Freezing rechargeable batteries

[Joseph O'Leary]

Ok folks, first off all I am a skeptic from the word go.:rolleyes: I saw a thread here last week about freezing rechargeable batteries to bring them back to life. I have two Delta 14.4 volt batteries (about 5 yrs. old) that were useless. The first one I froze could only drive a 3" deck screw in and out of a piece of 2x4 pressure treated about 3 times before it bogged down. Without a load it would turn the driver for an additional 5-6 minutes before it was totally dead. I froze it for 3 days, let it get to room temp for about 6 hours and put in in the charger over night. I just drove that 3" screw in and out and started new holes for about 5 minutes before I was convinced the battery was like new.
The second battery is in the freezer now. This battery could drive that 3" screw about 20 times before it bogged down. It then ran another 13 minutes without a load before going dead. If anyone is still interested I will let you know how long they continue to perform this well.

[glenn bradley]

Yes. Please keep us updated!

[Clint Winterhalter]

I've got a old Porter Cable 14.4 that I am about to toss. Both batteries are toast. It was more to replacement than I wanted, so I bought a 18volt Milwaulkee set. It would be great to breath some life into this tool.
Did you do anything special? Or just toss them in the freezer?

Thanks Clint

[Alex Berkovsky]

One of the things that you can do to attempt to revive the battery is to discharge it and then put it in the freezer for 24 hours. After taking it out of the freezer, let it return to the room temprature for the next 24 hours, then recharge it. Does not always work, but worth a try.

[Brad Hammond]

i'd be intersted in the results joseph. gonna toss one of my dewalt 14.4's in tomorrow.

[Curt Harms]

I sent 2 P-C 14.4 batteries to our own Jason Abel of batteryrebuilders.com. Got 'em back in about a week and they seem at least as good as new. i notice that the rebuilt batteries seem to not self discharge while sitting as the original ones did. I haven't done any large jobs to know how many screws they'll drive on one charge etc. I've not tried the freezer trick so can't comment on that. You'd have to look at new cost vs. rebuild cost; in my case new batteries for my model are no longer made so the choice was rebuild or toss. 2 rebuilt batteries cost me just under $80. My drill is lightly used (hobbyist stuff) so is in pretty good condition. If it were beat up, a rebuild would make no sense.

Something to consider.

Curt

[Ken Shoemaker]

MAN!!! I hope this works. I have two Crapsman 13.2V and two Makita 9.6V I got in the freezer. I figure, I got nothing to lose at this point. Thanks for the heads up.
Ken

[Joseph O'Leary]

Clint,
I used the drill until it would not turn any longer and then put a mini clamp on th trigger for an hour to insure the battery was totally discharged. I put it in a zip lock bag and put it in the freezer over the holiday weekend (3.5-4 days). I let it thaw out for about 6 hours to get to room temp. Then I just put it on the charger over night (about 24 hours). The green "Ready" light was on and the battery works just great.

I must say that prior to doing this it was an otherwise "rechargeable" battery. Just no life. By that I mean it would go in the charger and give a red "needs to be charged" light, and overnight would give me a green "charged" light. It would only last minutes on that full charge. I don't know if this will work if the battery shows "bad" on the charger. I will let you know how it holds up after a few charge and discharge cycles.

[Mike Seals]

Never discharge a rechagable too much, it will permanently damage the battery. Run it down until the tool you are using is dead, with the exception of a flashlight. Flashlights can kill rechargables.

I've use the freezer method and it has shown favorable results.

[Hoa Dinh]

The "freezing" method didn't work for my 2 14.4V Dewalt packs and my 18V Ryobi pack.

[Jason Abel]

If anyone is tossing batteries let me know. I'll send you a pre-paid label to get them to me. I do all the proper recycling etc I re-use the cases and connectors.

Thanks,
Jason

[Brad Hammond]

thought i'd bump this thread and post a follow up.
i placed one of my dewalt 9.6v batts in the freezer for a couple of days about a 2 wks ago and it's been running like a champ ever since!

cyall later!

[Jesse Thornton]

Interesting. I missed this post first time around, but I have a couple of Dewalt 18v batteries on their last legs, so perhaps I'll give this freezer thing a go. I'll post again when the results are in.

[Mike Lawler]

dunno if it works, but if the key is running the batteries all the way down before freezing, the flashilights that come with most kits should do the trick.

[Mike Seals]

dunno if it works, but if the key is running the batteries all the way down before freezing, the flashilights that come with most kits should do the trick.

Do not use the flashlight, running a battery down too low can cause permanent damage. A sick battery will not recover from the flashlight mode.

[Marcus Carr]

I just read a "rechargable battery" article in Wood Magazine.

It says freezing a battery to bring it back is a myth.

I also says to never drain the battery all the way. Put it in the charger as soon as you notice reduced power.

Marcus

[Paul Canaris]

I tried the freeze, did nothing

[Jason Abel]

I just read a "rechargable battery" article in Wood Magazine.

It says freezing a battery to bring it back is a myth.

I also says to never drain the battery all the way. Put it in the charger as soon as you notice reduced power.

Marcus

That is correct. A deep discharge on a NiCad can cause polarity reversal of the cells. This can lead to a total short through the battery pack and possibly fire. Freezing a battery pack can also cause irreversible damage to the thermistor/thermostat in the battery pack that controls the charger. Once this occurs the charger no longer knows when to start/stop charging and how fast to charge. Without that protection the charger is a speeding car with out driver...

I have heard some people say it helps and some say no. A general rule of thumb could be this. If the cell has dropped out or can no longer hold charge or maintain its voltage the freezer will not work. If the cells is weak then "maybe" it will. I tried this numerous times with batts that don't have thermal sensors in them and I have never had any type of improvement even when discharging the whole way.

My $0.02 for what is worth

[Joseph O'Leary]

When I started this thread some folks asked me to post a follow up after using the batteries for a while. Well, after a month of use since freezing my two Delta 14.4 volt batteries I have confirmed for myself that they are junk.:( They most certainly had like new performance on the first few recharges. Over the course of about 6 charge-discharge cycles they are back to having no meaningful life after a recharge. Oh well, nothing ventured - nothing gained!;)

[Jason Abel]

Thanks for the follow up. Still got the old batteries?