I need to replace an old rechargeable battery pack in my 20 year old laptop. The old ones were 2 cells of 3v rechargeable lithium with 3 wires: red to + of first cell, white to the junction between - of first cell and + of second cell (reference for recharging I guess), and black to - of second cell. At best I can figure out, it has max current of 150mA total per cell
As the battery was odd and old and replacement would be close to $20 a cell, I thought I'd try and more generic rechargeable battery. But a 3v rechargeable lithium is rather hard to find and some of them are huge, like 5/4A.
Could I theoretically use a more common 3.7v lithium battery, place a pair of silicon diode to induce a 1.4v drop from the + of first cell plus another diode from the junction to the white wire to get .7v drop? Would it still work or would the battery cause trouble not getting full charge?
Plan B: use regular non-rechargeable battery and somehow block recharging. Non-rechargeable usually have capacity at around 2000mA and would last a long time but it seems like I'd have to replace it maybe every month?
If either of that won't work, what can I do? Or where can I get 3v rechargeable lithium 150mA or more, preferably with solder tab, for a lot more reasonable price? Space is not an issue, I can tuck it in where the normal battery brick used to sit, as the laptop is not going to be portable at all and I don't want to invest over $150 for an aftermarket battery. The laptop is more for novelty use than for on road use or something.
As the battery was odd and old and replacement would be close to $20 a cell, I thought I'd try and more generic rechargeable battery. But a 3v rechargeable lithium is rather hard to find and some of them are huge, like 5/4A.
Could I theoretically use a more common 3.7v lithium battery, place a pair of silicon diode to induce a 1.4v drop from the + of first cell plus another diode from the junction to the white wire to get .7v drop? Would it still work or would the battery cause trouble not getting full charge?
Plan B: use regular non-rechargeable battery and somehow block recharging. Non-rechargeable usually have capacity at around 2000mA and would last a long time but it seems like I'd have to replace it maybe every month?
If either of that won't work, what can I do? Or where can I get 3v rechargeable lithium 150mA or more, preferably with solder tab, for a lot more reasonable price? Space is not an issue, I can tuck it in where the normal battery brick used to sit, as the laptop is not going to be portable at all and I don't want to invest over $150 for an aftermarket battery. The laptop is more for novelty use than for on road use or something.
