Part1 - How to revive / rejuvenate / fix a bad rechargeable NiCd battery for cordless drill

[stevenwrose]

Great video! Clever use of the good batteries. I found this after the fact, but will use it on other batteries. I had a Makita 9100 (probably 15 years old) that was down to 5v (normally 10, 8 cells). Prying off the lid revealed that some cells were shorted. I shorted the terminals of the battery with quick pulses, as you mention, and there was enough amperage in the remaining good cells to blow out the internal shorts in the four dead cells! Thanks for the video. Aloha, Steve

[dial2fast]

@stevenwrose Mahalo!!



[photoman2004]

Awesome idea! How well/long have those batteries held up after the fix?

[dial2fast]

@photoman2004 The ones I fixed are still working as of today. However I don't use/charge on a weekly basis.

[roguefate666]

I was able to get one of my 14.4 Ryobi NiCd batteries up and running. I was able to get a decent charge into the second one use this "surge" technique. Right now I have it on the charger to see if it will hold a charge. Hopefully it will but at least I've got one of my guys online again have use of my cordless drill again. Yay!! Thanks for the information.

[dial2fast]

@roguefate666 Thanks for the update. Good you got at least one going.

[geardriven]

I have a DeWalt 14.4v battery that will not accept a charge. I'd like to try this but how do I tell which prong is POS? Also, nowhere on the battery does it state what it is. Whether NiCad or otherwise. Anybody know?

Great video BTW!

[geardriven]

@geardriven OOPS! The battery does have Ni-Cd on it! Didn't see it the first time.

[dial2fast]

@geardriven I am not familiar with the DeWalt battery.Usually the tool will only have 2 contacts. From there you can try to do a quick charge on the battery and immediately use your meter to measure those 2 contacts to see if you get any voltage to tell which is positive or negative.

[tikler1]

I have 2 dead Craftsman 18.0v Ni-MH batteries . Do you or anyone else out there in youtube land know if there is a process to do this with the Ni-MH batteries? Thanks

[MrRodahi]

Thank you very much for this information.  Also, your video resolution is superb. Great job!

[dial2fast]

@MrRodahi Thanks for your comment and thank you for watching.

[bzzwiz]

I have a digital power supply that I can preset for any voltage and amperage. For Ryobi 18v, presetting the power supply to 36v, what amperage level would be needed?

[dial2fast]

@bzzwiz Sorry responding late, been busy with work. Think the original battery gives out 1.3A. So you can set your power supply for 1.5A - 2A.

[rijaka]

GOOD video, thanks.

[googleboy7]

Thanks,

The high current pulses are burning off the dendrites-tiny "whiskers" that form internally and short the battery. Fix will likely be only temproary, unfortunately. Question: Would you mind telling what video camera and model you used to make this video?

Thanks!

[dial2fast]

@googleboy7 Sony DSC-HX1

[Shipmanization]

I have that same craftsman drill and batterys, mine has been dead for 3 years I am going to try this , thanks

[martyn2311]

JUST LIKE TO SAY THANKS THIS WORKED A TREAT ON MY DADS OLD DEWALT THAT HAD BEEN IN THE GARAGE SINCE HE PASSED AWAY AS I DIDT WANT TO THROW IT AWAY BUT DIDT WANT TO SPEND OUT FOR THE PRICEY BATTERYS USED A 12V CAR CHARGER AND BATTERY IS NOW GOOD AGAIN YOUR A STAR CHEERS MATE

[dial2fast]

@martyn2311 I am happy to hear that you are able to put your dad's tools to good use. You have a great weekend, and thank you for watching.

[rpaull3]

i remember in the old days when there was no such thing as a "smart charger" i found some old Ni-cd batteries in the basement threw em on the charger and they worked BETTER than new ones i had.

[clockguy2]

I did this using a large battery charger in start mode. The battery works much better now. Thanks for the tutorial.

