How I Saved $500 Of Batteries For Only 25 Cents! Find Out How You Can Do It Too

[@immrnoidall]

Those 18650 cells are bad ass. If you are going to do this inside a flammable building, it is a good practice to have a some big metal pliers or, fireplace tongs, to grab a thermal run away battery to get it into a Fire bucket and bucket of sand or dirt, to pour on top of it AND A COVER, to keep the rocketing flames, from setting other stuff on fire. An old pressure cooker with a big vent in the cover works great because if you trip or drop it, on the way out of the house, it's still contained. An old pressure cooker can be found at a secondhand store and works great. And calmly get that thing out of the house. There is no fire extinguisher in the world, that will stop a thermal run away lithium cell. As soon as you stop spaying, it is back on, right where it left off. STAY CALM,, AND GET THAT THING INTO A FIRE BUCKET AND WALK IT OUT THE HOUSE. They can be just like a rocket. But you will need a fire extinguisher to put out other things that may catch FIRE.

[@carlosedwardos]

WOW, really great advice!! 😯

[@rossbixley3173]

Recommend everyone watch the video of a lithium bike battery that explodes in an elevator within 2 seconds of the door closing. This video provides a real wakeup call for anybody handling these batteries.

[@steveallocco2245]

​@@rossbixley317310:21

[@immrnoidall]

@@rossbixley3173 We buy them from country's that hate us, and think nothing of it.

[@rossbixley3173]

@@immrnoidall Too true. We know what they think of us and how they treat their citizens but our governments call them valued trading partners. I am almost 63 and I have watched society destroy itself with large companies collapsing because Temu and similar will sell goods postage paid from China for $2 that would cost 20 to 30 times that here in NZ. The family unit was a mum, dad and kids and now all my tax dollars go to support young single mums who think benefits are a career option. Our world has suffered so much so rapidly that one might suspect that it is a deliberate strategy. I long for the days of old before computers, before life became so rigid and mechanical and controlled by multi billion dollar companies that are not here to serve society but control it. Sorry about the rant.

[@RPBCACUEAIIBH]

I restored (and upgraded) a few batteries as well, but I use brand new LG HE2, LG HE4, or Samsung R25 cells in them. VTC series from Sony is also a good choice. The capacity is now even higher then the original, since the original cells ware VTC series 1500mAh cells, the new ones are 2500mAh. It is important to use the same capacity, cells in similar condition. I wouldn't pair a used cell with a new one... I either use all new, or all individually tested used cells. The old cells I re-purposed for my small DIY solar solar system, which I use for lighting, and charging stuff. The capacity of used cells doesn't drop much, but the internal resistance goes up, and they can't maintain voltage at heavy load, so If you connect a large amount of them in parallel they can still store a decent amount of power, just can't deliver high current. I highly recommend testing cells individually, cause some of them may develop high rate of self discharge. Those are no good, and will die soon anyway.

[@mrfixit7743]

The battery indicator gauge on the knock offs has a small indicator light in the middle. The oem lights are all the same size. Also the battery indicator gauges on the oem stay lite for around 3 seconds, the knock offs go off right aftet you release the test button!

[@caylorstrovas1938]

O.L. Is not overload, it means “open loop”, meaning the circuit is not complete.

[@xephael3485]

Could mean lots of stuff like Online or Oscillation Load. But I agree on multimeter 🤣

[@earl3358]

Dewalt chargers Do Not balance charge the packs. The small leads to the banks are only for the charger or tool to monitor the packs. Sometime the packs need to be manually rebalanced Replacing a bank requires cell/cells of equal capacity and internal resistance or the balancing will soon go right out again

[@immrnoidall]

What you just explained, is very important.

[@earl3358]

​@@immrnoidall DeWalt designed their packs to have the capability to accept balance charging but never implemented it in the charger. Channel 'Tool Scientist' has a good video breakdown on the DeWalt charger and it's functions

[@ed0c]

you can buy the arc welder they use for those foil connections. it’s pretty slick you just tap it and it connects the foil. you can buy the foil too!

