I stumbled by this site when looking for a new Dewalt 18v battery. Its linkremoved Its an ebook that is suppose teach you how to get more life out of nicd batteries. Is it like the surge technique? Anyone try it?
I am considering it since it only cost $3.99. I really dont want to spend $99 for 2 new Dewalt batteries. Pretty cheap fix, even if only works for a while.:help:
Hi, sorry about not researching first. I wanted to follow up on this though.
I ended up risking a big $3.99. And low and behold, it works. The ebook was very well documented, and included a bunch of pics. The process was only about 3 or 4 steps, and took all of 10 minutes. Wish I would have thought of this myself. The guys got a good trick up his sleeve.
Ok, I did the deed and shocked my battery packs back to service. I used the batteries on a golf cart for the power source, as the optimum voltage is 36 volts, and the golf cart has 6 - 6volt batteries (36 volts). The trick is to only hold the connection for a few seconds and check the battery pak voltage. You are looking for 1 - 1.5 volts (max) above the battery pak rated voltage. ANd all you have to do is burn out the "whiskers" (shorts between the plates, which does not take long with a high voltage and amperage source. On one of the battery paks, I held it for about 5 seconds and checked voltage, it was 19.1! I should have stopped there, but curiousity got the best of me, so I did it another few seconds, and voltage jumped to 20.3. OK, a little does a little bit of good, a lot does a lot of good, right? WRONG! I did it again, the voltage jumped to 21.1. Battery pak was still cool, so I tried it one more time, and just as I was fixing to pull the connection, one of the cells in the pak blew out. It sounded like a firecracker, and the pak shook a little, but that was it. No exterior damage to the battery case. I had to leave, but plan to open it tomorrow and check it out. Will probably buy another cell and solder it back in.
Thanks Chick,
I've been waiting to hear some horror stories before I tried it myself. Now I know when to stop (I think?). I would like to use my shop charger instead of a battery. I wonder what amps to set it on?
Steve
Yea, thats what can happen if not done properly. I was wanting to go a little extra also, but was afraid of blowing something up, glad I didn't now. This process needs to be done by the book.
The website can be found here ----> linkremoved Looks like the price is $5.99... Still worth it! Saved me $100 on my batteries!:clap:
I finally read my Resurrection Guide only to find out that this technic only works with NiCad cells. I'm pretty sure all of my Dewalt Plus batteries are NiMH. I still have a couple of solid black packs which I'm sure are still NiCad, but I wouldn't have purchased this guide if I'd known I could only resurrect a couple of my batteries. What a bummer!
Steve
Dewalt doesn't make any NIMH batteries that I know of, never heard of a "Dewalt plus" battery. Only thing I've seen in an "XRP+" which is a NICAD. In fact all Dewalt batteries that I've ever seen are NICAD. With the exception if the new "Nano" batteries which are Lithium Ion.
Chick, you better be very careful with that cell that exploded, cadmium is HIGHLY TOXIC. I would suggest you do some home-work on that and proceed with caution.
You're welcome. As for the XRP it's supposed to have 40% more run time than the standard 18v battery. I'm 99% sure XRP or XRP+ is the same, just a marketing technique to make you think it's better. The XRP is rated at 2.4 amp hours, same as the 18 volt Nano.
stp57, I've been thinking on doing this resurrection on some of my batteries, but what I have not find any info about once you do it, my question is, how long those the battery last, I mean do I need to redo the procedure often?
fobiaibof,
I resurrected a 14.4v Dewalt that had been sitting (dead) on my bench for 6 months. It actually had about 1/2 a volt left in it. I jumped started it with a 18v battery (fully charged) for about 5 seconds at a time till it was reading about 16V( check the voltage after every jolt). I put it in the charger & it took forever to charge fully, but it has been working like a new battery every since. I have dine the same thing with a 18v using four 6v lattern batteries wired in series to total 24volts. It worked as well. I don't know how long it will work well for?
One 14.4v would only charge up to 14volts. I took it apart (real easy) & checked each individual battery cell (1.2v each) & could not find a bad cell. Now it is working fine? The only thing I can figure is that I must have accidently corrected a bad connection when I removed the cover?
Steve
Anyone thinking about trying this, IT WORKS. Just follow the directions carefully. My batteries are still going strong about a month after performing this technique.:thumbsup:
Thinking of trying to repair my richmond 14.4v batteries, they have a third pin labelled S, does anyone now what this is, also what is the best way to connect the higher voltage supply to the terminals?
is the repair info available free anywhere
The 14.4v I resurrected would not charge before & now charges to over 16volts, but it looses 50% of that charge over night v.s the usual 10% drop. I don't know why it does this, I'll have to write the author of Battery Resurrection & ask him.
Steve
The guy that I purchased my guide from (over a year ago) has set his site up so that it can't be forwarded. All power to him if he wants to make a buck.
The technic is pretty simple. You must have a digital voltmeter. Jump your 14.4 v battery with a 18v battery (fully charged) for only 5-6 seconds at a time. Check the voltage after every 6 second jolt. When your battery reaches at least 16 volts then you can place it on the charger. If it won't get past 14.4 volts then you have a bad cell. All of the cells are 1.2volts & can be purchased online & soldiered in place of the bad cell.
Note:
Make sure that you match the polarities correctly when jumping the batteries. If you are resurrecting a 18v batteries then you can jump it with (2) 12v car batteries in series or (4) 6v lantern batteries.
Steve
I have never tried this with a car battery. The repair guide I used required at least one good tool battery to perform the fix. Most people have at least one sitting around I would think.
The idea is to "burst" the hairs or crystals that build up in the cell. This done by jolting the bad battery with a quick shock of usually double the volts of the battery your repairing. Its easy, but the steps need to be done correctly!
My question is has anyone found a good way of reconnecting batteries in a cell that were connected using metal strips spot welded to the ends of the batteries? I have tried to solder in a good replacement cell and cant get anything to stick.
RE the shock method I had learned a simular method for reviving large lead acid gell cells with dead cells several years ago. If I recall for the lead acid you put about twice the normal volts on it from a power supply that had a current limiter. The voltage was high but once the bridging had burned thru the current limmiter kept the powersupply from destroying the battery.
hello, all the info you give is awesome. I was wondering about the link to the battery fix instructions. The link to the pay web site is there but in the next post you type in here is the instructions and there is nothing to click on.
Safer just to use a car battery or better yet a fully charged 18V tool battery. Remember, only about 5 seconds at a time & check with a digital volt meter every time. If your 7.2V doesn't get up to at least 9V it has a dead cell. You won't be able to revive it.
Steve
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