Fixing 18V 2.4Ah Ryobi Lithium Power Tool Batteries

[@Slangevar333]

I hadn't realized the Lithium batteries could be salvaged, Thanks for spreading the word and showing the way!!

[@НиколаНиколов-м1л]

+Randy Crawford they are also in laptop batteries

[@HDXFH]

Никола Николов and those types are high capacity low current discharge

[@spencermoon1371]

you were such a great help to me jools after i was forced into a full year of off-grid living following the christmas flooding of 2015 with only a small 100w solar panel and my van and guidance from people like yourself i managed to survive keep healthy clean and safe so big thanks buddy keep up the good work i watch with a growing intrest and am now setting up a small area in my new workshop for electronic projects keep up the good work!

[@JulianIlett]

Good luck with the workshop - cheers Spencer :)

[@MrPontus]

wow, I never thought about using the good old cells before, my mind was just set on replacing them all, but this is so much cheaper and less work. thanks alot

[@Mandrag0ras]

I've read a thread in budget light forums where a Sony high drain cell was shown that had leaked and possibly corroded from the inside. The rust you are showing might be a result of electrolyte leakage as shown at 2:40

[@JulianIlett]

runner180fxr That's true, I may have got cause and effect the wrong way round.

[@anmike2502]

+Mandragoras hey ,if anyone else wants to uncover learn how to recondition batteries at home try Vaxicorn Battery Extender Guide (just google it ) ? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my mate got cool results with it.

[@Energikar]

3 years later.. Hehehe I just took one of these apart and found the same thing. One leaking cell and maybe another getting ready. Both on the bottom of the pack. I really like these sets. i will replace this one with some 18650s I have from a laptop. Do these cells rust because of bad cleanup from solder flux???

[@deangreenhough3479]

Great idea. I have lots of Makita batteries which cost a fortune to replace. Can't wait to try this out. Warning taken note off. Thank you Julian

[@JulianIlett]

Dean Greenhough Go for it. Wear glasses though - I have to wear them for close up work, so I at least have a basic level of protection.

[@simoncossettini9680]

Good video - Its not always just the cells sometimes the boards fail... I have 50 /50 success

[@richsapplianceservic]

How many hours did you spend on labor to do this.

[@Aussie50]

wow, that is a lot of charging electronics!, no-wonder mine died!, guess they do not like being left out in the rain ;) time to buy a 2 pack of 2.4Ah ones, the small stock batteries just do not last!

[@practicalmedicine4359]

Can I ask a silly question? If you only have a low powered hobbyist soldering iron, could you use electrically conductive epoxy instead?

[@Alacritous]

Buy the blocky USB battery banks from the Dollar General or Dollar store or Poundland, whatever they have wherever you are. Those are made with 18650 batteries. I've used those to replace the batteries in my dead Ryobi one+ battery packs with great success.

[@ruinunes8251]

Question, is this battery still alive? I have one exactly the same as yours and when I press the power button, it shows yellow fully charged. I opened it up and 6 of the cells have a lower voltage than the remaining 4. I wonder if taking the circuit board out and recharging the cells individually, if it would work. What method did you use to recharge the cell that you just put in? A battery charger or you charged it from a similar fully charged cell? Regards

[@JahanZeb1976]

Excellent repair video with excellent explanation. Keep up nice work. Regards,

[@gayhardy]

I have a Ryobi pruner 18V with the Female side of the battery attachment has one leg broken off. What is the best way/material to use to splice on a springy leg for fixing the part. It has a ceramic join piece between the legs with the residual bit of clip still attached. This part and tool is no longer made. Any ideas!?

[@tigerbody69]

what is the name of that flat wire and where can I get some?

[@tigerbody69]

"solar bus wire"??

[@heyok]

The solar bridge wire (or whatever it is really called) made for a nice repair! In the past I have done a similar repair using solder braid. It doesn't look as nice but it does solder on easily and you can get it in a lot of different widths so you can make sure you have enough current carrying capacity.

[@JulianIlett]

heyok I never thought of solder braid - that's a neat idea.

[@RobB_VK6ES]

Julian Ilett A much cheaper source of braided wire is the screen from coaxial cable. good quality RG58 or 59 would be OK here. With regard to the corrosion, look into crevice corrosion which is a particular problem for stainless steel and probably compounded by electrolytic corrosion between cell cap and bridging strip. Does the inbuilt charge circuit perform any kind of balance charging? It might be worthwhile charging each cell individually so that there is no variation between cell voltages in the pack.

[@chrisnew7092]

Please what is the name of the screwdriver that you used to open the battery .I ask because I bought 10 scrap makita lithium battery to use them to make a 48v scooter battery and I have been unable to open the battery

[@CCNCFABIAN]

Its a security bit t10 harbor freight sales a kit of different bits for around $10

[@dogphlap6749]

+Chris New On the smaller Ryobi 28Wh 18V packs (5 x 18650 cells) you need a T10 Torx screwdriver, I'm guessing these packs would be the same.

