Rebuild a M18 battery??

[KDoug]

Hi, has anyone tried to rebuild a Milwaukee M18 battery. I haven't tried to take one of mine apart yet, but it just occurred to me that it might be possible. I read an article about cordless battery packs and they were talking about the 18650 cells. That's what got me thinking.

 

[seanb02]

Probably more dependent on whether you can source the individual parts for the battery pack for cheaper than you can buy a new one, or have a battery shop rebuild that one for you.

Yes it most certainly can be done, but whether feasible or not is a different question entirely that you will need to look in to.

 

[MayerMR]

Hi, has anyone tried to rebuild a Milwaukee M18 battery. I haven't tried to take one of mine apart yet, but it just occurred to me that it might be possible. I read an article about cordless battery packs and they were talking about the 18650 cells. That's what got me thinking.

Is that a Li-On pack or a Ni-Cd pack? If Ni-Cd, sure you can do it. If it's Li-On, just replace it - too much can go wrong if you don't know what you're doing...fires n whatnot.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I built one once for a electric scooter. A car battery is supposed to be the sweet way to weld the Nickle strips from ebay. (Don't get the plated steel strips.)

Read https://www.electricbike.com and Luna cycle. There's a kid on YouTube who shows the set up with a starter solenoid, welding cable and solid wire, and momentary switch on a car battery.

I borrowed a Chinese electric capacitor spot welder that frankly sucked. Newer ones could be better but I would use a car battery with solenoid.

 

[KDoug]

Is that a Li-On pack or a Ni-Cd pack? If Ni-Cd, sure you can do it. If it's Li-On, just replace it - too much can go wrong if you don't know what you're doing...fires n whatnot.

It's a lithium battery

 

[Ch3No2]

I have all my battery packs rebuilt by Gulf Coast Battery in Florida....google.
Hard to turn the soldering iron on for the $5 they charge.

 

[markw365]

The M18 packs are 18650 cells. I'd like to find a source for cases, have a cracked 5.0.

 

[steveo3002]

someone posted the cases the other day on aliexpress


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Li-...214698.html?shortkey=nmeEbi2u&addresstype=600

 

[KDoug]

someone posted the cases the other day on aliexpress


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Li-...214698.html?shortkey=nmeEbi2u&addresstype=600

Thanks for this link, it might come in handy in the future.

 

[mmason7764]

An option is battery cells with tabs already welded, example:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13189

Make sure you connect all the sensing wires between cells.

Having a battery rebuilding shop do the work sounds like a good option.

 

[kctyphoon]

I posted a link last week in the Milwaukee addiction thread with a source for the empty case, cell holders, connection strips, and electronic board for like $15 off AliExpress. All you need is the batteries.

 

[KDoug]

I posted a link last week in the Milwaukee addiction thread with a source for the empty case, cell holders, connection strips, and electronic board for like $15 off AliExpress. All you need is the batteries.

Yes, thank you. Somebody already beat you to it and posted it the other day. Before I go buying new parts to build batteries, I still would like to have a guide on how to rebuild/build a lithium battery pack. I've heard it's a little more tricky than the older traditional type batteries. I watched a video of a guy, and he said you have to keep a power supply to the circuit board so that it doesn't lose its memory and keep the battery from charging (or something like that). Can anybody confirm this? Any help would be appreciated as I am a complete novice when it comes to electrical things. I recently have gotten into repairing power tools and thought it would be awesome if I could rebuild my own batteries because they are freakin expensive new.

 

[Ch3No2]

As I posted earlier...Gulf Coast Battery sells packs or individual cells for you to rebuild or will do it for you cheap cheap....check the link.

http://gcbattery.com/manufacturer-compatible-with/

 

[Jason280]

I had trouble navigating the site, but do you know if GCB will rebuild older Milwaukee 28v batteries?

 

[seber]

I wouldn't call $53 to rebuild my Milwaukee battery cheap. I did go that route once. The result was not only a short battery life but a destroyed charger as well. Never again.

 

[Michael_in_DE]

I had trouble navigating the site, but do you know if GCB will rebuild older Milwaukee 28v batteries?

Here ya go

 

[Michael_in_DE]

Frankly, it looks like 3rd party batteries are cheaper than rebuilds. amazon has plenty. I am sure Ebay has more, and they are cheaper.

Between cameras, and tools, I have had very good luck with 3rd party batteries.

