# Lithium drill batteries



## Daravon (Feb 25, 2012)

I have a Ryobi lithium drill, and one of the batteries flashes 'defective' when I try to charge it. I measured the terminals and I'm still seeing 8V. I would like to revive this thing if I can. Do you think I can trickle-charge it back to a high enough voltage for the Ryobi charger to charge it?


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## Shadowww (Feb 26, 2012)

Don't trickle charge a Lithium battery.
Actually, what kind of Lithium is it? Li-Ion or LiFePO4?
Also, can you remove outer shell without damaging it permanently?
For example, with NiCad 18V packs you can just unscrew four screws and remove a cover, then you can access individual cells - charging them individually would be the best idea.


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## shadowjk (Feb 27, 2012)

The battery is degrading rapidly while being overdischarged. If it has been more than a few hours, I wouldn't try it. Even if it comes back, its safety is compromised, which would make me especially nervous considering the high drain work the pack has to perform.


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## 5Sport (Mar 2, 2012)

I have the same problem with two Ryobi batteries (18V). They won't hold a charge and the drill under load dies and the battery check light turns yellow or red under load, even after it is fully charged to green in the charger. When I stop and give it a rest the battery check light goes back to green.

Are you having a silmilar experience? Bad lithium batteries? Or a bad charger killing the batteries? My older Nicad 9.6V Makita does a better job.

I am frustrated and if Ryobi is no good, i may go buy the Makita 12V lithium set.

HELP


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## lumen aeternum (Oct 4, 2012)

I just bought another Ryobi tool and it had a battery & single charger in the package. I noticed that the single charger has been upgraded; now you CAN leave the battery in the charger forever without harming the battery. Earlier single chargers said in the fine print that you are supposed to remove the battery once it reaches full charge. The multi-charger is, at least now, also OK with storing the batteries in the charger.

If you still have that battery you might try it on the new style charger ???

I have a dead "big size" Lithium & I'd like to replace the cells.


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## slapper (Oct 4, 2012)

I have a 12v Fein cordless drill with defunct batteries. It was the extremely cold winter two years ago which killled them and despite my intermittent charging attempts they won't hold a charge for more than a couple of minutes of work. Pity, as it is a grand drill.

I'm sure that the duff batts are nicads.


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## HotWire (Oct 4, 2012)

Funny, I just talked to my friend about this problem today. I have 6 Ryobi batteries. 3 of them hold a charge for only a short time. 3 of them work like they did when new. I have had no problem with Makita or Craftsman batteries that are much older. I never leave batteries in the charger, no matter what the instruction manual says. I've rotated them between a drill, a light, a fan, and a saw. Bosch batteries have served me well, although I don't use the 2 Bosch drills much. The batteries perform well when used.


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## bartbarkdol (Oct 4, 2012)

I'm still not sure what type of batteries these are. I'm guessing li-ion. I don't think the cells can be revived or reconditioned safely. If they can Im not sure how you would do it. Shame sounds like a cheap charger ruined a lot of batteries.


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## lwknight (Oct 5, 2012)

Keep in mind that Ryobi products are low price and there is only one way to keep low prices. Low Cost!
My persone; DeWalt lithium batteries have been impressive and we just started using the DeWalt lithium cell drills industrially so the real world test is in progress.
So far the several year experience with 100s of DeWalt Ni-Cads have shown very long life dependable batteries.

I'm not plugging for DeWalt but just noting a comparator.


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## lumen aeternum (Oct 6, 2012)

FYI another thread on CPF referenced this where people are posting what kind of batteries they find in various tool brand battery packs:

http://dewaltownersgroup.com/index.php/topic,204.0.html


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## lwknight (Oct 6, 2012)

Holy moly ! I think I may have an unlimited source of 18650s. Looking at the new 20 volt dewalt battery I see what looks like
individual monitoring circuits. When one or more cells go bad the battery will be useless. I can salvage the rest.
Where I work has just started buying the 20 volt batteries by the 100s.


