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Introduction |
| Use this technique to “revive”, “awaken”, “boost”, or “recover” a GeoBlade’s battery that goes into sleep mode and will no longer charge using the intended charger. Symptoms of sleep mode consists of the GeoBlade displaying a single red bar when plugged in, the GeoBlade immediately powering off when pressing the power button, and an overall inability to increase the number of green bars when using the intended charger. | | | [br] | ``Disclaimer''Disclaimer: Perform this technique at your own risk and understand this will void any warranties you have with the GeoBlade 500. Improperly handling Lithium batteries may cause fires or blasts, which may involve harm or injury. Reviving the battery pack consists of bypassing safety circuitry. The author discovered this technique on their own and has no affiliation with the GeoBlade 500 product. The technique will fail if one or more of your battery cells are out of balance. The user is responsible for any damage to the device or injuries incurred, the author is not legally liable.``'' | | | [br] | | The GeoBlade 500’s user manual does inform the user to maintain the voltage level of the device: “The GeoBlade must be topped-off about every 90 days. The internal safety-circuitry puts a small drain on the battery and can pull it down if left un-charged indefinitely.”[br] | | [br] | | This technique involves disassembling the battery pack, bypassing the Battery Management System (BMS), and slowly ratcheting the lithium batteries up to 30V at 2A using a power supply. This method is hit-or-miss because it assumes the battery pack is equally low, i.e. the battery pack must be balanced.[br] | | [br] | | Lithium Ion batteries have a specific charging characteristic relevant to the guided steps to follow in this guide. Considering a single cell, the nominal voltage is 3.7V with a maximum of 4.2V and a minimum of 3.2V. Special care must be given to not exceed the maximum or fall below the minimum, otherwise the battery chemistry will change. Typical charging uses constant current, constant voltage with a ~100mA cut off. This guide is mostly interested in the recovery charging suggestions by the manufacturer. | | | The GeoBlade battery pack has 20 individual cells and complex safety circuitry to prevent unsafe charging. We are going to have to manually charge the batteries all together, where the voltage is slowly increased. Only proceed to the next voltage when the amperage decreases to a plateau of ~100mA and there are no causes for concern. Be sure to follow what the battery manufacturer recommends for charging. Our objective is to raise the voltage of the battery pack to the minimum value so the intended charger can be used to safely charge it completely. | | | More information about Lithium Ion battery charging can be found at Battery University. Generic charging curves used in this guide are cited here: [https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries|https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries] |
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