[bahopik]

dude you just ruined someone's business))) people are selling those videos on ebay for $12)))

[dial2fast]

@bahopik Well I have never bought those eBay solutions to fixing batteries. I actually don't even know what they send you for a fix. This video I made is based on a LOT of research I did on the web. Information that is free for everyone to obtain if you take the time to do your own research. Oh well, if this is what they are selling on eBay, then all the power to them as long as their customer is happy. I like helping others for free.

[Anappa11]

@bahopik Who gives a shit? Selling knowledge in that forum is a self-defeating business plan anyway

[delraydetroit]

I tried this on a single 1/2C NiCd. I used a homemade12v ATX power supply as the rejuvenator and followed the 5-7 second tap-tap instruction. At first, the regulator IC in the power supply shut down as if it was shorting out. Subsequent tapping gradually stopped the IC shutdown and the voltage came up (I had a digital voltmeter hooked up to the battery to monitor the progress). The dead cell went from 0.0 volts to 1.3v on the second round of tapping on the + side.

Thanks for the video.

[ProlectoVideos]

Great video. I just used my 12 volt Automobile Charger to fix two of my Dewalt 12volt batteries. Basically, one was tired and the other was dead. I used the 55 amp Jump Start mode to make sure there was enough 12 volt current. I tapped quickly about a dozen times and then let the batteries sit for about 15 minutes. Sure enough, they came back to life. I suspect that double the voltage is less important than sufficient current.

[dial2fast]

@ProlectoVideos Thank you for your feedback. I don't have a car charger to try this out so now we know this is another good power source. You are correct that the current is very important in this procedure. I am happy that this worked for you as we all know those Dewalt batteries are not cheap.

[chanwko]

Can I use Li-ion battery to revive the dead Ni-cd battery ?

[dial2fast]

@chanwko Theoretically it should work, but Li-on batteries for tools are still rather expensive. I'd prefer you not try it in case it damages your good Li-on (unless you really want to try). Can you borrow other friend's ni-cd battery to try?

[waiwaiko]

@dial2fast Thanks for your advice.

[telorinodelhoyoo]

hi sr can you rejuvenate my grandma

[CoolDudeClem]

Is there a way to rejuvenate an old lead-acid battery that doesn't hold any charge at all?

[dial2fast]

@CoolDudeClem I don't think you can rejuvenate lead-acid battery, I think it's time to get a new one.

[dddsire]

Great job!

[LOOKOUT2012]

The best way to renew drill batteries, put them into the charger several times very quickly! This generally resolves the fault & allows them to charge as normal I have done this with a couple of 18 volt Makita's & a 24volt Bosch the Bosch would only show two charge bars then stop charging, by plugging the battery into the charger several times (quickly) it went upto 3 bars I carried on doing this, it got to 4 bars - I then kept it in until it beeps to say it's charged & repeated this perfect!!

[rosstga]

Extremely will explanned and will try and post update

[artsychic2000]

thanks bud...my husband has 3 of these that won't charge or lose power fast. He'll appreciate this!

[GlennTechNYC]

I was just wondering if this would work with a car batery or is it too high in terms of voltage? I ask because I do not have 2 other working batteries for my drill! But I do have a car-if not what other batteries could I use? is the rule that it needs to be twice the voltage of the one im reviving?

[dial2fast]

@GlennTechNYC I have never tried it with car batteries but I think you would still need to double the voltage which means you want to put two 12 volt car batteries in series. Car battery is not high voltage, but VERY high current, so be careful. One important note, if you are going to try one 12V battery, please disconnect it from your car before doing this. You don't want to take the chance of frying your car's ECM computer.

[lalo1990lalo]

lol just finish seeing the red neck videos he was talking about @ 0.10

[janecai88]

It's very helpfule and it saves me a trip to the store and money too. Thanks a lot.

[dial2fast]

@janecai88 You are very welcome!

