You should understand what is going on. Old NiCds grow internal conductive spikes between the positive and negative plates, called dendrils that short out the cell. The so called rejuvination involves momentarily applying a high enough voltage with enough current capacity to blow the dendrils apart, like blowing a fuse. The results are quite variable. If you manage to "un short" all the shorted cells, the voltage voltage will return to normal but by the time this problem occurrs the cells are old and usually have reduced capacity. Also, the dendrils can grow back and the problem returns. If you are up to opening the pack, you can find the shorted cells; they read zero. You can them with another pack or a car battery. It is just a touch. Even a couple of D cells will clear a shorted cell. I find that polarity doesn't even matter when blowing out the short on individual cells. The results are very mixed. Worth a try but don't expect miracles.
This is correct. I can work depending on how battery is failing. And they do make pulse charging which is what you are doing. just not sure if made for drills
This battery reconditioning program exceeded my presumptions. It worked on any drill battery, several AA and AAA batteries batery.repair and any camera battery. The steps are simple and the act itself is exciting to do. No matter what type of battery you`ve got, it is sure to function again!
ALL AA and AAA batteries which say "do not recharge!" is a LIE. I've been using the same batteries I've had for over 2yrs now. A simple way to prove this, is to put your batteries in a solar garden light and they will fully recharge. With car batteries, they "Seal" them so you can't top up the battery with distilled water, so they malfunction and we throw them away... this is all been purposely created to create an unquestioning throw-away society... all over the Globe... 🙂
A good way to test the performance of your battery is to drill a large wood screw into a 4x4 or other thick piece of wood. The sound of the drill isn't a very good indicator of whether or not the battery can deliver enough current to be useful. Always test under a load.
Suggestion: on the red wire you are tapping the + terminal with, wire it to a switch and another wire on the other side of the switch with a terminal to connect it to the battery. Any on/off switch (ex: wall switch) will work. Much easier and faster than having it arc on the battery terminal and having to keep attaching and removing the wires.
good idea. he just winged it and was successful. thats where the kudos lie. any embellishment afterwards is progression and how we take the most rudimentary of ideas and make the best even better. I use an rc car battery charger and DC power supplies when i have battery woes. Now that i have watched this i can set my target voltage and amperage if need be. Add your inline switch, and I have a marketable product (Patent pending) that is just guys sharing knowledge of what they come across in their day to day. Which is clearly why the first local pub was built, and then ............? good day all.
Great to see that there are many like-minded people who find it hard to give up on tools just because they are old and worn out. I can only hope that being in my seventies that the same sentiments apply to me. I have used similar a method, although much more brutal (arc welder) to revive nicad batteries in the past. However depending on the extent and frequency of use and charging they generally did not last much longer. If the drill/tool is a popular make and the batteries are still available instead of paying exorbitant prices for individual batteries they can be a lot cheaper if bought in a kit. I need some batteries and a charger for a hammer drill and an impacr driver I bought cheap as skins off e bay. The batteries were going to be very expensive - more than what I paid for the tools. However I found a kit of the same voltage and brand that comprised a blower, 2 5 amp batteries and a charger for less than half the cost of the batteries and charger if bought individually. I was going to sell the blower as a skin to recover approximately 25% but it proved so useful I kept it. This doesnt save the old batteries but it gets your existing equipment new batteries at reasonable pricing and the opportunity to buy new tool skins. I have since bought older cordless tools with bad batteries very cheap with the intent of trying to revive them (why Im looking at this great video) but ultimately get new batteries in a cheap kit.
Right on brother I'm 84 and I really go along with what you said my name is John an old retired vet good day to you sir and keep up the good work or maybe I should just say don't give up your work
I've done this, but I paid $7 for the info on how to do it several years ago. It works fine. This is off the subject, but I have several tools that use 7.2 volt batteries. I bought 2 X 9.6 volt Chinese Makita batteries to use in my Makita hedge trimmers. I just gave it its first use today. It has more power and speed as I had hoped it would, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it would cut bigger limbs & had less trouble in stopping the sickle with jamming the blade with a limb it could not cut. Yes, I know it may decrease the life of the hedge trimmer's motor, but I'm 85 and it will probably outlast me. LOL
If you have access to a mig welder it works much faster. Ive done this at least 100 times on customers batteries. Set the mig to 2 times the voltage of the battery you are zapping. Hit it 5 times at the most. If it doesn’t come back to life then there’s a good chance it wont be saved. It took me longer to write this than it would to revive a battery.
Just a suggestion, if you keep tapping directly on the tab of that battery, it's going to end up damage the tab. Install another connector and tap on that connector. Also, no need to verify the polarity of the bad battery, cause the correct polarity has to match the good one.
@@wellnesspathforme6236 mig welder is basically wire feed thru your handle, out the nozzle, where you manually feed the wire as you go. About 1/4 inch only sticks out(wire) each time you begin. Stick welder is what you don't have, in which your handle that squeeze and put stick in. Both welders, but for different results.
@@Tecnicien I know. I kept wondering why the heck is he checking the polarity so much. Every single one of those compatible batteries are going to be exactly the same polarity on the exact same tabs or they would not work properly with the drill. Check it once on one battery. It will be the same on all and never change.
Other thing you can do with that dead battery is to make a corded power supply for your tools with a microwave transformer and a very simple rectifier circuit so you can plug and unplug the power supply easily. There are several videos how you can make a battery "rejuvenator" with pulsating charge right from the house AC current. Excellent tutorial you have done here. 👍
30-second summary: Buy a corded drill if you rarely use it. While the jump start (from a good drill battery, or even from a car battery or jump starter) generally allows for charging, the batteries may lose charge very quickly (like 1 - 2 days, or a battery may be determined as completely dead. if you don't want to spend tons of money on a new battery, then the jump start option may at least keep the battery running so you can do a basic job. From the thorough testing he did, it's unlikely older batteries are going to last that long in actual use. It's way too much of a rip off to keep buying batteries unless you are in construction and use them day to day. Corded drills do not have the clutch, which I love a lot, but you're never ever going to have to replace a battery. That's perfectly fine if you're going to use a drill once or twice a year... or less... 😊
I think you are right. The batteries are not worth the hassle. I bought a beat-up Ryobi corded drill a year ago at the pawn shop for cheap and the only time I use the Battery powered one is remote places that I don't have power or don't want to reel out fifty foot of cord.
I have just been working on one battery at the moment. I got the charge up and like you , thought this is great. Next day the battery was flat after having just sat all night. I fully charged it again and then deliberatly ran it down over the course of a day to dead flat. This time after a re charge it seems to be holding ok. Maybe in the course of rejuvenating, the batteries need to be worked to fully restore them. Just a thought. Cheers
In other words, teaching them to flex their muscles again. But remember, the material inside the cell may be dying, it's just best to replace that dead cell or that worn-out cell rather.
You need to do the tapping with a lot higher voltage than 24, that tapping is done to break the dendrites that formed inside the batteries, unless you have a broken cell your batteries should be back to life, fully charge and discharge for at least 1 cycle.
The best thing to do in this scenario is to take the old Ni-Cd packs over to H Depot And put them in the recycle bin buy the DCA2203C. This is (2)20v lithium batteries and an adapter 20v to 18v. You won’t regret it they run really good and strong on this set up and if you leave your battery in the drawer for a year it’ll still be charged ready to go.
I have rejuvenated NiCad cells with an extreme method a friend taught me. Basically it is a device that can use lethal voltages from a photoflash electrolytic capacitor. NiCads tend to develope micro crystalline strands within the cells actually shorting them out internally. Basically a circuit charges the capacitor to 350 volts and a second circuit dumps the high voltage pulse into the battery basically blowing open the internal shorts to the cells. Not compatible with Nickle metal hydride or any version of lithium batteries. This is best done outdoors in case the pack vents. It is easier to use a red marker or paint to mark the battery case with the positive contact.
I just ordered replacement cells to rebuild my 18v Default batteries. I'll save this video and come back to update how it goes. Got enough cells to replace both batteries for $55.
To save a little time you can grab the chuck with your hand and add load to the drill. I find you'll quickly hear it lose power if the cell is weak. I was using my milwaukee to drive in lag bolts and it worked fine on the new cells, but the older ones drained off quickly. Thanks for the video.
So very enlightening, to reduce landfills of batteries and more plastic, manufacturers SHOULD be MADE to produce battery packs UNSEALED, accessible or RE-MANUFACTURED by the consumer to REPLACE the bad cells of battery packs and not negate recycling them. Your video was VERY enlightening too the problems we are facing with battery producing company’s, and plastic injection mold makers that are THE PROBLEM!
@@scottmiller1916 exactly. Nicd are pretty good and last a long time, minimal waste if they could be serviced, replaced easily. Now we have to trash all these new batteries as soon their lifespan is expired and it's significantly less than NiCd. Means more waste.
I have done something similar in the past with older NiCd packs but I used a 12V -10amp bench power supply. I would tap its leads directly to the terminals of the pack. Ultimately, it often gave some extra life to get by, it often signaled the end of the pack's life shortly after that.
Another suggestion-- Put a strip of masking tape on each battery, and you can mark the voltage readings on the tape as you go, and mark with a "c" or a "t" for "charger" or "tapped." Cross off and update with a sharpie as you go. Make it easier to keep track of where each battery is in the processing.