[@paulcohen1555]

Excellent explanation! Hi, Does someone have done this 110V to 220V conversion on a P118 charger? Is it possible? Does someone have inside view pictures of the P118 charger?

[@pointedspider]

What are the 2 pins that are side by side for? What is the voltage on them?

[@iwantitpaintedblack]

Mornin' Julian, i have a question if i connect a Solar Panel to a charge controller to charge a Battery, do i need to connect the Diode?

[@PhattyMo]

I've seen the 'rust' caused from the 'other way around'.. That is,the spot welder blew pinholes in the end of the cells,and the rust was caused from the electrolyte leaking out..not from water getting in.

[@JohnDoe-gm5qr]

That reminds me of toys and things I had that I did not take the batteries out of and they leaked and ruined it. That was disappointing. How many people have ruined electronics by not taking the battery out? It is very easy to do and yet so hard to clean out sometimes.

[@iamdarkyoshi]

have you tried spotwelding? I can spotweld triple aaa batteries to metal tabbing without killing the cell.

[@dorfschmidt4833]

Grind the tabs first, use some colophony. An angled face iron tip would be much better than a pencil point tip. I would put some Kapton tape (before soldering) under the joints for safety reasons. Great videos!

[@byroboy]

With model aircraft you 'balance' the cells. I assume the battery pack can do it by its self but you may want to ensure all batteries are sitting at the same voltage.

[@affordablewindows]

the 2.4 in the states is a battery half that size. I have the same size batteries as those and they are 4.0.

[@PupettaZoccola]

i've tryed to upgrade a ridgid's battery pack by 2200mah to about 6700mah 18650 panasonic ncr18650, (2 pair for 5 in series), when i started to use a brushless drill i've had no problem when tryed a brushed tools the same battery pack stopped to work. To enable the battery i insert into owner charger and all back like before, what i have to think bms problem with the brushed tool Thank you vey much

[@jusb1066]

interesting they put all the foam in, are they expecting the cells to leak?

[@JulianIlett]

jusb1066 I think the foam is to protect the cells from vibration against the hard plastic battery shell.

[@dollarbillyboy]

my module (protection board) is bad. I just need to find who sells them.

[@kenny444tourist4]

Julian have you tried a charger repair?

[@JN.0_o]

Hi Julian, I know that this is an old video, but this seemed like the best place to ask this. I recently bought a bosch cordless drill with a pair of 5 cell Li-Ion batteries and of course, one of the first things I did was open up one of the batteries to have a look inside. To my dissapointment though there was no individual cell protection, there weren't even wires attatched to the individual cells leading to the drill body. It just had positive and negative going to the drill and two connections for a thermistor. Would you be in agreement that this is bad construction and potentially dangerous? There definitely wasn't any ECP on the individual cells and I'd be surprised if you could fit something to handle 10A on the end of a cell. The only protection seems to be an undervoltage and over current cutout for the whole pack (inside the drill body). I'm surprised and dissapointed in bosch, and I've got Bosch fans jumping down my throat at my Amazon review for suggesting that it might be dangerous. Would be glad to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

[@pietkaify]

The coloured meter on the battery is completely pants! The slightest use and it changes colour! Has been rectified on new 1.5 and 4.0AH! I think it is worthwhile I have 2/3 working! And the third one I stupidly put protected cells in! No suprise at all when it didn't work! Brilliant job any ideas on a capacity test? Like running a 12v 50w lamp to check current capacity maybe do it once a year?

[@JulianIlett]

pietkaify Thanks Pete. I've watched your videos about repairing Ryobi batteries - which is where I got the inspiration to do this (being completely honest). Now I'm watching your series on the LiFePo4s - fascinating stuff. Yes, a discharge test is the best capacity test - a 50W car bulb sounds a bit heavy to me - maybe put the two filaments (main and dipped) in series.

[@Mandrag0ras]

Maybe because high current draw causes big voltage drop?

[@pietkaify]

Yeah sounds right! The newer ones do not have this problem.

[@robertb2468]

*Ive used 5 Samsung INR18650-25R, about $25 USD and 2.5 AH using just 5. They seem to be one of the best , don't get on ebay, mostly counterfeits.*

[@perryscopevids]

Would you consider just adding two new replacement tabbed 18650 cells for the second pack? or are you worried about a miss match in capacity? or is it just cheaper to keep buying 'Faulty' packs

[@JulianIlett]

***** These cells have heavy gauge connecting strips and substantial spot welds. The tabbed cells I've bought on eBay and the ones I've seen in power banks use much lighter weight tabs with much less substantial spot welds. Then there's the issue of which chemistry type do power tool batteries use. And the general minefield of capacity and maximum discharge rate. I suppose I'm just playing 'safe', replacing like with like.

