U/S Drill Battery?

[telectrix]

does anyone know a way to re-vitalise 24v drill battery, a tip i've had is to briefly flash the terminals with an arc welder. bit reluctant to try this. new batt. is £150 any tips?

 

[ste mac]

I have taken them apart before today (Atlas Copco & DeWalt) & replaced the cells. I have rebuilt several packs this way. I get new cells from CPC | CPC - Over 100, 000 products from one of the worlds leading distributors of electronic and related products. but they have been Ni-Cad packs, I don't know about Ni-MH or Li-ION.

 

[telectrix]

mine is ni-cad, so i'll try cpc. seen these repair kits on ebay but a bit dubious of the quality

 

[ringer]

Open out the battery pack and measure the voltage on each cell - they should be 1.2v to 1.3v - it is usually pretty obvious which ones are no longer working - use marker pen and put an X on them for later identification. No need to separate them, but work on each cell individually. Get a car battery and jump leads and give each dicky cell a two second zap of 12V then remeasure voltage on that cell. Be positive when applying the leads - it will fizzle a bit. I hold the negative lead on the negative end of the cell then put the positive lead on for 2 seconds then off on the positive end of the cell. Anything measured positive and it ought to charge ok. Just don't hold the leads on too long - any more than 3 seconds and they may become unstable. Bear in mind this does not always work, and I cannot vouch for the longevity of this fix. But it's worth a go if they are as expensive as you say.
Other wise you can replace the individual cells, but bear in mind the straps are usually welded into place during manufacture - you need to get a really good strong joint.