Jump Starting OQO 02 Battery

After buying a bad battery on ebay I decided to see if I could jump start it. The battery looks like brand new. It had paperwork attached that made me think it was a warranty return. The batteries come apart easy enough and getting to the cells requires removing a sticker once apart. After checking the cell with a multimeter I found only .788 volts. The computer will not charge the battery when the voltage is to low. The battery maybe old stock or not charged after being assembled. This is why I think it was returned.

My next step is to charge it with an external charger. I have a DuraTrax IntelliPeak ICE DC Competition Charger. This charger can charge 1-10 NiCd or NiMH cells, and 1-4 Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) or Lithium Polymer (LiPo) cells. I first set it on NiMH 2 cells @ 0.5 amps till it came up to 2.8 volts. After that I set it for Lipo 1 cell 4500mAh @ 0.7 amps. The computer charges a 5 watts so at 5 volts thats 1 amp. I am charging below that for safety.

Being a bit impatient I only let it charge for a half hour. Still the battery had a voltage around 3.8 volts. I put the battery back together and put it back on the computer. At first it did not charge, but when I removed the power cord it did not shut off. I then tried the battery wake up method I read about on OQOTALK. I powered down the unit then held the battery meter switch for about 10 seconds then did it again. To my surprise it started blinking. It was charging! I let it fully charge and then unplugged it. I ran for about 2 hours with out tweaking much.

This was a pretty easy process but cautions must be taken. These batteries can be very dangerous. You should really know what you are doing first. I have years of experience with building battery packs for rc cars and helicopters as well as rebuilding notebook packs.