Need cordless drill batteries.

[Karen Pauli]

I have a Makita drill that I love dearly, but the batteries for it no longr hold a charge,  I can't find replacements in the stores (I think they're obsolite), I didn't have any luck getting something that actually worked on E-Bay, and I can't afford to try ordering new ones from Makita.  Since many of you are good scroungers and others get broken equipment offered to us when they find out about the Maker's Space, could you please keep an eye out for ORANGE 14v Makita rechargable powertool batteries?  Thanks.

[David Buggs]

There are youtube videos of tricks to recover old batteries that won't take or hold a charge, have you tried them?  Some involve totally discharging and then recharging.  One I tried and was really skeptical of was for a battery that would not take a charge. Rapid on/off cycling of the charging power worked for me the three or four times I've tried it with older batteries for my power tools.  If your charger has an indicator light that shows the battery is not taking a charge cycle the power to it a bunch of times in quick succession.  After doing this mine took a full charge, it was like buying a new battery for my portable hand tools.  It's worth a try.  I'm sure there will be comments or perhaps an explanation offered by others on this group.

Buggs

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 1:03 AM, Karen Pauli <kpa...@live.com> wrote:

I have a Makita drill that I love dearly, but the batteries for it no longr hold a charge,  I can't find replacements in the stores (I think they're obsolite), I didn't have any luck getting something that actually worked on E-Bay, and I can't afford to try ordering new ones from Makita.  Since many of you are good scroungers and others get broken equipment offered to us when they find out about the Maker's Space, could you please keep an eye out for ORANGE 14v Makita rechargable powertool batteries?  Thanks.

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[Ron Bean]

>There are youtube videos of tricks to recover old batteries that won't take
>or hold a charge, have you tried them?

While you're at it, see if you can find any about putting new cells in
old battery packs. I'm sure you could do it yourself much cheaper than
sending it to Makita.

[Tom Gralewicz]

I have been working with cordless drills for years with my business and have the following observations:

*  You get what you pay for, buy a $100 battery from the manufacturer and it will last much longer than the $30 one from e-bay.

*  If you can't find manufacturer packs you can get yours rebuilt - there are a few places in town that do it (and a space member with a battery welder) but expect to pay almost as much as a new battery if they are going to use good cells.  If its as cheap as an e-bay battery you won't be happy with the cells they put in.

*  Its often cheaper to buy a complete kit with another drill, 2 batteries and a charger when on sale than to buy the batteries.  I wound up with 12 Makita 9.6V drills just to get the batteries.

*  Stick with quality brands and look for chargers that are like bricks, not small holders.  I have been happy with Makita and Milwaukee.  As always you get what you pay for, a $100 kit won't work as well as a $400 kit.  You can get factory refurbished tools with warranty from CPO 

http://www.cpooutlets.com/shop-by-category/shop-by-category,default,pg.html

* Different battery technologies have different advantages.  Most new tools are going lithium - you get a lighter battery with more energy stored in it, but it won't let you abuse or overdrive it.  Instead it just turns off if it doesn't like what you are doing.  Rich liked the NiCd and NiMiH tools because you could crank them to the breaking point and they would keep trying.

*  Where possible, recharge before they are completely discharged.

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Tom Gralewicz
Miller Electronics Recycling
(414) 380-1716
www.deadcomputers.com

[Dont let google be evil]

   I had some limited success zapping old batts w/ a MIG welder  -safety gear for sure!

Lutefisk

[Tom Gralewicz]

Zapping will remove any nickle whiskers that are currently shorting a cell.  It won't affect the rest of the whiskers that are growing and it won't do anything to rejuvinate the rest of the cell.

So zapping will make  a shorted cell work for a while, but its still worn out.

Tom

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[Karen Pauli]

Thanks so much Tom for your advice.  Sounds like you're very knowlegable and experienced.  My main intent in posting here was because the Maker's Space seems to be the sort of place that would take anything broken that might have usable parts.  I just wanted people to keep their eyes out in case we came accross a broken drill with batteries that were still good.  It's a long shot, but you never know.