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## HighlanderNorth (Oct 6, 2012)

I'm amazed at how long my Ridgid 18v Ni Cad batteries have lasted! I bought the 3 piece 18V hammer drill/driver, circular saw and flashlight kit(really 2 pieces!), and it came with a dual, diagnostic charger and 2 18V Ni Cad's. That was 9 years ago, and it still works, but it doesnt hold its charge quite as long when not in use, so I have to charge it before using it if its been sitting for a week or 3 because it may have lost some of its charge during that down time. Its not used every day, all day long or anything, but its been used hundreds of times easily.

Whats cool though, is that when I bought the kit they were offering a special deal at Home Depot for like months that included a 20% discount and a lifetime warranty on the tools, including the batteries, so supposedly when they go bad Ridgid will replace them!


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## HighlanderNorth (Oct 6, 2012)

lwknight said:


> Holy moly ! I think I may have an unlimited source of 18650s. Looking at the new 20 volt dewalt battery I see what looks like
> individual monitoring circuits. When one or more cells go bad the battery will be useless. I can salvage the rest.
> Where I work has just started buying the 20 volt batteries by the 100s.




Really the 20V Dewalt Li Ion battery packs use 18650's? I thought most of the drill/saw/tool type battery packs used smaller Li Ion batteries, I guess not...


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## hellokitty[hk] (Oct 6, 2012)

They're probably LiFe.


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## Shadowww (Oct 6, 2012)

HighlanderNorth said:


> Really the 20V Dewalt Li Ion battery packs use 18650's? I thought most of the drill/saw/tool type battery packs used smaller Li Ion batteries, I guess not...


18650's and 26650's are only cylindrical Li-Ion cells used in _mainstream_ power tools, but NiMH's/NiCd's usually come in smaller size - SubC, which is size 22430 basically (so a bit thicker, but much shorter, than a 18650).


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## Up All Night (Oct 8, 2012)

HotWire said:


> Funny, I just talked to my friend about this problem today. I have 6 Ryobi batteries. 3 of them hold a charge for only a short time. 3 of them work like they did when new. I have had no problem with Makita or Craftsman batteries that are much older. I never leave batteries in the charger, no matter what the instruction manual says. I've rotated them between a drill, a light, a fan, and a saw. Bosch batteries have served me well, although I don't use the 2 Bosch drills much. The batteries perform well when used.



Chances are your Craftsman batteries are Ryobi batteries. Craftsman cordless tools are are often(if not exclusively) relabelled Ryobi products. 
I recently pulled apart a Ryobi 18v lithium pack and discovered 5 Samsung 18650-13Q. 1300mAh and some crazy high discharge rate that I can't remember.
Just have to find a safe way to harvest them.


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## ElectronGuru (Oct 9, 2012)

HighlanderNorth said:


> Really the 20V Dewalt Li Ion battery packs use 18650's? I thought most of the drill/saw/tool type battery packs used smaller Li Ion batteries, I guess not...





hellokitty[hk] said:


> They're probably LiFe.



Some threads showing the actual cells:

http://dewaltownersgroup.com/index.php/topic,816.0.html

http://dewaltownersgroup.com/index.php/topic,817.0.html


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## lwknight (Oct 11, 2012)

After a little more research and still without proof, the Max20 cells are A123 in the compact and UR18650 in the fat pack.
There are 5 or 10 cells so the voltage is 3.7 nominal. Thats all great but the capacity is only 6 watt hours vs 9-10 watt hours of the typical 3100 mah IMR18650. Big difference is that the A123 and UR18650 can output 15 or more amps vs 3-5 amps.

Also it looks like the tests were done at low amp drain so the 1500mah capacity is absolute.
I was hoping that if I recovered some cells that they could run the flashlight as long as say imr18650 X 3100 mah cells but it's a no go.


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