Rebuilding Batteries

I've rebuilt a couple 18v ryobi battery packs and seen much better power and life out of them than brand new ones. Its not that hard if you are confident with a soldering gun and a multimeter. It costs about $35 in batteries and tabs for me to do a ryobi which is worth it compared to $50 for a weaker stock battery. If a bunch of people want to see my process i could probably put a walkthrough together. I get all my batteries from all-batteries.com.

I have also done a bosch battery for my neighbor, it was more difficult because of how the connectors are setup. i haven't heard back from him on performance yet.

I send mine to this place to get rebuilt. So far they have built three packs for me with higher capacity batteries and its been about a year and there still working great.

http://www.batterybank.net/digital/powertools/

I have taken 14.4 volt dewalt batteries for several years to get rebuilt, they use 2000mah cells in your battery case that is screwed together, they have a one year warranty and run about $42.00 each. They test them prior to being rebuilt to make sure they are actually bad. They also check our chargers for proper output. Wholesale Batteries Inc. in Kansas City, Kansas. 800-886-8658. I will be taking 8 batteries next week for an overhaul but wont have any freight cost involved as they are local to me.
We have over 12 drills and 6 impact drivers so by the $$$ it works for us.
I just dont want Dewalt to profit from new battery priced at over $70.00 plus tax and freight.

We have some information on rebuilding these batteries, and we also have replacement batteries for DeWALT and many other brands so take your pick lol. www.eReplacementParts.com - "Sure some of you have heard of us "

I have had many 18volt Dewalt and 12voltPC by VOLTMAN Batteries and I think they are much better than new, they hold a charge much longer

Batteries Plus In OHIO

http://www.batteriesplus.com/

Had my dewalt rebuilt for I think 28 dollars and I am really satisfied. I could not buy new ones (that old) If you can get new ones, I'd just spend the extra cash and get a new one.

Get your drill up and running again! Although your cordless drill battery no longer holds a charge, there may still be some life left in it. An 18-volt cordless drill battery pack can be revived using a process similar to jump-starting a dead car battery. This process should only be performed on Nickel Cadmium (Nicad) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery packs.

Difficulty:ChallengingInstructions
things you'll need:
12-volt power source
1 link black 14-gauge wire
1 link red 14-gauge wire
Small red and black alligator clamps
Safety glasses
Insulated gloves
Long sleeve shirt
Needle-nose pliers
Small container
Volt meter

1
Test your dead cordless drill battery pack using the volt meter to verify which lead in your battery case is negative and which is positive. Clearly mark which point is positive and which is negative on the battery case to ease the difficulty of later reassembly.

2
Use a small screwdriver to open the drill battery case. Watch out for the spring inside of the case because it tends to pop out and can easily get lost. Save the screws and spring by placing them in a small container.

3
Lift off the top of the cordless drill battery case to expose the inner battery cells. These cells will look like a grouping of C batteries that are joined together in one link.

4
Remove the battery cells from within the bottom of the drill casing. These will come out as one unit as they are banded or shrink-wrapped together.

5
Locate the point where the wires run from the terminal piece down through the silver cardboard insulator. The terminal piece should be black or silver and located on top of the silver cardboard insulation, with the batteries beneath the cardboard. Mark the silver cardboard insulator at the exact point where the wires pass through the silver cardboard insulation. Again, this will make it easier to reassemble.

6
Release the terminal piece from the silver cardboard insulation using needle-nose pliers. Take care not to let the terminal wires touch or cross during this process as you are at risk for electrical shock or even an explosion. Set the terminal piece aside along with the battery case screws and spring.

7
Note the exposed metal band on the side of the battery pack. It is important to insulate this band with electrical tape prior to starting the process. This metal piece will be hot during the reconditioning process and insulating it with electrical tape will protect you from injury.

8
Remove the silver insulation piece that covers the top of the rechargeable battery cells. Place this piece aside to be used in reassembly.

