this worked great......bought an old 3.6VDC cordless screwdiver and light combo....neither worked well or would take a charge......zapped em both with my 12VDC trickle battery charger.....and viola.....Awesome!
I wonder if the money I save on batteries can go directly to my emergency room deductible when my 18v blows up in my face tommorrow when I try this...
@fireman431 Notice the protective equipment- goggles, gloves, he wears, also note the time he applies the current to the battery in short bursts... I see no immediate danger should you follow the instructions, only trouble if you should be one of those 'well if zapping for 2 seconds is good, how about I try 4, or 8 seconds?' Tick tick tick BOOOM! kind of people... I bet you work for Makita, or Dewalt, whatsamatter?, is this kind of thing effecting the sale of new drills and battery packs?
@cameik Read the name...I'm a fireman...I don't work for any of those companies. I am going to try to my 18v Ryobi batteries. Don't be so defensive...
Thanks Instructable Guy! The Snap-On guy just lost out on selling a $110 battery thanks to you! Thanks Instructable Guy! I used the truck battery. I had some spade connectors from an old wiring harness to make my connections. Thanks Instuctable Guy!
Totally freaking cool! My charger is now charging my old Craftsman 18 volt. I was about to toss the other one when I found this link, IT WORKS. So dont throw away your old Ni Cad batteries people and better yet DON'T PAY for a new one.
My Makita 9.6V battery was so shorted it tripped my charger. Saw an ad on ebay selling info on how to zap it back to life. Googled that instead and found this video. Didnt have a welder so tried it with a car battery. Had 7.8V to start. Zapped it 4 times for about 2 seconds each time, then zapped it for 5 seconds. No sparks using the car battery. Got 11V. Put it on the charger and it didnt trip. Took a full charge. Had equal power and torque as my other good battery. It works!
I used a couple of test leads with alligator clips on each end but you can use jumper cables if you can get to the battery contacts with them ((they're a bit fat). In a different video the guy said to first zap once with + to - and - to +. That will drive the battery voltage down to 0. Then zap + to + and - to -. BTW, I just zapped some AA NiMH camera batteries using a car battery charger set to 6 volts, 6 amps and it fixed them too. Also the guy who said it doesn't last is wrong.
I tried this on two DEAD (0.0 Volts) Dewalt 18 volt batteries last week. The replacement cost for two batteries is over $180. Mine were shot, would not take or hold a charge. After I zapped them, I used the Dewalt charger to do a one hour charge, the packs both regained their power.
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yea! il get the nice new batterys of my DeWALT™ dril and just strike away at the battrys! with my mig... NOT my mig would blow them away...un like thet we tiny thing. and u think im going to do that to my £180 drill...fack oofff!!
dude, you dont have to be such an ass, he is telling you how, if maybe you had a 180 dollar drill and the battery DIIIEEDDD! then you can try this method to save yourself 50 or so on a new battery, he is not telling you to charge the fucking battery this way, and if the battery is dead what is the welder gonna do?
the guy is trying to help and u are trying to be an ass hole and make him look dumb.
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Could I use a good 19.2v battery to do this to a bad 19.2v battery? How about a portable car battery jump starter?
yokosucks 3 weeks ago
this worked great......bought an old 3.6VDC cordless screwdiver and light combo....neither worked well or would take a charge......zapped em both with my 12VDC trickle battery charger.....and viola.....Awesome!
haslips 5 months ago
I wonder if the money I save on batteries can go directly to my emergency room deductible when my 18v blows up in my face tommorrow when I try this...
fireman431 1 year ago
@fireman431 Notice the protective equipment- goggles, gloves, he wears, also note the time he applies the current to the battery in short bursts... I see no immediate danger should you follow the instructions, only trouble if you should be one of those 'well if zapping for 2 seconds is good, how about I try 4, or 8 seconds?' Tick tick tick BOOOM! kind of people... I bet you work for Makita, or Dewalt, whatsamatter?, is this kind of thing effecting the sale of new drills and battery packs?
cameik 1 year ago
@cameik Read the name...I'm a fireman...I don't work for any of those companies. I am going to try to my 18v Ryobi batteries. Don't be so defensive...
fireman431 1 year ago
Thanks Instructable Guy! The Snap-On guy just lost out on selling a $110 battery thanks to you! Thanks Instructable Guy! I used the truck battery. I had some spade connectors from an old wiring harness to make my connections. Thanks Instuctable Guy!