[camdexta]

i followed this to the letter, the first attempt gave a very low voltage reading so i waited 15 mins for the battery to cool down and then zapped it again and HEY IT WORKS. saved me £50.

thank you for sharing this info.

[Jaspel]

nice dmm

[shah76]

thaI jump up my dead 12V nicd drill batt using car battery and it does the Job. but make sure your engine start when jumping start the nicd. Gd Luck

[rlopez013]

If I have a 24 volt battery do i need to jolt it with 48 volts?

[dial2fast]

@rlopez013 I found using double the voltage seem to work quite well.

[chriskieninger]

if these batterys are anything like an industrial battery like in forklifts, the chargers will not come on and charge if the battery is too low.....i know it sounds dumb, but it has to have enough voltage for the current sensor in the charger to kick it on....equalizing 2 batterys together is usually enough voltage to kick the charger on

[brandyrayce24]

does anyone know if you have to use nicd? can i use li ion as a power source to zap the nicd?

[infinera06]

Is there any chance that this procedure will ruin the batteries that you use as the power source?

[dial2fast]

@infinera06 There are no issues. You are just causing the source battery to surge a lot of current for a second with each tap. That's why I don't recommend putting it reverse polarity.

[infinera06]

@dial2fast Thanks..I'll try it tonight!

[TDoginNC]

What causes these batteries to fail in the 1st place ... and then after this procedure brings them back from the dead, how long before they pass away again? Thanks ... will try on my old batteries this weekend ...

[dial2fast]

@TDoginNC I copied this off some website to help explain - "The active cadmium material is present in finely

divided crystals. In a good cell, these crystals remain small, obtaining maximum surface area. When the memory phenomenon occurs, the crystals grow and drastically reduce the surface area. The result is a

voltage depression, which leads to a loss of capacity." .......my method of using high current to shock the battery will help break these formed crystals.

[TDoginNC]

@dial2fast Thanks for the quick response ... hope this works and holds up on my dead batteries as well ...

[TheError404]

2 people used Li-ion batteries

Btw, great tutorial :)

[MrBoss1379]

great job

[typhoonk123456]

Works great!! I two dewalt 12v batteries that were weak (8v measured). Did this found out one had a damaged cell, but the other one worked just as good as it did before!! Cheers!

[rfgardner]

Excellent video, very complete facts with clear explanation and demonstration. I will be trying this today..............

[456TTTMarty]

So this morning I followed your instructions exactly to zap my Ryobi's dead 9.6 batteries and it worked PURFECTLY !! I had just gicen up on rechargeables and bout a DeWalt 7 amp 3/8 corded drill - I'm sure it will have more power, but at least I now have by cordless back and running! I was just about to throw it out! THANK YOU!!

[dial2fast]

@456TTTMarty Very good to hear, and thank you for watching.

[456TTTMarty]

I'm ready to do this for a Ryobi 9.6 volt battery, can I just use a single 19.6 volt Ryobi battery? I assume the 19.6 battery needs to be fully charged ?

[dial2fast]

@456TTTMarty  You should be able to use the 19.6V and it must be freshly charged.

[456TTTMarty]

I'm ready to try this - a question - my battery is a 9.6 volt Ryobi, so can I use a single 19.6 volt battery to do the shocking?

[s37d]

can u do this with a few standard alkaline 9v batteries in series

[TFMTraining]

Other videos I've seen say to first reverse the polarity from the power source for . zapping (+ to - and - to +). The to do it again with the correct polarity (+ to + and - to -).

I was thinking of trying this with a Car charger and setting it to jump start (50 amp boost. Any reason a car charger wouldn't work?

[dial2fast]

@TFMTraining My logic in my head tells me putting a high current in reverse polarity would not be good for the battery but then again I haven't tried it before. As for using car charger, with anything high current, make sure you can zap it VERY quickly and not too much so that damage to the battery does not occur.