9
Remove any plastic covering from the top section of the battery pack so you can access both the the top and bottom of the rechargeable battery leads.

10
Turn on the volt meter and set it to a reading of two volts. Check each individual battery cell and mark each battery cell that gives a reading of zero or negative. These will be the cells that will need to be reconditioned.

11
Prepare your external 12-volt power source, including alligator clamps, for the reconditioning process. Protect your hands, eyes and skin with protective clothing and safety gear during this potentially hazardous process.

12

Learn to revive your drill battery.
batterie image by Ewe Degiampietro from Fotolia.com Locate the positive and negative ends of the first battery to be reconditioned. The positive end will be raised and the negative ends will be flat.

13
From the 12-volt source, hold the black alligator clamp to the negative end of the battery and the red alligator clamp to the positive end for two seconds.

14
Release the clamps and use a battery test to see if the battery has been fully charged. Repeat the process if necessary. The rechargeable battery cell can be zapped up to 10 times. Continue reconditioning the remaining batteries.

15
Reassemble the battery pack.

Read more: How to Revive an 18V Drill Battery | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6053443_revive-18v-drill-battery.html#ixzz1H0KNWoeO

Nicad batteries often die in such a way that they won't take a charge and have zero voltage. This usually means they're shorted out by crystal dendrite growth.

Here's a method of bringing them back to life by zapping those shorted crystal dendrites away with too much current and/or voltage. We'll use a welder as a power source. You could also use a car battery, a DC powersupply, or almost anything with some voltage. Charged-up capacitors are popular for this because you can get a very fast pulse out of them and still limit the power. it's a lot safer that way. Speaking of which,

WARNING:
If you get killed by a poisonous explosion it means you did something wrong.
Electrocution is a real possibility also.
Ask your parents how to not electrocute yourself with a welder.

If your tool has a non-battery problem, here's how to fix that.

Watch the video and see how zapping is done.
Excellent stills and video shot by Fungusamungus
Excellent Video editing by Noahw

Instructables TV Vol 1.mov6 MB

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Step 1Gather Your Materials

image not found

i«

You'll need:

Dead Nicad batteries
Nicad battery charger
Multimeter
Voltage source - we'll use a welder
insulated gloves
safety goggles
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158 comments Add Comment

