBay, who listed my battery as"7 sold, 3 remaining" apparently didn't actually have any to ship and, at the slightest prod, refunded my payment (though they still show four open listings for that part number as if they had them to sell -- I completely don't get what a business gains by offering merchandise they can't actually sell). I've found other vendors online showing this item in stock, for prices ranging from $90 up to $250+, but so far haven't gotten any of them to confirm they have actual stock on this exact unit. Since I can get the Ni-MH cells I need to rebuild the original battery for around $20 shipped, I'm committed now to a recell job; I should get five years or so on a recell, and it'll be easier the second time.

Update: A half hour or so with a razor saw (very thin, fine-toothed backsaw that fits the largest Xacto handle) and I got the case open; no damage to the PCB at the terminal end. Everything inside is spot welded (as expected) but I'll be able to use solder to reconnect things when I get the new cells -- which are on order, around $31 shipped. FWIW, this particular battery uses 4/3AF cells (like extra long AA size) fiber wrapped in pairs; the fiber wrap means there'll be room inside the case for tape to bind the cells together, but I'll have to be very neat joining the pairs end to end to avoid excessive length. I'm pretty good with a soldering iron, I think I'll manage.

@s.o. - Just take your time and make sure each connection is solid and secure. You can do it..

Thanks, jdmeaux, it'd be easier if I had a spot welder for the tabs on the cells, but I've soldered tabbed cells before (built battery packs for R/C airplanes, recelled a strobe flash once); it's just a matter of making the joint thin and getting the tabs oriented so they'll fold in between the cell ends.

Following up -- I got the cells, clipped the tabs that connected to components (over-current cutoff and something i THINK is a thermal cutoff, both self-resetting) in series with the cells and the wire and tab that connected the completed battery to the circuit board that lives inside the battery case. Wrapped the cells in pairs, then bound them up to keep everything straight in the case, and wound up having to relieve the pads that keep the cells from rattling in the oversize battery case; apparently the original cells were 4/3A, not 4/3AF (the F apparently stands for"fat"). The new cells fit, but they're a bit snugger thqn the originals.

Taped the case shut, slipped the battery into the machine, and it started charging! I came back a while later, and it showed full and had stopped charging (according to the computer's status display) -- I was pretty stoked. Then I came back another hour later, and found the battery status showed"discharged" -- and I smelled electrolyte. I pulled the battery out of the computer and opened up the case and found one cell had shorted (I later determined I must have melted the insulating sleeve when I soldered on the overcurrent cutoff), venting and apparently getting hot enough to solder the tab to the cell.

Ordered another cell (paid more for shipping than for the cell -- no quantity discount as with the 8-cell order), and got around to installing that today. Once more, the battery charged (and yes, I checked the cell voltage, thinking I'd have to charge it to balance the pack, but it apparently shipped with enough charge to show the same voltage as the other cells), and pretty quickly showed full. I came back in an hour or so, though, and found the entire pack was HOT-- not quite hot enough to soften the plastic of the case, but hot enough I was concerned about cell venting; but opening the case showed no evidence of new venting. I let the battery cool, put it back in to the computer, and it came up to full charge again in minutes, and appears to be behaving now. I don't plan to leave the computer on charge overnight any time soon, but I'm running on battery while posting this, and still have about 60% on the meter with close to an hour of running time (100% display backlight and wifi up -- SSD uses less power than the original HDD). Looks like I'll get two to two and a half hours on a full charge, which is close to what I got when new.

Does anyone know where the power management settings are in antiX 13.2?

I don't think there many power management settings to talk about in antix. I used xfce4-power-manager

Glad to see you got it up and running. I'm just wondering myself about the overheating...I suspect it may be the thermal protector gone bad.