This problem is going to be so pertinent to the rechargeable batteries for cars in the very near future someone has got to acknowledge and resolve this now
Problem is a physical issue - The battery molecules grow long and eventually short internally. Simply getting the voltage up so that the charger recognizes the battery as a valid thing to charge does not get over the physics issue of worn batteries. It may be possible to use a very high voltage for a few milliseconds to blow away the overgrown molecules and restore the battery, but I'm not sure about that.
My wife and I are in our early 60's and found your comment hysterically funny. I read the comment and she agreed that it's a physical issue and understands how the molecules grow longer and then shorter with age. I said I wanted to try to rig up a way to safely boost the charge by tapping it with higher voltage for a few seconds when she told me that the risk was too great. I might get the power up a few times, but the damage it would cause would soon make the tool unusable and the whole process might blow up in my face. When I reached the end of your comment she seemed mad and asked me why I was telling her this and what I was really trying to say? I showed her the batteries and asked what do you mean? I'm trying to get these tools to work again. She turned all red in the face and then with a giggle she said, " I thought you were trying to tell me you wanted to have an affair with someone younger".
@@eliasvalenzuela4107 Oh he knows! They are both in their 60's. When you're that age, if they've been married a reasonable length of time....they know each of them is a "keeper". How do I know? Because I'm in that exact situation, early 60's and married over 40 years.
Try running the dead ones you've zapped for multiple cycles through the charger, even if they show fully charged the first time. e.g: zapp, plug into charger, charger shows charged, lift battery, then plug right back in before putting it under load. Rinse, and repeat. This technique has worked for me in the past, seems to help break through the memory effect ceiling on terminal voltage, and run time.. Thanks for the video, and good luck! Liked, and rec'd on Twitter.
The best would be to disassemble the pack and select the faulty cell and try to revive this individually. You risk damaging the good cells with this brute force approach. It might make sense to take out a dead cell if the others are good, connect everything again and you have a good battery with slightly less voltage. From the "old" times, I do not trust the standard chargers much. For NiCd/NiMH they tended to charge with a fixed voltage, and when your end voltage dropped a little, they cook the battery to death. NiCd/NiMH should be charged with "delta peak", detecting a small reduction in voltage when the battery is full. Therefore I used the charger for my RC models, they had that feature for decades. Modern chargers, esp. for Lithium batteries, are probably way better, the electronics have been minimalized so much there should be chips for the whole program for a few bucks (probably cents; e.g. the complete platform of a smartphone (the complete electronics minus battery and minus display) sells for about 10 bucks). In the meantime there are spotwelders for batteries that sell at just 20 dollars; when building your own LiFePo batteries, soldering usually kills them.
Hey, as someone who works with both Ni-cad batteries and lead-acid as an aircraft technician, Not a great idea to try to revive Ni0Cad batteries due to likely hood of them going into a thermal runaway when hitting them with a lot of amps, it can become quite explosive.
@@moosiani1 The modern ones usually have a pressure valve, all you hear is a slight "pfff". But then the seal is broken, and the battery will die by leaking electrolyte and drying out. I cannot remember that you really got DANGEROUS problems, quite the opposite of the soft-covered lithium cells. When those blow up, they burn with about 1000°Celsius, and are hardly extinguishable, except sand or lots of fire extinguisher. RC modelers torched their cars charging on the passenger seat, or their worksheds.
I have rebuilt battery packs with batteries off the internet with very good results. I would build a dc v source to reset the old batteries. I personally think its worth it to rebuild with new batteries. I enjoyed the video. Thanks
If you can find a reasonable source for the NiCd cells, that's the best way to go. For the prices of a new pack you may have enough margin in buying the replacement cells to make it worthwhile.
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101 you can convert the nicad ones to lithium 18650 cells as well cheaply. Well worth the upgrade, no longer having these nicad related issues.
I gave my drill batterys a couple of 10seconds 'burst' with a solar panel I had . It helped a bit so that the charger 'accept' them to load ? But to be honest they only give like a 30/40 % . still better than nothing ;)
Batteries that will will not hold a full charge may well have a defective diode (electric "check valve") which minimizes the bleeding off stored power and only allows discharge in one direction as needed. No idea if this is feasible to replace on tool batteries but I have encountered this problem on older solar panels several times. .
I've seen a tutorial showing that the key to rejuvenating is bypassing the diode?/circuitry within the battery by charging directly to the cells, requiring opening the battery and connect to cells directly. Seeing this method makes me wonder if it's good to force double voltage back though the diodes in the circuit. Thus creating the arc? The circuitry should designate the minimum cell voltage needed to allow charging. Bypassing it allows any 12-20V voltage to charge cells. Zapping it through the diodes might be damaging circuits? I would try splitting the case and use a 12V charger to get it to 12V then on to the normal charger. Drain and repeat?
I am new to Dewalt. I have had Ryobi battery tools for 8-10 years. When I revived the Ryobi batteries I would take the top off to bypass the BMS logic board to charge the batteries up enough to let the BMS allow the voltage to be seen on the pedestal connector. I would assume when you are touching the pedestal on the dewalt batteries you are connecting to the output Mosfets of the BMS. You mentioned in your video that there is a tamper proof board or film inside the batteries so maybe it isn’t as easy as getting into the battery as the Ryobi (they have a tamper proof plastic plug covering one of the screws on the case). Thanks for your video. I am new to the dewalt (haven’t received my new string trimmer with batteries yet). Thanks again, all my questions are for clarification and not to judge what you are doing for any reason. All the best!
I connected my ‘dead’ DW 14.4V battery in parallel with a 12V car battery. Put them on a car battery charger. After an hour or so I got a reading of 13.8V. Then put the DW battery on the DW charger. Left it charging for a few hours. Used the drill today to disassemble kitchen units. No apparent loss of power, all day,!battery appears to be ‘like new’ I guess time will tell.
Sorry to disagree, but I have a Ryobi drill from 10-12 years back. Battery no longer chargers. Replacements are very rare and very expensive with no guarantee -- Ryobi no longer supports them. Newer batteries have a different shape to them, won't fit the drill or charger. I was hoping this video would help add new life to an old battery, but not sure after watching it. I would need a different power supply since I don't have a bunch of similar good batteries laying around.
@@davethorson3739 I never buy Ryobi replacement batteries. I pay under 30 bucks for chineese replacements. I use my tools all the time and the replacements charge and work in everything. Ryobi One Plus fits everything all the way back. I have tools over 20 years old they work in. Seems you do not.If warranties and brand name replacements are your thing. Pay more and have a warranty. I just use my tools happily.
All these old packs have 15, 1.2 volts dc nicad batteries. What happens as with all nicad's is they can only be charged so many times. The cell will probably charge and show voltage but it's amperage/capacity won't be there anymore. So when you put a dead pack on the charger it sees no voltage or the cell is not taking the charge fast enough and you get bad battery. When you put a surface charge it fools the charger and it trys to charge the good cells. After it shows charged you check the voltage and it should show the 18 volts. But because some of the cells are damaged when you run it under a load it quickly dies. The only way to get the pack back to like new is to replace the damaged cells or by another pack. Also if you buy a NiMH pack use a charger designed for NiMH batteries. They sell them on Amazon with the 18v packs.
I suggest that if there’s corrosion or carbon building up or not at all order you some DEOXIT… The wonderful liquid gold I use on almost every type of electrical contact points and even potentiometers as well. The manufacturer makes different solutions for different applications. Hopefully y’all will give this stuff a try as it’s literally saved me tons of money!! Good luck and thanks for the video..
I do not know what the market was like when he made the video but right now 12/28/22 you can get Brand New 18 V replacement batteries for $15 each on Amazon I know because I just bought them and they work perfectly. They came with a one year warranty and 90 day refund policy through Amazon. I have only had them a few days, but so far so good they charged up nicely. They fit in the charger properly and they fit into the Dewalt drill and reciprocating saw I have have. Life is too short to spend hours upon hours, buying and re packaging batteries for me. Plus, you should really use a spot welder not a soldering iron, because there is always a chance of a battery exploding with too much heat. That’s why they tell you not to put them into fire.
The way you are determining the polarity of the terminals isn't recommended. Rechargable batteries can reverse their polarity over time when left uncharged. A better way is to measure the charger terminals or a good battery to see which is the correct polarity. This trick of trying to get more life out of dead batteries is not much use as the internal resistance of the batteries goes high and the battery self discharge also will be quick. If you manage to get some extra life from the battery it's most likely going to be short lived. Unless you replace the faulty cells you are pretty much wasting your time.
Attach another short wire, or push on terminal to the dead battery and tap on that, rather than the terminal. I used a round female "bullet" connector to join my DeWalt batteries in series. The yellow is too big, but the blue or red should clip right on, no mods. Line up the split to go over the flat tab in a C-Clamp fashion. Good enough...no?
Hi, thanks for your insight you did tend to be a bit repetitive but interesting, if you feel along the tamperproof label you should find a little indentation below the surface that is a hidden screw, cheers 🍻😀
I had a smirk on my cheeky face upto 39mins in just to say to myself out loud, "Told you so." I'm a nonce with my electrical prowess, but I know you'll never get the charge reading anything past 9amps and it will constantly spike in levels. It's called degradation and you're better off biffing them in a fire for a laugh. Or just removing the cells and individually testing them then rewiring them back up in the series.. Well done Waterboy.!
