Zap Ni-Cd Batteries with a Welder

Old cordless powertools are everywhere. I often see them at yard sales selling for just a few dollars. It is incredibly easy to revive the old Ni-Cd batteries just using a DC welder. I refresh my old Nikita driver batteries in just a few minutes. Do not try this with other battery chemistries.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• battery
• crystal
• dendrites
• drill
• mikey
• ni-cd
• nicd
• nikita
• repair
• revive
• sklar
• welding

[bigjim10011]

Hi, I have a 9.6 v makita and I read that I could do the same thing with a 12v car battery. Do you think I should do a reverse zap then a regular zap like you did with the welder? Or does using a car battery make it dangerous for the battery to use reverse polarity? Great video!

[sklarm]

Good question about reverse or not on a car battery. I honestly don't know and would be curious to hear your results. I say go for it and be careful.

[turbo50mike]

Will this work with Ni-Mh batteries?

[sklarm]

No, just Ni-CD.

[lukkyjay]

Does it matter what type of welder you use? I'm looking at getting one.

[sklarm]

I'm using a small MIG welder. I believe other types work such as ARC based. Any welder putting out 26-40 VDC would be a good candidate.

Don't buy a welder just for this. There are other ways to repair batteries.

[meade9166]

@sklarm why will it work only with n-cd batteries?

[slobzs]

This trick saved me $80 in new batteries for my Ryobi. Used my car battery charger set to boost(100 amp).

[moviematcanada]

All I can say is thank you so much for this video, I was just about to buy 3 new batteries for my 18v Makita and the best deal I could find on the net was about $192. If I was in the same town as you I would buy you a beer right now!. I went to the garage got out my battery charger set it to boast, zap the 3 batteries and bang 2 worked again from stone dead they didn't even need to charge. The 3rd one shows it has power but is dead in the drill, further investigation needed on that one

[iakgia]

is it possible to be done with an ARC welding machine..??

[OhNoNotMyPenis]

would this work for all drill batterys my 15.6v battery is pretty weak on power even after a full charge

[MrKilo2000]

Yup it works, did 8 dead batteries 7 are fine one has no continuity, so saved 7 of 8. That was a month ago and all 7 still work. This is pretty cool.

[HavokOnePointZero]

dude....im gonna raise the dead with this technique!!!!!

[natealb]

This has to be done with dc out put. A car battery is dc so that should work. If you run off alternator make sure your on the right side of the regulator/rectifier or you will F$@k things up. In other words USE THE CAR BATTERY, NOT THE CAR CHARGING SYSTEM!!!

[Mcg974]

Hello! I am passionate hobby ever since. I did a lot of experience. But you're a madman ... :-) I love. Salut! Je suis passioner de modelisme depuis toujour. J'ai fait beaucoup d'experience. Mais toi tu es un fou furieux... :-) j'adore.