Charlie Barnes
12-10-2005, 8:39 AM
I've been reading this forum for several months (it's great), but now I actually need some advice.
Here's the deal. Both of my 4-5 year old 18V Milwaukee cordless drill batteries have suddenly "died" in the last 2 months. They won't take a charge at all. When the first one went out, I purchased a new one which works fine so I know the charger is OK. The second old one died right after I got the new battery. My situation is that my tools see occasional heavy usage, but sit idle much of the time.
Since buying replacement batteries is kind of expensive, I was reading up on some posts on another site about some methods to rebuild the battery packs. Most methods seem to recommend taking the case apart and checking the cells progressively until one is located that is substantially under 1.2V. I have both old battery cases apart, but I don't get any voltage at all when I check the individual cells. Zero.
Does this mean that all of the cells are bad?
Is there some other method of checking whether a cell is good or bad? (Remember, I can't get either pack to charge at all.)
Any other suggestions short of buying 15 new cells for each one? (In which case I may be better off just buying another new pack.)
I have read many conflicting opinions, including NASA's, on how to prolong NiCd battery life. Most of the recommendations are geared towards commercial applications and involve some high end charging equipment. What's "the truth" on this from a practical perspective?Charlie
Here's the deal. Both of my 4-5 year old 18V Milwaukee cordless drill batteries have suddenly "died" in the last 2 months. They won't take a charge at all. When the first one went out, I purchased a new one which works fine so I know the charger is OK. The second old one died right after I got the new battery. My situation is that my tools see occasional heavy usage, but sit idle much of the time.
Since buying replacement batteries is kind of expensive, I was reading up on some posts on another site about some methods to rebuild the battery packs. Most methods seem to recommend taking the case apart and checking the cells progressively until one is located that is substantially under 1.2V. I have both old battery cases apart, but I don't get any voltage at all when I check the individual cells. Zero.
Does this mean that all of the cells are bad?
Is there some other method of checking whether a cell is good or bad? (Remember, I can't get either pack to charge at all.)
Any other suggestions short of buying 15 new cells for each one? (In which case I may be better off just buying another new pack.)
I have read many conflicting opinions, including NASA's, on how to prolong NiCd battery life. Most of the recommendations are geared towards commercial applications and involve some high end charging equipment. What's "the truth" on this from a practical perspective?Charlie