Back from the DEAD! Lithium Batteries!

www.realtoolreviews.com/
Get a Multimeter at Amazon here -- amzn.to/2fD8Dwx
** USE CAUTION!!! **
Lithium Batteries can & will catch on fire or explode if overheated! Do not attempt to revive completely drained, damaged, or unknown batteries --- only attempt to revive them IF they are still holding a significant charge! (as shown in the video)
MOST "dead" batteries are beyond repair --- meaning you never want to disassemble them or replace parts. If this trick does not work, return the dead pack to the manufacturer or recycling center!! DO NOT OPEN THE PACK UP!
Do NOT attempt this indoors!
Do NOT attempt this near flammable items!
ONLY attempt this outside in a driveway or parking lot in case of fire!
If you are not comfortable, do not attempt ---- contact the manufacturer for a replacement and/or bring the battery to your local recycling center for disposal.

[@jameshalleron7484]

Thankyou for explaining how to charge a dead battery without alot of unnecessary chatter. Your warnings are warranted and much appreciated.

[@kennethdalebristow3192]

Thank you for being so thorough on your procedure and safety.

[@cajadeherramientasmx]

Excellent video Daniel!!!! Congrats

[@JoseMartinez-ou4ej]

Gracias Maestro. You are a great Teacher! The way you explain is cristal clear. Thank you!

[@jiujitsu2000]

Excellent video! thank you for sharing!

[@deanlevett888]

Excellent advice had a nearly new battery, that wouldn't charge from the charger. Tried your jump start. Gave it 5mins, and now it is charging from the charger. Thank you for your video, saved me £50. 👍👍👍

[@patcotsman866]

This is a spot on video. I have done a similar thing by using a variable power supply and adjusting it's output to limit current to less than one amp. You didn't need background music or gloves----congrats!

[@OcalaKitty]

Yes! Will do. You do a great job of covering bases. Home run for your comprehensive method of presenting info with cautions.

[@timsemerdjian2344]

Awsome mate , I'll follow your suggestion and see how it goes . A very comprehensive explanation, well done .

[@robsdeviceunknown]

So I bought a lot of about 11 batteries, and some other misc milwaukee tools. for like $350. I think the seller was trying to pull a fast one on me. All batteries were so low that one light wouldn't light up. After watching this I charged them ALL. Jokes on him now. 1x M12 with that 1H saw, 2 M18 Circular saws, 11x2AH Batteries, 1x60V DeWalt and 1x6AH DeWalt oh and a DeWalt abrasive cutoff saw(needed 9 dollar brushes, why on a new saw I dunno) all of it was brand new. All works now. Boy I owe you guys one for sure.

[@RealToolReviews]

Haha nice 👍

[@LibertarianUSMarine]

all batteries are at minimum load when you buy them brand new sir.

[@johnathansmith3819]

@Rob Lambert - find out where Mr. Marketing for Milwaukee lives, and personally deliver a letter...

[@jasonsgreen]

Thank you mr beast seems your solutions is on point.

[@jeffhilander]

What a good teacher.

[@dakotad2690]

Thank you for this fix !! I had my doubts that this would work but I did as the video said and amazingly it worked just as your video said !@great video

[@NoComment-oc6di]

this guy is a boss !!! so clear and concise in his explanation

[@1414141x]

Great video and helps people find out if they have batteries that can be persuaded to re-charge. Most people just give up and buy a new unit. Particularly liked your comment about the 20v actually being an 18v unit. I have a 20v paint sprayer so I know know I can use my 18v batteries of my other power tools to use the procedure you showed. Many thanks.

[@ajmedeiros77]

20 volt MAX, all marketing bs like many of them do

[@mark86326]

Mark Munro. The DC motor is also a DC generator turn your drill with another drill with the switch held down. That puppy should take a charge.

[@bradleylalonde3523]

Great video really appreciate it it actually does work had a two amp Milwaukee battery with two cells at 1.9 volts each and the other two were at 3.7 v hooked up a 5 amp battery and charged it with in 5 minutes was able to put it on the charger and is accepting a full charge now

[@cactassdupree7285]

I like the jumpers you built. And the explanation is spot on.

