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Recondition cordless batteries? Dan_Musicant 04-22-2007
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Posted by Dan_Musicant on April 22, 2007, 1:35 pm



:> I have a couple of cordless drills I bought a bit over 5 years ago, a
:> Dewalt 9.6v and a Panasonic 12v. They both came with two NiCD batteries
:> and I've been using them lightly and the batteries (it seems to me) are
:> not holding much of a charge. Very often, when I reach for one, the
:> battery is on the verge of dieing. Every time that happens I fetch the
:> alternate battery and put the dieing one in the charger and that battery
:> (again, it seems to me) charges too quickly! It's just my feeling that
:> the "charged" signal goes on on the charger too quickly.
:>
:> I know that some battery chargers feature a reconditioning feature, but
:> of course my cordless drill chargers have nothing of the sort. I'm
:> thinking I can go through several cycles and recondition these
:> batteries. For instance, put the drills on Low and rubber bands around
:> the trigger and let the motors run until I can hear the battery's losing
:> power and then let the battery sit 5-10 minutes (maybe not necessary, it
:> really doesn't seem hot), and then charge. I figure if I do this 4 times
:> or so for each battery, it may well restore most of the capacity. Has
:> anyone tried something like this?
:>
:> Dan
:
:Your batteries are shot, you'll never get the capacity that you once
:had.
:The name of the game with cordless tools is to "use 'em or lose 'em."
:I've had 18 volt Milwaukee batteries last over 10 years with almost
:daily use, maintained per manufacturer's instruction's. Let them sit
:unused for a couple of months and any brand battery will be ready for
:the trash. If you do not use cordless tools a lot, try drilling some
:holes in a 2 x 4 with a paddle bit once a week to drain the battery,
:then after it cools off 10 minutes or so, recharge it. That way it
:will always be ready to go and the batteries will last much
:longer.........or, like I said, use it more often.

Well, I've been having good success reconditioning some old NiCD
batteries using my La Crosse AA and AAA charger, so I figure that using
the same technique with my cordless batteries I may be able to restore
them as well. It's different, in that the cordless batteries are really
several batteries, presumably connected in series. I don't think the La
Crosse charger is doing anything fancy. It's just charging, then
discharging, then charging again, then discharging, etc. until the
measured capacity of the battery (determined during the discharge cycle)
is no longer increasing and then it terminates the process. I can do
this sort of thing manually -- i.e. run the cordless down until it's
losing power, charge, and do it over and over until the measured time it
takes to charge and/or discharge is no longer increasing. Perhaps I can
restore a large part of the lost capacity of the batteries doing this. I
figure it's worth a try. Anyway, I'm not yet seriously inconvenienced by
the loss of capacity of the drills because I have a 2nd battery for each
one. I figure if my technique works, using it occasionally (every year
or two) will go a long way to maximizing the overall battery life. I
hear that buying replacement batteries for these is pretty expensive
(they stick it to you).

AppliancePartsPros.com, Inc.
Posted by Jim Yanik on April 23, 2007, 11:12 am



>> I have a couple of cordless drills I bought a bit over 5 years ago, a
>> Dewalt 9.6v and a Panasonic 12v. They both came with two NiCD batteries
>> and I've been using them lightly and the batteries (it seems to me) are
>> not holding much of a charge. Very often, when I reach for one, the
>> battery is on the verge of dieing. Every time that happens I fetch the
>> alternate battery and put the dieing one in the charger and that battery
>> (again, it seems to me) charges too quickly! It's just my feeling that
>> the "charged" signal goes on on the charger too quickly.
>>
>> I know that some battery chargers feature a reconditioning feature, but
>> of course my cordless drill chargers have nothing of the sort. I'm
>> thinking I can go through several cycles and recondition these
>> batteries. For instance, put the drills on Low and rubber bands around
>> the trigger and let the motors run until I can hear the battery's losing
>> power and then let the battery sit 5-10 minutes (maybe not necessary, it
>> really doesn't seem hot), and then charge. I figure if I do this 4 times
>> or so for each battery, it may well restore most of the capacity. Has
>> anyone tried something like this?
>>
>> Dan
>
> Your batteries are shot, you'll never get the capacity that you once
> had.
> The name of the game with cordless tools is to "use 'em or lose 'em."
> I've had 18 volt Milwaukee batteries last over 10 years with almost
> daily use, maintained per manufacturer's instruction's. Let them sit
> unused for a couple of months and any brand battery will be ready for
> the trash. If you do not use cordless tools a lot, try drilling some
> holes in a 2 x 4 with a paddle bit once a week to drain the battery,
> then after it cools off 10 minutes or so, recharge it. That way it
> will always be ready to go and the batteries will last much
> longer.........or, like I said, use it more often.
>

