Snap On battery rebuild?

[Jason280]

Anyone had any luck with having a Snap On CTB8174 14.4v battery rebuilt? I have at least a half dozen of these batteries, and literally the newest (and best looking) of all them will no longer charge (just get the flashing/blinking red light on the charger). It honestly looks almost brand new, but is unfortunately outside of the 1yr warranty period. A new replacement is over $100, but I've found a company online (MTO Battery) that will rebuild one for roughly $60...anyone gone this route, or would I be better off buying an aftermarket pair of batteries for $135?

 

[esben57]

Give the repair a try. It will be either worth or not.
Bought fake Makita battery absolute junk. Expensive genuine Makita and Hikoki are excellent.

 

[RTM]

. A new replacement is over $100, but I've found a company online (MTO Battery) that will rebuild one for roughly $60...anyone gone this route, or would I be better off buying an aftermarket pair of batteries for $135?

I’ve heard nothing but good about MTO here on GJ, queueing some others up now. You go first, let me know how it is.

 

[JerseyBoatBuilder]

I have used MTO to rebuild two 14.4 batteries and an 18v. SnapOn battery.
It has been a couple of years no issues with them.
I also keep them in a climate controled enviroment instead of a hot garage now to.

 

[MileHighRover]

I would try equalizing the battery first before rebuilding it. Plenty of YouTube videos showing how to do it. Literally it takes a few seconds and then you throw it on the charger. A lot of times those batteries won’t charge because one or more cells has dropped below the required voltage and so the charger reads it as a bad battery. You just have to get those cells up to a higher voltage and then the charger will charge.

 

[MileHighRover]

 

[Jason280]

I would try equalizing the battery first before rebuilding it. Plenty of YouTube videos showing how to do it. Literally it takes a few seconds and then you throw it on the charger. A lot of times those batteries won’t charge because one or more cells has dropped below the required voltage and so the charger reads it as a bad battery. You just have to get those cells up to a higher voltage and then the charger will charge.

I've tried this a couple times with Milwaukee 18v batteries, never had any luck.

 

[dcg9381]

I've tried this a couple times with Milwaukee 18v batteries, never had any luck.

Modern BMS' "balance" the cells as part of the charge process, so if one of them gets sideways it's likely a bad cell. You can always take these apart and replace the "bad" cells, but it's a pain in the *** and if one cell has died, you're probably living on borrowed time.

 

[MileHighRover]

I've tried this a couple times with Milwaukee 18v batteries, never had any luck.

Did you try it with this battery? The pack could have be over discharged and the charger won't charge when the battery is in that state. Worth a try.

 

[Jason280]

Success!!

I tried the "trick" with another battery, didn't work at first. Tried it a couple more times, and got it to actually start charging.



Left it on charge, came back after an hour or so, and it was black flashing red on the charger. Not sure why, but it would actually run one of my SO tools...so I tried another charger.




Looks like it's full charged now, still kind of curious what killed it in the first place. It was in a 3/8" ratchet, so nothing that *should* be draining the battery when not in use.