A hefty portable power bank is a handy thing to DIY, but one needs to get their hands on a number of matching lithium-ion cells to make it happen. [Chris Doel] points out an easy solution: salvage them from disposable vapes and build a solid 35-cell power bank. Single use devices? Not on his watch!
[Chris] has made it his mission to build useful things like power banks out of cells harvested from disposable vapes. He finds them — hundreds of them — on the ground or in bins (especially after events like music festivals) but has also found that vape shops are more than happy to hand them over if asked. Extracting usable cells is most of the work, and [Chris] has refined safely doing so into an art.
Many different vapes use the same cell types on the inside, and once one has 35 identical cells in healthy condition it’s just a matter of using a compatible 3D-printed enclosure with two PCBs to connect the cells, and a pre-made board handles the power bank functionality, including recharging.
We’d like to highlight a few design features that strike us as interesting. One is the three little bendy “wings” that cradle each cell, ensuring cells are centered and held snugly even if they aren’t exactly the right size. Another is the use of spring terminals to avoid the need to solder to individual cells. The PCBs themselves also double as cell balancers, providing a way to passively balance all 35 cells and ensure they are at the same voltage level during initial construction. After the cells are confirmed to be balanced, a solder jumper near each terminal is closed to bypass that functionality for final assembly.
The result is a hefty power bank that can power just about anything, and maybe the best part is that it can be opened and individual cells swapped out as they reach the end of their useful life. With an estimated 260 million disposable vapes thrown in the trash every year in the UK alone, each one containing a rechargeable lithium-ion cell, there’s no shortage of cells for an enterprising hacker willing to put in a bit of work.
Power banks not your thing? [Chris] has also created a DIY e-bike battery using salvaged cells, and that’s a money saver right there.
Learn all about it in the video, embedded below. And if you find yourself curious about what exactly goes on in a lithium-ion battery, let our own Arya Voronova tell you all about it.
Applause, Applause!!
Thankfully those disposable vapes are getting banned in Europe. At least in the UK and France. Crazy waste.
Hopefully we get a tax system that would have made it uneconomical to produce in the first place. Blue sky thinking I know.
I’ll take blue sky over fascism any day.
Don’t you see that banning disposable vapes is compatible with a Fascist government? Words have meanings; it’s wrong to use “Fascist” to mean “something I don’t like.”
Communism over fascism? Two sides of the same coin.
“rare earth” metals.
Rare enough to put into e-waste that will be buried not recycled.
The big battery switch over con.
Thanks to globalism.
Here in Australia they have completely banned vapes (with a few limited exceptions and you have to go to a pharmacy for that). Still a thriving trade for the stuff though unfortunately (wish governments would do more to shut down the shops selling it)
Recently I’ve seen heaps less just chucked on the road side though compared to a year ago, so maybe it’s somewhat working at least.
Yep, me experience too. At one point I used to find about a dozen or so a week, now I’d be lucky to find one.
That’s a good, but I do miss my free batteries.
Must be a smelly job to get them out. That withstands me to collect them and use them.
I used to vape and would save every cell. Now that I’ve quit, sometimes the process really chokes me, and even the cells I gathered earlier still smell. Once you put them in an enclosure they don’t smell anymore.
Congratulations on beating your drug dependency.
So you’ve never tried it?
I’ve only dismantled two and it was no problem at all.
Granted both where mint flavored (I think) but as long as you don’t dismantl the part that actually contains the fluid you should be fine.
The part about changing one cell out when they all should be suspect and are ready to recycle only! Though the cells have only one cycle the standards of manufacture and their source make this a really scary proposition. Yes, ban them if not rechargeable and refillable.
I’m not sure why cells are being put in series. This just leads to balance problems, especially when assembled from non-matching cells. Is there some limit to how many you can put in parallel? All the power banks I’ve disassembled had all of the cells in parallel, and a single small PCB that has both the buck charging circuit to get down to 4.2V, and the boost output circuit to get back up to 5V.
USB-C and power banks can an do support other voltage levels….
like 20V !
You can parallel as many as you like, the amps might get exciting though. One advantage of parallel is you don’t have to worry about balancing cells at they level themselves. You don’t even have to be too fussy about matching capacities, it’ll work fine.
As the other poster said series make it easier and more efficient for the higher voltage devices we tend to use these days. I’ve a 20v power bank that’ll charge off 5v, it takes a while and the boost circuit gets a bit warm. Imagine the load on your parallel 3.7v batteries when trying to get 20v @ 5A out of them.
The limit to parallel is conductor size when shorted or imbalanced unless you prefer battery fires.
Gotta simulate a cigarette somehow.
I’ve been collecting those disposable vapes when I find them but can’t for the life of me figure out how to crack them open. I know you have to wear gloves to protect yourself from the nicotine. Any tips or tricks for getting these things open?
Generally speaking plastic cases require brute force, metal ones are easy. In this picture: https://ozvapeshops.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Ultimate-Guide-to-IGET-Vape-Flavors-Whats-Hot-and-Whats-Not-3.webp left & right are difficult (left is rechargeable with a tiny battery), for the middle two the end caps pop out easily and the guts pretty much fall out.
The second type is my favourite. Has a 1500mAh battery. I can take the battery & end cap from a second unit and with a $1 USB power bank module I can make a nice little 3000mAh power bank with a decent form factor. Sometimes I powder coat the metal case.
These: https://iget-vapes.com/iget/godfather-9/godfather-9-longjing-tea are quite hard to take apart. The 2500mAh battery (nice!) is glued in, and once you very (very!) carefully get the endcap off you need to peel the aluminium case back like opening a can of ham.
I like these: https://iget-vapes.com/iget/iget-bar-plus/plus-kiwi-pineapple-ice. Rechargeable with replaceable juice bit, everything pops out easily. Replace the small battery with the one above and 3D print something to light up. Makes a nice little decorative lamp.
Thank you for the detailed reply, Bob. I have mostly ones that fit the third form factor. If I manage to remove the end cap I’ll be sure to use the method described. I tried squeezing them in a vise to no avail, I can usually crack plastic cases that way. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the other models you highlighted.
Much appreciated. Best regards.
It’s a shame some are hard to take apart. I’ve got one like this: https://cdn.vapeclub.co.uk/img/products/uwell-caliburn-a2-pod-vape-kit_58.jpg where it’s not worth getting the battery out, but I like the form factor and would like to replace the pod with some LEDs.
Problem is I need to bypass the air detector (otherwise it only runs for a few seconds) and I can’t get it apart without damage. So it just sits on the bench somewhere.
I always wonder how long-term-stabe these cells are with discharging/recharging over time – Li-cells with crappy chemistry die quicker ( who didn’t have a ballooned-up phone/laptop battery in the last 20 years?) and these particular cells might not be designed for being reused, given that there is now a large-enough market for these “one-time” cells (thanks, vapes -.-).
I had the same idea though – building a power bank from all these vapes discarded on a festival. But then hesitated for safety reasons.
Still a cool idea though! :) and I might still do it one time as well.
I’ve been making powers bank from these: https://gcs.ivapeman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/20240106194123104.jpg for a few years, they seem to work ok.
Has a 1500mAh battery, remove the smelly bit and put in one from another vape, drop in a $1 USB charge module and use another endcap to finish it up. 3000mAh power bank for $1 and some time.
I’ve also used the cells in flashlights, as battery replacements and other assorted stuff. I run them thru a few charge/discharge cycles first and toss any problem ones (which is remarkably few).