[@stephenwetmore3747]

Great voice and great communicator.

[@freedomseeker01]

Great content. Also great delivery. You've got the right voice for it, tempo is good, diction is great. Thanks for doing this.

[@usewisdom]

Thank you. Worked perfectly with video camera lithium ion batteries.👊🏾

[@robertjahrling1877]

Is this guy joking or what I really don't want things blowing up on menot that I care about the old dead batteries but I do care about my toes my fingers my eyeballs LOL

[@alnavajo6733]

Love it! I did the same setup to charge my 10 year old stream light battery and it brought it back to life. I started off with 0.159 millivolts when I last checked it it was at 2.9 volts. I had to my new battery to trick the charger into sensing the battery voltage from my new battery to charge my old battery once it started sensing 2 volts I started charging my old battery directly with the charger.

[@jhm2112]

Appreciate the video! I did this with a porter cable battery that only registered 4 volts and wouldn’t charge. Now I’m able to use the impact driver the battery was connected to. Thanks!

[@aggropa]

Amazing video. Your knowledge and ability to explain is really impressive.

[@ericyuan2305]

I just try the way you showed us it works just as you said. Thanks for sharing this video to people. I subscribed your channel and will follow.

[@MrPahpah]

Thank you for showing that!

[@djg585]

I appreciate the conciseness.

[@mea7206]

Amazing video. Just sorted my battery out. Thanks

[@MrMoses28]

This really did work, thanks you.

[@juanr859]

Thanks for sharing your expertise. I would like to highlight your “beyond excellent” verbal skills.

[@matthewberman7972]

Ooooh porter cable brushless 😁 I love my porter cable impact. I bet the new one is going to be fantastic!

[@tyroneclarke1666]

Thank you for the information. I’ll give this a go. Regards🦘🇦🇺

[@thabangsenyolo370]

Thank you for your help

[@ericduplantier9691]

Really cool hack. I was always told you can't do anything for a lithium battery. I do know you can jump the old nicads. Thanks for the info

[@dcrickerson7611]

Great information and video! Thank you.

[@markduran2942]

Hello from Austria, THANKS! this worked for me. Reincarnated my jigsaw battery in 10 min.

[@ocdtechtalk]

Excellent video I've watched several being an electrical engineer you're the only person who covered gauge of wire. The only other thing I would recommend is to put in a inline fuse. Thanks for sharing.

[@toonwintersturm1045]

What amperage fuse would be appropriate?

[@ocdtechtalk]

@@toonwintersturm1045 the current should be very low. I would start with a 1A fuse. Or course you can measure it with an amp meter.

[@lifter98]

Good video. Clear and concise.

[@TheZigwah]

Wow you are truly an Exceptional Educator Great explanation of and clear warnings Thorough without excess Ive done this technique before, I just was so happy to see a KZbinr give the complete correct information

[@RealToolReviews]

Thanks!

[@wyattoneable]

I love that you explained the marketing voltage. Sneaky. Great video and tips.

[@RealToolReviews]

Haha.....yeah, marketing depts everywhere hire some creative people ;)

[@jJimmyBGreat]

I'm glad you could get back to drilling random holes in scrap 2x4 in a machine vise. Thanks for the info. I'm gonna go try this.

[@pullam74]

Amazing video, worked perfect for me

[@geoffankrett7012]

Very good clear instruction

[@mySelf-yx4hw]

Did the same thing myself bought an 18 volt Hitachi drill with 2 dead batteries got the batteries going again using the same method and it's still going strong more than 2 years later good advice about doing this outdoors, friend of mine was swapping old Nicad batteries and fitting Lion we did warn him about the charging issues, he later sold it on and had to pay the money back when the batteries caught fire and almost burned down the guys kitchen

[@geelongdrivingschool929]

It worked for me. Thanks mate, appreciated. 😇👍

[@keycard0424]

Kind of Useful solution! Thank u

[@TheRealFOSFOR]

I hope this works =D seems incredibly helpful!

[@bradhawthorne6754]

Thanks for the excellent video !

