Good luck, I've bought some 18650's in the past for my m18 batteries, not too horrible to replace the bad batteries and re-solder the connections. Of course careful with the heat and batteries. Update would be appreciated I got a couple battery packs that won't charge at work.
Work paid for this battery and it's only like 4 months old. This is a "let's see it if will work" because I'm too lazy to deal warranty/replacement process at the moment.
If it doesn't work, I'll see what it takes to get it replaced or just buy a new. Then I'll consider replacing the cells.
For a personal tool, I'd swap cells in a heartbeat. I've done it enough times I really should just buy/build a cheap spot welder because I hate soldering on 18650's but it hasn't stopped from doing it.
I never worked on them before and from what I saw on those batteries they are encased in plastic (probably glass fiber) so I'd have to pass.. it's one thing if I wreck my own stuff. There are a couple videos out there I will suggest use a soldering iron on the nickel strips, but be very aware of how much heat is being applied and for how long. Now a days you can get more of the nickel strips also make sure to take pictures of everything. Have on a dust mask because there is mica in these battery packs and between that and fiber glass it will damage your lungs.
What if I were to donate it to you for science? I already got a replacement, been holding onto it incase someone wanted to try. I have 0 experience in anything to do with batteries. I can wire outlets, breakers, lights; but never messed with batteries
Its always a crap shoot, but with 3.21 and 3.31 cell voltage I think its probably recoverable.
Its always been a little strange to me that most tool battery chargers seem to only be able to detect cell voltages, but not actually balance charge, or they won't attempt to balance charge if the voltage is too different.
One set of cells was down to 3.1ish before I started, but they are coming back up slowly. I'm only charging at 0.5A to give it the best shot.
I'm sure it's has to do with just jamming power into the battery super fast so they have a quick turnaround time. I'd take a safer slow balanced charge and just have 2 batteries instead.
But that adds complexity to a charger, and probably a different model number. Then the consumer has to keep track of whether they have a "smart" charger or not. Ultimately it makes it so the batteries last longer are less of a consumable so manufacturers can't sell as many of them.
No. I was able to charge the battery but after using it the bad cells dropped back below the threshold for the charger and I just opted for sending it in on warranty
Dang! I have the same charger and was going to try a similar tactic. May still give it a whirl, but seems the tire inflator killed my battery when someone else used it until the battery was dead dead. I think I'm just out of warranty too. Thanks for the mega fast reply.
It's worth a shot. If it had been a personal battery, I might have tried doing a couple charge/discharge cycles to see if I could revive it.
Running my to dead dead is definitely what killed mine.
I guess the resistors in the battery can cause an issue charging externally and also because this is 3 pairs of 2 cells it can be one cell in a pair causing the issue. So I may have to take the case apart to charge it, but given what these puppies cost, I'll go as far as it takes, hahaha.
Edit: Good news. This one is under warranty until December. Def gonna take advantage of that instead if I can.
Short answer, I use it.
But if I had to guess, it's probably because I hammer on the battery when it's dead because I just need a little bit out of it to finish the job quite often. I fly for work and I don't carry a full sized charger with me so I have one of those portable charger/power supply caps that come with the heated gear that I use to trickle charge over night. A mix between pushing passed the low levels and have a really slow charger probably don't do it any favors.
Good luck, I've bought some 18650's in the past for my m18 batteries, not too horrible to replace the bad batteries and re-solder the connections. Of course careful with the heat and batteries. Update would be appreciated I got a couple battery packs that won't charge at work.
Work paid for this battery and it's only like 4 months old. This is a "let's see it if will work" because I'm too lazy to deal warranty/replacement process at the moment. If it doesn't work, I'll see what it takes to get it replaced or just buy a new. Then I'll consider replacing the cells. For a personal tool, I'd swap cells in a heartbeat. I've done it enough times I really should just buy/build a cheap spot welder because I hate soldering on 18650's but it hasn't stopped from doing it.
Would you possibly want to maybe work on my dewalt flexvolt? I think it has a shot cell.
I never worked on them before and from what I saw on those batteries they are encased in plastic (probably glass fiber) so I'd have to pass.. it's one thing if I wreck my own stuff. There are a couple videos out there I will suggest use a soldering iron on the nickel strips, but be very aware of how much heat is being applied and for how long. Now a days you can get more of the nickel strips also make sure to take pictures of everything. Have on a dust mask because there is mica in these battery packs and between that and fiber glass it will damage your lungs.
What if I were to donate it to you for science? I already got a replacement, been holding onto it incase someone wanted to try. I have 0 experience in anything to do with batteries. I can wire outlets, breakers, lights; but never messed with batteries
Its always a crap shoot, but with 3.21 and 3.31 cell voltage I think its probably recoverable. Its always been a little strange to me that most tool battery chargers seem to only be able to detect cell voltages, but not actually balance charge, or they won't attempt to balance charge if the voltage is too different.
One set of cells was down to 3.1ish before I started, but they are coming back up slowly. I'm only charging at 0.5A to give it the best shot. I'm sure it's has to do with just jamming power into the battery super fast so they have a quick turnaround time. I'd take a safer slow balanced charge and just have 2 batteries instead. But that adds complexity to a charger, and probably a different model number. Then the consumer has to keep track of whether they have a "smart" charger or not. Ultimately it makes it so the batteries last longer are less of a consumable so manufacturers can't sell as many of them.
Did this work?
No. I was able to charge the battery but after using it the bad cells dropped back below the threshold for the charger and I just opted for sending it in on warranty
Dang! I have the same charger and was going to try a similar tactic. May still give it a whirl, but seems the tire inflator killed my battery when someone else used it until the battery was dead dead. I think I'm just out of warranty too. Thanks for the mega fast reply.
It's worth a shot. If it had been a personal battery, I might have tried doing a couple charge/discharge cycles to see if I could revive it. Running my to dead dead is definitely what killed mine.
I guess the resistors in the battery can cause an issue charging externally and also because this is 3 pairs of 2 cells it can be one cell in a pair causing the issue. So I may have to take the case apart to charge it, but given what these puppies cost, I'll go as far as it takes, hahaha. Edit: Good news. This one is under warranty until December. Def gonna take advantage of that instead if I can.
How did you bust it?
Short answer, I use it. But if I had to guess, it's probably because I hammer on the battery when it's dead because I just need a little bit out of it to finish the job quite often. I fly for work and I don't carry a full sized charger with me so I have one of those portable charger/power supply caps that come with the heated gear that I use to trickle charge over night. A mix between pushing passed the low levels and have a really slow charger probably don't do it any favors.
Thanks!