Put 4 or 5 LiIon (18650) batteries and a BMS board inside those old Dewalt packs Much more power, half the weight, very long shelf life because they have very low internal leakage, and can be recharged at least twice as many times as the NiCad or NiMh batteries.... It will make a good video because you would be doing it as an average homeowner and not an electronic technician. And using a BMS board allows you to continue to use tour Dewalt chargers. A BMS will disconnect the battery from the charger when it is fully charged so there will be no possibility of overcharging them.
Question, since you brought up the bms, do the new Dewalt or Roby battery pack have BMS in them, I'm not sure. There is something else that I notice about the battery packs for tools, the voltages are getting higher and higher which is great news, so should they use bms for charging Lithium ion batteries.
@@DJRobbie54 The original NiCad battery packs did not contain a BMS. All the new ones using LiIon batteries SHOULD HAVE ONE but no guarantee. The LiIon packs with the built in BMS can be charged using the old NiCad chargers because the BMS turns off the charge circuit when the batteries are fully charged. I use the 20 volt DeWalt charger to charge batteries I converted to use 5 LiIon 18650 cells and a 20 to 30 amp BMS in them. BUT you have to use LiIon batteries rated for use in portable tools due to the high surge currents required when you first pull the trigger on the drill. If you use a modem battery it won't work because the battery voltage will drop for that instant when you pull the trigger and turn off the BMS to protect the battery. People add delay capacitors to delay the short circuit protection, but that is not a very good solution and seldom works because even if the drill starts when you pull the trigger it will shut down later when you start to put a heavy load on the drill. Often you can find LiIon batteries rated at 1200 Mah with a 10 to 30 C discharge rate (12 to 36 amps), at a cheaper price than you can find a 2200 Mah battery with only a 1C (2.2 amps) discharge rate.....Simply because people do not know what they are buying...
@@DJRobbie54 , If all of the batteries were perfectly matched, and stayed that way for their entire useful lifetime, AND the charging system knew what the charging current limit was for those batteries, the maximum voltage the pack could be charged to, and the device you were powering with them knew enough to limit the discharge current, and turn off when the battery voltage got too low........you would not need a BMS. My advice is that any time you have more than one battery hooked up in a series configuration, that you use a properly sized BMS to protect them. I have not opened any new battery packs by Dewalt or Roby; but they would not be able to leave them out of a pack and still be able to warranty the pack.
I've done full restoration of the cell packs before.. individual batteries in the pack become polarized..you can't test a battery in the pack when they are still hooked up in series...you need all batteries disconnected..then zap each battery like you did in video, check polarity again on each, then connect all ..back to normal...
This was one reason why I switched to Rigid tools. If you buy a tool with a battery included the battery has lifetime warranty as long as you register it on their site after the purchase. If you buy just the battery by itself the warranty option doe snot apply.
YES, It was a total waste of time after confirming the first battery !! This is not an ADHD friendly video. Could have, should have, been 10 minutes at the most !
So, after all that, you still had 4 bad batteries. My DeWalt with the same fast charger and 18v batteries went the same way. I ordered a new battery , for €85. On my way home, I stopped in LiDL and they had a 20v lithium ion drill, with two batteries, fast charger and a whole load of accessories for €49. Wasn’t expecting much, but I bought it so I could have something to work with, while I wait for the DeWalt one to come in. Just as well I did, because over 4 years later, I’m still waiting, but the Parkside one from LiDL is still working and still on the original two batteries. Since then, they’ve introduced a whole range of tools that use the same battery platform and the batteries themselves are available in different amp/hour capacity. I got a high capacity one for the angle grinder but I use the original pair for everything else. The DeWalt is still under my bench, waiting for me to get around to building lithium packs for it. It will be quite happy at 20v, so I’ll use the electronics from a LiDL pack to keep it balanced and make an adapter so I can charge it from the LiDL charger. Someday….
I wasn’t sure until the very end whether you were working with NiCad, NiMH or Li Ion batteries. I agree that this “jump-start” method works well but there is one thing that must be taken into consideration though. NiCad batteries have to be drained fully before recharging, if they are not then over a period of time they will lose the ability to hold a full charge. Yes they will still show full voltage but not be at full capacity. So I am wondering if that is the situation you are running into? Now that you have the batteries to the point that they will take a charge you might try draining them fully first before recharging. I believe that after several cycles of this you may be able to get them back to full capacity. Just a thought, it may just be that these batteries (being 10+ years old) may never be able to hold a full charge, but if you can get some use out of them it is worth it!
Use your old batteries that don't last long with your tools after reviving , in your lights instead of power tools. Try the light with old batteries you will be surprised how long they last.
Lots of work to force charge them. If the battery is getting hot and doesn't take a full charge, then the internal resistance is higher than it should be. This could be due to insulation breakdown, or electrolyte drying out in an area, usually due to being overheated too many times. Or dendrites have formed in places. This is the usual cause of the battery dying and won't take a charge. Back in the day when these first came out and they went bad, we would quickly zap them with reverse current, using a 50,000 to 100,000 mfd capacitor charged to 5-8 vdc. We would usually get 3 out of 5 that would be usable again. The cases have internal clips and sometimes tape that makes them stick, just pray them open with a spudge. If you have a couple that won't fully charge, open them both up and test each cell and repair the better of the two with cells from the other.
It's not the voltage that counts its the current as ohms law dictates volts x amps = watts. Hence, you need the capacity to hold power [watts] in the battery - you meter may show a good voltage but this will fall off when a load is applied [volt drop] this is because a cell in the battery is faulty. Cells deteriorate with charging cycles due to chemical reaction at a molecular level. All cells have an internal resistance which will increase as the cell deteriorates that's why they get hot. As you have said - "break open the battery and change the faulty cell" - or whilst you are at it all of the cells which are very cheap to buy and all you need is a soldering iron. By the way you can buy a dumb 24volt [for lorries - err sorry trucks to you Americans] battery charger - just make sure you don't leave it connected for more than half an hour. It's a good idea not to leave any battery in a charger un-attended as a potential fire hazard exists with this equipment. Always charge on a metal bench top [or metal plate] away from wood - if it does catch fire it will burn it's self out.
I think NiCD cells can short internally between the anode and the cathode by the formation of something in the chemistry, or it might be insulated. The high current shock breaks up this allowing the cell to pass electrons freely again and the chemistry to work as intended allowing for charging and discharging.
I tried this with about 15 batteries. They all took a charge but after a half hour they were junk again. I’ve had a 20 v kit with original batteries about 9 years seems like new.
I would use another cable on the battery contact, and then touch only the blank edges, so you avoid scorching the battery contacts. And of course it would be better to use a power supply with adjustable voltage and current. Then you have a controlled environment...
@@dancahill9122 For the next time such a battery goes down, I bought myself a small spot welder module for 20 bucks. New cells are not that expensive, but soldering them often damages them. From TH-cam reviews, the module just needs an additional capacitor to protect the transistors.
Keep in mind that NiCads when going bad or have a bad cell near-dead will read a higher voltage than they would normally when in good condition. They can be deceiving when charging a battery you may think are good. IE 12 volt Battey full charge will read peak at 14.5 + -. A bad 12 volt will go beyond 15 plus Volts. Same for Nicads 1.2v will jump to 2 plus V.Sometimes shocking them works and then not. Good luck. As someone else said a higher amp power supply would work better for that.
If a cell in the pack is dead and at zero volts, any jolting to remove the internal short is just a temporary measure, best to replace the cell in the pack if you want to salvage some life from the remaining cells. May not be worth buying new cells but maybe combining multiple bad packs to make those ones is an option.
when ni-cads went bad for ham radio HT's, we would open the battery pack and measure each cell, on bad cells, we would charge a large cap,22000 mfd or so, slowly with a variable power supply. then zap the cell with the output of the cap, used old test leads, it will spark. close it back up and charge it
Please pardon my ignorance. How is the pos/neg different on the different batterys yet they work in the tool? Would not the and the battery have to be matching?
Suggestion: Connect the bad one to a good one in parallel for a few minutes (5 minutes or so). Disconnect them and test the voltage of the bad battery. If it reaches over the threshold voltage (I think it's a little higher than 17 volts), then charge the bad one.
I'm hoping at some point you test the output voltage of your charger. I've got one I dug out of a box and I'm curious as to what the actual voltage output is.
They’ll still be okay on your torch or work lamps. I’ll give it a go on some of my old batteries. Cheers Just a thought even if you get the volts you should check the amps the way I understand it the more the amps the longer a battery last. And you could have left one of the bad batteries on the charger overnight on trickle charge see what happens.
On my 20v Dewalt I'm using a small trickle charger the pos and beg connected and I get a no connectivity light other slots charge and happy (cant find my ohms metre) good and dead batteries test like that and both won't charge on power station, good battery still powers my cordless grinder. I think both got wet in the rain tho..any ideas ? Thanks good vid!