[@user-ub5us7ki6n]

thanks , works as you explained

[@johnblackwood5308]

This was AWESOME!

[@desertgreek]

excellent works like a charm

[@jackkohanim590]

Great info. I have two DeWALT 40v batteries. One of them stopped charging last year and I didn't want to spend the $192 to replace it. For some reason I held on to it thinking I would be able to take it apart and replace the guts of it. Well, now with this video, I followed your instructions and wired it up initially for 5 seconds and it pushed it up from 36.9 to 38.1 and now it's charging. Thanks for the detailed explanation of what happened and why it wasn't working. Hope all is good with you.

[@Pro1er]

Another, (potentially safer), way to charge a battery is to get a power supply off of eBay. You can set the correct voltage for your battery and supply a low current trickle charge to bring the battery up to a higher voltage. This avoids the chance of pumping a large current from the host battery into the low battery which could be hazardous. I would recommend using 0.5A or less so as not to damage the cells. You can often bring a battery up to a level that the OEM charger will accept within a matter of minutes. A 30VC 3A power supply can be had for less than $40 shipped and can useful for other projects as well.

[@RealToolReviews]

Thanks for the tip!

[@machotires72]

thank you

[@HifiCentret]

I sure do agree you should definitely NOT just wire them together like they where car batteries. That's potential very dangerous for the low voltage pack to receive such a huge amount of current in a low state. However no need to buy a power supply you could just put in a suitable resistor or constant current diode or mosfet you wired up to act as a suitable constant current diode. Preferably at even lower current. Just let them sit an have voltage rise very slowly. When enough put it on the regular charger. I don't however understand why the original charger refuses to charge them at 13,9 v. It's 2,78v / cell and that is not that low. I believe the safe limit for LiIon is in the ballpark of 2.2 v/cell give or take a little. That low current should be limited to as low as 50 mA making using constant current diodes or a LM117 very suitable for the job.

[@EJP286CRSKW]

That would need to be a power supply _with current limiting._

[@cbprescott77]

You might also put a fuse in series with the power side of the battery to limit damage if the old battery is shorted.

[@IHcubcadet]

Great info! Thanks!

[@terrydory9269]

Excellent video and very informative!!

[@jasonh4534]

Its called balance charging... A good lithium charger will read the voltages of the individual cells, even better chargers will charge each cell independently to ensure they all are at the same level. If the voltage of the entire pack is high enough to run the tool, but one of the individual cells is faulty or somehow discharged to a lower than safe voltage... Then the charger will not allow the battery to charge, due to the dangers you mentioned. Any cell that drops below the safe voltage will have its capacity significantly diminished as well. As time goes on, subsequent recharges on these bad cells can increase the danger of fire. If that is not the case, and the tool still runs even after the battery is below safe voltage levels... Then the battery pack and/or tool does not have a safety circuit, and that is bad. The specific chemistry type of the cells used to make the battery will determine their tolerance of abuse... With Lithium Iron (LiFe) being the safest... As they tolerate the use conditions and abuse conditions of power tool use the best... But with the push to higher voltage batteries, the use of LiFe type cells is decreasing, as they have a lower 3.2v nominal working voltage per cell, and higher weight per cell than other formulations.

[@jmackinjersey1]

The thing is, this is great for lower end/priced tools/batteries, like the Porter Cable he used, Ryobi and older Ridgid etc. But as you said, higher end battery chargers will have a better communication system.

[@pierretessier1682]

Thanks, very helpfull video

[@KrisNativeThai]

thank you for tye info, mate

[@dgale1023]

It works as he said.

[@deanmindock3680]

Good info. Danka.

