Cf-28 Home Made Exdternal Battery?

Would it be possible to use non-lithium ion batteries to "make" an external battery for a cf-28? and what voltage range would be acceptable. of course I would plug said home made battery into the power adapter plug on the side,I have access to some batteries that the bio-med department at my work usually toss out-they change out the batteries in all the equipment/etc. once a year, good or notand most of them are still plenty good. once apart I can remove the batteries, or just tap into the contacts/whatever on the whole thing. Most of the batteries are anywhere from 11.1 vdc to 18-19 vdc.
Thought I could save a little cash!

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,
-DDaymen

 

A voltage source of between 15v and 16v would be perfect to hook up to your dc in


Alex

 

Is it safe to assume that your batteries have their own charging source?

 

Yes, I have a charging source, variable voltage. I just wondered if the externalbattery had to be lithium ion or not.The one(s)I will be using are nImh.
I have one that is lithium ion, but it is only 11.1 vdc,not enough I'm sure. Also most of the batteries are of high mih rating,between 5000-8000. I have also seen an automobile adapter, does that upthe voltage or something like that? from 12-13 vdc from the auto to 15-16 vdc?

Thanks,
-DDaymen

 

While voltage is critical, the amperage is just as important. If the amp rating is in the 5000-8000 range, that should be quite sufficient in most cases. The CF-28 is 15.3 and 3.75 amps if memory serves with the mih in the 6500-7700 range (others will chime in about now if I am off, but I think that is close.)

 

thanks for the info!

 

Yes, automobile adapters like the one from Lind take a fairly wide range of DC voltages (typically 11-16 vdc) and output regulated 15.6 vdc. Typcally they turn off when the input falls below 10.5-11 vdc to avoid draining a car battery, so may not work well with your 11.1 v battery.

 

Thanks, I was trying to get more of an idea about the voltage requirements of an external power supply. Looks like 15.6 vdc is what I need to use. I thought that these toughbooks had a wider range of vdc going in.

-DDaymen

 

They do have a bit of flexability
Lind Toughbook adapters put out 15.0v or 15.6v depending on model and I have used both on all my Toughbooks
So if you don't find a combination from 15 to 16 volts I would try 12v and a lind adapter to upvolt
If you have enough amps on the 12v it might last for a while before dropping to cutoff, but you will need to have a battery in the Toughbook to insure that you dont crash windows when the external source fails

Alex

 

Yeah, you really cannot run a TB from 12V directly; but they will run happily at anything between 15VDC and 16.5 VDC. If your battery back can provide that, you're golden... but I'd rather see a regulator on it or use a car DC-DC adapter made for Toughbook to ensure stable input voltage.

I've used a pair of 12V 12AH SLA Gel-Cell batteries with a homebrew regulator circuit for long-duration data logging with my Toughbook; this seems to be the best life, but of course it also weighs a LOT - that's enough juice to run TWO of those Power Wheels ride-on toys.

mnem
ZZZzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZTTTT!

 

As long s you have the battery inside the computer so the toughbook just thinks it is charging the internal battery you will be fine.

I use big 12volt gell cells all the time to do this with Toughbooks in the field during Amateur Radio Field operations.

I will use either a Lind DC Adapter or almost any cheapo inverter with the same results.

I am also running A radio Tranceiver or two or three at the same time from the same power source.

You may not squeeze every minute from them as the voltage drops but it will certainly work and last a whole lot longer than just having the internal battery in any case.

I really like the 18ah gel which is the one inside most of the larger car jump starting boxes.
I get them from Burglar Alarm Suppliers on sale for around $25.00 all the time which is less than half what you will see them for at retail.

I also have several rigs made with sets of larger gel cells for more capacity.
I have one with 2 75ah gels.
Heavy but effective and of course on wheels too!

Ed

 

Some of the battery combinations I have are 16 vdc, 7.5 amp hours. As for the regular internal battery, it's toast, I took it apart to see about re-building it, but I don't have anyway to attach the several lithium-ion batteries together. I have seen the exact batteries that are inside of it, I coul rebuild it for about $50.00, but again I don't know how to attach the batteries together!

 

Does the machine run now without the battery inside?
If so then it should run if powered externally too.

 

Yes... The CF-28 will run without the internal battery. No, you can't rebuild a dead battery with the 18650 niMh batteries. Unless you have software to reset the chip inside the battery... You're done. I built a battery tab spot welder specifically to rebuild these batteries to no avail. Good thing I can still use all the parts.

This isn't the first time it has been discussed... You may want to look at the solar charger that was discussed a while back for more direct info with regard to voltages, etc... Though I think you've pretty much covered it all here.

 

I have some lithium ion batteries, 3.7 volts each that I removed from a battery pack. I would use those for s rebuild, and the nimh for the external battery.

 

correction on the batteries, I think they are 3.7 volts, they may be 3.2 or 3.4, somewhere in that range.

 

Well....We haven't had a "Magic Smoke" story in a LONG time.....

If they are cell phone Li-Ions... They are all 3.7V....

 

Actually they are from a back up battery from medical equipment. Smoe of this equipment uses Li batteries, but modt of them use Nih (hope that is the correct abbreviation) betteries. I ended up with 3 batteries from some GE medical equipment that are 11.7 vdc, with Li batteries inside. Not easy to remove the case from these!