Going to give your idea a shot but i took one of my old batteries apart and drilled a hole in it and ran a positive n negative wires to the inside..... and a very short plug outside..... a simple extension cord hooked to that with two alligator clips on the other end to hook to my truck battery and i have an emergency power out on the road if needed to run it..... It runs just fine on the 12 volts
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101 Hope i didn't mislead you thinking drilling holes directly into the batteries....:) Once the yellow cover is off i took the batteries out drilled the hole and brought out a 6" red and a black wire hooked to the leads of the tools plug in... put whatever kind of plug you want on the outside
@@notwrkn2mch To totally simplify for everyone........... he drilled a whole or 2 in THE PLASTIC BATTERY CASE, NOT the actual batteries themselves. You're welcome ! 😊😊😊
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101, LOL! Remember these two caveats: 1., If someone says "Here, hold this wire. Now, hold this other one"? Don't. 2., If someone asks you to "Hand me that capacitor off the bench"? See response number 1.
The reason for this Ni-cad phenomenon is the battery builds up a crystal lattice structure. These crystals need to break down. The shorting of the battery with high power breaks down the crystals, and current can then again flow. Batteries that have failed this way will only last for a couple more charges, and with reduced current and voltage. However, I use super capacitors to do this job, as the crystals break down easier. A dead cell will be due to internal resistance, and only replacement will recover the unit.
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101 You're very welcome. Been working with Ni-cads for over 45 years. I knew the factory engineers that gave me the information on Ni-cad cells. This works every time.
just line the battery up so neg and pos are beside each other and use a scissors to connect neg to each battery then positive the same way. Or you could use a charger with the boost or wake up feature on it.
Great info! If you register your dewalt products with dewalt they will replce them for free, but they have to be registed to you along with date and place of purchase, RECEIPTS not required.
By doing the process that you show what exactly are you doing to the battery to get your voltage goal. I have a few batteries that I would like to try this on. I thought you had to disassemble the battery and replace a cell or multiple cells.
@ 4:32 you checked the 2nd battery with the same leads the same way as the 1st but said that it showed a negative number just before an edit. So which reading is correct ?
That second battery you tested which was no charge, and you said you had the meter on backwards is wrong. Because it was facing the same way as the first one., and they all have to be facing the same direction as they only go on one way
I got 2 bad DeWalt battery packs how can i rejuvenate.according to the video you need to have 2 good battery I don’t have any (other way) perfectly explained and demonstrate THX
Will have a video coming out in the future on how to rebuild the batteries. Without any good batteries to rejuvenate I don't know of a way other than rebuild the batteries. Thanks for watching
Absolutely agree! I try very very hard NOT to buy battery tool, regardless of the advertisement promoting them. Why? Because I possess a few battery power tools. It’s a scam, frankly! My corded power tools have lasted many years ( eg 30+ yrs drill ) n are still going very strong, just flick the power switch, it works as new every time. Just change the carbon brushes if I have to. If you add up the costs of all your dead batteries, you could own a few more corded tools than you with battery ones.
@@jacobheinz8236 Yes, Jake, correct. I wanted a impact-type screw gun, but a corded one. Porter Cable made the only corded one I could find. That tool, can screw a 3" x 7/16" lag bolt in like lightning..!! I could not believe it.....it's so small and compact too...!!
For those batteries, once you determine the polarity on one battery, it will be the same for all. The charger isn't capable of switching polarities. You should start by checking a good battery or the actual output of the charger to determine correct polarity. Reading a questionable battery could be misleading.
Get a wood or plastic object that will fit inside the yellow plastic at the top and push down steadily on the plastic with the terminals while gently pulling up or prying between the yellow and black plastic battery case. There is tape and a battery cell in the upright part of the battery pack. It's crammed in there pretty tight. Be careful on the front side as there are two wires from the terminal to the cells below
Very helpful video, I have a question? I get smoke coming out of my drill, and one my battery dose not charge, when a battery goes bad is there a possibility of the battery smoking?
well done video... well spoken, but a good 110 volt drill will never need waiting for...LOL...unless the power goes out.. sometimes though a cordless is good enough, so I do have one, and probably 4 different corded drills....
We had two of the same type and they are 2013 year made. They were stored in the cast that came with a nail gun till 2022, and they charge after 4 hr. on the charger that came with the nail gun, I was incredibly happy with this. and wonder why?
TRUST ME, this is so important to our environment, we are not talking about a simple cordless drill motor that we all would like as a Father’s Day present, but the MOST IMPORTANT ENERGY CONSIDERATION WE HAVE EVER FACED, more so than the storage of spent nuclear fuel! LITHIUM and lead and plastic on such a grand scale ………Rechargeable battery cells MUST be accessible to the PUBLIC!
Suggest numbering or lettering batteries to know which is which in your collection. I have 12 and find it useful in knowing which to charge and which is bad.... "G" for 'Good' makes them all equal. Might take the 'bad' one apart and see which cells are bad/good and consider replacing the bad cells with a good one from the collection of good cells.\ I still use the lower charged batteries for my flash light or radio ... doesn't require as much power and I get some use vs as paper weight..... Video is super long and at break (4 day), became a little boring. Otherwise, interesting video! What would happen if use 3 batteries for shock treatment or maybe a battery rejuvenator on a battery charger? Thanks for the brain stimulation!
Never make the electrical contact directly to the battery terminal, you'll eventually burn the battery terminal, instead use a wire connected to the battery terminal, the wires are expendable, but the battery terminals are not. Been an electronic professional for over forty years, and i used to make that mistake as well, until i realized my mistake. I have repaired thousands of nicad batteries, and those 18 volt DeWalt batteries are so good that you can zap them throughout their lifespan and i swear they perform better than new batteries after reconditioning.🙂
I have Makita gear & bought a battery through eBay. It was made in Mexico & did not last long at all, as a result, I only buy Japanese batteries (if I can get them.)
You should understand what is going on. Old NiCds grow internal conductive spikes between the positive and negative plates, called dendrils that short out the cell. The so called rejuvination involves momentarily applying a high enough voltage with enough current capacity to blow the dendrils apart, like blowing a fuse. The results are quite variable. If you manage to "un short" all the shorted cells, the voltage voltage will return to normal but by the time this problem occurrs the cells are old and usually have reduced capacity. Also, the dendrils can grow back and the problem returns. If you are up to opening the pack, you can find the shorted cells; they read zero. You can them with another pack or a car battery. It is just a touch. Even a couple of D cells will clear a shorted cell. I find that polarity doesn't even matter when blowing out the short on individual cells. The results are very mixed. Worth a try but don't expect miracles.
18 volt de waltz drill
Thank you for your help have not charged 2 batt for 15 years will try your method. Regards Reggie
W
This is correct. I can work depending on how battery is failing. And they do make pulse charging which is what you are doing. just not sure if made for drills
This battery reconditioning program exceeded my presumptions. It worked on any drill battery, several AA and AAA batteries batery.repair and any camera battery. The steps are simple and the act itself is exciting to do. No matter what type of battery you`ve got, it is sure to function again!
thanks for watching
06llllp0 it
ALL AA and AAA batteries which say "do not recharge!" is a LIE. I've been using the same batteries I've had for over 2yrs now. A simple way to prove this, is to put your batteries in a solar garden light and they will fully recharge.
With car batteries, they "Seal" them so you can't top up the battery with distilled water, so they malfunction and we throw them away... this is all been purposely created to create an unquestioning throw-away society... all over the Globe... 🙂
A good way to test the performance of your battery is to drill a large wood screw into a 4x4 or other thick piece of wood. The sound of the drill isn't a very good indicator of whether or not the battery can deliver enough current to be useful. Always test under a load.
Suggestion: on the red wire you are tapping the + terminal with, wire it to a switch and another wire on the other side of the switch with a terminal to connect it to the battery. Any on/off switch (ex: wall switch) will work. Much easier and faster than having it arc on the battery terminal and having to keep attaching and removing the wires.
A button switch
Switch's contacts could get welded together.
Add a short wire so you can touch wire to wire and not mess up the battery terminal.
Do not use a switch. Instead, use two brass rods with a heavy spring. Tappie, tap, tap. for about 30 times will do the trick.
good idea. he just winged it and was successful. thats where the kudos lie. any embellishment afterwards is progression and how we take the most rudimentary of ideas and make the best even better. I use an rc car battery charger and DC power supplies when i have battery woes. Now that i have watched this i can set my target voltage and amperage if need be. Add your inline switch, and I have a marketable product (Patent pending) that is just guys sharing knowledge of what they come across in their day to day. Which is clearly why the first local pub was built, and then ............? good day all.
Great to see that there are many like-minded people who find it hard to give up on tools just because they are old and worn out. I can only hope that being in my seventies that the same sentiments apply to me.
I have used similar a method, although much more brutal (arc welder) to revive nicad batteries in the past. However depending on the extent and frequency of use and charging they generally did not last much longer.
If the drill/tool is a popular make and the batteries are still available instead of paying exorbitant prices for individual batteries they can be a lot cheaper if bought in a kit.
I need some batteries and a charger for a hammer drill and an impacr driver I bought cheap as skins off e bay.
The batteries were going to be very expensive - more than what I paid for the tools. However I found a kit of the same voltage and brand that comprised a blower, 2 5 amp batteries and a charger for less than half the cost of the batteries and charger if bought individually.