[@exgenica]

KEEP DRY SAND NEARBY FOR LITHIUM BATTERY FIRE CONTROL Do NOT use water to try to put out any lithium battery fire that occurs. That includes some fire extinguishers. Water can in fact make lithium-based fires much worse and/or cause explosive projection of flammable material to nearby objects/people/pets. Keep a fairly large amount of sand or dirt on hand to smother any lithium battery that starts to smoke or is on fire, or that you hear start to "crackle", or if you see it start to discolor/blacken. Also, I would keep a separate appropriate fire extinguishing method on hand to help control/put out any secondary fire(s) that are not adjacent to the battery itself (e.g. if fire spreads to grass, trash, clothing, or other objects). Because lithium battery fires can be VERY fast, explosive, and quickly spread and "jump" over small areas of cleared ground into nearby brush, furniture, etc...I'd personally keep handy an extinguisher rated at a MINIMUM of "10A". I'd also make sure I wasn't testing things near sources of flammable liquids, other electrical equipment, and people or animals and over-hanging tree and bush leaves and branches. I realize this is boring stuff, but sometimes we just forget to think of these things when in "debug" mode.

[@mrstanskaggs1]

The cells on this unit are Samsung INR18650 cells (5 of them). They are 3.6V cells which comes out at 18 volts. The packs are labeled as 20 volts in that 20 volts is the charging voltage for these cells (4.2V charging X5=20V). If the cells get imbalanced in terms of standing voltage, it reports as a bad battery. The multiple connectors on the battery pack reach in between the cells. Looking at the connectors on the battery, you should see roughly 20V from right side (+) related to each of the other three connectors... but no reading from the left connector to either of the middle connectors in any combination. Opening the battery shell, you can specifically measure across any individual battery. Each battery unloaded should show 4.1 volts charged. The key is not to look for 4.1 volts though, but a difference between each cell individually. The circuit board has a comparator circuit which makes sure each cell is within 0.1V difference (charger is a balancing charger in other words). These cells are the same as people put in those nasty vape machines, so you should not be too scared of them.. I find it best to charge each cell alone and watching the resulting voltage on each cell until they level out to the point that the comparator allows them to charge on the charger once again. ... sounds a little complicated, but it is simple actually.. The packs are not glued together thankfully, and the sides of the batteries are easy to access once the case is opened...

[@markdicker2732]

Thank you shall remember this for the future

[@nkuutujeremiahbrianchoosen9691]

Thank I will try out and see if it helps

[@Denzilcleveridge]

Good work .

[@alphonsebreaux4735]

Your knowledge just got another subscriber

[@tonyrandazzoe8210]

Nice and easy to understand !

[@bobbyalitz6606]

thank you you helped me BIG TIME

[@AldenRoth]

amazing video, thanks so much!

[@ellobo4542]

Thanks , I was looking for something else . This will help me with a few dead batteries I have. Can't wait to try it out .lol

[@PetriBodi]

Thanks for video

[@surendrasinghdhanjal5835]

Excellent video

[@1033141]

thank you sir

[@abeazar]

Thanks for a fantastic option. This will surely save us lots of cash and minimize unnecessarily throwing away a good battery. Thanks again...Abe Azar

[@j.c.5393]

Thanks bro!

[@mcg6762]

With a large voltage difference the current is going to be very high and can damage both batteries. A way better option is to use a current limited supply to bring the voltage up of the low battery. And only do this if the voltage of the low battery is close to the threshold. If the voltage is very low probably one or more of the cells have permanent damage and can fail in dangerous ways.

[@ronaldlittle1598]

Thank you much I got Ryobi and DeWalt saves me money

[@mickdunne007007]

Excellent advice had a nearly new battery, that wouldn't charge from the charger. Thank you for your video, saved me e48.00

[@RealToolReviews]

Glad to help!

[@youngflexer8739]

thank you much

[@johanstraus9567]

Brilliant!

[@marcplante4364]

This works, I had 2-24 v lithium batteries that had 1.6 and 1.5 v left, I did the trick and brought them back to chargeable

[@ccdogpark]

You did a nice job with this video. The biggest problem with these lithium batteries is that if you forget and leave them charging indefinitely, that will kill the battery pretty quickly. Is this a way to solve that problem ? Do you know the difference between a Type 2 and a Type 3 Black & Decker Lithium powered tool ?

[@GermanToolReviews]

Thanks for the tip. I have also seen this when you leave a battery on the shelf for year and then go to charge it and it is below the cutoff voltage. One warning I would have when you connected the two batteries together is that a power resistor in series would probably be a good idea to limit the current. I'm guessing that most battery packs already have something like this in the circuitry but some cheap ones may not.

