It's very easy to find the pinout.

Just follow Chapter 7 in NLBA user manual.

The method is described there.

Posted by: @torture

It's very easy to find the pinout.

Just follow Chapter 7 in NLBA user manual.

The method is described there.

Hello,

I've had a look on the user manual and already found a pinout for a different type of battery (which has since been added to the database - needs validating by admins).

Regarding this battery pack, Advent A14-S5-4S1P2200-0:

• I have determined that pin 1 is VCC and pin 7 is GND
• I have determined that pin 2 is likely Test (T) - output light was not present without this pin
• Pins 3 and 4 give a reading of just over 0.9V in diode mode, whilst Pin 5 gives a reading of just under 0.7V in diode mode
• Nothing about Pin 6 but I presume it is either GND (next to pin 7) or Test/T - most likely GND

Any advice would be appreciated as I cannot seem to get an output to display, despite showing a green output power indicator. I have no idea which out of the middle pins (mentioned above) are C or D (or even if one of them is another T).

Posted by: @spotify95

I have determined that pin 2 is likely Test (T) - output light was not present without this pin

This pin is not test it is called System Present pin and is used to enabale charging/discharging when connected to ground.

If the output LED is on when you connect it, that means that the battery is still in working condition (Chip is still UNLOCKED)

So you have to swap clock & data wires between pins 3 & 4 until you find the proper connections.

Posted by: @torture

Posted by: @spotify95

I have determined that pin 2 is likely Test (T) - output light was not present without this pin

This pin is not test it is called System Present pin and is used to enabale charging/discharging when connected to ground.

If the output LED is on when you connect it, that means that the battery is still in working condition (Chip is still UNLOCKED)

So you have to swap clock & data wires between pins 3 & 4 until you find the proper connections.

Sorry about that, I'm sure I have heard someone else refer to T as Test; from now on I will use system present as stated (why they use T though?)

I have checked and I cannot seem to find out which is clock and which is data? as stated before, pins 3 & 4 are approx 0.9V and pin 5 is approx 0.7V - so why would it give different readings?

I can confirm that pin 2 is system present because, with it connected, it shows 15.6V on my multimeter (between + and -), so within spec. But the voltage disappears when pin 2 (system present) is missing.

Regards

Spotify95

Are you measuring in DIODE MODE?

@torture Hello, yes the multimeter was connected in diode mode (the same settings were used to successfully find the GND/CLK/DATA pins on a different type of laptop battery).It's just this battery pack has a few quirks:

It had one connection (pin 2) that was close to the maximum value in Diode mode - which I thought was System Present (which seems to be correct)

It had Pin 5 at 0.7 which was what I was expecting, and Pins 3 & 4 at 0.9 which I was not expecting.

So I don't know which is C/D and if there is anything else I have to connect as well. I don't think there's another System Present/T because the battery voltage is visible on the outputs with Pin 2 connected to Ground, as System Present.

So according to your measurements pins 3 & 4 are clock & data.

But i have never worked on this battery model before.

So if you have tried both combinations between pins 3 & 4 and there is still no reading this could mean that the battery does not follow SBS communication protocol and you can't read any data from it.

Just like almost all Panasonic batteries, many Fujitsu, and Toshiba Tecra & Portege batteries.

So don't be surprised.

Posted by: @torture

So according to your measurements pins 3 & 4 are clock & data.

But i have never worked on this battery model before.

So if you have tried both combinations between pins 3 & 4 and there is still no reading this could mean that the battery does not follow SBS communication protocol and you can't read any data from it.

Just like almost all Panasonic batteries, many Fujitsu, and Toshiba Tecra & Portege batteries.

So don't be surprised.

 

Thanks for the help, I will check again in the morning and see how I get on. I know that one of the battery packs works because it has the green light on the front of the NLBA1 when the 'T' pin is connected. But I couldn't get any data from it, and was perplexed by three pins having different, but roughly similar, readings on the multimeter.

I know that my methodology works OK because I have managed to find the pinoout of several batteries via this method, including: Packard Bell BP-8050; Samsung AA-PB5NC6B; HP PO02XL and Lenovo L17M3PB0.

Also of note is that if I see an odd value between GND and the pin in question (one example I had 1.8, and one example I had 1.2 - so not the expected 0.5-0.8) then it's worth trying it as a T/System Present pin. In both cases, they were system present pins.

Didn't know about battery packs using non-standard communication. Is there any way of getting the health of these battery packs, short of actually having the laptop (not feasible if you don't already own one) or disassembling for the 18650s/Li-Po cells? But then again, if I'm disassembling for cell recovery, then the battery pack can't be used as a whole, and there's no guarantee the cells will even be any good.

Regards, spotify95

Posted by: @spotify95

Is there any way of getting the health of these battery packs, short of actually having the laptop

Not really.

I personally own such a battery FPCBP145 for Fujitsu Lifebook E8310 one of the laptops in my workshop.

And there is no way to read data from it too since it doesn't follow standart SBS protocol.

Only limited information can be checked while the battery is in the laptop like FCC, Design Capacity and Manufacture Date using software like Aida64 or Battery Info View.

Posted by: @torture

Posted by: @spotify95

Is there any way of getting the health of these battery packs, short of actually having the laptop

Not really.

I personally own such a battery FPCBP145 for Fujitsu Lifebook E8310 one of the laptops in my workshop.

And there is no way to read data from it too since it doesn't follow standart SBS protocol.

Only limited information can be checked while the battery is in the laptop like FCC, Design Capacity and Manufacture Date using software like Aida64 or Battery Info View.

Thanks for letting me know - I did however manage to get the voltage across the battery by connecting up the +, T and - terminals (ignoring the C and D pins) - as I measured the voltage on a multimeter. So at the very least, I should be able to hook it up to my Turnigy Accucel, and charge it to 4.2V per cell (and check discharging if possible).

I don't have the laptops to a lot of these batteries, as the batteries come in job lots - and besides, it would be both space prohibitive and cost prohibitive storing a whole bunch of laptops in case a specific battery needs testing.

Curiosity got the better of me today, so on the pack that didn't show a green light on the NLBA1 (I had 2 of these battery packs), I tore it open. It seems to be a generic pack, compatible with the Advent series of laptops (there's a whole bunch of different laptops but I will link you to an eBay listing of the battery here) and has 4 cells, as per the battery name. I couldn't find anything of note on the circuit board either - nothing showing GND, CLK, DATA, VCC, etc. So I guess this battery pack will forever be a mystery.

Also, the reason why this one didn't give a light on the NLBA1 (whereas the other one did!) was because a couple of the cells had rusted/corroded! Not a good battery pack!

edit: turns out that the cells can be charged using an external charger IF +1,T2,-7 are connected. But discharging is limited to 0.4A. Since I don't have 5-6 hours to use on each battery pack, I'll just check charging, briefly check discharging, and call it a day - unless anyone on here can make out how to connect C and D pins from the previous info and the new attached photos.

Can you post close up photos of these 2 chips so the markings can be seen.

Posted by: @torture

Can you post close up photos of these 2 chips so the markings can be seen.

Hello,

I've taken photos for you but unfortunately it seems like the chips have no number on them, so identifying them is going to be difficult...

Hope you can make some sense of it though.

Regards

Posted by: @spotify95

Hope you can make some sense of it though.

No chance with these ptotos.

Check under very strong and different angles to see the markings.

If you remove the shiny varnish on top of the chip it will be much easier.

 this battery could have i2c protocol instead of smbus,

 do you have any other hardware like cp2112 or ev2300 to try read it using different software?..