I was going to sell the blower as a skin to recover approximately 25% but it proved so useful I kept it.
This doesnt save the old batteries but it gets your existing equipment new batteries at reasonable pricing and the opportunity to buy new tool skins.
I have since bought older cordless tools with bad batteries very cheap with the intent of trying to revive them (why Im looking at this great video) but ultimately get new batteries in a cheap kit.
Right on brother I'm 84 and I really go along with what you said my name is John an old retired vet good day to you sir and keep up the good work or maybe I should just say don't give up your work
I did it with only one battery instead of two like you did. It worked great and the battery is still working great after three years.
Glad to hear, thanks for watching
@Thehomedesigner all depends on how many cells are dead and how many are good, mix and match
I've done this, but I paid $7 for the info on how to do it several years ago. It works fine. This is off the subject, but I have several tools that use 7.2 volt batteries. I bought 2 X 9.6 volt Chinese Makita batteries to use in my Makita hedge trimmers. I just gave it its first use today. It has more power and speed as I had hoped it would, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it would cut bigger limbs & had less trouble in stopping the sickle with jamming the blade with a limb it could not cut. Yes, I know it may decrease the life of the hedge trimmer's motor, but I'm 85 and it will probably outlast me. LOL
Old men in the US usually live over 90...so hang on.
Surprised that the two different voltage packs fit the same tool.
If you have access to a mig welder it works much faster. Ive done this at least 100 times on customers batteries. Set the mig to 2 times the voltage of the battery you are zapping. Hit it 5 times at the most. If it doesn’t come back to life then there’s a good chance it wont be saved. It took me longer to write this than it would to revive a battery.
Yes
Just a suggestion, if you keep tapping directly on the tab of that battery, it's going to end up damage the tab. Install another connector and tap on that connector. Also, no need to verify the polarity of the bad battery, cause the correct polarity has to match the good one.
I have a welder, but not sure if it is a mig welder. It allows me to select amps. Can I use it for this process?
@@wellnesspathforme6236 mig welder is basically wire feed thru your handle, out the nozzle, where you manually feed the wire as you go. About 1/4 inch only sticks out(wire) each time you begin. Stick welder is what you don't have, in which your handle that squeeze and put stick in. Both welders, but for different results.
@@Tecnicien I know. I kept wondering why the heck is he checking the polarity so much. Every single one of those compatible batteries are going to be exactly the same polarity on the exact same tabs or they would not work properly with the drill. Check it once on one battery. It will be the same on all and never change.
Other thing you can do with that dead battery is to make a corded power supply for your tools with a microwave transformer and a very simple rectifier circuit so you can plug and unplug the power supply easily.
There are several videos how you can make a battery "rejuvenator" with pulsating charge right from the house AC current.
Excellent tutorial you have done here.
👍
Okay will look into that. Thanks for watching.
30-second summary: Buy a corded drill if you rarely use it. While the jump start (from a good drill battery, or even from a car battery or jump starter) generally allows for charging, the batteries may lose charge very quickly (like 1 - 2 days, or a battery may be determined as completely dead. if you don't want to spend tons of money on a new battery, then the jump start option may at least keep the battery running so you can do a basic job. From the thorough testing he did, it's unlikely older batteries are going to last that long in actual use. It's way too much of a rip off to keep buying batteries unless you are in construction and use them day to day.
Corded drills do not have the clutch, which I love a lot, but you're never ever going to have to replace a battery. That's perfectly fine if you're going to use a drill once or twice a year... or less... 😊
I think you are right. The batteries are not worth the hassle. I bought a beat-up Ryobi corded drill a year ago at the pawn shop for cheap and the only time I use the Battery powered one is remote places that I don't have power or don't want to reel out fifty foot of cord.
I have just been working on one battery at the moment. I got the charge up and like you , thought this is great. Next day the battery was flat after having just sat all night. I fully charged it again and then deliberatly ran it down over the course of a day to dead flat. This time after a re charge it seems to be holding ok. Maybe in the course of rejuvenating, the batteries need to be worked to fully restore them. Just a thought. Cheers
In other words, teaching them to flex their muscles again. But remember, the material inside the cell may be dying, it's just best to replace that dead cell or that worn-out cell rather.
You need to do the tapping with a lot higher voltage than 24, that tapping is done to break the dendrites that formed inside the batteries, unless you have a broken cell your batteries should be back to life, fully charge and discharge for at least 1 cycle.
At 11:59 - He is definitely using 38 volts to tap. Where did you get 24 volts from?
Dendrites? Stalagmite? Termites...
@@donavonbebo7906 LOL
The best thing to do in this scenario is to take the old Ni-Cd packs over to H Depot And put them in the recycle bin buy the DCA2203C. This is (2)20v lithium batteries and an adapter 20v to 18v. You won’t regret it they run really good and strong on this set up and if you leave your battery in the drawer for a year it’ll still be charged ready to go.
What do you use to charge the LiIons with?
I have rejuvenated NiCad cells with an extreme method a friend taught me. Basically it is a device that can use lethal voltages from a photoflash electrolytic capacitor. NiCads tend to develope micro crystalline strands within the cells actually shorting them out internally. Basically a circuit charges the capacitor to 350 volts and a second circuit dumps the high voltage pulse into the battery basically blowing open the internal shorts to the cells. Not compatible with Nickle metal hydride or any version of lithium batteries. This is best done outdoors in case the pack vents.
It is easier to use a red marker or paint to mark the battery case with the positive contact.
Best bet is to replace the nicad cells in the battery pack with lithium ion cells. Doing this is a good way to get the nicads to explode.
I just ordered replacement cells to rebuild my 18v Default batteries. I'll save this video and come back to update how it goes. Got enough cells to replace both batteries for $55.
To save a little time you can grab the chuck with your hand and add load to the drill. I find you'll quickly hear it lose power if the cell is weak. I was using my milwaukee to drive in lag bolts and it worked fine on the new cells, but the older ones drained off quickly. Thanks for the video.
Good tip!
So very enlightening, to reduce landfills of batteries and more plastic, manufacturers SHOULD be MADE to produce battery packs UNSEALED, accessible or RE-MANUFACTURED by the consumer to REPLACE the bad cells of battery packs and not negate recycling them. Your video was VERY enlightening too the problems we are facing with battery producing company’s, and plastic injection mold makers that are THE PROBLEM!
@@scottmiller1916 exactly. Nicd are pretty good and last a long time, minimal waste if they could be serviced, replaced easily. Now we have to trash all these new batteries as soon their lifespan is expired and it's significantly less than NiCd. Means more waste.
I have done something similar in the past with older NiCd packs but I used a 12V -10amp bench power supply. I would tap its leads directly to the terminals of the pack. Ultimately, it often gave some extra life to get by, it often signaled the end of the pack's life shortly after that.
thanks for watching
Another suggestion-- Put a strip of masking tape on each battery, and you can mark the voltage readings on the tape as you go, and mark with a "c" or a "t" for "charger" or "tapped." Cross off and update with a sharpie as you go. Make it easier to keep track of where each battery is in the processing.
😊
You can also take the battery apart and charge the cells individually. Sometimes one or two cells need to be replaced.
This problem is going to be so pertinent to the rechargeable batteries for cars in the very near future someone has got to acknowledge and resolve this now
Problem is a physical issue - The battery molecules grow long and eventually short internally. Simply getting the voltage up so that the charger recognizes the battery as a valid thing to charge does not get over the physics issue of worn batteries.
It may be possible to use a very high voltage for a few milliseconds to blow away the overgrown molecules and restore the battery, but I'm not sure about that.
My wife and I are in our early 60's and found your comment hysterically funny. I read the comment and she agreed that it's a physical issue and understands how the molecules grow longer and then shorter with age. I said I wanted to try to rig up a way to safely boost the charge by tapping it with higher voltage for a few seconds when she told me that the risk was too great. I might get the power up a few times, but the damage it would cause would soon make the tool unusable and the whole process might blow up in my face. When I reached the end of your comment she seemed mad and asked me why I was telling her this and what I was really trying to say? I showed her the batteries and asked what do you mean? I'm trying to get these tools to work again. She turned all red in the face and then with a giggle she said, " I thought you were trying to tell me you wanted to have an affair with someone younger".
@@norvelcurtis3542 LMAO!!!...She's a keeper!
@@eliasvalenzuela4107 Oh he knows! They are both in their 60's. When you're that age, if they've been married a reasonable length of time....they know each of them is a "keeper". How do I know? Because I'm in that exact situation, early 60's and married over 40 years.
This what I'm looking forward too!??..I've been married for 20 years, only 45 now, It gives me hope!!...Thanks
Tried it on a dead battery and restored it instantly! Thanks.
Try running the dead ones you've zapped for multiple cycles through the charger, even if they show fully charged the first time.
e.g: zapp, plug into charger, charger shows charged, lift battery, then plug right back in before putting it under load. Rinse, and repeat.
This technique has worked for me in the past, seems to help break through the memory effect ceiling on terminal voltage, and run time..
Thanks for the video, and good luck! Liked, and rec'd on Twitter.
The best would be to disassemble the pack and select the faulty cell and try to revive this individually. You risk damaging the good cells with this brute force approach.
