If your power tool battery won't charge anymore or does not last very long, you might try this. the batteries are in series, hooked positive to negative to positive to negative,,,,,if one goes bad,,,,they all stop working,,,,so find the bad one or two,,,,,its voltage will be lower than the others,,,,,solder in a good one and get back to work,,,,,,these batteries are called sub C,,,,,,smaller than the normal C batteries,,,,
4 posters
Power Tool Battery
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°1
Power Tool Battery
HandiVanMan- Number of posts : 1868
Location : Calhoun, Ga
Age : 58
Registration date : 2010-04-11
- Post n°2
Re: Power Tool Battery
So Don if you have several bad battery packs do you think that you could use some of the good batteries out of one of them to fix some of the other ones?
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°3
Re: Power Tool Battery
YEP,,,,,,,,the odds are only 1 or 2 batteries go bad,,,,,the others are still good,,,,,,they might be different sizes or capacities,,,,,,,I think if you just removed the bad battery, the others would work just fine, just not as much power,,,,but thats better than no power,,,,,,,just measure each battery with a voltmeter,,,should be about 1 volt,,,,you will find the bad ones pretty easily,,,,,,,
HandiVanMan- Number of posts : 1868
Location : Calhoun, Ga
Age : 58
Registration date : 2010-04-11
- Post n°4
Re: Power Tool Battery
Cool I will check them out. I have about 5 or 6 18 volt Dewalt battery packs that wont charge.
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°5
Re: Power Tool Battery
And you might not have to take it all apart to check each battery,,,,,like on my bottom picture,,,,I start off with the top left batterys,,,,they are hooked together on the bottom,,,,so I am looking for 2 volts from them,,,,same thing from next 2,,,,,,2 volts and its just like a compression test,,,,,,low reading is the problem,,,,,,,,weak link in the circuit,,,,,,the whole battery pack is only as good as its weakest link,,,,,,
HandiVanMan- Number of posts : 1868
Location : Calhoun, Ga
Age : 58
Registration date : 2010-04-11
- Post n°6
Re: Power Tool Battery
That sound's like the way to go. I will definitely check them that way for sure! Do I put tge positive lead to the positive & negative to negative? Can you post a pic of tge right way to connect the leads on the batteries?
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°7
Re: Power Tool Battery
The batteries are wired in SERIES, which means they are added together to increase the voltage,,,,,like my battery right there is rated at 18 volts,,,,,there are different voltage tools but they all are wired the same,,,,,you got 2 wires going to the batterys,,,,,probably a RED positive wire and a BLACK negative one,,,,the red wire goes to the positive side of a battery,,,,,then you need to connect all the other batterys to it,,,,so you connect the negative side of the 1st battery to the POSITIVE side of battery #2,,,,,neg of #2 to pos of #3,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,make a train of batteries,,,,until you come to the end and that battery will finally hook up to the black negative wire going out to the terminal,,,,,the batteries have connector tabs,,,,or use a small piece of wire,,,,so you can easily hook it up to the next battery,,,,,you heat up a spot on each end of a battery,,,,melt a little solder on it,,,,put the tab in that solder,,,heat it up,,,,hold the tab down in the solder with a screwdriver until the solder melts again,,,,then keep holding the tab down until the solder cools and you are done..... look at your batterys,,,,,you will see a pattern,,,,,each NEGATIVE goes to the next POSITIVE,,,only the 1st and last battery are hooked a little different....
SDEconoTruck- Number of posts : 310
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2010-05-26
- Post n°8
Re: Power Tool Battery
Don, before going and replacing separate cells, try "shocking" them. It works! hard part is borrowing somebody's batteries to shock yours and rejuvenate them.
Shocking the battery pack literally blasts the internal contacts clean, they get crystals over time. Easy and works like a champ!
George
Shocking the battery pack literally blasts the internal contacts clean, they get crystals over time. Easy and works like a champ!
George
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°9
Re: Power Tool Battery
So George,,,,,,,have you tried this? With an arc welder? How many volts do you need? I guess it would not hurt to try and zap a dead battery,,,,,but the ones I seen had a dead cell and the only way was to replace them......
SDEconoTruck- Number of posts : 310
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2010-05-26
- Post n°10
Re: Power Tool Battery
Hey Governor!
"Arc welder." Ha, how'd you know? Ha!
The general rule to zap the battery is 2-to-1. If you got an 18v that's bad, get 2 fully charged 18v batteries, and hook em in series. So you got 36v. Then "tap" the bad batt contact 8 times, no more. It zaps the crystal build up on the internal contacts of the NiCad cells. Every single battery I got except one has come back to life. (I think the one bad one I got could use the cell replacement like you've done.) It's worth a try before opening the pack up.
By the way, NEVER DO THIS WITH THE LITHIUM BATTERIES! Just replace those.
George
"Arc welder." Ha, how'd you know? Ha!
The general rule to zap the battery is 2-to-1. If you got an 18v that's bad, get 2 fully charged 18v batteries, and hook em in series. So you got 36v. Then "tap" the bad batt contact 8 times, no more. It zaps the crystal build up on the internal contacts of the NiCad cells. Every single battery I got except one has come back to life. (I think the one bad one I got could use the cell replacement like you've done.) It's worth a try before opening the pack up.
By the way, NEVER DO THIS WITH THE LITHIUM BATTERIES! Just replace those.
George
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°11
Re: Power Tool Battery
Well HandiVan,,,,,,,there you go,,,,,,something to try,,,,,,zap those dead batteries with double the voltage and see if they wake up,,,,,,,,
HandiVanMan- Number of posts : 1868
Location : Calhoun, Ga
Age : 58
Registration date : 2010-04-11
- Post n°12
Re: Power Tool Battery
I will try to shock them 1st &see how it does.
HandiVanMan- Number of posts : 1868
Location : Calhoun, Ga
Age : 58
Registration date : 2010-04-11
- Post n°13
Re: Power Tool Battery
Don,
Can you tell me what type solder that you can use that sticks to the ends of the batteries? I have a buddy that tried soldering some back together today and he said that he couldn't get the posts to stick. I told him that he was probably using the wrong type of solder. I told him that he would probably need to use solder for soldering electrical which might be a acid based solder. What type do you use?
Can you tell me what type solder that you can use that sticks to the ends of the batteries? I have a buddy that tried soldering some back together today and he said that he couldn't get the posts to stick. I told him that he was probably using the wrong type of solder. I told him that he would probably need to use solder for soldering electrical which might be a acid based solder. What type do you use?
donivan65- Governor
- Number of posts : 12231
Location : San Diego, California
Registration date : 2008-05-12
- Post n°14
Re: Power Tool Battery
Rosin core for electrical work,,,,,,,,melt a little on the battery, then melt a little on the tab,,,,,then push them together with a screwdriver and heat them up until the solder melts and hold them together until it cools,,,,and stays
together,,,,,,
together,,,,,,
HandiVanMan- Number of posts : 1868
Location : Calhoun, Ga
Age : 58
Registration date : 2010-04-11
- Post n°15
Re: Power Tool Battery
Thanks for the info Don.
Barnabas- Vintage-Vans Listings Manager
- Number of posts : 2015
Location : Raleigh, NC
Age : 64
Registration date : 2011-01-16
- Post n°16
Re: Power Tool Battery
I've found it is best to roughen up the surface first to make the solder stick. Sandpaper or a screw driver work for me.
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