[TFMTraining]

@dial2fast For safety I ran some 20" long 14ga wire to the terminals and placed the battery into an old tool box. With the wires exposed, I zapped it with the car charger set on 50 amp boost (jump start mode). 6-8 time in reverse polarity, the 6-8 times +/+ and -/-. Let it cool and put it on the charger. Before, this battery would be almost dead by not being on the charger for 24 hours. Now it lasted 3 days with intermittent use. It has plenty of torque again. Just did the 2nd battery too.

[dial2fast]

@TFMTraining Thanks for letting everyone know your experience. I am glad your method worked out well.

[johnlarren516]

i tried this by hooking two of my 19.2 v craftsman together to jump a 14.4 b&d and now my 19.2 v say they not charging. was fine before and all lights work.

[bluegloss]

Thanks for an excellent video. My cordless Dewalt saw has a new lease of life and it cost me £0.00 Brilliant video thanks again

[dial2fast]

@bluegloss - Happy to have been able to help. Have a great day!

[hjchin]

Thanks for sharing this video, I have a question, sir what if I use 4pcs of 9v battery, series connection it which will give me 36 or more volts, then use your technique to zap it, will this ideal work? Thanks

[dial2fast]

@hjchin If you are talking about those little rectangular 9v you use for smoke detectors, then it won't work. Simply not enough current in those. This fix has more to do with current then voltage.

[spideyou2]

This is an awsome video .i been looking for something like this. i have a 36 volt battery i need to rejuvinate so i'm going to put (2 ) 36 volt batteries in series and zap my battery!

[teyzar]

Has your revived battery lasted? I read on the other video similar to this the person stating that the battery could take between 1-20 more charges. Roughly speaking, how many charges would you say yours has been able to take thus far?

Also, can the source be NiMH? I'm guessing yes as it's just providing the power?

[josemercado1]

BROTHER.!!!! THE TUTORIAL IS GREAT.!!!! I BELIEVE IF YOU POST ANOTHER TUTORIAL ON "HOW TO UPLOAD AWESOME VIDEOS ON U-TUBE" WOULD BE JUST FANTASTIC. MST OF US DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE SUBJECT AND END UP UPLOADING HORRIBLE QUALITY VIDEOS. THE QUALITY OF ALL YOUR VIDEOS IS THOUSANDS OF TIMES BETTER THAN A LOT PROFESSIONAL VIDEOS OUT THERE.!!!! WHAT KIND OF EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE? WHAT FILE FORMATS DO YOU USE? HOW DO YOU DO IT? PLEASE, TEACH US ABOUT VIDEO.!!!!! THANK YOU.

[dial2fast]

@josemercado1 Thank you for the compliment. I am using a Sony DSC HX1 camera that records HD. Just record and upload. You can do it too.

[eurotrashgti]

Hey thank you for this! it worked great for me. I had a dead 19.2 craftsman so I used a 19.2 and a 18.0 craftsman battery to zap the dead one and it worked.

works great if ya dont have a welder!

thanks

[dial2fast]

@eurotrashgti Thank you for posting your experience, and thanks for watching my vid.

[Magneticitist]

great video.. you can restore other batteries such as car batteries with the same type of method but using a circuit that jolts the cells with continuous pulses that contain high voltage but little current.

[elvis459]

Could you tell me what wire you are using i.e. what it is usually used for. Thanks.

[dial2fast]

@elvis459 if you are asking the wire I used to rig up the setup, then it's just 16 gauge multi strand wire. Nothing special. I think 18 gauge will work fine too.

[elvis459]

@dial2fast Hi, Thanks for the reply. I googled 16 gauge wire and it is usually used for speakers, that makes it easier to come by as I have a couple of old speakers in my shed. I will be trying this tomorrow. Thanks Again.

[ltcbio1]

Hey Dial, ltcbio here, you had given me some guidance on determining the correct posts on my craftsman batteries and it worked, thanks. I was able to zap them with my car battery and they are now taking a charge. One question; does using a higher voltage translate to better reconditioning? Does a higher voltage/current clear more of the sulfate build up? Thanks!

