Rebuilding tool batteries?

[triumphrick]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

Click on his site and he shows free shipping..you only have to pay shipping to him...
14v to 18v are only $35 each.

I like what he says "found a way to rebuild them, just trying to make a little extra cash...day job is a little slow"

If he gets enough word of mouth he may not need his day job. I'm going to give the guy a shot....

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I used to make a lot of RC battery packs. Make sure you roughen the battery and use a lot of flux(not the plumbers type). You have to use a very high wattage soldering iron. You need to make your connection fast or you will blow up the battery from the heat. Be extra careful on the positive side that you don't bridge the positive and begative together...there is only a small gap between the two at the top of the battery.

The tabs that come with the battery will probably not work for all of your connections. Buy some copper braid to make the connections you can't make with the tabs.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

The tabs on the 2100 mah nicads were plenty long and they had heat shrink on them already, $35 for a 1700mah rebuilt pack is decent, the capacity is down though. Its an interesting project for winter nites.

 

[Wheelhouse]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

This may work for you and then it may not. I have done it and it worked on some batteries and not on others. Hook two 12 volt auto batteries together so that you get 24 volts. Connect a wire to from neg. of the auto battery to the neg. of your tool battery. Connect another wire to the pos. of the auto battery. Now take the loose pos. wire and start taping the pos. on your tool battery. Do this about 2 times per second for at least 15 seconds. Then try to recharge your tool battery with the proper charger. Good Luck.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

..... use a lot of flux(not the plumbers type).....

Why not the plumbers type?

Also, where do you get braided copper strap?

Also, I have another question. I have one 2.6 mAH NiMH battery. It sat, brand new, for a long time before I got around to trying to use it. It would finish very quickly on the charger but when you plugged it in to a light, it was very yellow and/or it would barely turn the drill over.

I thought maybe it had dead cells so I checked the voltage. It shows, within a few tenths, the same 18+ volts as my other freshly charged short legged NiCad batts.

What gives? The way it performs I would think it would show lower voltage. There is something I am missing here.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

Why not the plumbers type?

Also, where do you get braided copper strap?

Also, I have another question. I have one 2.6 mAH NiMH battery. It sat, brand new, for a long time before I got around to trying to use it. It would finish very quickly on the charger but when you plugged it in to a light, it was very yellow and/or it would barely turn the drill over.

I thought maybe it had dead cells so I checked the voltage. It shows, within a few tenths, the same 18+ volts as my other freshly charged short legged NiCad batts.

What gives? The way it performs I would think it would show lower voltage. There is something I am missing here.

Plumber's flux is acid based. If not washed off, it will corrode over time. Electrical soldering is done with rosin core solder.

A real good 60/40 or 63/37 (eutectic) rosin core solder is recommended. A close second can be bought in small quantities from places like Radio Shack.

Most solder has a state while it is cooling where crystals are suspended in a liquid (plastic state). If the connection is moved while it is cooling through this state, you will have a bad (cold solder) joint. Eutectic solder is alloyed so that it has no plastic state. It also has the lowest possible melting point for an alloy of tin and lead.

Braided copper strap is a normal wire commodity. You can get a small amount of it by stripping the outer insulation off a piece of coax cable and then salvage the shield.

There's more to battery condition than open circuit voltage, such as internal resistance, storage capacity, etc.

hope it helps
John

 

[jonesg]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

Buy an 18v replacement battery pack for the harbour freight drill, rip the nicads out, toss the case and use the cells, costs $16.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

Buy an 18v replacement battery pack for the harbour freight drill, rip the nicads out, toss the case and use the cells, costs $16.

Hmmm? Novel idea but I always thought that HF batts were substandard junk?

That being said, I still wonder if I am missing something on my one 2.6 mAh NI-MH battery. It is still showing 19+ volts, will run an incandescent bulb for hours but will not even turn over the drill. Seems like something is locked up and if so, it should be unlockable.

This was virtually a brand new, unused battery that sat around for a long time before I tried to engage it. When I put it on the charger it goes from the charge state to the fully charged state in a matter of moments. When I stick it back into the light tool, it performs no differently than before it sat on the charger.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

If it wasn't for chinese junk I'd have no tools.
And my engines would run.
Today I bought their $9.99 torque wrench, I needed a breaker bar anyway.
They're open new years day.