[@Steve_K2]

Might anyone know a source for new 18650s with tabs? I echo Perry's question, and would much prefer to buy just the cells -- new ones -- than to buy a used battery from which I'd hope to find replacement 18650s.

[@asdreww]

Julian, are those cells standard 18650 size? it's hard to tell from the video

[@JulianIlett]

asdreww Yes, standard size unprotected cells - in fact they measure exactly 18mm x 65mm

[@AdammP]

Do you think the circuit is intelligent enough on the battery pack to detect if you were to replace the cells with brand new cells of a different capacity? Would that throw a spanner in the works.. I'm just wondering about completely building a custom battery out of a dead one. Say for example I used an originally 1.5ah ryobi pack that would be 5 18650's @ about 1500mah each to produce the 18v.. if I'm not mistaken, so could it be possible to replace those cells with 5 3200mah ones.. what would the circuit make of this? Is it a bad idea. I do kindly appreciate it if someone could have an input on this matter.. Obviously questions are to use high drain cells due to the power consumption and does the circuit have built in under voltage protection or is that cell based under voltage. And does the circuit on top of the batteries consider consumption accustomed for the genuine cells.

[@stevemai9215]

hey, i repaired a few of these ryobi packs (5-cell and 10-cell) the voltage is is 20.7 at the cells before the circuit board and only 19.4-19.3 when check from the outside of the case any idea why its doing that ? Thanks

[@larrytraber]

steve mai it's normal

[@robert4you]

The question is: for how long will they be good? Two weeks? A month? Or three months? Simply put: is it worth to repair these old batteries and is it completely safe to do it? I would buy new ones instead.

[@EmporerEJ]

Nicely done. Thank you.

[@my2centz196]

I'd keep old cells from laptops. I have a few dozen of them I've saved just for my battery tools. Usually it's always just one or two that goes bad and pops the protector and makes the battery stop working for anything that takes 18650 cells. At least that's what I've found. I've never reset the cid's. Personally I feel if it's popped its popped for a reason plus old laptop batteries are pretty easy to come by.

[@deangreenhough3479]

Noted. Thanks for the reply.

[@klaernie]

Julian Ilett have you ever thought about spot-welding new tabs to the batteries? Especially since the cells are capable of delivering dangerous amounts of energy, one should be able build a "fuse" that breaks the connection after a long enough time for welding the tab an. Also: wouldn't it have been easier to simply desolder the tabs from the PCB? They looked quite easy to reach

[@JulianIlett]

Andre Klärner I've thought about it, but I can't think how to weld to the positive terminal unless the battery itself were part of the circuit. I would imagine spot welding to lithium cells requires very specialised equipment. My guess is that the tabs would have been folded down flat before being soldered to the PCB which would make them quite difficult to remove.

[@kadmow]

+Andre Klärner: well the solder on the new cells will act as a high current overload fuse (just not calibrated to any particular current.) lol.

[@robviolin1]

Good vid. Very helpful. Thanks.

[@strongbow549]

Have you got your name on a Lenser?

[@theeabster1983]

I know this is an old video but that battery is venting if that was a icr battery it would have blew up.

[@TheOldmankk]

Pal, wear the Latex Finger Protector (tiny Condom) on Index and Thumb finger. It has proper grip esp. soldering and provide little protection.

[@ondra30]

Why not just replace all cells in the dead one, so you can end up with two good ones?

[@popsrawson2216]

have a 18 volt ryoby battery that says it's full charged you check battery it does not have charge and won't work in tools

[@lcagee]

Pops Rawson I had similar issue. One thing I noticed when I read the voltage with a digital voltmeter after a charge it would read 20 for a moment then drop to 12 volts. I am thinking the charger is reading the 20 and thinks it's charged but there are actually 1 or 2 failed cells inside.

[@123benley]

lcagee there was a way using and old mobile charger, whey you could put the 2 cut ±&- wires from the old 5v charger onto the 2 contact strips for a few seconds at at time this would slowly increase battery capacity, and revive some none charging battery packs, I have done it to one pack that refused to charge and brought it back to life,

[@SpringDivers]

20 quid for a 10 quid vac. Jolly good, Julian, Just kidding. Nice video. Thanks much.

[@ThatGuyKappa]

Julian i think it's better if you buy new better higher quality cells off either ebay or a reputable website to replace all of these, they all seem to be rusting or low quality cells, once a failure condition has accured most likely those low quality cells are toast or have one foot in the grave, the trick is to find high quality high drain cells for a good price to make it cost effective, and be very very very careful those lithiums cells leaking like that are very dangerous, i wouldn't want my battery packs going into cascade failure and blowing up on me.