[dial2fast]

@ltcbio1 Thank you for your update. Happy to hear the process worked for you. As to how much current/voltage, obviously this is not a controlled scientific method to fixing a battery cell. The problem I can see with using an extremely high current source is how quickly your hand can zap that cell. If you hold it too long it could do permanent damage to the cells. My rule of thumb is stick with 2X the voltage of the battery and make sure the source outputs decent amperage such as tool batteries.

[tencheeman]

hey Dial2fast.

I have a fire storm 14.4v battery A9276 and can't tell which is the positive and negative, one is silver in colour and the other is copper coloured...any ideas.

Also can i rejuvinate this with two 18v dewalt batetries.

Cheers Barry.

[dial2fast]

@tencheeman You can rejuvenate it with the 2 dewalt 18V. As to finding out the polarity, I don't have a Firestorm battery to check. Please read the reply I posted to @ltcbio1 in an earlier post and it may help.

[ltcbio1]

Hey dial2fast, thanks for the video. I am attempting to rejuvenate my 15.6 volt craftsman nicads. There are 4 connections on the battery and I can not tell which is positive or negative (I do have a meter, but there is no voltage) How can I tell which connections to zap? Also, do I detect a Turkish accent arkadsham?

[dial2fast]

@ltcbio1 I am not familiar with the Craftsman battery, but one thing that can help is to look on the cordless tool or the charger to see which metal contacts it uses. Usually the tool will only have 2 contacts. From there you can try to do a quick charge on the battery and immediately use your meter to measure those 2 contacts to see if you get any voltage to tell which is positive or negative. Also you can try to measure the metal contacts in the charger. I am not Turkish.

[reinaldo45sp]

thanks my friend!!

[reinaldo45sp]

Is it possible do the same thing with an 12 volts battery using a power source of two 18v batteries?

[dial2fast]

@reinaldo45sp

Yes you can but make sure you zap it quickly with quick taps. Then after a bunch of zaps, let the battery cool down for some time before trying to charge it.

[tonyfdesign]

Great video. Brought two Milwaukee 14.4 NiCd batteries back to life-thanks!

[tonyfdesign]

What kind (model) of multi-meter are you using. I'm looking at getting a new one.

[chippyr1]

thank you. did this yesterday and very pleased have more batteries

[jasonladeroutejason]

what kind of wire is it?

[dial2fast]

@jasonladeroutejason

16 gauge or bigger will be fine

[ciretre]

Thank you for this post... I saw the one using the welder and was trying to figure out if I knew anyone with a welder. I don't have 2 working batteries, is there another source I could use, or if I borrowed another battery from a friend and they were different voltages, would that work? Such as linking a 14.4V with a 18V? I'm trying to revive a 18V I got for free from a garage sale, where the guy said they were useless because the batteries no longer worked.

[dial2fast]

@ciretre

You can use another tool battery from a friend as the power source. It's fine to put a 14V with a 18V in series (not parallel). Just make sure you have about double the voltage of your one bad battery.

[armoredpig]

Wow excellent explanation of how to zap my old NiCad batteries! Thanks!

[trcboyd]

Not only did this work to restore my Ryobi 18V One+ but I was also able to restore the 6V NiCd Battery for my daughters Remote control 4X4 Off Road Racer. I can't wait to see what else I can save.

[dial2fast]

@trcboyd Thanks for sharing your experience. I am happy you were able to revive those bad batteries.

[jeffcore14]

I had a question. I have two batteries that wont hold a charge for a long time. I can charge one and it will work for about less than a quarter than it did new. The other will turn the drill but stop after a few revolutions. So thew are taking a charge. Would this procedure help with my batteries?

[dial2fast]

@jeffcore14 If you have a battery that don't hold a charge like it use to, then this procedure can help. I'd say first try it on the battery that stops after few rev. Keep in mind, these procedures can't fix all the batteries out there, but if it does, you have just saved a battery that you would have tossed in the trash. So give it a try.

