Lesson #2 – How to Recondition Cell Phone Batteries

The most common problems with cell phone batteries

Hi! I would not even ask you, if you have a cell phone or not. It’s like asking you: “Do you breathe?” Now, we could not imagine our life without a cell phone, it is used not only for communication, but for entertaining and for business purposes. But, there is one thing about cell phone, it should be with you wherever you go, that means, its battery should be durable and long-lasting. But, we don’t live in the ideal world, and bad things happen. Here I would like to give you a list of the most common problems with cell phone batteries:

Damaged micro-USB port

Most of the mobile phones have a micro-USB port designed for recharging. But internal contacts in this port are quite thin and could be easily damaged, especially if you do not use the original charger. Damaged port can be a reason of improper charging of your phone. So, keep it in mind and be careful.

Loss of capacity

Over time, all mobile phones require to be charged more and more often. The problem is similar to laptop batteries; they also lose their capacity and cannot reach every cell.

Mechanical damage

Do you remember the night when you talked to your girlfriend and she drove you crazy? Yeah, I mean that part when you hit your cell phone on the wall. Mobile phones are easily damaged, we drop (accidentally or not), and hit them from time to time. All of it can lead to the battery damage, which is not good for its operational features.

Look at the detailed guides for replacing the battery on the iPhone.

Types of cell phone batteries

There are plenty of mobile phones on the market. Before buying a cell phone, check what type of battery it has, because each type has its pros and cons. Check our table and be sure that you will make the right choice.

Type of battery	Pros	Cons
Lithium-ion Performs due to the lithium ions movement from the negative electrode to the positive electrode	Lightweight High performance characteristics Without “memory effect” More environmentally friendly than the other types	High price Sensitive to high temperature Aging effect
Nickel-cadmium (NiCad) Uses nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes	Difficult to be damage High energy density Lower self-discharge rate in comparison with NiMH	Suffers from “the memory effect” High environmental impact Highly toxic
Nickel Metal Hydride	Can run for between 30 and 40 per cent longer More environmentally friendly than Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries Less affected to the memory effect than nickel cadmium	Possibility of voltage drops after several hundred charges
New Lithium Technology	1,000 times more powerful than its lithium predecessor	Still in an early phase of development

How to define battery of what type does your cell phone have?

It’s pretty simple. Most of the call phones have a removable back cover, so you can just take it out and read the battery type on its surface. Another way is to check you mobile phone’s manufacturer website. Find your model there and check specifications, you will find not only type of the battery, but some other important characteristics, such as capacity, for example.

And the most modern way to check the battery type is to use a special app. There are many applications of this kind presented on the market, I am using Mugen Power App. It helps you to know the real picture of your mobile phone battery.

It shows you historical data (%, mA, mW, mV and temperature) and calculates estimated run-times and battery aging, helps calibrate battery, and improves your battery run-time.

Device for testing a dead battery

Sometimes, it’s quite hard to say, if your battery is dead or the problem lies in something else, for example, in software. For such cases a special device for testing battery will be very helpful. Devices of this sort are very easy to use, and you can buy them for a few dollars. For example, I use USB Battery Capacity Detector, you can buy it from China. It is very cheap, connects to your phone through USB and displays crucial characteristics, such as voltage level and capacity.

Actually, sometimes to define the problem you even don’t need to have a device. Do you know how to find out if your cell phone battery is swollen? I have something for you, all you need is… to spin it! Remove the battery from your phone, spin it on the even surface, if it spins like on this GIF image below, it means, everything is okay, and you have nothing to worry about, if not… well, at least, it’s better to test it with electronics.

How to recondition a cell phone battery at home

Here I’d like to share with you a way how to recondition most of the mobile phone’s batteries. All you need for this operation is: charger (5 – 12 V), resistor (330 ohm – 1 kiloohm), Multimeter.

So follow the instructions:

1. Connect the positive terminal of the supply to the positive terminal of the battery through the resistor.
2. Plug the charger, the voltage level of the battery will rise. Seems easy? So, there is a quite logical explanation for this. Every cell phone battery has a transistor inside which disconnects the terminals, when the voltage drops lower the significant level, after that, the controller in the mobile phone cannot “recognize” the battery, that’s why when you plug a charger in your phone, nothing happens. When you connect a battery directly through terminals, the current comes to the battery skipping the controller.
3. After this operation, you can insert the battery back into the phone and continue charging in a regular way.

Kit for a cell phone batteries reconditioning at home

How to choose and where to buy a new cell phone battery?

There is a big demand on Cell phones batteries. You can buy them from different places: in the Internet, official shop of your mobile phone manufacturer, communications store or even in an underground walkway. But be careful and always check:

1. Price range and warranty details. But don’t get too excited, when you see very cheap price, most probably, it is a fake copy.
2. Check the Internet for other suppliers. Check the producer’s shop and other companies, perhaps, you’ll find a good sale.
3. Technical compatibility. Ensure that a new battery fits in your phone, and the back cover closes normally.
4. Check the battery capacity. Replacing a battery, consider the best option. Check the watt-hour or amp hour rating of the new battery, the higher this rating is, the better it is.

How to extend the life of your cell phone battery

It is very sad, when you have the coolest smartphone ever and cannot use it, because your battery is dead. So, to prolong its life, just keep in mind the following tips:

1. Initialize a new battery. Before the first use of your smartphone, fully charge the battery to obtain maximum capacity. Nickel-based batteries should be charged for 16 hours initially and run through 2-4 full charge/full discharge cycles, lithium ion batteries don’t require charging for about 5-6 hours.
2. Avoid fully discharging a lithium-ion battery. A lithium-ion battery loses its capacity when you fully discharge it. Charge it when it’s one bar left, the number of charges in such batteries is limited, so try to charge with moderation.
3. Keep the battery cool. Your battery doesn’t like heat, the best way is to keep at room temperature. Avoid leaving your phone in a hot car or in direct sunlight.
4. Clean the battery contacts on the battery and on the phone. Contacts may collect dirt which reduces the battery efficiency, clean them with a cotton pad. If they are made from two different metals, such as gold and tin, they can get corroded, remove the corrosion from the contacts using acetone or nail polish remover.

How to set up a business on reconditioning and replacing cell phone batteries

Now when you know almost everything about cell phone batteries, it’s time to think about some cash. People already earn serious money on business connected with different types of batteries reconditioning. Many entrepreneurs recondition car batteries, laptop batteries and so on.

Reconditioning mobile phone batteries is a great business, because today, even kids have mobiles, so the number of customers is enormous. Except the huge amount of potential clients, there are some other advantages of this business:

1. This business doesn’t require start-up budget. Today, mobile phone for some people are just fashion accessories, they just throw them away when a new model comes out, so you can offer buying old batteries from them for a very low price, then recondition them and sell for those ones who still use the old model.
2. You can buy a very cheap tester from China and offer people a free test of the battery capacity. After checking, it will become obvious that the battery will give up a ghost soon, so you can offer replacement in advance.
3. Try to make a deal with shops selling used phones. They themselves buy old phones, restore them and resell, you can take a part in the process, connected with batteries reconditioning for a commission.

This is just few ideas how you can make money out of reconditioning cell phone batteries. And remember that doing this business you do our planet a great favor.

Watch more about this business in the video:[block id=”2″]How to make money on reconditioning almost any batteries