It might make sense to take out a dead cell if the others are good, connect everything again and you have a good battery with slightly less voltage.
From the "old" times, I do not trust the standard chargers much. For NiCd/NiMH they tended to charge with a fixed voltage, and when your end voltage dropped a little, they cook the battery to death.
NiCd/NiMH should be charged with "delta peak", detecting a small reduction in voltage when the battery is full. Therefore I used the charger for my RC models, they had that feature for decades.
Modern chargers, esp. for Lithium batteries, are probably way better, the electronics have been minimalized so much there should be chips for the whole program for a few bucks (probably cents; e.g. the complete platform of a smartphone (the complete electronics minus battery and minus display) sells for about 10 bucks).
In the meantime there are spotwelders for batteries that sell at just 20 dollars; when building your own LiFePo batteries, soldering usually kills them.
Hey, as someone who works with both Ni-cad batteries and lead-acid as an aircraft technician, Not a great idea to try to revive Ni0Cad batteries due to likely hood of them going into a thermal runaway when hitting them with a lot of amps, it can become quite explosive.
Have you ever seen one blow up? Just curious what kind of explosion they would give.
@@moosiani1 The modern ones usually have a pressure valve, all you hear is a slight "pfff". But then the seal is broken, and the battery will die by leaking electrolyte and drying out.
I cannot remember that you really got DANGEROUS problems, quite the opposite of the soft-covered lithium cells. When those blow up, they burn with about 1000°Celsius, and are hardly extinguishable, except sand or lots of fire extinguisher.
RC modelers torched their cars charging on the passenger seat, or their worksheds.
Sometimes they blow the end of the battery off. If too hot.
Ni cads should be deep cycled and shorted overnight to balance the cells
Do satellites that nasa send on long missions not have Ni cad batteries for the exact reason you can shock them back to life
I have rebuilt battery packs with batteries off the internet with very good results. I would build a dc v source to reset the old batteries. I personally think its worth it to rebuild with new batteries. I enjoyed the video. Thanks
thanks for the tip and I plan on doing a battery rebuild and may make it a video. Thanks for watching
If you can find a reasonable source for the NiCd cells, that's the best way to go. For the prices of a new pack you may have enough margin in buying the replacement cells to make it worthwhile.
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101 you can convert the nicad ones to lithium 18650 cells as well cheaply. Well worth the upgrade, no longer having these nicad related issues.
I gave my drill batterys a couple of 10seconds 'burst' with a solar panel I had . It helped a bit so that the charger 'accept' them to load ? But to be honest they only give like a 30/40 % . still better than nothing ;)
Replacing the bad cell/s would give you maybe 90%-95% result, it's the ONLY way to get results.
Batteries that will will not hold a full charge may well have a defective diode (electric "check valve") which minimizes the bleeding off stored power and only allows discharge in one direction as needed. No idea if this is feasible to replace on tool batteries but I have encountered this problem on older solar panels several times. .
Sounds interesting getting to know diode replacement cost to replacing whilebattery
I've seen a tutorial showing that the key to rejuvenating is bypassing the diode?/circuitry within the battery by charging directly to the cells, requiring opening the battery and connect to cells directly. Seeing this method makes me wonder if it's good to force double voltage back though the diodes in the circuit. Thus creating the arc? The circuitry should designate the minimum cell voltage needed to allow charging. Bypassing it allows any 12-20V voltage to charge cells. Zapping it through the diodes might be damaging circuits? I would try splitting the case and use a 12V charger to get it to 12V then on to the normal charger. Drain and repeat?
I am new to Dewalt. I have had Ryobi battery tools for 8-10 years. When I revived the Ryobi batteries I would take the top off to bypass the BMS logic board to charge the batteries up enough to let the BMS allow the voltage to be seen on the pedestal connector. I would assume when you are touching the pedestal on the dewalt batteries you are connecting to the output Mosfets of the BMS. You mentioned in your video that there is a tamper proof board or film inside the batteries so maybe it isn’t as easy as getting into the battery as the Ryobi (they have a tamper proof plastic plug covering one of the screws on the case). Thanks for your video. I am new to the dewalt (haven’t received my new string trimmer with batteries yet). Thanks again, all my questions are for clarification and not to judge what you are doing for any reason. All the best!
I connected my ‘dead’ DW 14.4V battery in parallel with a 12V car battery. Put them on a car battery charger. After an hour or so I got a reading of 13.8V. Then put the DW battery on the DW charger. Left it charging for a few hours. Used the drill today to disassemble kitchen units. No apparent loss of power, all day,!battery appears to be ‘like new’ I guess time will tell.
Ryobi is my happy place. New batteries work in ALL their old tool of the same voltage.
Sorry to disagree, but I have a Ryobi drill from 10-12 years back. Battery no longer chargers. Replacements are very rare and very expensive with no guarantee -- Ryobi no longer supports them. Newer batteries have a different shape to them, won't fit the drill or charger. I was hoping this video would help add new life to an old battery, but not sure after watching it. I would need a different power supply since I don't have a bunch of similar good batteries laying around.
@@davethorson3739 I never buy Ryobi replacement batteries. I pay under 30 bucks for chineese replacements. I use my tools all the time and the replacements charge and work in everything. Ryobi One Plus fits everything all the way back. I have tools over 20 years old they work in. Seems you do not.If warranties and brand name replacements are your thing. Pay more and have a warranty. I just use my tools happily.
@@davethorson3739 èeèè
All these old packs have 15, 1.2 volts dc nicad batteries. What happens as with all nicad's is they can only be charged so many times. The cell will probably charge and show voltage but it's amperage/capacity won't be there anymore. So when you put a dead pack on the charger it sees no voltage or the cell is not taking the charge fast enough and you get bad battery. When you put a surface charge it fools the charger and it trys to charge the good cells. After it shows charged you check the voltage and it should show the 18 volts. But because some of the cells are damaged when you run it under a load it quickly dies. The only way to get the pack back to like new is to replace the damaged cells or by another pack. Also if you buy a NiMH pack use a charger designed for NiMH batteries. They sell them on Amazon with the 18v packs.
Very true, what you said about the old cells and then buying new cells, and then the battery packs theirself .
@@jeffreykbevins7116 I rebuilt a pack, but then found it was cheaper and easier to buy a off brand NiMH pack that comes with a charger.
I watched your video very carefully,you are showing entirely different 38 volt 👍👍👍👍LET SEE IT WORK FOR ME 👍👍👍👍👍👍
That is advanced diy you teaching all along the way is priceless very good video sir
Thanks so much, glad you liked it, hope you like more of my videos, thanks for watching.
Also a good idea to first check the plugs for dirt, grime or carbon buildup and clean or scrape as necessary.
Q
I suggest that if there’s corrosion or carbon building up or not at all order you some DEOXIT…
The wonderful liquid gold I use on almost every type of electrical contact points and even potentiometers as well.
The manufacturer makes different solutions for different applications.
Hopefully y’all will give this stuff a try as it’s literally saved me tons of money!!
Good luck and thanks for the video..
I do not know what the market was like when he made the video but right now 12/28/22 you can get Brand New 18 V replacement batteries for $15 each on Amazon I know because I just bought them and they work perfectly. They came with a one year warranty and 90 day refund policy through Amazon. I have only had them a few days, but so far so good they charged up nicely. They fit in the charger properly and they fit into the Dewalt drill and reciprocating saw I have have. Life is too short to spend hours upon hours, buying and re packaging batteries for me. Plus, you should really use a spot welder not a soldering iron, because there is always a chance of a battery exploding with too much heat. That’s why they tell you not to put them into fire.
The way you are determining the polarity of the terminals isn't recommended.
Rechargable batteries can reverse their polarity over time when left uncharged.
A better way is to measure the charger terminals or a good battery to see which is the correct polarity. This trick of trying to get more life out of dead batteries is not much use as the internal resistance of the batteries goes high and the battery self discharge also will be quick. If you manage to get some extra life from the battery it's most likely going to be short lived. Unless you replace the faulty cells you are pretty much wasting your time.
Attach another short wire, or push on terminal to the dead battery and tap on that, rather than the terminal.
I used a round female "bullet" connector to join my DeWalt batteries in series. The yellow is too big, but the blue or red should clip right on, no mods. Line up the split to go over the flat tab in a C-Clamp fashion. Good enough...no?
Hi, thanks for your insight you did tend to be a bit repetitive but interesting, if you feel along the tamperproof label you should find a little indentation below the surface that is a hidden screw, cheers 🍻😀
I had a smirk on my cheeky face upto 39mins in just to say to myself out loud, "Told you so." I'm a nonce with my electrical prowess, but I know you'll never get the charge reading anything past 9amps and it will constantly spike in levels. It's called degradation and you're better off biffing them in a fire for a laugh. Or just removing the cells and individually testing them then rewiring them back up in the series.. Well done Waterboy.!
Put 4 or 5 LiIon (18650) batteries and a BMS board inside those old Dewalt packs
Much more power, half the weight, very long shelf life because they have very low internal leakage, and can be recharged at least twice as many times as the NiCad or NiMh batteries....
It will make a good video because you would be doing it as an average homeowner and not an electronic technician. And using a BMS board allows you to continue to use tour Dewalt chargers.