[trcboyd]

Thanx for the tip!!!!

I had an old Ryobi battery that the charger indicated was damaged.

Before your Recharge suggestion, it measured 2.3V and after, it measured 19.6V.  Was surprised and delighted....Thanx Again.

[chuckyg0409]

My question is, if I have a Dewalt charger that is putting out 50V why can't I use it to shock the 14.4V Milwaukee batteries?

And if I could, why couldn't I use it to shock the bad Dewalt one also? But that doesn't make sense to me because the Dewalt charger won't even charge it when it is in the charger all day.

So I am a little confused and any insight into what I am missing here is appreciated.

[dial2fast]

@chuckyg0409 - The reason you can't use your dewalt battery charger to revive the batteries is because of the current it puts out. When it comes to electricity, you have voltage (V) and current (I). Your charger is specifically designed to limit the current it puts out during a charge so that it doesn't fry your battery. This process of rejuvenating is really a process of surging a lot of currents through the cells to break up the crystals that has formed in the cells.

[dial2fast]

@dial2fast - Some people use arc welders and car batteries to rejuvenate the batteries. These devices are very high current. Perhaps I can give you an example: if you take nine AA alkaline batteries and put them in series, you get 9 X 1.5V = 13.5V. Do you think this 13.5V source can be used to start a car? The answer is no because there is not enough current.

[chuckyg0409]

@dial2fast Thank you for the quick response. So how much current is required to get the job done? I have a 12V car battery type charger that is variable between 2, 6, and 12 amps. Would that work as a source?

Thanks again.

[dial2fast]

@chuckyg0409 - You need to find a power source that is almost double the voltage rating of the battery. That is why I put two tool batteries in series (instead of using just one battery to rejuvenate another). When I mention people using car batteries, they are putting 2 or 3 of them in series, not just using one.

[stevenwrose]

@chuckyg0409 It is the current from the external source that is blowing out the shorts (probably tiny filaments) in the bad cells, enabling them to take a charge again. Your charger may measure 50V open circuit (a meter places a very tiny load on the charger), but the amount of current it puts out is limited (as it must be to charge the batteries properly). The source used in this video can deliver amperes instantly. Check Understanding Electricity at steverose period com. Aloha, Steve

[chuckyg0409]

Thanks for the video.

I have a question I can't seem to get my head around:

I have an 18V Dewalt charger that puts out 50 DC volts when checked with a multimeter. I have one good Dewalt 18V battery and one bad one. I have two Milwaulkee 14.4V batteries that both read zero and won't charge because I think the Milwaukee charger is bad since I only read less than 100mV across it.

Question continues on next post since I reached the 500 char limit.

[EthergazerII]

Had to say thanx! My Ryobi batts (same as yours) are getting tired. Ebay had no better prices than HD but DID offer vids for reviving them. Vids? Youtube! Found yours, watched & learned but what tickled me (sorry, my effeminate side I guess) was you showing the 16.8V Sears batts and drill – all also identical to what I stashed away long ago... ever since the batteries died. So, many thanks for (likely) saving me $180 (yet to try it), and for the hope of waking my old sleeping friend.

[ValentineDayTwin]

This was a fairly simple procedure to set up and get, what I thought, useless, dead batteries, GOING AGAIN. Sure beats buying new batteries at $ 45 a clip. Your step-by-step video and easy -to- follow explanation, made it a piece of cake, in getting my two 18v batteries fully charged and usable. I'll pass your teaching method onto others. Thanx for your time in helping out your fellow man.

[dial2fast]

@ValentineDayTwin - Thank you for your feedback. I am glad it has helped you also. This is my way of giving back since other Youtubers have helped me with their how-to videos.

[dial2fast]

Thank you for watching my video. I am putting up PART2 of this video which shows me rejuvenating an actual Ryobi battery.

[FlyingFox1971]

great video,, thanks for posting, you're a really handy and knowledgable guy