Crusty9r 2 years ago
PS use car battery, zap a few times and check voltage with meter making sure not to go over tools voltage reading, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
loprestodavis 2 years ago
Totally freaking cool! My charger is now charging my old Craftsman 18 volt. I was about to toss the other one when I found this link, IT WORKS. So dont throw away your old Ni Cad batteries people and better yet DON'T PAY for a new one.
loprestodavis 2 years ago
Just fyi - it only works with NiCd batteries, don't try this with NiMh - seriously!
excogitation 2 years ago
My Makita 9.6V battery was so shorted it tripped my charger. Saw an ad on ebay selling info on how to zap it back to life. Googled that instead and found this video. Didnt have a welder so tried it with a car battery. Had 7.8V to start. Zapped it 4 times for about 2 seconds each time, then zapped it for 5 seconds. No sparks using the car battery. Got 11V. Put it on the charger and it didnt trip. Took a full charge. Had equal power and torque as my other good battery. It works!
FrogmanMickey 2 years ago
did you just use jumper cables and hook them up to a car bettery then go positive to positive and negative to negativve?
rez410 2 years ago
I used a couple of test leads with alligator clips on each end but you can use jumper cables if you can get to the battery contacts with them ((they're a bit fat). In a different video the guy said to first zap once with + to - and - to +. That will drive the battery voltage down to 0. Then zap + to + and - to -. BTW, I just zapped some AA NiMH camera batteries using a car battery charger set to 6 volts, 6 amps and it fixed them too. Also the guy who said it doesn't last is wrong.
FrogmanMickey 2 years ago
Awesome...thanks for the quick reply
rez410 2 years ago
very cool, thanks alot !
grayj85 3 years ago
Yeah, uhh, i dont really like Fungus Amungus, so, yeah.
yerboogieman 3 years ago
I tried reviving a big old Hi-8 camcorder battery today using lead acid batteries and capacitors. It works! very cool
Jordankewl 3 years ago
try it! why not....it doesn't hurt anyone
HERZEBROM 3 years ago
I tried this on two DEAD (0.0 Volts) Dewalt 18 volt batteries last week. The replacement cost for two batteries is over $180. Mine were shot, would not take or hold a charge. After I zapped them, I used the Dewalt charger to do a one hour charge, the packs both regained their power.
Discorporate 4 years ago
Duh! how stupid, and a big waist of time! this is just the old scam about zapping nicad's
works for a day or two then battery is dead again!!
sparky4619 4 years ago
Yeah, but it's tim anderson, he knows what he's doing (sometimes, i think)
yerboogieman 3 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
yea! il get the nice new batterys of my DeWALT™ dril and just strike away at the battrys! with my mig... NOT my mig would blow them away...un like thet we tiny thing. and u think im going to do that to my £180 drill...fack oofff!!
jaimiecurrie 5 years ago
dude, you dont have to be such an ass, he is telling you how, if maybe you had a 180 dollar drill and the battery DIIIEEDDD! then you can try this method to save yourself 50 or so on a new battery, he is not telling you to charge the fucking battery this way, and if the battery is dead what is the welder gonna do?
the guy is trying to help and u are trying to be an ass hole and make him look dumb.
ndawgtkd 4 years ago 18
Great! Do you know if this method is specific to NiCD batteries?
seven4seven 5 years ago
cooool
mrfireblaster 5 years ago