my first set of Makita 9.6V sticks lasted 10 yrs,with daily use.
Once I stopped using them daily,they died quickly.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Posted by deke on April 22, 2007, 3:43 pm


wrote:

>I have a couple of cordless drills I bought a bit over 5 years ago, a
>Dewalt 9.6v and a Panasonic 12v. They both came with two NiCD batteries
>and I've been using them lightly and the batteries (it seems to me) are
>not holding much of a charge. Very often, when I reach for one, the
>battery is on the verge of dieing. Every time that happens I fetch the
>alternate battery and put the dieing one in the charger and that battery
>(again, it seems to me) charges too quickly! It's just my feeling that
>the "charged" signal goes on on the charger too quickly.
>
>I know that some battery chargers feature a reconditioning feature, but
>of course my cordless drill chargers have nothing of the sort. I'm
>thinking I can go through several cycles and recondition these
>batteries. For instance, put the drills on Low and rubber bands around
>the trigger and let the motors run until I can hear the battery's losing
>power and then let the battery sit 5-10 minutes (maybe not necessary, it
>really doesn't seem hot), and then charge. I figure if I do this 4 times
>or so for each battery, it may well restore most of the capacity. Has
>anyone tried something like this?
>
>Dan

You are wasting your time. Throw them away and buy new batteries.

I took mine apart and replaced the shorted 1.2v cells with new cells,
but it is not worth the effort - although the new cells are 2600mha
and the ones I replaced were 1300. Sure, I have a much more long
lasting more powerful battery now but it just ain't worth the effort.



Posted by Red on April 23, 2007, 5:56 pm


>
>
> I took mine apart and replaced the shorted 1.2v cells with new cells,
> but it is not worth the effort - although the new cells are 2600mha
> and the ones I replaced were 1300. Sure, I have a much more long
> lasting more powerful battery now but it just ain't worth the effort.

Agreed that you should replace all the cells at one time for reduced
effort. The 2600 mha batteries are physically a bit larger than the
1300's. How'd you get them to fit in the battery case? Wouldn't work
in my DeWalt battery cases.

-Red


Posted by jiml on April 24, 2007, 8:08 am



>>
>>
>> I took mine apart and replaced the shorted 1.2v cells with new cells,
>> but it is not worth the effort - although the new cells are 2600mha
>> and the ones I replaced were 1300. Sure, I have a much more long
>> lasting more powerful battery now but it just ain't worth the effort.
>
>Agreed that you should replace all the cells at one time for reduced
>effort. The 2600 mha batteries are physically a bit larger than the
>1300's. How'd you get them to fit in the battery case? Wouldn't work
>in my DeWalt battery cases.
>
>-Red

Sure they would fit. At least well enough. Very little difference
in size and so what if the case doesn't close properly. The battery
pack just hangs there, it is not important that it have any structural
integrity. The diameter is the same, but the length is different and
altho a tight fit, mine fit and the case screwed together just fine.

I went ahead and bought some NiMh 3300 mah batteries for the next
device I have in the house that craps out so am anxious for something
else to fail. I may go find that hand vacuum I tossed in the garage.







Page 7 of 7       << first < 1 2 3
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