Taking apart the battery for a "rebuild?"

My AAO110 ZG5 (8.9" 8GB Linux running XP) has had issues since Fall, 2009, whenit was less than a year old and still in warranty. Sometimes I had to position the cord just right to get it to charge and other times I couldn't get it to act up at all (seemed fine, even when moved all over). Therefore, I could not determine if the power plug had a short (still had the factory creases!) or if the power jack had a problem, and Acer refused to let me send it in with the power cord (STUPID!), so I just left the laptop on a lap pad and stopped taking it with me for months. About once or twice a week I'd have to deal with the short problem, repositioning the wire until my battery/power light stayed on. This meant that the laptop was jumping between "charging" and "unplugged" rapidly. Though I tried to make sure it wasn't exessive/damaging, sometimes I just couldn't easily get it to stay "on" without several "cycles" over a few minutes. That's why I pretty much would just leave it stationary for weeks at a time.

I still made sure to give it a full power cycle at least once a month, but the battery capacity started diminishing rapidly anyway. Where a month prior I had hours on a single charge, I now had 15 minutes before the "critical" 1% message. A month after that and it was down to 5 minutes. Another two weeks and the battery does not even charge (shows 0% with a red X in Windows XP; shows the carge indicator momentarily when plugged in ). I assume that this is different from the others having charge issues because I was on BIOS 3009 the entire time. Even so, I upgraded to 3010 and the issue remains.

I ordered a new plug and a 9-cell battery, but I'd like to restore my original battery for cheap by buying replacements cells and replacing them internally. I'm no stranger to delicate operations like that and I know the risks of soldering to Li-Ion battery cells. What I want to know is if anyone has taken apart their battery before so I can see how to do it without mangling it if possible (or with minimal marring). Also, I could go ahead and identify the cells to order the replacements while I figure out how to do it slowly.

FWIW, I plan to order replacements from DealExtreme.com.

 

Well, after searching late last night, I finally found something:

http://caprolibra.com/B10g/images/2009- ... cells.html

Of course, he wasn't going for looks! It appears that he had to cut it open but he says that the original 3-cell pack is very well made and he didn't even have to glue it back together, so I'm confused. It looks like the housing would be in two pieces after all that.

Looks like some packs have Samsung ICR18650-22F SDI 874 packs, so that's where I'll start me search for specs.

It also looks like I may have to invest in Smart Battery Workshop.

http://sbworkshop.com/

I wouldn't doubt it if the behavior were the result of the "Permanent Failure" flag being set, in which case the battery controller may never allow me to charge even after replacing the cells.

 

Hi do you have any news regarding SBW for our 3 cell battery?
Found this, seems that the 18650 are the cylindrical li ion's.
http://www.batteryjunction.com/tenergy- ... -2600.html

 

I see that there are plenty of options on DealExtreme.com and other Hong Kong websites. As for SBW, no one will answer my questions to tell me if the behavior I am experiencing comes from a Permanent Failure Flag or not. I can't just blindly buy it.