I "Solved" Samsungs Swelling Battery Problem! (Batteryless Phone)

I hope this video blows up

Giving an old Smartphone/Tablet a 2nd life is awesome. However, I'd suggest less destructive approaches: 1) Try using a Supercapacitor instead of a battery. That should usually work - I've already tried it on an old Samsung tablet. You may even get it in a proper form factor 2) More complex, but also doable: Modify the Android Kernel drivers. I've had the same issues with a Samsung Tablet where I modified the charging logic to only charge up to 3.8V. This caused the battery gauge to get confused and sometimes report low battery levels and the Tablet shut down. I've modified the battery gauge driver to report a percentage relative to the battery voltage instead - that worked fine. It might even be possible to modify it in such a way that it boots without battery. Huge problem here is, that this is specific for every device :/

i laughed so hard when he said s10e "old". I'm writing this from my 8 year old sony xperia m5 and it still works fine.

Funny, I was looking into doing this EXACT thing with an old Nexus tablet so I could use it as a Home Assistant terminal. Good to know someone's done 99% of the work!

Your capabilities far better than you think. Lots of creators learn about IC internels and electronics and applied physics by watching your homebrews. You are GreatScott. Thanks for your contributions.

The complicated structure and circuits of modern devices I think scares many of us electronics hobbyists, myself included, from venturing into the topic of modifying or even examining them. The fact that you have done that truly shows smarts and is super nice. Great video as always.

This... this is actually amazing! Probably the simplest video that I saw from you but that delivers a huge value to us and the environment.

The old PDAs had fancy desk stands that worked on mains power (and charged batteries). Many stands were heavy, stable and perfectly angled for viewing. Look at the Palm & Dell Axim for examples that could be modded or used as inspiration.

I had the same experience with an old tablet that I wanted to use as a wall clock; however, I found a different solution that I think you might appreciate. I saw that my tablet did the same strange countdown to 5% battery with a power supply acting as the battery. I tried a regulated switching supply and a regulated benchtop linear supply... same strange countdown. Then I determined that if I could fool the tablet into thinking there was a perfect battery installed during POST and then remove said battery when the operating system started, that the tablet no longer believed that it needed to charge anything. The result is the tablet reports that it is, "Plugged in and no time is spent on battery." The solution was to short the red and black leads that would connect to the battery during POST and then open those leads when the operating system starts, and it is happy ever after. To short the leads I just installed a "push to make" microswitch in the body of the tablet. Now whenever I need to start the tablet (say from a power outage) I just have to hold that switch while the tablet goes through POST and release it when I see the android system starting. This method has the advantage of no additional circuitry required and there is no charge/discharge cycle happening.

I was actually looking into this this very afternoon, and now my favorite electronics youtuber releases a video about it, thats special!

Great find about the software calculation of battery life remaining! This has a potential of software fix for many battery problems.

Yeah That's great..i did this same project about an year ago with samsung note 5 to integrate the device with a OBD2 powered vehicle bus can ..i did use this device in my car as dashcam , gps tracker,rear camera monitor and all obd2 related value as well sensor values... I watched all yours videos since the first semester of my engineering back to 2016..you are always an inspiration for me..👍👍👍

You can probably fix the old phone by reflowing the power management chips with your hot air gun. It's a very common failure mode for modern devices that the tin BGA solder joints fail from thermal cycling. Fun fact military and aerospace only use leaded solder to significantly improve reliability because lead free fails far more easily.

With this schematic I think you could use the existing usb plug on the phone to power the whole thing. Just tap off the 5v from it (from the connector or the board) and running it to the diode circuit should work right? Would save the hole and extra wiring. It's an awesome idea which I wil definitely do to the phones I keep around to test websites and apps on.

Awesome! Still at 1:50 but now you're talking about powering devices without their batteries, I'm pumped! This maybe great with my unused phones/tablets to create dashboards for Home Assistant around my house😎. Thanks

This would have been the perfect test bed for a DIY super capacitor battery replacement. They are fairly simple to make, and could be made to fit exactly into the battery well.

I've also done that with my Nvidia Shield Tablet in the past, after the first revision got recalled because of overheating batteries. Though as already some have mentioned I would also love to see an approach with super capacitors, to gain at least a bit of portability :)

This is awesome, I've been using old phones as media centers and gauge clusters in project cars in a modular fashion but always worried about permanent versions using recycled droids. I just figured all lithium cells became the spicy pillow sooner or later.

This is something i would do after i get fedup of my phone dieing in mid of a game🤣 But honestly this is some nice modification because it reduces e-waste and provided many advantages like home security you mentioned above Great job🙂

Brilliant, dude! Fantastic work! 😃 I really liked the ideas in the end!!! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