Make sure you buy a DC spot welder. The AC spot welders people build with microwave oven transformers aren't as easy to use as something that uses a pulse from a DC power source to weld thin nickel strip. Pure nickel takes probably 50% more current than nickel plated steel....nickel plated steel should NOT be used for tool batteries, it has four times the resistance of pure nickel. The copper nickel sandwich method can be done if you can get about 1500A. The newest $200 to $300 supercap welders made by Glitter and others are quite good. Do not buy the 801A or B model....The D model has much more power. Stay away from Sunkko. The PCB boards with mosfets can work IF you have a power source that has extremely low internal resistance. A battery made from A123 cells or Headway cells is cheap. RC Lipos are full of lies....120C discharge! Lol not possible.

[@bradeggebraaten2141]

It's strips of nickel, not foil (big difference), that are spot welded with a spot welder, not an arc welder

[@immrnoidall]

If you're going to maintain that many batteries, [ A LOT ] You could buy a bunch of new cells and make up some new packs to switch out, hook the new pack to the bms and pop it back in the case. Like most anything. once you make a couple of a certain pack, they get easy. With new band cells, you will have some long lasting batteries. Then take all your old cells and test them, so they can be matched with others . It's really the only way to get the most out of each cell. New or old. Each battery pack can only be as good as its weakest cell. Just like one bad cell will make none of them work.

[@DudleyDugger]

Some Dewalt history for the fans. Dewalt was a company that black and decker bought in the 60's and stopped making Dewalt radial arm saws. In the 90's black and decker professional line wasn't selling well due to cheap products B&D had been making. So they pulled the name Dewalt out of the file cabinet, picked a bright color and named the B&D professional line Dewalt. Dewalt is not a company, it's a brand of B&D.

[@tmanning6229]

The test leads have a cap you can take off to make them longer

[@guruoo]

You really should get a spot welder. Much safer, easier, and faster to use than soldering. It's the one inexpensive tool investment that you'll never regret having. 😎

[@kyleburgess6475]

Take the caps off your meter leads for longer probes.

[@NickolasLarocque]

I ran over to my cart and tried, my $7 harbor freight voltmeter said no

[@kenfrutiger2471]

Where do you get replacement batteries?

[@2CabrasLocas]

I've got 18v Ryobi batteries I've been using for over 10 years & they're still as strong as brand new! EXACTLY why I stay with that brand.

[@NickolasLarocque]

My step father likes rigid for the same reason. No different than picking a car make honestly. They all have their quicks so just pick one and roll with it. Just don’t be the guy with 5 different brand tools right?😂

[@papatomsthoughts]

Where do you find the repacement 3.5 volt batteries?😊😊😊😊

[@Thecleananunseenteam]

Vape shops have them

[@kevinlawes591]

In the wife's sock draw! 😉👍🏻🇬🇧

[@davidbrookes8470]

Lol good one Kev 😅​@kevinlawes591

[@guruoo]

Well, there's Amazon, but I gotten almost all of mine trash picking used vapes, and laptop battery packs. Recycling bins are a good place to look as well. Good ones can be literally scavenged from any device, or product that uses them. Search youtube for how-tos.

[@rogerrynearson2500]

Best reply ever​@@kevinlawes591

[@time1800]

Buy a battery spot welder or make one. Soldering battery's is not the industry method for a reason.

[@SacredHeart0520]

Yeah cause spot welding is way faster . And is automated . The way he is soldering will not hurt these cells . 😂

[@time1800]

@@SacredHeart0520 No they are spot welded because heat kills cells.

[@DCJNewsMedia]

New sub. You are really down to earth and explain things in an easy to understand way

[@calholli]

You need to get a little charger to charge up your single cells... many of them will come back to life. Once they get a little off voltage- past a certain threshold, the BMS just abandons them and won't charge them anymore.. But if you bring them back up to the same voltage as the other cells.. the BMS will start charging them again.. A lot of times it's just dirt or corrosion in the connectors that short and leak down one of the cells.. but if you're using them often, you wno't tend to notice.. It's when they sit for a long time is when it can get too far dead if a cell is leaking down or just not charging/ connecting when you plug them in; but if you just get it back up to matching voltage and clean your connectors: those "dead cells" can often come back to life. You just have to isolate them to do it.. because the BMS doesn't want to charge them at all if they are too low............ They try to play it off like this is a "safety feature"-- but I think it's just planned obsolescence being built in.

