Li-Ion mower batter charging problem

GDB2222

[Deleted User] said:

GDB2222 said:

How Are the individual cells joined to each other? Some sort of hard solder? Welds?

Spot welds, looks easy enough to do. You can get a spot welder for about £15 for a basic one and a strip of tabs for about £5 or buy 18650's with tabs already on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVaWW2TzMVk

But if all batteries need replacing, it's getting over the £100 mark at £5 a battery for decent ones so buying a replacement form a third party might be more economical depending on the capacity.

A new Bosch battery is well over the £100 mark, so I'd be opening up the existing one and checking the individual cells. If they are all dead, there’s nothing lost by taking it apart. If there’s just one or two dead ones, it’s a cheap repair even with the cost of the welder. 

Anyway, it’s the OP's problem, and he doesn’t sound keen on that idea. He won’t be the only person in the country putting an entire mower into landfill possibly just  because of a single dud cell. 

Really, there ought to be a charity that mends this sort of thing to sell on. It would reduce wastage and keep old duffers like me usefully employed. 

SiliconChip

GDB2222 said:

[Deleted User] said:

GDB2222 said:

How Are the individual cells joined to each other? Some sort of hard solder? Welds?

Spot welds, looks easy enough to do. You can get a spot welder for about £15 for a basic one and a strip of tabs for about £5 or buy 18650's with tabs already on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVaWW2TzMVk

But if all batteries need replacing, it's getting over the £100 mark at £5 a battery for decent ones so buying a replacement form a third party might be more economical depending on the capacity.

Anyway, it’s the OP's problem, and he doesn’t sound keen on that idea. He won’t be the only person in the country putting an entire mower into landfill possibly just  because of a single dud cell. 

Really, there ought to be a charity that mends this sort of thing to sell on. It would reduce wastage and keep old duffers like me usefully employed. 

It's not a very MSE response but you're right that I'm not keen on the investigation/repair option - I have no testing equipment and I've never soldered anything in my 63 years on the planet. The mower is a few years old and came to me at no cost when my mum died.

Your charity suggestion reminds me that there is a section at my local recycling centre where items that could be brought back to life may be left, I'm not sure if this would be accepted but it's certainly a better option than just throwing it away.

I will look into the suggestion by @getmore4less, I was already considering Worx and the ability to use batteries in other equipment could be a good way to go.

grumpycrab

SiliconChip said:...

Your charity suggestion reminds me that there is a section at my local recycling centre where items that could be brought back to life may be left, ...

May also be worth seeing if you have a local repair cafe.  The electrical guys/gals at these places may be keen to help you.
Visit | Repaircafe

victor2

[Deleted User] said:

GDB2222 said:

How Are the individual cells joined to each other? Some sort of hard solder? Welds?

Spot welds, looks easy enough to do. You can get a spot welder for about £15 for a basic one and a strip of tabs for about £5 or buy 18650's with tabs already on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVaWW2TzMVk

But if all batteries need replacing, it's getting over the £100 mark at £5 a battery for decent ones so buying a replacement form a third party might be more economical depending on the capacity.

That is an amazing video to your average DIYer!

There ahould be a market for people with the skill, tools, and patience to do that kind of work and give otherwise dead equipment a new lease of life.

GDB2222

grumpycrab said:

SiliconChip said:...

Your charity suggestion reminds me that there is a section at my local recycling centre where items that could be brought back to life may be left, ...

May also be worth seeing if you have a local repair cafe.  The electrical guys/gals at these places may be keen to help you.
Visit | Repaircafe

And this one 

https://therestartproject.org/parties/

SiliconChip

grumpycrab said:

SiliconChip said:...

Your charity suggestion reminds me that there is a section at my local recycling centre where items that could be brought back to life may be left, ...

May also be worth seeing if you have a local repair cafe.  The electrical guys/gals at these places may be keen to help you.
Visit | Repaircafe

Thanks for the suggestion, there are indeed several in the area. Slightly unfortunately 2 of them were held yesterday so I'd have to wait until the end of April for either of those, but there is 1 in Solihull on 9th April so I'll give that a try, hopefully they can at least offer a diagnosis of the issue.

Sadly there is no Restart Party anywhere near me but it's good that people are doing both of these things.

I'll carry on using my old corded mower for now (which I've promised to donate to my niece when she completes on her first house) and either get a battery repair if that's possible or buy new if it's not.

SiliconChip

Just to conclude this thread, I took the battery and charger to a Repair Cafe at Bewdley yesterday, they tested the battery which showed that it had a full charge and they were able to press the status button in such a way that the lights showing the full charge lit up. So today I put the battery back into the mower having cleaned the contacts first and away it went, the grass is now cut and I've since charged the battery again.

The suggestion to use a Repair Cafe has saved me at least £100 and possibly £200 as well as keeping a mower out of landfill, so thanks very much for that and I'll definitely consider going again when I have something that appears to be faulty.

flaneurs_lobster

Excellent result.