Hacks (hardware) Kindle Oasis 2 2019 - Dead battery resurrection, the hard way

[Thatthing]

Long time lurker and finally looking to share something I'm working on. First, huge thanks to this community. I've always had the dream of having an e-ink fridge display. For years I was using esphome and the display component hand crafting dashboards (I'll throw some images of the history in the comments.

However, the truth is that a NT4 is just not enough space to have everything I want in a family dashboard. I've looked at the Soldered units, but they're rather limited and I already have the infrastructure to support a kindle running linux.

I picked up a dead Oasis 2 from FB Marketplace. I tried the usual resurrection steps without much luck. I've also found the thread with failed attempts suggesting there is no easy teardown. However, as they say in the song "We're Going on a Bear Hunt":

We can't go over it...
We can't go under it...
We're just gonna have to go through it

This thread is going to be me documenting progress in getting this thing hacked and on the fridge. Hot takes or ideas welcome.

#1 - Initial planning
Reviewing online suggested the best path forward was to map out the critical components and avoid them. Along the side of the unit is an empty section of the enclosure where I could get the Dremel cutting disk in without much issue.

I started with the top middle on the left and made my way towards the antenna. (I'm happy to solder on a new 2.4g antenna later on if this whole thing works). I managed to get the entire top left side off. Couple of standoffs and such on the way through.

[Thatthing]

1&2 - Images from previous thread

3&4 - Progress

[Thatthing]

1-5 First to current version of fridge dash

[Thatthing]

1 - Entire side opened
2 - Starting to open up around the battery (this would be a mistake later)
3 - Removing the adhesive with alcohol and separating the two
4 - Removing the second half
5 - Current state, yes the Dremel did get into the battery

Good news:
- USB connection is still good
- No battery fire thus far

Bad news:
- Yes, I did manage to cut into the battery
- It looks like the battery is toast given it took being cut open without issue
- Someone in Amazon decided that every part of the metal body would have an inner plastic layer... apart from where the battery is. This means as soon as you're out of the metal layer, you're touching the danger zone.

Current plan is to dig out the battery and connect a power supply to the battery side of the BMS. From here I plan to simulate a battery with a power supply to see if I'm able to get the thing to boot.

I have 2 kids so I don't get a lot of time to do this stuff. I'll be giving updates when I get a chance to spend more time on this.