1-40 of 158 next »
..Mar 16, 2011. 6:22 PMCLIFTON23708 says:
IT WORKS!!!! I have an 18 volt Dewalt Drill. Both batteries were dead! I saved them for future trade in as a core exchange, for rebuilt ones. I bought cheap ($85) China replacements. Checked polarity with a volt meter on good one, marked positive side with a pencil, alligator clipped the terminal, and used a car battery charger on "Boost"! Positive to positive, negative to negative. THANKS FOR THIS GREAT INSTRUCTABLE! I could've saved$$$, if I had tried this before buying the replacements!Reply.
2Mar 7, 2011. 2:27 PMEARTHFORSOLAR says:
Fun video!! very good thanks,
DavidReply.Sep 1, 2010. 1:07 PMmnagrovemama says:
I've got a couple of Black & Decker VersaPak batteries (long, tubular, contact only on one end). They are nickel cadmium and say "VP100 Type 2, 3.6 V DC" on them. How can I "zap" these? They are really hard to find anymore so I would really like to be able to "revive" these.Reply.Feb 13, 2011. 6:57 PMdsandds2003 says:
You can also ZAP these with a car battery charger as well. Or i have found them on e-bay as well as Fleet Farm.
I have ZAPED a couple of the bad batteries like this… However i did it a little different. I reversed the the polarity and just touched the terminals 4 to 5 times then placed them in the charger and they haved worked LIKE NEW for about 6 mo. now.Reply.Sep 3, 2010. 12:17 PMusafa92 says:
I've got the same. I'm going to try this next week if I can find my battery pack.Reply.Jan 21, 2011. 3:12 PMbigdman1 says:
I had some Ridgid 18V batteries that sat in my garage for over a year because I got out of the building trade and didn't use them anymore. When I went to charge them for use again, they would not take a charge period. The charger flashed the lights indicating battery packs were faulty. I gave up on them, and due to the price of new ones, I was ready to sell off my whole set of Ridgid tools. I ran across some info on someone doing what this site suggested, came here and got the skinny on the method. I tried it using my car battery charger on the jump start mode which put out 14 Volts. I figured that was probably a bit low, but did it anyways. It worked beautifully, I know have 2 batteries that have been charged and re-charged 2 times. This method works people!
Thanks to the author of this info!Reply.Apr 29, 2009. 12:01 AMdnlgreenwood says:
my laptop has a couple of almost D sized nicad batteries inside the battery. my battery life has diminished over the years and i was wondering if maybe i could try this trick on it. but if it i don't know it will work for sure, i wont do it. i don't want to damage my battery. so… has any1 tried this on laptop nicad batteries?Reply.Aug 8, 2010. 11:28 PMCybot Rules says:
it will work on any nicad battery, just check the voltage they should be at and hit them with double that. also i would disconnect them from the logic board to prevent damaging it Reply.
1Jan 20, 2010. 6:27 PMiwillcarveyourface says:
batteries are not supposed to be charged by welders.it is not safe to do that as bateries can explode if to much current is supplyed.with in this case way to much current is.Reply.Jul 17, 2010. 12:18 AMwhiplash says:
this trick is used to get rid of the crystal dendrite not to recharge the batteryReply.Sep 22, 2008. 10:59 PMgilmo1938 says:
I've had a set of "useless" tools for about 3 yrs! till I ran across this site. I used the battery charger method and "zapped" one of my 14.4 batteries. O M G!!!!!! it worked, I just finished blinding myself when I tried to see if my flashlight would work after the zapping. I will zap my other bat when I get off duty Wednesday. I just want to say thank you for being different! Reply.Mar 12, 2010. 7:24 PMpluckyduck says:
I just tried this using a car battery charger that can do manual charging at 2 or 10 volts. I didn't think it would work on a 14.4 battery pack but after about 30 taps at 10 volts the battery now takes a proper charge. This is awesome, I will now have about 20 batteries! I have been buying "functional" ones of ebay for years and they never lasted longer than a year or so before failing.
Reply.Jun 13, 2009. 6:42 AMmtwcbear says:
Can you tell me which terminal is pos and which is neg on a black & decker 14.4 volt batt?? Thanks.Reply.
6Aug 8, 2009. 6:27 PMlilpepsikraker says:
Check with a multimeter. Mine costed $6 at a Ham Radio meeting/festival a few years ago. It's a GB Instruments, and it sure the hell is better than my dad's craftsman multimeter. Sometimes you get more for what you pay.Reply.
1Feb 9, 2010. 7:55 PMCaptainChrisso says:
This method works, so far… I revived several of my Boss's ni-cad tools, to be exact: several RYOBI Plus batteries, and a VHF Marine radio. The grin on his face was worth it, and who really cares about how long the batteries last..(post defibrilation) the fact that they work at all has made the lasting impression.

Followed the directions exactly , which is kind of rare of me.

This post was so cool, it was the deciding factor for me getting a membership to the site. Thank you everybody, I feel like I'm at home, like this place -
Chris
Reply.May 3, 2009. 1:01 PMuncmartin05 says:
I HAVE A 19.2 CRAFTSMAN THE BATTERY HAS 4 PRONGS SO WHITCH IS POSITIVE AND WHITCH IS NEG.Reply.
1Jan 21, 2010. 8:10 PMtazmaniac37752 says:
their should only be one negative those others are probably positives for different voltages so the drill can be variable speed a resisytor on 19 volts would probably get fairly hot!Reply.
3May 26, 2009. 8:36 PMReCreate says:

Reply.
16May 27, 2009. 10:07 AMArbitror says:
LOL! that's awesome!Reply.
3May 27, 2009. 10:36 AMReCreate says:
Haha,Yeah.Reply.
7May 25, 2009. 8:30 PMtravis7s says:
If there is no markings you can use a voltmeter to see.Reply.May 18, 2009. 4:58 PMjrivera says:
i want to know the answer to that one too. i have 3 craftsman batterys that has the four proungs..Reply.
5May 26, 2009. 2:16 PMdombeef says:
Well for a start the third one is groundReply.
6Jun 7, 2009. 10:14 PMstrmrnnr says:
Since with DC (-) is the ground, I would have to say the craftman batteries are likely made of two cell wired together inside the drill housing. Two positive, two negative.Reply.
5Jun 8, 2009. 11:32 AMdombeef says:
Oh okReply.
3Dec 22, 2009. 9:55 PMnedfunnell says:
I did this today and it worked great.Reply.Oct 9, 2009. 9:17 PMtemp says:
What type of hat are you wearing? It looks very interesting and peculiar. Reply.Jan 7, 2009. 9:04 AMtinman19 says:
What does anyone think if I used a battery charger (auto, and small tractor charger)?Reply.Jan 14, 2009. 2:03 PMfruttenboel says:
I use a benchtop power supply (0-30 Volts) for zapping single or twin NiCd cells. A 12 Volt batterypack would need around 30 Volts, as was shown in the video. Truck batteries predominantly are 24 Volts (in Europe) and the accompanying chargers deliver close to 30 Volts. That would be an option All other options tend to be dangerous…Reply.
3Sep 27, 2009. 12:32 PMjdtwelve12 says:
I'm wondering if anyone can offer a rule of thumb on how many volts DC one needs to apply to zap variously rated batteries. My dead drill claims 9.5V on its battery pack. Does that mean I should hit it with about 20 volts? What about appropriate ranges for current, or is that irrelevant?Reply.
3Sep 27, 2009. 1:26 PMjdtwelve12 says:
Er, 9.6V, that is.Reply.Sep 22, 2009. 6:15 PMmrfuesselthepyro says:
Did Mr. Lynn's battery happen to be from an airsoft gun?Reply.Aug 23, 2009. 12:23 PMchrisShrews says:
can this be done with kids power wheels 12v batteries. if so thank u , if not is there a wayReply.Sep 20, 2009. 11:01 PMKellySD says:
Hey There, I believe this can be done with any battery that has lost power after a charge. They seem dead…. They are not. Try using a short peice of wire to touch the positive terminal to the negative terminal causing a spark. 2 sparks may do the trick. If not it sounds like you need to get a power source that is double your battery voltage and "ZAP" the battery back to life! Positive to positive and negative to negative. Brief touches of both contacts at the same time shock crystals that build up in the batteries internal lead and acid. SO you will wear "smart clothes and eye protection". Good Luck.Reply.Sep 14, 2009. 9:26 PMmobilln2 says:
In the youtube video there were some objects in the background that looked like rocket nosecones, were they? Do you make them or purchase them?Reply.
11Jul 23, 2009. 9:30 AMimshanedulong says:
Cool! How much are those welders BTW?Reply.
16May 27, 2009. 10:07 AMArbitror says:
Am I able to use the Instructables TV video bug in my videos? Or is the staff only allowed to use it? Cuz' I was making an instructables Robot video bug, but then I saw this, and wanted to use it.
Reply.
223May 27, 2009. 11:56 AMTimAnderson (author) says:
embed at will!Reply.
16May 27, 2009. 12:40 PMArbitror says:
Thanks! Could you supply me with the pure image?Reply.
16Jun 23, 2009. 10:13 PMArbitror says:
Could ya?Reply.1-40 of 158 next »
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I just had some batteries rebuilt they turned out awesome four Dewalts 18 volt, 2/ 24 volt Dewalts &
3 /18 volt Milwaukees. They are better then the original Batteries. The Company I used was Hoffas Batteries
there web site is www.hoffasbatteries.com
they also have a Toll Free number it is 1-866-964-6332 Just ask for John He is awesome & he knows his Business.
The other thing that cought my eye with them is that they use Sanyo Batteries no Chinese batteries..
the cells he used was a Sanyo 2400mAH with new thermistors so this battery was better then new.

