Disassembling D-Li90 battery clone

Matjazz · 09-15-2013, 01:14 PM - **9 Likes**

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Ever since I got my K10d back in the days I wandered what hides inside the battery. With years I learned what could be expected but I still wanted to open one up. If only one of my batteries would die. No such luck until lately. I received a pair of D-Li90 clones for my K5 and one of them was dead. Rather than asking for a refund I decided to open it up.

-1- Dead D-Li90 clone with declared capacity of 1800mAh

-2- Opening it up took some work with aknife. Inside there is a protection circuit and two 18500 batteries with capacity of 1400mAh!

-3- New Sanyo 18500 1700mAh batteries soldererd in place.

-4- Since the old batteries were discharged below the safe limit the over-discharge protection blocked the circuit - I couldn't get a voltage read from contacts on the D-Li90 housing. Inserting it in charger unlocked the circuit.

-5- The battery charged as usual and was at 8,4V when the green light on charger went out.

Tomorrow I'll try it in K5.
The third contact (T) indicates that the original battery has temperature sensor. It most likely blocks charging if battery is too hot. The lack of it poses no threat as long as one doesn't charge hot batteries.

Last edited by Matjazz; 09-15-2013 at 04:59 PM.

carrrlangas · 09-15-2013, 03:49 PM

Great work. Thnaks for sharing!

Chaos_Realm · 09-15-2013, 04:49 PM

That is very interesting, I have never really thought to open one up! And for some reason i never expected the batteries to actually be AA shaped.. it makes sense when i think about it, but i always assumed they were made a particular shape because of the inner structure.

Matjazz · 09-15-2013, 04:56 PM

If the battery pack is ~20x55x40mm (like many camera batteries) then bet your a** it has two 18500 cells. What manufacturers do is they just pack them in different containers

Chaos_Realm · 09-15-2013, 05:08 PM

Originally posted by Matjazz

If the battery pack is ~20x55x40mm (like many camera batteries) then bet your a** it has two 18500 cells. What manufacturers do is they just pack them in different containers

Yeah that makes sense when I thought about it, since 18500 cells are cheap and mass produced, all they need to do is make it into a proprietary shape and whack a big price tag on it. Result large profit margins.

LFLee · 09-15-2013, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by Matjazz

If the battery pack is ~20x55x40mm (like many camera batteries) then bet your a** it has two 18500 cells. What manufacturers do is they just pack them in different containers

Awesome... so now we know you can use K5 for a long time even they no longer produce it's "dedicated battery"...

Tanzer · 09-15-2013, 06:10 PM

Yeah, this is a wonderful post! Something so simple that can be very beneficial to the community, if/when the D-LI90's are no longer in production. I'm surprised someone hasn't posted this before (at least not that I am aware of).

**c.a.m** · 09-15-2013, 06:13 PM

Thank you Matjazz for this interesting and useful thread. $15 for 2x 18500 cells or $80-90 for a replacement D-Li90 OEM pack. Hmm... I'll remember this in the future if I need to replace my K-5 battery back.

- Craig

Jean Poitiers · 09-15-2013, 10:23 PM

Originally posted by c.a.m

Thank you Matjazz for this interesting and useful thread. $15 for 2x 18500 cells or $80-90 for a replacement D-Li90 OEM pack. Hmm... I'll remember this in the future if I need to replace my K-5 battery back. - Craig

My thanks, too ... I have the same sentiments here ... will keep this in the back of my mind, J

sam-joseph · 09-15-2013, 11:32 PM - **3 Likes**

And if you want to build a new battery pack for your laptop, you'll need about six 18650's.
By the way, the numerical designation for those batteries comes from their metric size. ie 18mm diameter x 65mm long, or in the case of 18500's, 50mm long.

Regards

LFLee · 09-16-2013, 11:47 AM

by the way, what is the max mAh the 18500 battery can get?

Matjazz · 09-17-2013, 04:14 PM

To my knowledge it's Panasonic NCR18500 at 2000mAh but they're impossible to get. Sanyo are available on FastTech

VisualDarkness · 09-30-2013, 06:23 AM

I bet about >97% of the bigger sized consumer products specific products are built this exact way, they just package the sells in a "very expensive" plastic shell. The cells are pretty cheap.

adwb · 11-06-2013, 12:44 AM

Originally posted by VisualDarkness

I bet about >97% of the bigger sized consumer products specific products are built this exact way, they just package the sells in a "very expensive" plastic shell. The cells are pretty cheap.

Correct t but they also use proprietary larger cells known by most of us as D or C cells, which are also readily available with tags for soldering into packs . My electric bike runs on 36volts using rechargeable D cells

starbase218 · 01-02-2015, 04:48 PM

I just bought a Patona charger and two 1400mAh D-LI90 clones. I was counting on the capacity on the label being mostly marketing, as it is with some AA batteries as well (e.g. "2700mAh" AA's are mostly just around 2000mAh). So 1400mAh wouldn't be so low after all. Seeing as this battery is labeled 1800mAh while it actually contains 1400mAh cells, it seems I was right.

Now, the million dollar question is.... what is the capacity of the cells in original D-LI90s?