[@NickolasLarocque]

As I used to use these batteries in a flashlight sometimes when they’re dead they’re just dead. Pumping juice into it for a couple days doesn’t do anything at that point

[@calholli]

@@NickolasLarocque Right.. But it's worth a try at least.. Once you have it isolated.. To just see if it takes a charge by itself... I'm having this problem with cheap rechargeable AA and AAA batteries.. I'm not sure how long to keep them on my cheap charger and they end up dying after awhile and Im' not sure what it is. I need to get a better charger with monitoring for volts and amps so that I can see what its' doing and when it's full; etc.

[@brad3933]

​@@NickolasLarocqueidk about your Flashlight experience once or whatever but I use power tools just only daily lol a balance charger is very cheap, nost that will accept different cells at once and balance charge them at the same time. Once the battery bms recognizes a cell is 2.5v or whatever it won't attempt to even try to charge, I've had one at 1v, balance charger saved it, still going strong 16 months later.

[@MikeSmith-bb5ii]

Got a fire extinguisher for the exploding lithium, smart man. Question...... What brand safety glasses are you wearing?

[@YOUZTUBE2000]

More like what brand face shield and bunker gear😳 🔥🧑‍🚒good luck Dex be careful-- Thanks for sharing

[@Ramblin80]

I just know you're wife down there swapping batteries while you got our backs turned in the loft! 😂

[@kevinlawes591]

18v reciprocating saw with quick change attachments has vanished from the workshop lol😉😆😆

[@Chemeleonsphynx]

Would be cool to see you with a spot welder 😎 my iron is hot at 330° C for doing XT60 connections. A Lithium battery doesn't like 60° C (140° F)

[@krz9487]

We need more “ RC car world “ videos. I’d think it would make for good content !

[@hillninjasadventures5169]

I agree

[@flyingxfilms2025]

also if one is just super dead and won’t take a charge you can “jumpstart” them. crimp some spade connectors on some wire (bigger the better) hot to hot and negative to negative. wait like a minute.(making sure wires aren’t melting. then put on a charger.

[@rossbixley3173]

This isn't really suitable for SUPER DEAD CELLS. The issue today is we have progressed to smart chargers which unlike chargers of old that simply supplied power, need to read a minimum voltage to acknowledge the presence of the battery and sometimes a cell or battery is only a fraction too low to be accepted. 20 / 30 seconds is generally more than enough when directly coupling batteries and as little as a minute can cause irreparable damage to the cell or battery so check for heat start to finish. People should not try this on multi voltage batteries ( 18v / 36v for example) unless they know how to preset ( lock ) the voltage as it will brick the battery. I suggest people view the video of a bike battery exploding within 2 seconds of entering an elevator. This is easily Googled and shows how unstable these types of battery are. And please, if you are trying these types of repair with little to no knowledge, good on you for trying but maybe leave them outside away from the house or shed whilst charging them the first couple of times and check for excess heat. I keep all batteries of this type in a lockbox away from both my shed and house.

[@KIDZKARTBLDER]

KEEP THEM AWAY FROM BREAK FLUID .. I lost two good battery’s cause break fluid will make the cases just fall apart .. its kind of amazing

[@SpinStar1956]

So where are you getting replacement batteries that have the same high-capacity as the original? I tried getting some off eBay and Amazon but they only have about half the power of my originals… 😢

[@brandonmyers5224]

Should be able to pull the covers off the end of your multimeter to expose longer skinny prongs.

[@keysautorepair6038]

Definitely chiner battery’s I have 2013 Dewalt batteries that work fine never had a problem with real ones the chiner ones I bought blew up within a month or two.

[@etyodada]

So, after you super-glue them, you do not expect to have to take them apart again? Or, do you cut in if you have to open it again?

[@TradieTrev]

Why have you got safety protectors on your DMM? They are more of a pain than any practical use in my experience and is why you couldn't get readings using them.

[@ikemkrueger]

What is „DMM“?

[@TradieTrev]

@@ikemkrueger Digital Multi Meter.

