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Where to get Batteries rebuilt?

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jrsavoie

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Where can I send 18 volt Milwaukee Lithium batteries to get rebuilt?

I used to send them to a guy in Michigan, but he only does electric bike batteries now.
 
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vwpieces

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Years ago I rebuilt a few of my NiCad packs myself and used Ni-Mh to replace them at double capacity.
Today some manufactures use a kill chip in the pack. Once the batts have been detected as bad or imbalanced charged a few times the pack can't be revived.
I haven't looked up batt rebuilding for some time, not really since hearing about how some brands incorporated the "kill chip" or however it done.
 
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jrsavoie

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Shiftless said:
I had an alarm battery pack rebuilt at a franchise place Batteries and Bulbs. Is there one near you?
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LOL thete is nothing near me. But we do drive to places that are within a couple hours if need be.

The closest is about 60 miles away. But it's near a Cabelas and Bass Pro.
 
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Showkey

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Rebuilding…….it’s quality vs price problem. Not to mention the safety systems built into the packs.
Rebuilding is right next to knock offs………and………their quality has been marginal to piss poor.

Even the phone battery replacement is far less than perfected.
 
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purplezr2

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Looking around you can find Milwaukee batteries pretty cheap, guessing if you are getting them rebuilt you have the old batteries before they started putting the sizes on the batteries. I think I would just look for new, the you have the 3 year warranty.
 
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jrsavoie

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Showkey said:
Rebuilding…….it’s quality vs price problem. Not to mention the safety systems built into the packs.
Rebuilding is right next to knock offs………and………their quality has been marginal to piss poor.

Even the phone battery replacement is far less than perfected.
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In my experience over the last 20 years, the rebuilders I dealt with, all 2 of them provided an end product that was as good or better than OEM.
 
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GeoBruin

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Yeah, you are quite literally just replacing the cells for different cells. There are name brand cells of known capacity that have been well tested all over the internet. If you are replacing the bad cells with good cells, I'm not sure what there could really be to complain about.

I suppose if the individual doing the spot welding is not doing a good job, the actual workmanship could be called in to question, but otherwise, if you know what kind of cells are going in to the battery, what is the concern?
 
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jrsavoie

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GeoBruin said:
Yeah, you are quite literally just replacing the cells for different cells. There are name brand cells of known capacity that have been well tested all over the internet. If you are replacing the bad cells with good cells, I'm not sure what there could really be to complain about.

I suppose if the individual doing the spot welding is not doing a good job, the actual workmanship could be called in to question, but otherwise, if you know what kind of cells are going in to the battery, what is the concern?
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I have heard a lot of bad reports about rebuilt batteries and rebuilders.

I felt lucky to have dealt with 2 good rebuilders over the decades.

My starter/ alternator rebuilder and radiator builder/ rebuilder are also no longer available.
 
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finn

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The chain local to me won’t do lithium batteries, presumably because of liability.

They rebuilt several nicad batteries for me, as did Batteries Plus, with good success.
 
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Walkers

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I have found that if you watch Ho De after Christmas you can get batteries pretty cheap. They usually stock up, then sell them at 50% off shortly after, then when the stock is ow again they raise the price back to normal.
 
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jrsavoie

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Walkers said:
I have found that if you watch Ho De after Christmas you can get batteries pretty cheap. They usually stock up, then sell them at 50% off shortly after, then when the stock is ow again they raise the price back to normal.
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Wish we had a Home Depot closer. Nearest is an hour drive and we don't go there very often. I used to go there more often because they had better wood than the closer Menards and Lowes.
 
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dnschmidt

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I've used MTO battery to rebuild four of my Metabo NiCd batteries for my little Metabo drill/driver and they aren't too bad. I've never used them for Li-Ion because the price of the rebuild was equal to what I could buy new from Milwaukee DURNG A SALE.
 