A BMS will disconnect the battery from the charger when it is fully charged so there will be no possibility of overcharging them.
yep that'll work little bit more work but worth it
Is anyone selling these packages with 18650 with bms boards? I assume you need a lithium ion charger would be another problem
Question, since you brought up the bms, do the new Dewalt or Roby battery pack have BMS in them, I'm not sure. There is something else that I notice about the battery packs for tools, the voltages are getting higher and higher which is great news, so should they use bms for charging Lithium ion batteries.
@@DJRobbie54
The original NiCad battery packs did not contain a BMS.
All the new ones using LiIon batteries SHOULD HAVE ONE but no guarantee.
The LiIon packs with the built in BMS can be charged using the old NiCad chargers because the BMS turns off the charge circuit when the batteries are fully charged.
I use the 20 volt DeWalt charger to charge batteries I converted to use 5 LiIon 18650 cells and a 20 to 30 amp BMS in them.
BUT you have to use LiIon batteries rated for use in portable tools due to the high surge currents required when you first pull the trigger on the drill.
If you use a modem battery it won't work because the battery voltage will drop for that instant when you pull the trigger and turn off the BMS to protect the battery.
People add delay capacitors to delay the short circuit protection, but that is not a very good solution and seldom works because even if the drill starts when you pull the trigger it will shut down later when you start to put a heavy load on the drill.
Often you can find LiIon batteries rated at 1200 Mah with a 10 to 30 C discharge rate (12 to 36 amps), at a cheaper price than you can find a 2200 Mah battery with only a 1C (2.2 amps) discharge rate.....Simply because people do not know what they are buying...
@@DJRobbie54 ,
If all of the batteries were perfectly matched, and stayed that way for their entire useful lifetime, AND the charging system knew what the charging current limit was for those batteries, the maximum voltage the pack could be charged to, and the device you were powering with them knew enough to limit the discharge current, and turn off when the battery voltage got too low........you would not need a BMS.
My advice is that any time you have more than one battery hooked up in a series configuration, that you use a properly sized BMS to protect them.
I have not opened any new battery packs by Dewalt or Roby; but they would not be able to leave them out of a pack and still be able to warranty the pack.
ThankYou! Worked for me. The first touch was very bright spark almost blinded be for a few seconds.
I've done full restoration of the cell packs before.. individual batteries in the pack become polarized..you can't test a battery in the pack when they are still hooked up in series...you need all batteries disconnected..then zap each battery like you did in video, check polarity again on each, then connect all ..back to normal...
Okay thanks for that. Thanks for watching.
Lower than 3.7 volts it will not charge. As long as you’re over 3.7 V you can plug that in a charger as long as no cells are bad.
There is another screw under that tamper label. You can peel the edge up and get to the screw. I’ve done it
I did the same thing too that guy does not know shit
I TRY THIS YEARS AGO IT WORKS VERY GOOD THANK YOU
Wonderful!
Appreciate all the time put into this project...gives me hope for my Dewalt batteries!
Thanks for watching and glad you liked it.
This was one reason why I switched to Rigid tools. If you buy a tool with a battery included the battery has lifetime warranty as long as you register it on their site after the purchase. If you buy just the battery by itself the warranty option doe snot apply.
Didn't know that thanks for sharing.
Rigid batteries alone have a 3 yr warranty.
Yeah but Rigid isn’t a pro tool line, and the tools they make are of no interest to anyone who uses their tools to make a living.
If all these packs work in the same device, wouldn't positive always be the front terminal? i.e. shouldn't the polarity be uniform?
YES, It was a total waste of time after confirming the first battery !! This is not an ADHD friendly video. Could have, should have, been 10 minutes at the most !
You are smarter than the guy doing the video!
Pp huh
Jó lol
No
So, after all that, you still had 4 bad batteries.
My DeWalt with the same fast charger and 18v batteries went the same way.
I ordered a new battery , for €85.
On my way home, I stopped in LiDL and they had a 20v lithium ion drill, with two batteries, fast charger and a whole load of accessories for €49.
Wasn’t expecting much, but I bought it so I could have something to work with, while I wait for the DeWalt one to come in.
Just as well I did, because over 4 years later, I’m still waiting, but the Parkside one from LiDL is still working and still on the original two batteries.
Since then, they’ve introduced a whole range of tools that use the same battery platform and the batteries themselves are available in different amp/hour capacity. I got a high capacity one for the angle grinder but I use the original pair for everything else.
The DeWalt is still under my bench, waiting for me to get around to building lithium packs for it.
It will be quite happy at 20v, so I’ll use the electronics from a LiDL pack to keep it balanced and make an adapter so I can charge it from the LiDL charger. Someday….
I wasn’t sure until the very end whether you were working with NiCad, NiMH or Li Ion batteries. I agree that this “jump-start” method works well but there is one thing that must be taken into consideration though. NiCad batteries have to be drained fully before recharging, if they are not then over a period of time they will lose the ability to hold a full charge. Yes they will still show full voltage but not be at full capacity. So I am wondering if that is the situation you are running into? Now that you have the batteries to the point that they will take a charge you might try draining them fully first before recharging. I believe that after several cycles of this you may be able to get them back to full capacity. Just a thought, it may just be that these batteries (being 10+ years old) may never be able to hold a full charge, but if you can get some use out of them it is worth it!
He said several times those were NiCad batteries in the first introduction.
@@johnirwin1837 I must have missed his saying these were NiCads. Thank you for pointing it out to me.
Use your old batteries that don't last long with your tools after reviving , in your lights instead of power tools. Try the light with old batteries you will be surprised how long they last.
What happened was that sparking them shorted out the capacitors that why they lost their charge
How do you tell the positive from the negative? can I use a 20v to jump start a 40 v Thanks
I have done this with the same results , worth the effort!
Thanks for watching
Lots of work to force charge them. If the battery is getting hot and doesn't take a full charge, then the internal resistance is higher than it should be. This could be due to insulation breakdown, or electrolyte drying out in an area, usually due to being overheated too many times. Or dendrites have formed in places. This is the usual cause of the battery dying and won't take a charge. Back in the day when these first came out and they went bad, we would quickly zap them with reverse current, using a 50,000 to 100,000 mfd capacitor charged to 5-8 vdc. We would usually get 3 out of 5 that would be usable again.
The cases have internal clips and sometimes tape that makes them stick, just pray them open with a spudge. If you have a couple that won't fully charge, open them both up and test each cell and repair the better of the two with cells from the other.
It's not the voltage that counts its the current as ohms law dictates volts x amps = watts. Hence, you need the capacity to hold power [watts] in the battery - you meter may show a good voltage but this will fall off when a load is applied [volt drop] this is because a cell in the battery is faulty. Cells deteriorate with charging cycles due to chemical reaction at a molecular level. All cells have an internal resistance which will increase as the cell deteriorates that's why they get hot. As you have said - "break open the battery and change the faulty cell" - or whilst you are at it all of the cells which are very cheap to buy and all you need is a soldering iron. By the way you can buy a dumb 24volt [for lorries - err sorry trucks to you Americans] battery charger - just make sure you don't leave it connected for more than half an hour. It's a good idea not to leave any battery in a charger un-attended as a potential fire hazard exists with this equipment. Always charge on a metal bench top [or metal plate] away from wood - if it does catch fire it will burn it's self out.
I think NiCD cells can short internally between the anode and the cathode by the formation of something in the chemistry, or it might be insulated. The high current shock breaks up this allowing the cell to pass electrons freely again and the chemistry to work as intended allowing for charging and discharging.
I tried this with about 15 batteries. They all took a charge but after a half hour they were junk again. I’ve had a 20 v kit with original batteries about 9 years seems like new.
Thank you for this info. But does this work on Ryobi 20v lithium ion batteries?
I would use another cable on the battery contact, and then touch only the blank edges, so you avoid scorching the battery contacts.
And of course it would be better to use a power supply with adjustable voltage and current. Then you have a controlled environment...
Thank you. Great idea on not schorching the battery terminals.
@@dancahill9122 For the next time such a battery goes down, I bought myself a small spot welder module for 20 bucks. New cells are not that expensive, but soldering them often damages them.
From TH-cam reviews, the module just needs an additional capacitor to protect the transistors.
This is a GREAT Idea, using a power supply with adjustable voltage.
You need a small tipped soldering iron, (not a big soldering gun) that is for electronic work that doesn't get so hot when soldering them together .
Keep in mind that NiCads when going bad or have a bad cell near-dead will read a higher voltage than they would normally when in good condition. They can be deceiving when charging a battery you may think are good.
IE 12 volt Battey full charge will read peak at 14.5 + -. A bad 12 volt will go beyond 15 plus Volts.
Same for Nicads 1.2v will jump to 2 plus V.Sometimes shocking them works and then not. Good luck.
As someone else said a higher amp power supply would work better for that.
If a cell in the pack is dead and at zero volts, any jolting to remove the internal short is just a temporary measure, best to replace the cell in the pack if you want to salvage some life from the remaining cells. May not be worth buying new cells but maybe combining multiple bad packs to make those ones is an option.
when ni-cads went bad for ham radio HT's, we would open the battery pack and measure each cell, on bad cells, we would charge a large cap,22000 mfd or so, slowly with a variable power supply. then zap the cell with the output of the cap, used old test leads, it will spark. close it back up and charge it
Please pardon my ignorance. How is the pos/neg different on the different batterys yet they work in the tool? Would not the and the battery have to be matching?