[@seattlecarpenter]

Max charge on each cell on lithium ions has a max charge of 4.2 volts. The same is true for lithium polymer (LiPo). When soldering on the cathode end (+), you should never solder near the rim of the battery because the anode (-) contact starts right at the edge. The solder could fill the small gap and create a short.

[@roybrown3018]

Need to make a spot welder for those Battery"s.

[@MongrelOne]

Don’t feel bad Dex I shake when I stop moving like standing in line I shake like a leaf in a tree I am all go all day standing still messes me up

[@frankgaribaldiii8806]

Pull the safety caps off the tester ends

[@Olliinn]

I wish there a less fiery battery alternative for tools ,e bikes, cars, vapes, etc. I have a pack I opened and marked the dead battery but I am afraid I am going to try to take one off and it just explodes, even though I know. Point is maybe the shaking is healthy levels of anxiety lol, don't want to be too relaxed with a hot iron and a notoriously dangerous battery. On the other hand 3 of 4 packs I opened were rusted, wrap on the batteries beginning to peel and they never burned the house down sitting in a central Texas garage (all but 1 were pretty old, forgotten in piles of junk by my dad). Sucks there is no real correct way to dispose of them is my main thing, and you know people probably toss whole good packs in the trash and I'm curious what the stats are on garbage truck fires and injuries related to those pesky things. Not a huge environmentalist but they really are horrible, especially having them in DISPOSABLE vapes. This was a well made entertaining and informative video though, definitely have a bit more courage to try it myself.

[@Dmowery5036]

I bought “dewalt” batteries off eBay. One only took 1 charge and stopped. Had a broken wire, fixed it but still won’t take charge.

[@JacksAutoDiagnostics]

This is great, but I find is most batteries that won't charge have one of two issues. Either they are defective, or the battery is stone dead and the charger has a safety feature so it won't risk charging stone dead batteries. The dead battery problem can happen when you have a lot of batteries or you just stick that free battery you got in storage and never maintain it or use it. It's either stone dead or very low voltage, enough the charger won't charge this battery. You would have to jumpstart it with something else to give it a little charge so the charger will charge it. Problem is if the battery is actually defective (you don't know) this could be dangerous! Just like my brand new blue harbor freight transformer style battery charger. If the car battery is stone dead or blow 6.8v like it says on the box, the charge will not charge this battery. But if I use jumper cables to jumpstart or trick the battery charger into coming on, it works! The same thing is going on with these DeWalt batteries that won't charge.

[@MrMichaelLudgate]

Dont do this at home, get a tac/spot welder and nickel strip, it'll take a fraction of the time and give you fixes not botches, to get the battery hot enough to get good solder connection, flow is hot solder maybe not good connection, will dmg the cell. Some cells, esp. if sourced not behind a bms, will have protection circuit, which you will fry with this approach.

[@highnoter1]

Sixty-five ford would disagree with everything you said.

[@silverfox-59]

Where do you get your replacement batteries please?

[@dh2032]

at 4:55, "if your doing this be careful I got are fire Fire Extinguisher" I would bucket of water, and very quick exit to the outside in the form door or are least window, you get flame bucket full burning batteries out side pronto, before going full runner way meltdown stage ?

[@eeledahc]

For all you poor folks, there are battery recycle bins at some hardware stores that if you ask nicely or take in some old NICDs and they see you bringing some in, you could possibly leave with a few lithium ones for spare cells to repair yours or repair the # of packs that you acquired there. They watch your so act accordingly.

[@brine80]

Same thing at Walmart stores here in NY, I think a lot of Retail and big box stores that sell things with batteries now accept batteries and phones for recycling as well. A lot of times when the store is slow like early mornings, there really isn't anyone even around those bins. I'm not suggesting you take anything from them, but I'm also not sure about the legality of items like this that have been left or "abandoned" for recycling. There may be some law that says these items left become the stores property, so some research in your local area may be worth checking into.

[@brenthann2623]

i use the chinese makita batteries and the only issue they have is there is no safety switch on them. i can run them down past 20v and it will destroy a cell or two. if i stop when i notice a loss of power they are fine. we have been doing this for years. we save a dead battery pack and salvage it to replace dead cells in other packs.