Try cycling that new battery down and charging back up a couple times.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

....Try cycling that new battery down and charging back up a couple times.

Yeah, I'm trying that as we speak. I have it hooked to the incandescent flashlight and will let it run until it quits. Even with the requisite voltage it is only burning at about 1/4-1/3 the brightness of my other batts. Even at that, as I mentioned, it won't even begin to operate the drill, recip saw or circular saw.

When the light finally dies out, I will check the voltage before I stick it on the charger.

I tried to hook the battery up to my automotive battery tester that has a draw down/discharge function, but it did not seem that I was getting any draw on the battery.

ps, I got one of those torque wrenches a while ago. Not sure how accurate it is but I have used it many times for various purposes. It has to, at least, get you in the reasonable ballpark.

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

While the voltage is important, the amp hours is more important. The reason the light is burning dimmer is there are no amps to run it. I like the idea of "recycling" a hf battery pack.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I like the idea of "recycling" a hf battery pack.

The price is certainly tempting but I checked their website and those batts are only 1.1-1.3 Ah.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I just ran across this vid for 'reviving' nicads. Thought it would be of general interest. This info is probably what you get for $8.00 on ebay.

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-zap-and-revive-old-nicad-batteries-with-a-mig-welder-270028/

I don't think this would work on my battery as it is not showing low voltage. It just delivers no power.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

Yeah, I'm trying that as we speak. I have it hooked to the incandescent flashlight and will let it run until it quits. Even with the requisite voltage it is only burning at about 1/4-1/3 the brightness of my other batts. Even at that, as I mentioned, it won't even begin to operate the drill, recip saw or circular saw.

When these packs fail, it can be just one of the batteries that fail in the pack. When a Ni-Cad battery pack gets discharged completely, one or more cells will actually can get a slight negative voltage since the capacity of all the cells are not matched for capacity. That is why serious RC people match their cells. When a cell gets a negative voltage and current is still being passed through it, it is very tough on those cells and will cause them to fail rather quickly. That is why you never want to run down a Ni-Cad pack completely dead.

Don't bother trying to revive the cells as mentioned. Waste of time.

Copper braid can be found many places. Hobby shops and electronic supply houses would be my first 2 choices. I have an electronic supply surplus place near me that sells it cheap.

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I use solder wick for copper braid between cells occasionally.It should be able to handle low amp requirements and you can always double up on it if necessary.Ron G

 

[truckermatt]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

After reading all the previous posts... I am wondering how long you guy have owned your batteries and how often you use them...

I have a craftsman 24volt tool set and both my batteries are 6 years old and gets used only on the weekends or for small projects, and they sit in the freezing cold garage in winter and they still have a lot of power and last a while...

Plus the cost is only $80 for a new one, so if i need i would would just buy a new one... save the time.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

Plus the cost is only $80 for a new one, so if i need i would would just buy a new one... save the time.

I have 4 batteries that are 10 years old. However, The tools are still in great shape. All of the batteries have gotten old and need to be replaced. $80 x 4 = $320. You might have that, I don't... I will be rebuilding, eventually...

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I want to try rebuilding one of my 18 v's. Problem is that it appears that the vendors only sell them in 10 packs. (that is for high mAh cells with tabs). That means I would have to order 20 cells to do one batt. That leaves 5 cells sitting around going to waste.

I have emailed one vendor to see if he will sell them, proportionately priced, by the 1 1/2 group. Probably won't hear back until tomorrow.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I want to try rebuilding one of my 18 v's. Problem is that it appears that the vendors only sell them in 10 packs.

Check Ebay, I've seem 15 packs for sale there.

 

[Knightgang]

Re: Rebuilding tool batteries?

I want to try rebuilding one of my 18 v's. Problem is that it appears that the vendors only sell them in 10 packs. (that is for high mAh cells with tabs). That means I would have to order 20 cells to do one batt. That leaves 5 cells sitting around going to waste.

I have emailed one vendor to see if he will sell them, proportionately priced, by the 1 1/2 group. Probably won't hear back until tomorrow.

I have 4 batteries (I think), so I can order 6 packs and rebuild all four with none left over. Or, I can buy three packs and do two at a time...