Rechargeable Battery Repair/Replacement

[Jim Byrne]

I have an 18 volt DeWalt drill motor that had two battery packs. both have given up the ghost and new OEM replacements are in the neighborhood of $75-$80. I recall reading about a battery repair shop that would repair these for roughly half the price with better overall batteries.

Can anyone help? Also Question for others that live in hot climes. I keep the batteries and charger in my garage year round. I know that after use I cool them a bit before charging. Should I move them in the house for storagae and charging where the temp is better regulated. They lasted about 18 - 24 months, is that the norm?

Appreciate any help/advice.

[Tony Falotico]

Jim, try Primecell http://www.primecell.com/
I've used them and been very satisfied, cost about 1/2 of a new battery and they supposedly use a stronger cell.

No affiliation, just a satisfied customer.

[Chad Pater]

I've heard about rebuilding them too and went to a local Batteries Plus store and they wanted $60.00. I found Dewalt is offering a 2 pack of 18 volt batteries for $109.99 and went for that. Both Amazon and Grizzley were offering this deal as recent as 40-50 days ago but I see now it's out of stock. I bought my 2-pack locally. For $55.00 new a piece I decide to go that route ...good luck
chad

[Steven Wilson]

Another source is Ebay, I've picked up replacement batteries for my 14.4v Dewalt there for a good price - new, in sealed package.

[Wes Bischel]

I went through this a few months ago with my Crapsman. I couldn't justify spending $100 - 200 on a new drill driver when mine was in great shape only with a dead charger. I got similar quotes for rebuilds $33 each I think for an older drill driver (good charger, bad batteries). At that point I could almost buy a new Craftsman drill driver set. Anyhow, I went the eBay route. Bought a reconditioned drill with batteries and charger for about $25 with shipping. With the DeWalt, you most likely won't get by that cheaply due to the demand. (not too many people looking for 16.8v craftsman drill drivers these days. :p )

Good luck, Wes

[Charles Wade]

Jim, I had some Craftsman 13.2V batteries rebuilt at Interstate Batteries, 727 134th Street SW, Everett, WA 98204-6305 (425) 743-7677, (800) 562-3212, http://www.interstatebatteries.com. I sent them the packs and they rebuilt them. Worked nicely-about half the price of new batteries. No affiliation- -learned of them from another forum.

I also have a hard copy of a good writeup on how to do the rebuilding yourself. I got this somewhere off the internet. The author on my copy is listed as Jim Halbert, Branson MO. He refers to himself in the end as "the dust hound". Don't know how to reach him, but the article is very informative. If you want a copy I can fax or copy/mail.

chuck

[Charles Wade]

Jim, I just reread your note. High temperature from recharging is deadly for most batteries. Unless your recharger stops charging automatically when the full voltage is reached, don't leave your batteries in the recharger all the time. Best to remove them immediately after the lights on the charger indicate they are up to voltage. chuck

[Jim Byrne]

Chuck,

Thanks for the info. If you don't mind, could you e-mail me a copy of the article. I'm willing to look it over and give it a try. It seems the most difficult part would be locating the correct replacement cells and I should be able to do that via the net or local suppliers here in Houston area.

Thanks in advance,

Jim

[Jim Byrne]

Chuck,

That was one of the benefits that the Dewalt has. The charger is a smart charger and shuts down at charge completion. The charger is also supposed to condition the batteries by pushing a button every ten charges. The charger will not charge a high temperature hot battery.

My question was more general with the ambient temp in the garage during summer in Texas, 100 plus sometimes and then cooler weather in winter, never freezing, for long anyway, and not in garage.

Jim

[Charles Wade]

Chuck,

Thanks for the info. If you don't mind, could you e-mail me a copy of the article. I'm willing to look it over and give it a try. It seems the most difficult part would be locating the correct replacement cells and I should be able to do that via the net or local suppliers here in Houston area.

Thanks in advance,

Jim


Jim, unfortunately I only have a hard copy. Willing to FAX if you'll give me your number. He lists suppliers of the individual cells together with some discussion. chuck

[Barry Fong]

A dead or defective NiCad battery can be fixed using another GOOD fully charged battery.

The good battery will slowly safely charge your deeply discharged battery. Power will flow from the good battery to your bad battery.

Example of how to connect a rechargable NiCad AAA AA C or D battery. Note connect the positive to the positive and the negative to the negative.

/~~ (-) Good (+) ~~ (+) Bad (-) ~~\
\______________________________/

your craftsman 19.2 battery has two Positive and two Negative terminals... as shown below.

Bad Battery
___A1___
_B1__C1_
___D1___

Good Battery
___A2___
_B2__C2_
___D2___

Connect A1 to A2, Connect B1 to B2
Connect C1 to C2, Connect D1 to D2

Give this about 15-30 minutes and then try using your charger to charge the bad battery normally.