[@charlieb9502]

Man you really need a small battery welder. soldering the cells is kinda dangerous. Now leaving the nickel straps welded on the battery and soldering on the tabs is fine. Especially on the positive side of the cell. There is a thermal cut off switch that is one shot. under the cap of the positive on really good cells. These are like a thermal fuse. So soldering them can cause them to trip. So if you have soldered a good cell and you read zero volts from it after that is what happened. And sadly that fire extinguisher wont do a thing with a lithium fire. The best thing to have is a thick walled metal trash can with a heavy lid. Filled 1/4 with sand to contain the fire as it will burn until all fuel is consumed.

[@dh2032]

welt that an easy the nock battiesy you only take them apart and see if solid wire, thin straggly wires, must remember next time am down at my battery suppliers, must remember pack screw driver too?

[@NigelM18]

Why dont you just get some replacement strip blanks for the side of the batteries and a battery spot welder? Then you dont have to marl them light duty. Plus O L is not overload, its open loop.

[@Jimmyspangle]

NEVER solder 18650's! There is only a small gap between the positive and negative at the top. An insulating ring is normally applied, but is only paper or felt. A purpose made rapid spot welder will work perfectly. Solder has a risk of dribbling and if you apply the amount you did, there is a very high risk of contact. You may even reduce the gap but not make contact until you force the plastic case back on. These things are not forgiving, when they bridge they INSTANTLY start combusting and fire is very rapid. Is your shop worth more than $150? You can buy a spot welder for that.

[@javiermontes3777]

Where you can buy those batteries p

[@carlosedwardos]

Good video - as a pro with the luxury of really nice $1000 soldering equipment and 40+ years experience soldering, I would recommend ditching the silly wet sponge and go with what the pros use, which is that brass mesh that you see from Hakko and other companies - greatly prolongs the life of your soldering iron tips (due to lack of temperature shock from the water.

[@danieljohnson8437]

Liquid Flux, will help. Soldering. Thx, Dex.

[@cajuncoinhunter]

OL = Open Line , a break in the circuit , in your case it was corrosion that needed cleaning ..... I have many meters on my electronics work bench and they all say OL on a open circuit , except for my analog Triplett and RCA vacuum tube meters ....

[@si98justme1]

There are going to inevitably be some negative comments about the back woods wherewithal in this video, but the part I would take exception to is the lack of eyewear protection on glueing the clamshell together. As a feller that used to repair Mercedes flip keys in the back woods of a shitty 3rd world country, using super glue to close friction fit cases, and has had super glue in my eyes twice, before I learned to get something in there the trajectory line. The most egregious error in this video was when he glued the battery together with super glue, whilst lacking eye protection. Super glue in the eye sounds like it sucks, believe me, it’s a lot worse than it sounds.

[@BrandonZ55XJ]

We all love dewalt tools!!

[@u812green7]

Great information, thanks!

[@kwacz]

those cells are spot welded. You really should not solder to lithium cells. They are spot welded for a reason.

[@rogertyler3237]

I Use Burnsomatic Solder. Electrical Solder.

[@stevemaniaci4750]

I would wear saftey glasses while messing with those , could ark.

[@stinkycheese804]

You can't save a failed battery unless you want to risk burning your shop or whole house down. They stop working because they are below the safe recharge voltage. If that didn't matter, they wouldn't have imposed that cutoff voltage. HOW IS THIS NOT OBVIOUS? No manufacturer would ever grenade their product for no reason if that weren't the case.

[@kevinroberts781]

Often times the cells inside just needs to be balanced.

[@ikemkrueger]

How do you do that?

[@kevinroberts781]

@ikemkrueger I use a small 4.2 volt lithium ion charger. Open up the pack. You will see the cells and how they are wired. Use that small charger and charge each row of parallel cells. They will all be 4.2 volt max charge when full. If you check the pack first with a meter you will notice each parallel group is different. You want them to all be the same. Charge each parallel group up. Put the pack back together and test it.

[@rogertyler3237]

Sometimes It's Just A Pooly Soldered Connections.

[@bradeggebraaten2141]

Soldering to lithium batteries isn't a good idea. If you get them too hot it can make them unstable. A spot welder should be used. Also, a cell that has dropped below 3.2 volts renders it unstable, and is no longer safe to use. Reviving a dead lithium cell shouldn't be attempted

[@davedyck3982]

😂 I don't recommend doing this here....but I'm doing it here. Nice!

