Replacing 18Volt battery pack for drill

gjchester

buglawton wrote: »

Wonder if they could replace a B&D Dustbuster battery.

Probably, depending on the age its either Sub C NiCad, NIMH batteries, or Li based 18650 sized cells.


You can swap NIMH for Li battery types, but you would need to change the charger for safety reasons, so best stay with the same types. Once you the battery type, and then the voltage needed you can determine the number of batteries needed.


For NiCad or NiMH for each 1.2V you'd need a NiMH battery, (you can't buy Ni-Cads anymore).
For Li for each 3.7V you need a 18650 battery.


They start around £3 each for decent size and capacity cells in both cases, so a 4.8V machine would be about £12 to recell, whereas a 9.6 V unit would be £24.


Given an Argos own brand unit costs £10 to £15 you have to wonder if its worth it...

buglawton

Have to take the Dustbuster apart and then I'd replace like exactly for like.
As I did with a Tomtom satnav once.
But for this item, for safely I'd avoid total DIY. Hence was thinking, how would recellyourbattery work out? Anyone tried a site like that - that claims to be able to replace almost any battery type?

gjchester

buglawton wrote: »

Anyone tried a site like that - that claims to be able to replace almost any battery type?

Generally its not that complicated, cells are going to be AAA, AA, 2/3 Sub C, C or D cell sizes in NiCad/NiMH models.

Li-Ion batteries come in a lot more forms but at the end of the day most companies will buy the batteries in and possibly re-badge them, not have them made specially. The hardest bit is getting the casing apart in a way they can reseal it.

Mistral001

Just an update. The fact that I had two battery packs solved my problem. Both packs would not hold their charge and I was just about to throw them all out and get a new drill.

When I tested the cells I found that one of the battery packs had one dead cell and the other one had three dead cells. I cannibalised the one with three dead cells to get a good cell to put it in the other battery pack. The pack is now holding its charge. I did some drilling yesterday with the drill and the battery pack seems to be holding its charge now.

I would guess that there are a lot of batteries being thrown out that could easily be fixed in this way.


Thanks for all your comments and help. This was definitely an MSE success as far as I am concerned.

patman99

The only problem with replacing the odd cell is that the charge will not be balanced across all the cells.
The proper way to do it is to establish which cells are actually dead, remove them and stick them in the bin.
Take the remaning cells, separate and use something like a modified torch to fully drain the cells along with the cell/s you intend to replace the dead ones with.

rebuild your pack, then charge.

If you don't, you may end up with the original working cells at say, 10% charge and the replacements at say, 20% charge. Thus, when you charge your rebuilt pack the charger will pick up that the replacement cells have reached full charge and shut off, leaving the old cells at 90%.

As for not being able to get NiCad batteries anymore, how come my employers purchased a brand new Dewalt 18v drill 10 weeks back which has NiCad cells ?.

Handy link regards the recell co. There is an old Ryobi cordless at work that has 2 dead packs. Will speak to my manager about using Recell to renew the cells and bring it back into use as it's a better drill than the DeWalt.

Mistral001

patman99 wrote: »

The only problem with replacing the odd cell is that the charge will not be balanced across all the cells.
The proper way to do it is to establish which cells are actually dead, remove them and stick them in the bin.
Take the remaning cells, separate and use something like a modified torch to fully drain the cells along with the cell/s you intend to replace the dead ones with.

rebuild your pack, then charge.

If you don't, you may end up with the original working cells at say, 10% charge and the replacements at say, 20% charge. Thus, when you charge your rebuilt pack the charger will pick up that the replacement cells have reached full charge and shut off, leaving the old cells at 90%.
.

Who said I didn't do it this way?.

Chrishazle

I took a dead 18V battery pack apart to see what it contains - 15 x 1.2V 2400mah NiMH tagged sub C cells. I'm not too clever with a soldering iron, but I've ordered 15 new 2900mah NiMH tagged cells from Ebay/China for £16.42 and a friend will try rebuilding the pack for me - he has a vested interest as he also has an 18v Axminster White drill!

Mistral001

Just an aside to my original post. I was in B&Q recently and noticed that they were selling a JCB cordless drills for £120 - and it was on offer. My drill was part of a mains drill plus cordless drill package all for £57 nine years ago. The cordless drills seem to have taken a giant leap in prices in recent years. Does anybody know why? They are hardly cutting edge technology.

Le_Kirk

Mistral001 wrote: »

Drill ........cutting edge technology.

I see what you did there!!