[@susantaoec24]

Nice... It's really helpful

[@frankbeans3841]

Don't drop these in a fish tank. Nobody bothered telling me that. You're welcome.

[@inoahmann7542]

I know your comment is 5 years old but I have to ask. Why do you know they don't like being dropped in a fish tank? Lol, I had a roof leak and it filled my surprisingly water tight tool box with water. My batteries are still working.... so far.

[@rubber20021]

The corrosion should have been cleaned away before soldering.

[@wisolutions]

They should make it law that cells are not soldered in place so that people don't kill themselves trying to repair batteries they should have all cells spring loaded and easily accessible and you should be able to pick up a new cell at the store. Rather simple solution.

[@GeorgeWitham-qb6ye]

Good charging station

[@groove104]

Eleven pounds? That's pretty heavy.

[@ZERO_42069]

dumbass, in England a pound is their currency

[@garthdaddy7438]

Big mistake keeping that leaking battery in the package it will cause major corrosion in the pack and will fail very soon.

[@stinkycheese804]

You can make the joints look a little better if you take a piece of wood and use it to hold the solar panel buss wire down while the solder solidifies.

[@georgiatheodorou1322]

Not a good idea as the hot liquid solder might burn thru the plastic cell sleeve and short out the battery.

[@stinkycheese804]

+Georgia - What's that got to do with anything? Solder was needed, solder was used. I only suggested a way to Do It Better. Most people don't own a spot welder so solder is the next best option.

[@georgiatheodorou1322]

Solder is ok.Using a piece of wood to hold the tab down while it is hot is not a good idea as it can burn thru the plastic battery sleeve.You want to avoid getting hot solder or a hot tab near the sleeve.

[@stinkycheese804]

+Georgia - You don't seem to understand the technique, so really shouldn't have commented. The upper tab is held down onto the lower one, not so much force that you're bending the lower one into the battery shrink wrap. Further if you look closely at the video, you will see there are fiberboard insulator rings on the appropriate end of each cell, red in color. They should be reused on the new cells if any are changed out. Someone ham-fisted and rebuilding a battery pack that didn't have insulators, might just slip a sliver of cardboard behind the tab to keep it insulated from the battery, or the washers are available for purchase separately. I have rebuilt several battery packs and didn't short out a single one of them. What would be more dangerous is having a bad solder joint causing high resistance to heat and melt the shrink wrap plastic battery sleeve if you tried to depend on air spacing instead of the insulator rings and holding the metal together. Solder is never supposed to be a mechanical connection bridging two distant things together, they should always be touching.

[@georgiatheodorou1322]

Force has nothing to do with it.The hot solder will not need much force to burn thru the plastic sleeve while it solidifies.The clearance is very little.

[@MyWillyboi]

Mr. Ilett Could you read my comment on your channel page and let me know what you think?? Another Great Video

[@JohnDoe-gm5qr]

That vacuum sucks! I mean it sucks in a bad way. You almost had to get that all the way over the foam. If I buy any of those batteries it will be to cut stuff and drive some screws.

[@james10739]

those 18650s ain't very good I guess 1.2ah each

[@w19ely85]

Simple mathematics would tell you that they are 1200 mah each

[@james10739]

+W19 ELY ya that's what I said 1.2ah or 1200mah same thing

[@illduitmyself]

lithium is very poisenous....they tried a "chip" in peoples forheads..yea. powered by a small lithuim battery. battery leaked and gave them sores all over their bodies and severe sickness......yea

[@Msigw]

Wow! Kudos to the fella that found a way to 22 for 2 dead batteries! Also, when a battery is "bubbling out there" you should leave the room, not stand over it poking it. lol. What is the purpose of this? 22 for one half dead, or dying battery isn't very economical. Two brand new, not dangerous to make work, batteries are often less than 90... furthermore, mixing cells that are in different states of decay only destroy the battery sooner and introduce new risk. So you've created a "new" battery that might work for a very short time. It is destroying itself and has much greater chance of destroying your tool, or your house by setting it on fire...

[@khultherro8613]

DON’T BUY BATTERY POWER TOOLS. Battery powered tools goes obsolete, corded tools can be used indefinitely.

[@JulianIlett]

Disclosure: I work for a cordless power tool company.

[@FilmFactry]

Why not just order some Chinese Lipos and replace all cells. What could that cost you?

[@tonyo6066]

Why don't you use gloves??

[@cmoore185]

You sir are someone who has far too much time on your hands and values money way too much.

[@ZERO_42069]

i bought 2 new ones switched out the internals and returned them lol

[@ZERO_42069]

***** i agree, they took a crap after a year, i like the tools but the they need to make the batteries better,