Craftsman C3 (19.2 v) batteries

[twmattox]

Anyone have a dead large C3 battery? I am looking to run a quick experiment.

I found a company that specializes in rebuilding Li-ion batteries with higher amp hour cells. I had them rebuild one of my small C3 batteries and compared it with my other small C3 batteries. The rebuilt battery is quite nice...and I can believe their claim of 2.5ah.

I know there are 3rd party companies that sell the large sized batteries; however, I have read many bad reviews of poor materials and malfunctions. This has me curious to how a rebuilt large battery would compare to one of these 3rd party companies batteries.

I would love to run a comparison; but, I don't have any dead large batteries to send in to be rebuilt. Anyone have one they would be willing to send me if I cover the shipping cost???

 

[Paul_The_Builder]

I have an older C3 NiCd battery, are those rebuildable with li-Ion cells?

 

[twmattox]

No, not rebuildable with LiIon; but are rebuildable with NiCad. I believe that you can do yourself with just a soldering iron...I believe.

 

[nbpt100]

Some time has past and I am curious how your rebuilt C3 Li-Ion battery has performed? Who is the company that rebuilds them?

 

[M635_Guy]

Anyone have a dead large C3 battery? I am looking to run a quick experiment.

I found a company that specializes in rebuilding Li-ion batteries with higher amp hour cells. I had them rebuild one of my small C3 batteries and compared it with my other small C3 batteries. The rebuilt battery is quite nice...and I can believe their claim of 2.5ah.

I know there are 3rd party companies that sell the large sized batteries; however, I have read many bad reviews of poor materials and malfunctions. This has me curious to how a rebuilt large battery would compare to one of these 3rd party companies batteries.

I would love to run a comparison; but, I don't have any dead large batteries to send in to be rebuilt. Anyone have one they would be willing to send me if I cover the shipping cost???

Quoting so he'll possibly see the notice.

 

[driftpin]

I bought off Amazon Prime both generic aftermarket Craftsman Ni-cad and Li-ion batteries, from vendors who had nearly 1,000 reviews. Both are still functioning well, probably 6+ months after buying them. I bought multiples of each. The Li-ion batteries got a good workout in my C3 1/2" drive impact tool, removing 60+ y.o. fasteners from a Tri-Five front end. They never hesitated or labored.

 

[nbpt100]

I decided to buy a 19.2V C3 Li-Ion aftermarket battery from Ebay. It was only $17 and has the fuel gauge . It said it was 3amp-hours. When i recieved it it is the same physical size of my 1.3 Amp Hour C3 Die Hard batteries that came with the tool. Yet is does say 3 Amp Hour on it. Should I believe it.? I used it for a little bit today and so far so good.

 

[bds1984]

I decided to buy a 19.2V C3 Li-Ion aftermarket battery from Ebay. It was only $17 and has the fuel gauge . It said it was 3amp-hours. When i recieved it it is the same physical size of my 1.3 Amp Hour C3 Die Hard batteries that came with the tool. Yet is does say 3 Amp Hour on it. Should I believe it.? I used it for a little bit today and so far so good.

I don't think I'd rely on the labeling too much. Over the summer I bought a lot of C3 tools that had both large and small li-ion batteries one can find on Amazon. None of them worked and my curiosity got the best of me so I took them apart. The 5 and 6 amp labeled batteries both had the same 1.5 amp 18650 cells in them (which would give them a total of 3 amps capacity) as the 3 amp models. I wouldn't trust what is labeled on these newer batteries but for $17, I'd take a chance. Fortunately for me I came across several new 4 and 2.6 amp li-ion Craftsman batteries in the last year.
The only aftermarket batteries I've purchased that are labeled correctly are the nickel metal-hydride units. All four that I've purchased over the last three years still work fine but work best in low/medium drain tools in temps above 40F.