I did a battery rebuild review here:

http://lumberjocks.com/C_PLUS_Woodworker/reviews

I've Been in the same boat as a lot of you. I tried my local battery store (Batteries Plus) and

was very dissatisfied with the price and results. Their rebuild lasted only 6

months.

Since I own a lot of Dewalt cordless tools (7-18v + 3-12v + 1-7.2v) I had a lot

of batteries in various conditions (most Poor).

A couple of times I bought the 18v XRP 2-pack which is a pretty good deal,

About $60 apiece with tax and/or shipping.

Unfortunately you will probably not find any good deals with dewalt's smaller

batteries. The average price for one 12v XRP is $65

I bought 2-12v XRP's on sale at Home Depot for $126 (W/Tax) only to go over to

Lowes and find the 12v Heavy-Duty XRP Drill W/charger and 2-12v XRP's on sale

for $99. So of course I bought it and returned the batteries to Home Depot and

now I have 2- 12v Heavy-Duty XRP Drills when all I needed was batteries!

With only 2-18v, 2-12v and no 7.2v in top notch condition I decided to find a

better more cost effective way than buying more battery packs or shoddy

rebuilds all the time.

So after allot of Internet research this it what I found:

Trying to revitalize batteries (without rebuilding) isn't worth the time, at

best it's a very short term fix and not a very good one at that.

Just replacing that one or two bad cells isn't a good option either. Because if

you've had the battery pack for any length of time the other cells won't be far

behind and if you haven't it's most likely under warranty. Send it back!

If you do decide to go the rebuild route, your battery pack must be the kind

that have screws to hold the top and bottom together. Some times Dewalt's new

tools come with the glued type, although not usually.

The best way to rebuild a battery is with a battery tab welder (Capacitive

Discharge welder / CD welder). You can buy a cheap new one for a mere $10,000 -

$14,000 or you might be able to find a cheap used one on eBay for around

$5,000. CD welder's aka battery tab welder's are what all good professionals

use, they weld the battery tab to the battery without generating damaging heat

to the rest of the battery. If you are up to the task you could actually make

your own CD welder for about $200! I actually gave this serious consideration.

Heat Kills Batteries!! So if you decide to solder them like I finally did keep

this in mind.

The first thing you will need is a fairly high powered soldering iron/gun so

you can heat up the spot you need to solder fast without heating up the rest of

the battery. I bought the "Craftsman Professional Dual Heat Soldering Gun" for

$60 from sears. It's 400/150 watts, has a rated soldering temp. of 1000 deg.F.

and works better/faster than any Weller gun I've ever owned.

Here's the link: http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_10155_12602_00927320000P?

sid=commcraftsmanproductpg

The next thing you'll need are reasonably priced / quality supplies. They can

be bought here: http://www.voltmanbatteries.com/servlet/the-NICD-fdsh-NIMH-

CELLS/Categories I'd like to add here that by no means am I pushing anyone's

products. This is just what I used after a lot of research and maybe it can

save someone else some time and headaches. If you can do better by all means go

for it! That said I've found all of Volt-Man's products to be great quality and

very reasonably priced. Plus if you have a problem/Question you can call and

speak to a knowledgeable (American) person since they also rebuild batteries on

site.

Keep in mind, I can only speak for Dewalt Battery packs since they are the only

ones I have rebuilt but as far as I know they are all similar.

All Dewalt's XR and XRP packs use "SUB-C" type batteries. The non-XR/XRP

Battery packs are noticeably shorter and use "4/5 SUB-C" type batteries.