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Showkey

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jrsavoie said:
In my experience over the last 20 years, the rebuilders I dealt with, all 2 of them provided an end product that was as good or better than OEM.
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Lithium batteries have not been around for 20 years. So those rebuilt older packs experience are not necessarily relevant to lithium rebuilding.
Yes, Nicad and NiMH from years back are completely different issue………..but rebuilding those is less viable today as their performance is so subpar compared to modern lithium.

Buy OEM batteries ………on sale, special purchase at HD, in a tool kit form, get free batteries with promotions ( like buy the kit get one/two extra batteries free)
 
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jrsavoie

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From what I've seen the kit batteries are low AH and not worth having. Needing to buy batteries immediately after buying the kit
Showkey said:
Lithium batteries have not been around for 20 years. So those rebuilt older packs experience are not necessarily relevant to lithium rebuilding.
Yes, Nicad and NiMH from years back are completely different issue………..but rebuilding those is less viable today as their performance is so subpar compared to modern lithium.

Buy OEM batteries ………on sale, special purchase at HD, in a tool kit form, get free batteries with promotions ( like buy the kit get one/two extra batteries free)
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Ya think I quit buying and using tools when Lithium batteries came out? I've had as many lithiums rebuilt as the others.

The tool kit tools are not always up to par. Most tool companies make different grades of tools. The drill I got in the kit was ****. The good drill came with a quality steel chuck.

The batteries I've seen with the kits are low AH and not worth having. It kind of negates the value of the kit when you have to buy decent batteries right away. Anymore I just buy the tool and battrries seperate. Probably won't be buying much of anything anymore.
Other than batteries, I have about everything I want.

If Nethers hadn't quit rebuilding tool batteries, I'd be good to go with batteries too.
 
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bob15

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jrsavoie said:
I don't have enough confidence or time to even try. My hands shake way to bad anymore.

There's a youngster with talent that I would like to see take up something like that as a hobby. I doubt he ever does.
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Fair enough. Call them just the same as they also rebuild battery packs as well.
 
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jrsavoie

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Rabid Badger said:
Genuine Milwaukee XC5.0 batteries for $64.99 each:

www.ebay.com

Milwaukee M18 REDLITHIUM XC5.0 Extended Capacity Battery Pack - 48-11-1850 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Milwaukee M18 REDLITHIUM XC5.0 Extended Capacity Battery Pack - 48-11-1850 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
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To switch from V18 to M18 batteries, I will need the adapter and new chargers. What would my best route for say 3 batteries, 2 chargers and an adapter be.
Might be able to get chargers on ebay or marketplace.

This hasn't been a priority, as I haven't turned a lick in months.
 
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jrsavoie

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dnschmidt said:
The battery rebuild thing worked fine with NiMh and NiCd but has sort of petered out with LI-Ion.
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The guy that was rebuilding them for me said cells were getting hard to come by. He is strictly doing electric bike batteries and stuff now. He said that part of the business was keeping him busy enough, he didn't need to mess with anything else. Nethers Batteries.
 
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redmondjp

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I have rebuilt a lot of battery packs over the years, and I don't do it much any longer. It's really difficult to do it properly without having the spot welder, unless you can find batteries that come with wire connection tabs already on them.

The biggest problem that I used to encounter (was Ni-Cd back then) was that soldering onto the end of a cell, well the heat ended up causing the premature failure of the cells that I directly soldered onto. So this kind of killed it for me.

Plus, with Black Friday sales, it's usually just cheaper in the long run to buy new batteries . . .
 
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jrsavoie

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txlonghorn1989

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Walkers said:
I have found that if you watch Ho De after Christmas you can get batteries pretty cheap. They usually stock up, then sell them at 50% off shortly after, then when the stock is ow again they raise the price back to normal.
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I've never seen that here in Central Texas. I'll try to keep my eyes open this year. But then again a lot of stuff I hear people in different places say was marked clearance never seems to be here. I was just hoping they might have Makita 18V batteries on sale for Black Friday. But that probably won't be any good after last couple of years.
 
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