[Woodworkers] Rebuild Your Own Rechargeable Batteries

[Steve Bigelow via Woodworkers]

I've done it quite a few times. It isn't hard if you have a good soldering
iron (not a Radio Shack cheap 25W iron, although the 40W might do OK).

My first cordless drill was a 3.6V 2-speed drill, and that one was
relatively easy to replace the batteries on. I did that quite a few times
over the years.

Makita 9.6V and 12V was probably the hardest, as you had to slit the
battery open, replace the batteries, and then seal them back up.

Ryobi 18V batteries are easy, but you start replacing quite a few, and it
isn't worth your time after a while.

I also found that you could simply revive the older batteries and get them
to take a charge again. At first, I started out "zapping" the individual
battery cells with 15V from a car battery charger. This really wasn't the
best method, although it worked for a while. Very crude.

Later, I found a charger called a BC-700 (available on Amazon for about
$35). You can put the individual battery cells in there and do a "discharge
refresh" on them. This mode basically discharges and then recharges the
battery until the capacity has reached its max. Some batteries I had to run
through 60 cycles (over a period of several days) before I was able to
revive them, and I was able to revive 90% of the batteries back to full
capacity.

This got me going on a project idea, and I was going to make a battery pack
with a smart charger that could essentially revive the battery cells
individually, and quadruple the life of the battery pack. I went so far as
to design all of the circuitry, test it out, and even custom make some
battery packs that I could print on my 3D printer. Everything worked pretty
good, but it did take a long time to "revive" a bad battery, sometimes up
to 2 weeks.

Around that same time frame I finally broke down and purchased some
replacement Lithium Ion cells for my Ryobi 18V drill. The Li-Ion cells made
my idea pretty much obsolete and now I use them exclusively. One charge
seems to last forever, and the Li-Ion batteries have an individual charger
per cell, much like my idea above.



Regards,
-Steve
http://woodworking.bigelowsite.com
http://pen-blanks.us

On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 4:49 AM, Herb Treuil via Woodworkers <
woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org> wrote:

> I just watched a Youtube video on how to rebuild your own battery packs
> for a cordless drill.  It looks easy enough and Amazon is offering the
> replacement Sub C or 4/5 C  2200 ma batteries for a moderate price.  On the
> video the guy actually cannibalizes two batteries to make one good one.
> Has anyone tried this?
>
> *Herb Treuil*
>
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