I used these: "SUB-C 2100MAH NICD BATTERY $1.88" and "4/5 SHORT SUB-C 1300MAH

NICD BATTERY $1.88" (all with tabs) These are all 1.2v batteries so if you

divide the (volt) size of your battery pack by 1.2 that is how many batteries

you will need.

Some other things you might need are "THERMISTOR FOR DEWALT & MILWAUKEE" Each

pack has one and from what I understand they rarely go bad but for an

additional $2 it might not be a bad idea to have one just in case. I bought

two, rebuilt 12 batteries and didn't have to use them. Up to you.

And "FISHPAPER STICKER 50) PIECE STRIP" $10. Kind of allot (50 pieces). This I

didn't buy and I kind of wish I did. However I wouldn't buy it for just a

couple of battery packs. Dewalt packs have this sticky thick paper covering

both the top and bottom of the batteries (one piece top, one piece bottom) and

its a real pain to pry off the bottom without damaging either the paper or the

battery tabs. I had to use a wood chisel. Keep in mind that you want to keep

the tabs intact so you can copy the connections.

Anyway to actually rebuild:

Open the pack and pry the batteries out of the bottom of the pack

Pull the paper from the bottom of batteries

Put new batteries in the bottom plastic casing (to keep shape, you will flip

them over later) and copy the pattern of both the tab and +/- layout of the

bottom of the old batteries. Trim tabs (where necessary) with common household

scissors and solder tab to tab only, not tab to battery (Keeps battery heat

low).

Put sticky paper on newly soldered batteries, carefully remove new batteries

from bottom plastic case and flip over so unsoldered side of batteries is on

top.

The top is the hardest. Remove the sticky paper from the old top and line up

tabs on the new batteries. you will have to fold the tabs so they go in the

right direction and solder, all but the top battery that slides into the tool

handle.

This last (top) battery is kind of a bitch and if you screw just one thing up

this will be it. First you have to get that plug off the old (top) battery. A

reasonable tap with a wood chisel where the plug is welded to the battery

worked well for me.

Now for the new top battery. Cut away paper battery covering where thermistor

connects, pull off the top tab and prep all solder points on battery (top plug

and Thermistor) and top plug by lightly sanding to rough up.

Pre-solder all prepped spots before actually soldering any thing together. Do

this as fast as possible so you don't heat up the battery to much. Let cool

then actually solder everything together.

Replace paper and screw case together. FINISHED!

Note: be careful not to get to much solder build-up or you might have a hard

time closing the cases with the paper installed. I rebuilt about 12 batteries

and had to leave some of the paper out. If you have this problem double-sided

carpet tape is a good alternative.

This has worked great for me as a much cheaper alternative to buying new

batteries and all 12 of my rebuilds are as good as if not better than the

original battery packs! One year later and still going strong!

I hope this post helps.

Are there factory rebuilt dewalt baateries?

It seems to me that if you can't get a cheap new battery, you may as well buy a new complete tool set up…

Matthew B Klein
Tiffin, Iowa

Your questions, answered:

(I have 5 Panasonic 12v drills.)

I have had several batteries rebuilt by these folks with excellent results. Discounts when you send several; see description. Highly recommended, very quick turnaround.

It's a good value by my math.

I scribe the date of purchase and the date of rebuild on the case. Continued success.

Kindly,

Lee

I just replied to another thread on batteries. I saved this on Favorites as I have one Ryobi battery that won't take a charge. I do have a auto battery charger.

Looks like the link I posted in my first post for voltman batteries doesn't work so here it is again: http://www.voltmanbatteries.com/servlet/the-NICD-fdsh-NIMH-CELLS/Categories

There is no reason a rebuilt battery cant preform just as good or better than the original if good components are used. You just cant load it full of crap and expect it not to stink!

Rebuilding your batteries yourself will definitely save you the most money but, if you don't feel comfortable with that a quality re-builder will still save you some cash.