 

[Bryanthegreat]

I had some dewalt NiCad batteries rebuilt a few years back and I didn't think that they were the same quality and last as long as the batteries that came with the drill. Things may have changed in that arena since then but with the Home Depot black Friday deals on 2 packs of batteries I probably wouldn't mess around with rebuilds or aftermarket stuff.

 

[KDoug]

As I posted earlier...Gulf Coast Battery sells packs or individual cells for you to rebuild or will do it for you cheap cheap....check the link.

http://gcbattery.com/manufacturer-compatible-with/

I looked on their website and didn't see any mention of them rebuilding lithium batteries, I don't think their prices are that great either, especially once you consider shipping costs there and back. It would probably be more expensive than buying a new battery. That's the whole point of me wanting to repair them myself.

 

[BMack37]

Buy a new in packaging battery off eBay. It's not worth it to rebuild it unless you're sure they're going to use good cells and honestly, welding tabs isn't worth it if you're only doing one battery. You can use the Kobalt batteries to source cells, they're cheap and still Samsung cells but definitely check eBay for new in package batteries, expect to pay about $55.

 

[6PTsocket]

I built one once for a electric scooter. A car battery is supposed to be the sweet way to weld the Nickle strips from ebay. (Don't get the plated steel strips.)

Read https://www.electricbike.com and Luna cycle. There's a kid on YouTube who shows the set up with a starter solenoid, welding cable and solid wire, and momentary switch on a car battery.

I borrowed a Chinese electric capacitor spot welder that frankly sucked. Newer ones could be better but I would use a car battery with solenoid.

Those work OK but real battery spot welders charge the correct amount of power onto big capacitors and have a tool with two side by side tips. The capacitor bank is discharged through MOSFET transistors when the welder is fired. Some even use a double pulse. You do not have to worry about how long to hold it. It fires a shot. There are plans and videos online.
18650's come in a range of amp- hr. capacities and quality from several companies. To make it worth while you have to use good ones and at retail they are not that cheap

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[jonesg]

Frankly, it looks like 3rd party batteries are cheaper than rebuilds. amazon has plenty. I am sure Ebay has more, and they are cheaper.

Between cameras, and tools, I have had very good luck with 3rd party batteries.

Definately, the knockoffs are good.

 

[Brian_WK]

I rebuilt 2 bosch 12V batteries so far. I used recycled 18650 batteries from a laptop they already had tabs on them so I just soldered them. Pretty sure Milwaukee would be the same. Make sure you use good panasonic, sanyo, samsung cells.

Brian

 

[KDoug]

Buy a new in packaging battery off eBay. It's not worth it to rebuild it unless you're sure they're going to use good cells and honestly, welding tabs isn't worth it if you're only doing one battery. You can use the Kobalt batteries to source cells, they're cheap and still Samsung cells but definitely check eBay for new in package batteries, expect to pay about $55.

I've done some more research and watched several videos on YouTube, repairing the lithium battery packs doesn't seem too bad. Basically you have to find the cells that don't have the same voltage as the others. You then either solder new cells on or tack weld then to the tabs. I do need to get a balance charger though, because you have to make sure all the cells are on the same voltage once you repair them.

 

[BMack37]

I've done some more research and watched several videos on YouTube, repairing the lithium battery packs doesn't seem too bad. Basically you have to find the cells that don't have the same voltage as the others. You then either solder new cells on or tack weld then to the tabs. I do need to get a balance charger though, because you have to make sure all the cells are on the same voltage once you repair them.

But you can get a new battery for $55 from eBay, a genuine replacement. You're going to buy something, then buy cells then waste an hour or two? Doesn't seem worth it to me.

Plus with a bad battery, you can replace the bad cell or two but the others have been stressed and will likely have a short life.

 

[KDoug]

But you can get a new battery for $55 from eBay, a genuine replacement. You're going to buy something, then buy cells then waste an hour or two? Doesn't seem worth it to me.

Plus with a bad battery, you can replace the bad cell or two but the others have been stressed and will likely have a short life.

Honestly I think I'm more interested in learning how to rebuild them, but saving a few dollars was definitely an incentive for me.

 

[BMack37]

Honestly I think I'm more interested in learning how to rebuild them, but saving a few dollars was definitely an incentive for me.

That I can understand. Again, let me point out the Kobalt 24V batteries use the same Samsung cells as the Milwaukee does but they're $10 for the 1.5 battery and $20 for the 2.0