PDA

View Full Version : Cordless Battery Packs



cabezaverde
10-01-2006, 08:50 PM
Has anyone repalced the Ni Cad cells inside their cordless drill battery packs when they won't hold a charge any longer?

My son claims you can replace these cells with some you get at Radio Shack, as they are all pretty much the same.

Any experience here?

crazy mark
10-01-2006, 10:20 PM
I go to a place called batteries plus and they do this for me. It didn't cost much more than the price of the batteries. Sometimes new batteries are cheaper however. Yes you can replace them if you so desire. Mark

Four Fingers of Death
10-01-2006, 10:43 PM
If it's completely flat and of no further use, try pulling it apart and see what it's like inside. We id this at work some years ago with the big old Motorola two ways, which we could not get enough money to pay the mega buck cost of obselete batteries. Turns out there were a heap of C cell batteries wired together. We melted the solder, went to Tandy and bought cheap replacements and they lasted a year or so until they got replaced. From memory, the replacement batteries were $130 odd, and we fixed them for about $8 each.

shooter575
10-03-2006, 08:58 AM
I tried this once with a Makita cordless once. The problem I had was the replacement C sized Nicads I had were just a bit longer than the orgional ones.
Would not fit in the case.So just somthing else to check first.

Old Ironsights
10-03-2006, 11:51 AM
I go to a place called batteries plus and they do this for me. It didn't cost much more than the price of the batteries. Sometimes new batteries are cheaper however. Yes you can replace them if you so desire. Mark

Ditto. See what the replacements cost then see if you have a Batteries + around.

I've had them rebuild packs for my Ryobi set and a couple of computer UPS units.

About the only thing they don't do is Lithium.

Old Ironsights
10-03-2006, 12:20 PM
I tried this once with a Makita cordless once. The problem I had was the replacement C sized Nicads I had were just a bit longer than the orgional ones.
Would not fit in the case.So just somthing else to check first.

The "power cell" batteries used in those battery packs are designed to be soldered on the top & bottom terminals (since most are wired in series) so they are "flatter" cylinders than a commercial battery. Also, the duty cycle for power-cell batteries is different than most commercial NiCds.

cabezaverde
10-03-2006, 09:34 PM
I have found some places on the net that seem to sell the batteries pretty cheap. Unfortunately, the nearest batteries plus is about 100 miles away.

Buckshot
10-04-2006, 03:41 AM
.............My dad did this a couple times with packs that took regular 'C' cells. Then he ran into one with batteries a tad smaller. Someone told him they were 'CC' cells? Whatever, I dunno. I was told there was a rebuilding service (prolly more then one) called The Battery Lady. I never bothered to check it out but apparently you ship the old one and it gets rebuilt and shipped back to you.

Definately worthile is you have one of those Milwaukee 32V cordless Sawzalls with the $138 battery packs :-)

.................Buckshot

Just went and checked. It's: http://nicdlady.com/ The NiCad Lady, and not the battery gal :-) I just checked and she even has the battery for an old OLD IBM Think Pad 600!! When I was looking for one, the computer people were not nice and they laughed at me for even asking, HA!

R.M.
10-04-2006, 10:41 AM
Here in the Denver area, we have an Interstate Battery store. They carry just about any battery you might need, plus, I have had them make up new battery packs for me.
I don't know where all they are, but it would be worth a peak in the yellow pages.

R.M.

drinks
10-04-2006, 08:49 PM
The best source of high rate discharge/ quick recharge cells is the radio control hobby suppliers.
NIMH cells are higher capacity and have no memory problems, even though NICAD's now have much less memory poblems than a few years ago.
Lithium Ion is now being used in tools, about 4-6 times the capacity, very low self discharge rate and an increasingly higher safe discharge rate.

cabezaverde
10-05-2006, 11:03 AM
I called the only local Interstate Battery and they said they don't touch that kind of work. Must be a franchise or something.

R.M.
10-05-2006, 11:15 AM
That's odd. The Interstate store here is in a strip mall, and sells mostly small type batteries. They do have some car batteries, but mostly applience type stuff.
Strange.

R.M.

StanDahl
10-05-2006, 11:33 PM
I looked into this not long ago and found some info. For batteries and stuff, try [http://www.batteryspace.com]. For a detailed step-by-step how-to, try this, even though it doesn't get into power tools, it is relevant: [http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/Powerbook/Pismo/Battery (http://www.wwc.edu/%7Efrohro/Powerbook/Pismo/Battery/)] Stan