[@angleturner]

Seriously ?

[@garydiamond6078]

How much and what watts, I can see you point, and would put a meter across it, and when it goes to zero, it's time to charge the battery, unless of course your using a much higher source of voltage then the battery your trying to save is

[@robertworkman1249]

😊

[@fsoiberg]

Lithium Batteries employ a BMS to prevent the batteries from catching fire. It is the BMS not batteries that most often fails. Either turning the BMS OFF (no power) or blowing the BMS circuit (damaged).

[@jawharris]

Mine worked, and I did it indoors, took about 1.5 minutes.

[@jorgeestrada7930]

wow thanks soo much u save me a few bucks... it works great!!!!!

[@abdlkrimaldhrey1224]

Good , thanks. .

[@ryansmith7013]

great tip. u the man!

[@Sash_Window]

I hope this works, top tip! :)

[@teriformanek5768]

thanks for the tip on batteries

[@jamesarrowsmith2517]

i watched this video and saved my battery it worked brilliant

[@amc5936]

your hand and great video

[@dendyfebianto4157]

very usefull for me..👍👍👍

[@1djgoody]

Thank You! Thumbs Up and Subscribed

[@coulombefrancois5371]

I just did exactly the same thing as you and it worked. I saved the battery!!Thanks

[@robertjahrling1877]

I have several batteries. You guys aren't joking are you?? PL reply

[@robertjahrling1877]

I don't want shit blowin up on me

[@swmplvr]

@@robertjahrling1877 4 months late but i can honestly say i just did it and it worked for my battery which was same as the one shown in video =)

[@toolfein5079]

Great video though RTR !! now I know what todo if they stop working on me definitely information I can use...

[@RealToolReviews]

Thanks Mark! This wont fix all cases.....sometimes the packs are just dead.....but in this case it does work!

[@kttangos2871]

Thanks coz one of my new xc5.0 batteries wont charge👍

[@jonschlottig9584]

Thanks! Subscribed!

[@loktom4068]

It really works. I got the same information from another video . My problem was a set of new unused M18 Milwaukee batteries were sitted in storage too long. It won't charge even left 18 hours in the charger. All were less than 3.5 volts. The warranty were over. I boosted them with an old nicad battery with only 14.5 V for 15 min. It brought the M18 Milwaukee batteries back from 3.2 volts to 14 volts. The M18 Milwaukee charger immediately recognized it and charges both from dead to full. I fully tested them for usage. The results were excellent. Almost throw them all away.

[@tomrainwater3203]

That shit don't wirk

[@MrBecker666]

you can get a variable DC supply for $15 and do the same for different batteries/voltages...I've revived a bunch of cellphone batteries(even fancy iphones) the same way

[@bostonxpat]

Definitely genius!! But that said begs the question(s) how much use now on a single charge can you run that "reconditioned" battery before it runs too low again? Also, what is the voltage threshold where you just dispose of it rather than try to revitalize it?

[@DC-go4nv]

Thanks for the explanation, a little long winded and a little dangerous, but you explain to do it outside and that should be sufficient warning. I checked mine and it was only outputting 1.5v, likely because I lost the drill and it was in it for about a year. Luckily I had a power supply around, set it to 14.4v and 1.5amps, after about 10 minutes the voltage was up to about 16v, the charger then took right back over like normal, so thanks again for doing the testing for us, it made me much more confident going through with external charging.

[@rosskrause3926]

What kind of power supply did you use ? "Power supply" is a broad term so not sure what you used . I have a Harbor Freight trickle charger,wondering if that would work safely ?

[@DC-go4nv]

@@rosskrause3926 I believe the generic term is "laboratory power supply". It's a testing unit that allows you to adjust the amperage and voltage output. You should only charge it up to what it can handle, but as long as you're not exceeding the output of the original charger, or at the very most the 18-20v it's supposed to support. You should be ok. Just remember, the goal isn't to fully charge it, just to get it over the threshold for the OEM charger to recognize it as a good battery.