I was recently given an IBM ThinkPad A31. Its a really nice machine, but the battery is dead.
I removed the original 18650 cells, and put some new ones in, and made sure that it is all wired up correctly. However, no voltage is present on the output of the protection/controller circuit. I also cannot charge the battery through the protection/controller circuit.
There's no issue with the cells as I can charge them by connecting a PSU directly to the cells (bypassing the controller circuit).
Does anyone know why this is? Is there anything I can do to 'revive' the controller circuit?
I've read lots of web pages about laptop packs and tried connecting just about every combination of pins but with no sucess. There is also the possibility that the controller circuit has 'forgotten' its settings as a result of the power loss. In the case of this battery, the original cells were long dead, so if this was the case, it would have lost its memory long before I dismantled it.
The other possibility I can think of is that I might have killed a component on the controller circuit.
The controller isn't entirely dead though, as it will communicate with the computer when plugged in, as can be seen in the screenshots.
Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks.
steve30