Suggestion: Connect the bad one to a good one in parallel for a few minutes (5 minutes or so). Disconnect them and test the voltage of the bad battery. If it reaches over the threshold voltage (I think it's a little higher than 17 volts), then charge the bad one.
From the experiences I've had with these most of the time they will function normally once you hit around 10.2 volts dc
I'm hoping at some point you test the output voltage of your charger. I've got one I dug out of a box and I'm curious as to what the actual voltage output is.
They’ll still be okay on your torch or work lamps. I’ll give it a go on some of my old batteries. Cheers
Just a thought even if you get the volts you should check the amps the way I understand it the more the amps the longer a battery last. And you could have left one of the bad batteries on the charger overnight on trickle charge see what happens.
How can you tell if your battery charger is good or bad when do you have to replace your battery charger
On my 20v Dewalt I'm using a small trickle charger the pos and beg connected and I get a no connectivity light other slots charge and happy (cant find my ohms metre) good and dead batteries test like that and both won't charge on power station, good battery still powers my cordless grinder. I think both got wet in the rain tho..any ideas ? Thanks good vid!
Going to give your idea a shot but i took one of my old batteries apart and drilled a hole in it and ran a positive n negative wires to the inside..... and a very short plug outside..... a simple extension cord hooked to that with two alligator clips on the other end to hook to my truck battery and i have an emergency power out on the road if needed to run it..... It runs just fine on the 12 volts
Thanks for watching the video and your comment. Interesting concept on drilling the hole in the battery.
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101 Hope i didn't mislead you thinking drilling holes directly into the batteries....:)
Once the yellow cover is off i took the batteries out drilled the hole and brought out a 6" red and a black wire hooked to the leads of the tools plug in... put whatever kind of plug you want on the outside
@@notwrkn2mch To totally simplify for everyone........... he drilled a whole or 2 in THE PLASTIC BATTERY CASE, NOT the actual batteries themselves.
You're welcome ! 😊😊😊
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101, LOL! Remember these two caveats: 1., If someone says "Here, hold this wire. Now, hold this other one"? Don't. 2., If someone asks you to "Hand me that capacitor off the bench"? See response number 1.
My ni-cads left my house several years ago once lithium became widely available. The lithium battery price is still steep though.
You might have some bad cells, you can buy them most anywhere, just requires some cleaning and soldeing for a like new battery.
Also to cool down the batteries you can place in the freezer for a short period of time
Is it OK to jump start a 18v battery with a 20v good battery please let me know thx.
The reason for this Ni-cad phenomenon is the battery builds up a crystal lattice structure. These crystals need to break down. The shorting of the battery with high power breaks down the crystals, and current can then again flow. Batteries that have failed this way will only last for a couple more charges, and with reduced current and voltage. However, I use super capacitors to do this job, as the crystals break down easier. A dead cell will be due to internal resistance, and only replacement will recover the unit.
thanks for that information. Thanks for watching
@@OakleysDIYHomeRenovation101 You're very welcome. Been working with Ni-cads for over 45 years. I knew the factory engineers that gave me the information on Ni-cad cells. This works every time.
just line the battery up so neg and pos are beside each other and use a scissors to connect neg to each battery then positive the same way. Or you could use a charger with the boost or wake up feature on it.
I wonder if this would work the same with 40v ones, I have one that says its charged but wont take a charge, I wonder if a cell is bad
Switching those batteries around like you did reminds me of the Three Card Monte game.
Great info! If you register your dewalt products with dewalt they will replce them for free, but they have to be registed to you along with date and place of purchase, RECEIPTS not required.
Yes I have found that out and unfortunately didn't register these batteries. Thanks for the info
If you blow up a battery on purpose, would that be “Assultin’ Battery”?
By doing the process that you show what exactly are you doing to the battery to get your voltage goal. I have a few batteries that I would like to try this on. I thought you had to disassemble the battery and replace a cell or multiple cells.
How many minutes will they costantly run no load speed then you will be able to seperate Wheat from Schaff?
I also used 120 v wall circuit to regenerate or awaken the old batteries inside the battery pack
@ 4:32 you checked the 2nd battery with the same leads the same way as the 1st but said that it showed a negative number just before an edit. So which reading is correct ?
That second battery you tested which was no charge, and you said you had the meter on backwards is wrong. Because it was facing the same way as the first one., and they all have to be facing the same direction as they only go on one way
I got 2 bad DeWalt battery packs how can i rejuvenate.according to the video you need to have 2 good battery I don’t have any (other way) perfectly explained and demonstrate THX
Will have a video coming out in the future on how to rebuild the batteries. Without any good batteries to rejuvenate I don't know of a way other than rebuild the batteries. Thanks for watching
Good reassurance to me, of why I only use corded tools. The power of a corded tool vs a battery tool is no contest......
Absolutely agree! I try very very hard NOT to buy battery tool, regardless of the advertisement promoting them. Why? Because I possess a few battery power tools. It’s a scam, frankly! My corded power tools have lasted many years ( eg 30+ yrs drill ) n are still going very strong, just flick the power switch, it works as new every time. Just change the carbon brushes if I have to. If you add up the costs of all your dead batteries, you could own a few more corded tools than you with battery ones.
Yes, but try to run your corded brad nailer on the roof top and see.
And, by walking you never need to worry about running out of gas.
@@jacobheinz8236 Yes, Jake, correct. I wanted a impact-type screw gun, but a corded one. Porter Cable made the only corded one I could find. That tool, can screw a 3" x 7/16" lag bolt in like lightning..!! I could not believe it.....it's so small and compact too...!!
@@VRUAN That's right!
For those batteries, once you determine the polarity on one battery, it will be the same for all. The charger isn't capable of switching polarities. You should start by checking a good battery or the actual output of the charger to determine correct polarity. Reading a questionable battery could be misleading.
my thoughts exactly.
Get a wood or plastic object that will fit inside the yellow plastic at the top and push down steadily on the plastic with the terminals while gently pulling up or prying between the yellow and black plastic battery case. There is tape and a battery cell in the upright part of the battery pack. It's crammed in there pretty tight. Be careful on the front side as there are two wires from the terminal to the cells below
I think you are taking a chance at damaging your good batteries . Really should use some other voltage source !
Very helpful video, I have a question? I get smoke coming out of my drill, and one my battery dose not charge, when a battery goes bad is there a possibility of the battery smoking?
never had a battery smoke but did have a drill smoke. I took it apart and cleaned all the brush dust out and that fixed it. Thanks for watching.
well done video... well spoken, but a good 110 volt drill will never need waiting for...LOL...unless the power goes out.. sometimes though a cordless is good enough, so I do have one, and probably 4 different corded drills....
Thanks 👍
We had two of the same type and they are 2013 year made. They were stored in the cast that came with a nail gun till 2022, and they charge after 4 hr. on the charger that came with the nail gun, I was incredibly happy with this. and wonder why?
cool, thanks for watching
Try freezing the batteries over night, let them warm up then charge till full, it works on cell phone batteries
I've done something similar to this. The problem is, a cell goes bad in the battery pack. The only way to "fix" it, is to replace the bad cell.
Once you remove all the screws, the Yellow lid lifts off. There is 2 Batteries under the tall part just below the connectors
Hi lm going to do some of mine. But you need to put a load on the. Like drive screw
What multimeter of Klein's are you using Please, Great video, 👍👍👍👍
Is a Klein tools, CL200
Do you think I could do the same to a pair of 14.4V RYOBI? They charge to a maximun of 4.4V. What can I use if I don't have a good battery?
TRUST ME, this is so important to our environment, we are not talking about a simple cordless drill motor that we all would like as a Father’s Day present, but the MOST IMPORTANT ENERGY CONSIDERATION WE HAVE EVER FACED, more so than the storage of spent nuclear fuel! LITHIUM and lead and plastic on such a grand scale ………Rechargeable battery cells MUST be accessible to the PUBLIC!
Suggest numbering or lettering batteries to know which is which in your collection. I have 12 and find it useful in knowing which to charge and which is bad.... "G" for 'Good' makes them all equal. Might take the 'bad' one apart and see which cells are bad/good and consider replacing the bad cells with a good one from the collection of good cells.\
I still use the lower charged batteries for my flash light or radio ... doesn't require as much power and I get some use vs as paper weight.....
Video is super long and at break (4 day), became a little boring. Otherwise, interesting video! What would happen if use 3 batteries for shock treatment or maybe a battery rejuvenator on a battery charger?
Thanks for the brain stimulation!
Never make the electrical contact directly to the battery terminal, you'll eventually burn the battery terminal, instead use a wire connected to the battery terminal, the wires are expendable, but the battery terminals are not. Been an electronic professional for over forty years, and i used to make that mistake as well, until i realized my mistake. I have repaired thousands of nicad batteries, and those 18 volt DeWalt batteries are so good that you can zap them throughout their lifespan and i swear they perform better than new batteries after reconditioning.🙂
I have Makita gear & bought a battery through eBay. It was made in Mexico & did not last long at all, as a result, I only buy Japanese batteries (if I can get them.)