Changing out rechargeable drill batteries

[Bradley Miller]

http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/592A37363CD61029AC23001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS -- very slick

I'd love to mod up a rechargeable drill with some of the RC car tech . . . brushless motor . . . high output batteries . . . I could see some very torquey little things . . . probably enough to bust stock gear boxes.


Enjoy!

 

[eschoendorff]

http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/592A37363CD61029AC23001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS -- very slick

I'd love to mod up a rechargeable drill with some of the RC car tech . . . brushless motor . . . high output batteries . . . I could see some very torquey little things . . . probably enough to bust stock gear boxes.


Enjoy!

When you build one, please post pics!

 

[pl_silverado]

And i was just about to buy new battery's for my DeWalt... i think im gonna try fixing it... Thanks for the link.

 

[Bradley Miller]

No problem. Wish I could do the same for my old B&D Versapack stuff . . . I'm down to two of the gold batteries . . .all the rest were junk. (Not that the tools are much better, but they were gifts.)

 

[Luckydevil]

No problem. Wish I could do the same for my old B&D Versapack stuff . . . I'm down to two of the gold batteries . . .all the rest were junk. (Not that the tools are much better, but they were gifts.)

Good link!

I even found the batteries for my old B&D 7.2v drill at that site the guy used (www.BatterySpace.com). I thought I was going to have to toss that thing out.

One thing the guy doesn't mention though, is be super careful when soldering with those batteries (especially if it doesn't have tabs). Overheating one with a soldering iron could lead to bad things and may kill the battery. Be quick with the soldering iron, and I always keep a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol to cool down things that I have soldered.

 

[Bradley Miller]

I used an Ungar 40 Watt (true) solering iron with a nice fat tip to solder RC batteries. Use some solder rosin (for electronics) on the batteries. I would rough them up a bit with sandpaper and then make everything as happy as possible to solder them together. I don't recommend using a soldering gun as they don't hold their heat as well as a good old iron with a nice tip.

The only caveat to this mod is if you go to NiMH from NiCad . . . if it's a quick charger it may not peak charge the battery right -- perhaps overcharging and shortening lifespan. A NiMH has a lower threshhold voltage transition on peaking. (Delta . . er . . change on voltage is smaller). I've got a computerized charger that I upgraded to allow for NiMH RC batteries, I haven't looked in my power drill battery charger to see what's in there. If it's a long duration charger (like 12 hour ones) then I'd say it would be ok.

Wrote this many moons ago on the subject . . .
http://web.archive.org/web/19980207...radndeb/www/radiowaves/html/soldering101.html

 

[roger55]

Just looked at my DeWalt. The battery pack doesn't have any screws to take it apart. It's sealed and would have to be broken to get it open.

I am not going to buy another DeWalt. I can't believe that they charge so much money for these things and then continue to use yesterday's technology with NiCad batteries.

 

[bahamasair]

What Dewalt do you have? All of mine have torx screws holding them together.

 

[sjsfire]

I can take my 12volt Dewalt apart at home, it has the torx screws. My 14volt at work however is sealed. I'll try to repair my 12volt battery packs. They are old maybe 8-10 years I'm not even sure??? I know the charge doesn't last very long......I'm glad I didn't toss the whole thing out!

 

[roger55]

What Dewalt do you have? All of mine have torx screws holding them together.

Mine is a 14 Volt.

Edit:
Correction. It's a 12 Volt. I have 2 batteries for it and they are both sealed.

 

[l_bilyk]

Awesome! I have a milwaukee pack that needs replacing

 

[indyjps]

perfect, i may replace them with ni-cad instead of the upgrade just to be safe.

 

[paddy]

Hay all, I just joined this minute. I am looking for info on the battery resurrection. I followed a link here that said don't buy the info it's here and when I got here I read some, references to it but can't find the directions. I am also new to computers and probably don't know how to use a forum! Can anyone help a newbee? Thanks

 

[mkdive]

carefull on charging lipos. I had a lipo blow up in my garage a couple years back (rc battery). thing threw fire everywhere like an exploding volcano. Now we charge those in a 50cal ammo box half full of sand on a cart out on the driveway should one decide to erupt again. I even had one burn my car up on the track, another car smacked into the side of mine and 3 laps later my car smoked, caught on fire and burned up!

Lipos that show any kind of dent,damage, anything out of the norm should be very dang carefull charging them.

brushless w/ lipos are a blast though i have a 18th scale with a 8000k motor that can pull 75+mph! Fun as hell. throws glued tires off, and chews up metal pinion gears like candy. fun for being such a small car!