How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig welder

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delcowizzid
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How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig welder

Post by delcowizzid »

I dug out my old battery drill and 3 batteries and found the charger would just start flashing the error led after a couple of minutes so I went digging how to get them charging.turns out they grow dendrites in strands that short the cells and cause them to discharge and make the charger see a dead short .turns out a quick zap with ya mig welder on 30v sorts out 18v nicd batteries like a dream.1st battery 0v and full short circuit on my multimeter gave it a few hits of just the leftover capacitor charge in the welder bought it up to 14v after charging but was dropping volts so gave it 3 proper hits with the mig and it jumped to 16v .drill works a charm can't stop the Chuck on full speed and lasts for ages.2nd battery only jumped to 8v and rapidly discharged it got a bit extra mig treatment and discharged in the drill and recharged its now and 12v works good and I reckon it will get better after a few cycles .3rd one a few quick zaps and a charge after 15 minutes the charger said it was charged tested voltage 20.2v from an 18v battery lol runs the drill fine and so far lasts a long time .will cycle them all again tomorrow .it was all going to go in the bin but now I have a mint drill lol
If Its Got Gas Or Ass Count Me In.if it cant be fixed with a hammer you have an electrical problem
heff0018
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Re: How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig weld

Post by heff0018 »

That’s interesting. I have a drill battery that Wont charge and will give it a shot
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delcowizzid
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Re: How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig weld

Post by delcowizzid »

Any dc welder is fine check volts and polarity with a multimeter then zap it +to+ -to- with the mig I just lifted the tension bar off the wire feed and used the side of the tip
If Its Got Gas Or Ass Count Me In.if it cant be fixed with a hammer you have an electrical problem
VX L67 Getrag
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Re: How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig weld

Post by VX L67 Getrag »

Thats COOL!!! I can't wait to give it a go!!!
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delcowizzid
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Re: How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig weld

Post by delcowizzid »

Don't do it to anything but ni-cd it may work for ni-mh but do some reaserch 1st fefinately don't do lithium ones lol
If Its Got Gas Or Ass Count Me In.if it cant be fixed with a hammer you have an electrical problem
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delcowizzid
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Re: How to revive your ni-cd drill batteries with a mig weld

Post by delcowizzid »

2 still charged today and the one that started life at 8v fully charged yesterday was at 1.2v it may be a lost soul unable to be saved I'll give it one more chance lol
If Its Got Gas Or Ass Count Me In.if it cant be fixed with a hammer you have an electrical problem
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