09-15-2013, 01:14 PM - 9 Likes	#1
Matjazz Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: EU/Slovenia Photos: Gallery Posts: 774	Disassembling D-Li90 battery clone Staff note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means Pentax Forums may earn a small commission if a visitor clicks through and makes a purchase. If you would like to support the forum directly, you may also make a donation here. Ever since I got my K10d back in the days I wandered what hides inside the battery. With years I learned what could be expected but I still wanted to open one up. If only one of my batteries would die. No such luck until lately. I received a pair of D-Li90 clones for my K5 and one of them was dead. Rather than asking for a refund I decided to open it up. -1- Dead D-Li90 clone with declared capacity of 1800mAh -2- Opening it up took some work with aknife. Inside there is a protection circuit and two 18500 batteries with capacity of 1400mAh! -3- New Sanyo 18500 1700mAh batteries soldererd in place. -4- Since the old batteries were discharged below the safe limit the over-discharge protection blocked the circuit - I couldn't get a voltage read from contacts on the D-Li90 housing. Inserting it in charger unlocked the circuit. -5- The battery charged as usual and was at 8,4V when the green light on charger went out. Tomorrow I'll try it in K5. The third contact (T) indicates that the original battery has temperature sensor. It most likely blocks charging if battery is too hot. The lack of it poses no threat as long as one doesn't charge hot batteries. Last edited by Matjazz; 09-15-2013 at 04:59 PM.

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09-15-2013, 03:49 PM	#2
carrrlangas Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Joensuu (Finland) Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,761	Great work. Thnaks for sharing!

09-15-2013, 04:49 PM	#3
Chaos_Realm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,251	That is very interesting, I have never really thought to open one up! And for some reason i never expected the batteries to actually be AA shaped.. it makes sense when i think about it, but i always assumed they were made a particular shape because of the inner structure.

09-15-2013, 04:56 PM	#4
Matjazz Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: EU/Slovenia Photos: Gallery Posts: 774 Original Poster	If the battery pack is ~20x55x40mm (like many camera batteries) then bet your a** it has two 18500 cells. What manufacturers do is they just pack them in different containers

09-15-2013, 05:08 PM	#5
Chaos_Realm Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,251	Originally posted by Matjazz If the battery pack is ~20x55x40mm (like many camera batteries) then bet your a** it has two 18500 cells. What manufacturers do is they just pack them in different containers Yeah that makes sense when I thought about it, since 18500 cells are cheap and mass produced, all they need to do is make it into a proprietary shape and whack a big price tag on it. Result large profit margins.

09-15-2013, 05:27 PM	#6
LFLee Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Southern California Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,292	Originally posted by Matjazz If the battery pack is ~20x55x40mm (like many camera batteries) then bet your a** it has two 18500 cells. What manufacturers do is they just pack them in different containers Awesome... so now we know you can use K5 for a long time even they no longer produce it's "dedicated battery"...

09-15-2013, 06:10 PM	#7
Tanzer Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Perrineville, NJ Posts: 1,375	Yeah, this is a wonderful post! Something so simple that can be very beneficial to the community, if/when the D-LI90's are no longer in production. I'm surprised someone hasn't posted this before (at least not that I am aware of).

09-15-2013, 06:13 PM	#8
c.a.m Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Ottawa, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,189	Thank you Matjazz for this interesting and useful thread. $15 for 2x 18500 cells or $80-90 for a replacement D-Li90 OEM pack. Hmm... I'll remember this in the future if I need to replace my K-5 battery back. - Craig

09-15-2013, 10:23 PM	#9
Jean Poitiers Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Lost in translation ... Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 18,076	Originally posted by c.a.m Thank you Matjazz for this interesting and useful thread. $15 for 2x 18500 cells or $80-90 for a replacement D-Li90 OEM pack. Hmm... I'll remember this in the future if I need to replace my K-5 battery back. - Craig My thanks, too ... I have the same sentiments here ... will keep this in the back of my mind, J

09-15-2013, 11:32 PM - 3 Likes	#10
sam-joseph Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Newcastle, NSW, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,086	And if you want to build a new battery pack for your laptop, you'll need about six 18650's. By the way, the numerical designation for those batteries comes from their metric size. ie 18mm diameter x 65mm long, or in the case of 18500's, 50mm long. Regards

09-16-2013, 11:47 AM	#11
LFLee Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Southern California Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,292	by the way, what is the max mAh the 18500 battery can get?

09-17-2013, 04:14 PM	#12
Matjazz Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: EU/Slovenia Photos: Gallery Posts: 774 Original Poster	To my knowledge it's Panasonic NCR18500 at 2000mAh but they're impossible to get. Sanyo are available on FastTech

09-30-2013, 06:23 AM	#13
VisualDarkness Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Uppsala, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,439	I bet about >97% of the bigger sized consumer products specific products are built this exact way, they just package the sells in a "very expensive" plastic shell. The cells are pretty cheap.

11-06-2013, 12:44 AM	#14
adwb Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Bristol UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,636	Originally posted by VisualDarkness I bet about >97% of the bigger sized consumer products specific products are built this exact way, they just package the sells in a "very expensive" plastic shell. The cells are pretty cheap. Correct t but they also use proprietary larger cells known by most of us as D or C cells, which are also readily available with tags for soldering into packs . My electric bike runs on 36volts using rechargeable D cells

01-02-2015, 04:48 PM	#15
starbase218 Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Planet Earth, Sol system, Milky Way galaxy, Universe Posts: 1,119	I just bought a Patona charger and two 1400mAh D-LI90 clones. I was counting on the capacity on the label being mostly marketing, as it is with some AA batteries as well (e.g. "2700mAh" AA's are mostly just around 2000mAh). So 1400mAh wouldn't be so low after all. Seeing as this battery is labeled 1800mAh while it actually contains 1400mAh cells, it seems I was right. Now, the million dollar question is.... what is the capacity of the cells in original D-LI90s?