s10 12 cell, in flight case

[j1979]

Ok so i had a lenovo s10e, and it died on me, not the hardware but the case. it cracked and the screen came away from the main chassis. Also the fan made a horrible noise, it ran very hot and crashed sometimes due to the heat on the atom. I had the idea a long time ago for a small PC project (pre netbook days) but back then no components weren't available cheaply, and by the time they were, it was just cheaper to buy a netbook. So the project was forgotten.

But now i had the components and just needed a new case. I decided to make the new case capable of holding 12 cells, with the aim of getting a very long battery life with the help of good natural cooling. The original idea was to use an aluminium case and have the case it's self as the heat sink, by having the heat conducted away from the CPU via a block of aluminium attached to the base of the case. This idea had many pitfalls, mainly that the core might be damaged if the case was knocked or dropped. so i decided to make a new heatsink that should be capabler of passive cooling.

So after dismantling the netbook down to it's component parts, i started by making a mounting system for the board. The best way i discovered was a combination of support below, and at both sides. The board is mounted using the audio ports (which sit nicly in the holes drilled on the inside layer of the case) and on the other side likewise it is supported using the VGA port and the VGA screws hold the board very well.

holes to be made, for the board mounting.





needs filing down





a new base had to be made to give couple of extra mm depth in the base.


here it is mounted (very sturdy)


two motherboard mouting nutscrews are used in the VGA port mounting holes to secure the board.

[j1979]

On to the battery!!

the old battery, after taking apart.



The new battery, i used ultra fire 3600mAh x 12 in a 4 x 4 x 4 arrangement. using the old circuitry


testing the battery (it worked fine at this stage!!! (more on this later )


and here too.. (the battery shows that it is charging)








i used polymorph to make the mounting for the bottom of the board and the battery.


Polymorph melts at 62 degrees Celsius.. (lets hope the new cooling solution works)

[j1979]

so far so good! it's all working at this stage and, time to move onto the heatsink..

I got a heatsink of ebay for a 99p and modded it to fit the lenovo heatpipe


here you can see what i mean.


ready to solder the heatpipe (if doing this be carefull as the liquid in the heatpipe will expand and if you overheat it can explode) always wear goggles, or at the very least blink many times per minute.


here i had 2 ideas for a fan, i opted for the squirrel cage type.


placement thoughts


here is the copper mounting plate i made, and the raised part is where the CPU core makes contact


old vs new.

[j1979]

The HD is not in it's original position, the batteries were 1mm higher than i expected, so i had to mouth the disk on the floor of the case and use a cable to attach it to the board.

also at the back in the middle you can see the custom battery connector is made from polymorph, i broke the old connector as i crumbled due to too much soldering.


so here it is.. almost finished (just needs cosmetic work) + my main problem...


Ok so like the title says i need help.. the battery was working fine, until i had to make the new connector.. I soldered the battery mini daughter-board so many times, i think its fried!! Now when i turn the netbook on, it works with the battery when i pull the power but it shows that it's running on AC power, and the battery won't recharge now.. (it did before). The battery it's self if OK, but i have damaged the circuit that the battery needs. So what i am asking is, does anyone know about netbook/laptop batteries? and does anyone have an old battery that has lost most of its charge that they are willing to give me (i'll pay the postage) so that i can use the circuit...

I presume that any board will do, as all the batteries use a universal arrangement..although i could be wrong here and im just guessing. An old netbook battery would be ideal, as the board will more than likely fit in the case. An old S10e battery would obviously be best of all!

Anyone UK based that has a s10 battery that is almost dead??

[mister2]

Nice work! It always intrigues me when I see heavy mods like yours. What was your need for a small PC? Also, how were you going to use your new mod? Since it is no longer netbook size.

I wish I can help you with the battery issue but I don't know much about it and I don't have a spare dead battery. Let alone the fact that I'm in the states.

...always wear goggles, or at the very least blink many times per minute.

LOL

[lilydreamy]

Kudos... Amazing mod....

[j1979]

верю!