This has worked for me. Saved me the cost of recycling the battery and buying a new one.

This is safe since batteries can be connected in parallel normally to provide more amp hours to a device.

Think of a battery as a cup of water. Where water is the power. One cup is mostly empty and the other is full. Connect the cup and the water will flow and the empty cup will fill up with power.

................
].....[..].....[
]xxxxx[..].....[
]xxxxx[..].....[
]xxxxx[..]xxxxx[
]xxxxxxxxxxxxxx[
\xxxxx/..\xxxxx/

For a nice Diagram please checkout my web site...
http://www.geocities.com/fongbar/tech/dischargednicad.html

For a supporting article try this one...
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/rejuv.html

[Paul Ryan]

Jim,

Here are the links to some rebuilders. Lots of people on here have use MTO battery and had good luck. I just sent one to voltman and got it back in 1 week and it is better than when new.

http://www.voltmanbatteries.com/servlet/StoreFront

http://www.mtobattery.com/STORE/

http://www.primecell.com/pctools.htm

[J. Z. Guest]

Another thought.

Even if you get them rebuilt at half price, you're talking about $80.

Did you consider this?

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100646044&N=10000003+90401+500054+1688

Home Depot has their 18 V Ryobi One+ drill on sale for $160. Then, you're into lithium and not having to leave the batteries on the charger all the time, since they hold the charge for 6 months+

I'm heavily into that system now, and I love it. I started with the drill & impact driver. I now also have the radio, jigsaw, shop vac, dustbuster vac. This summer, I'll probably add their new brad nailer/stapler and the fan.

Larger batteries are available too; I got the older model with the bigger batteries.

[Vic Damone]

+1 Barry Fong. You won't get this type of information from battery remanufactures or the OEM. Read Barry's post and try it, what do have to lose. If it won't work for your application go to the Hilti site and check out their charging system before you spend any money. Their chargers have a refresh feature that works. I've had my Hilti's going on five years now.

[Glen Butler]

with buying new batteries you might as well buy a new drill. It would cost less and come with the packs.

If you are adventurous building packs is quite simple. this is what I do. I buy good quality cells usually from a hobby store and some battery bars then go to work with my soldering gun. Often times you can get even larger mAh cells with lower internal resistance for a fraction of buying new packs.

I am a nut when it comes to my batteries though. I also always charge them using a hobby charger i.e the Graupner Ultra Duo 30, or HYPERION EOS0610I DUO II.

[Jerry White]

Jim,

I have used MTO/Battery Builders, and I am very satisfied with their results. You can save some money with them if you get your batteries rebuilt to OEM standards, or you can pay more and get improved capacity. If you choose, they will sell you the cores for you to rebuild your own.

FYI, Jason Abel, owner of MTO/Battery Builders is a member of SMC. http://www.mtobattery.com/store/

I live near you and I keep my batteries in my shop with no apparent ill effects from the heat, but I do not let my batteries stay in the charger past the recharge time.

[Jon Grider]

I've tried this and it worked on one out of three batteries. Put your dead battery in the freezer for a few weeks, thaw, and try to recharge. Cheap fix if it works, nothing invested if it doesn't. Obviously,you'll be without your battery for a while. This is one reason why I like corded drills.

[Curt Harms]

I have a P-C 14.4 volt drill which has been discontinued for several years so factory batteries are unavailable. The drill is fine, the factory batteries were not fine. I had 'em rebuilt, they will hold a charge much better than the original. Cost was around $35/battery as I recall. I also got some rechargable AA's and a couple 9 volt rechargables. I haven't had those too long but so far so good. I got the first ones last October and haven't had to recharge them yet. Use is TV remote and computer mouse so no much of a load but if they were prone to self discharge I think I'd have had to recharge them by now.

HTH

Curt

[Andrew Joiner]

When I do the math the Ryobi NiCd works for me. Time testing has proven them comparable to the Makita and other "industrial" tools I have for quality.

The good part is low cost of the overall system. I just got a spare drill, saw, battery and charger. A pair of rebuilt batteries to power my fairly worn Makita would have cost about the same.

I'm starting to look at all my cordless stuff as one system, so I don't want a bunch of different batteries.
If I want to mortgage my home and invest in lithium I can use the same tools.

[Brad Noble]

Jim,

Here are the links to some rebuilders. Lots of people on here have use MTO battery and had good luck. I just sent one to voltman and got it back in 1 week and it is better than when new.

http://www.voltmanbatteries.com/servlet/StoreFront

http://www.mtobattery.com/STORE/

http://www.primecell.com/pctools.htm


I have sent several to MTOBattery and have been more than pleased. These guys are good, very good and when I get them back they are 2 or 3 times as good as they were when new. I just love 'em.

Brad