Cordless power tool Batteries

[orb]

The batteries on my Dewalt 12v cordless combo set are just about shot. They lasted a good 5 years, so I don't think they owe me any more. Pricing new batteries, I quickly figured that it would almost be the same price to buy a whole new tool set.

Has anyone here ever tried to break open their old battery pack and replace the power cells? I'm sure it wouldn't involve more then soldering a couple of leads together, but I'm not sure how many cells to use, where to get them and if I'll be saving any $ in the long run.

I hate to throw out perfectly good tools just for the sake of the batteries, but maybe that's just the nature of the beast.

Orb

 

[Chuck52]

This has come up here before, or maybe over in Countrybynet. Short answer is yes you can rebuild your batteries. If you can find a good source for the cells, and are reasonably handy with a soldering iron, you can probably save some $. There are companies which do the rebuilds, but the only one I've priced was too high to make much difference over buying new. The earlier post may have some sources for you if you can find it.

Chuck

 

[hazmat]

I just ordered 2 generic packs from here abatterypack.com for my Makita 12V. 2 batteries for $50. Figured it was worth a shot. Haven't gotten them yet, but will update when they arrive.

Drill is 10 years old - doesn't owe me anything... The makita batteries are backward/forward compatible - if the drill quits before the batteries I just bought, I can use them on the next drill (if I stay with 12V).

 

[Glenn9643]

Orb,
We've got some Craftsman stuff around the place (18V saw, drill, light) and all of the batteries but one are bad after about a year with light useage. I had an old 18V cheapo drill that I bought several years ago at WallMart for about $20 that I dropped and broke when building my shop, but had for some reason saved the batteries/charger. When I dismantled the batteries the other week to see if I could use those cells to rebuild the Sears ones I found that all (both Sears and cheapo) the cells were spot-welded into their configuration. I guess you could cut the strapping and try to solder wire from one to the other and tape them in the correct configuration, but I haven't gone that far.
Wouldn't it be great if there was uniformity in the powerpacks so one could use X batteries with Y tools? I've had my best luck with the cheapest drills I bought. Four years ago I found some 18V Firestorm drills at Home Depot with one battery and charger for $19 each. Bought two and wish I'd bought more. They've been great with no problems and still going strong. Haven't found another bargain like that since!

 

[gsxr1100]

your 12v last 5-years! Holly cow. My Dewalt 18v battery packs goes for about 5 mintutes and it is out. I bought 3 other batteries, all oem, and they did the same.

$200 drill went into the trash about 6-months ago. Nice drill but it died to quick. Usually the batteris cost about 75% of a new drill. That is the money makers.

For the price of the batteries get a new drill.

I know home depot will be having Black fridays sales and I am going to pick up a Ryobi 7.2V Drill for $9.99 . If it lasts longer then 6-months and goes longer then my Dewalt, I will be happy.

I think they also have: (if you like Dewalt)

Dewalt 18V 6 tool combo kit $629
Dewalt 18v Compact drill/driver kit $149
Dewalt 18v drill and saw combo $199

 

[Dargo]

Last year when I was building my pool house, my DeWalt 18 volt batteries were used constantly for almost 4 months. They went straight from the tool to the charger until charged, and then back into the tool. The circular saw seemed to drain them faster than the sawsall or light or drill. Towards the end of the project, one of the batteries started to fail. Now, this battery had been run through several hundred charges / drains. I called DeWalt and they sent me two new 18 volt batteries next day FedEx.

I have some smaller Makita cordless tools and I've had good luck out of them as well. I really don't know of any particular cordless tools that are "bad". I just like the DeWalt 18 volt tools I have because they have seen hard use and have held up very well, and DeWalt immediately made good when I called them. Since they work well, I've stayed with them.

I'm off the subject. After I called DeWalt and they sent me replacement batteries, I tried to tear into the old "bad" battery to see if there was anything to fix. It seems proprietary. There was nothing I could fix. A contractor that helped me quite a bit has some 18 volt DeWalt batteries that he has literally used nearly every work day for 3 years, and he says that they still work fine. He got into DeWalt when he dropped his cordless drill off of a ladder and called DeWalt for replacement parts. Even though he admitted that he dropped it off of a ladder, since it was less than a year old, they sent hem the parts free.

 

[sendero]

5 years is very good. Most if not all of these powertool batteries are NiCads, which are finicky picky batteries to begin with.

You really have to follow the rules, discharge completely and then charge fully and never let them sit around discharged if you want to get any decent life out of them.

If I get 5 years from mine, I will be a happy camper /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

My old Makita is just a 7.2 volt, but has always seemed to have all the power I needed, and with two batteries I've worked it all day a time or two. By the time one battery is weak, the other is fully charged, so it doesn't cause me any delays.

 

[Golfgar4]

I had a B&D cordless (12V) weed whacker that lasted 4 years. Like the others, I had 2 batteries and made sure that I always ran the battery completely down before recharging. I also brought both batteries into the basement during the winter months. During the "mowing" season, I probably used it every other day for about 1 1/2 hours each time (I trimmed the in-laws yard too!)

I was tickled that they lasted 4 years. Heck, I would've been happy with 3 years! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Now the wife has a Craftsman 18V drill/driver that she uses for her work. I got a 2nd battery for it, but they don't seem to hold up like the B&D's did. Of course, she's always letting them get drained and just leaving them sit around until I have to use them. Then I find both batteries totally drained! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif She's only had them for a little over a year, so it'll be interesting to see how long they last. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( drained and just leaving them sit around )</font>

That's something I just don't do, Garry. If I use it, even for a few minutes, I put that battery in the charger, so it's fully charged when I put it away.