[@ToddS50]

maybe get a battery pack spot welder things off a-z

[@vanhetgoor]

Soldering batteries is not a good idea, inside the battery could be some sort of protection against overloading and decharging it too far. When you cook it there is a chance it gets disconnected, better connect batteries with electric point welding. It can be done with a 12 volt battery and tiny welding thingies.

[@highnoter1]

Even the knockoffs arent cheap

[@Tpbmods]

Love this!

[@brandonfloyd6321]

Last 8 or so i paid twenty something $ each by buying 4 at a time on ebay. Suppose to be "8ah" but weighed less than a legit dewalt 5ah. Lol

[@asusreviews]

Oh my goodness. I rebuild batteries for a living. This is scary. And yes, most of those batteries you have there are fakes, which is also scary. Other than balancing leads, never solder cells together. Only use a battery spot welder.

[@josephsaucedo8691]

The battery that scared you has shorted cells or bad board that why it's reading improperly 😉

[@sparksmcgee6641]

Battery Slaves are funny once you have 4 or 5 batteries there isnt a reason to atay with the same brand. At 50 started using the brst tool regardless of brand and use battery adapters for the random other tools. Bosch is way beter than dewalt on drivers. They only target commercial level tools in the US. In wurope thwy have a consumer brand in green and a whole range of blue tools.

[@EmeraldHill-vo1cs]

Dewalt or some knockoffs- owned by Black and Decker, who own heaps of brands.

[@jerrybaxter544]

Fyi.. 2017 til now, almost 2025, is not going on 9 years.

[@neilneil6813]

get a spot welder

[@TranTek]

That is a fake dewalt battery

[@noberet]

First like!

[@cavscout888]

Warrantying Chinese ripoffs is immoral dude.

[@DexterBrowder]

How do you know??

[@petecrabtree6734]

🦅🇺🇸💪😎👍

[@waynefisher4327]

Good effort, but you need improvement. I noticed you were repeating things a bit. While a little repetition can drive a point home, too much is excessive. Do you script your videos? This would organize your thoughts clearer. It would get what you are attempting to teach across easier. As the video is, sorry but it's too jumbled for me.

[@Jfreeman-k4l]

I’ve fixed several lithium tool battery’s until I got 24volt tools.

[@SacredHeart0520]

24vokt tools still use the same batteries and will be subject to the same failures all bayts will

[@tdotw77]

Yes these are 18 volts - over in Europe theyre labeled as such and the 60v are actually 54v too. Each Li-ion battery 18650 cel should be close to 3.7v if its perfect g fully charged, the larger 21700 Li-ion cels are the same i believe. The DeWalt ones should be green Samsung cels iirc, but the Chinese batteries will probably be some other off brand. Good video man you got it figured out good. Ps you can buy a battery 'welder' that will spot weld the terminals on in 4 spots just like factory does. 👍🏻👌🏻🔋🔌⚡🦺 ✊🏻🇺🇲🦅🇺🇲✊🏻

[@tdotw77]

Just verified 21700 cells and 18650 are both 3.6 - 3.7v

[@josephsaucedo8691]

Those are not real Dewalt. You can tell. Spot welder battery machine best to fix it 90$ soldier isn't good for the batterys. Also a little dangerous on the positive side . The tamper proof are real the other will be fake. The parts that they are considered from a good introduction if it's real or not . The quality of parts used are the difference. Makita the way to go there the only brand that you can get replacement boards to build or repair them . I'ts the only reason I went with them all my battery I made free from tons of other packs and new boards buddy works at recycling . So I only pay for tools. You can use any battery brand on any tool you need the original charger for brand battery but they sell adapter for each different brands so it doesn't matter what tool brand you use. I have Makita battery on just about every brand you can name. Sense not every company doesn't make the same tools. It a advantage using adapters they run 18$ for each different brands they make them for every way you can think of for every brand. Just a fyi.🤔💯🫡👍✌️

[@josephsaucedo8691]

OL is open lead not over loaded on the tester 💯🫡✌️