Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
Hello,
I’ve logged in on behalf of my son, who is becoming quite the handy-man and tool enthusiast. He recently found at a thrift store an 18-volt Makita drill for $5. The drill seems to be fully-functional, but the battery pack is bad. Right after it has been charged it works somewhat but is not as powerful as it should be. In addition, it loses power very quickly. My son is wondering what the best course of action would be…
1) Should he just forget this whole thing and trash the drill?
2) Should he buy a new $88 battery?
3) Should he try to repair the battery?
4) Should he save up his money and just save it to take advantage of one of those DeWalt deals where he can trade it in for $50 off a DeWalt drill? (Note that would have to be a very long-term, perhaps unrealistic savings idea.)
We can’t supply a model number, because it’s old and the tag was worn off. We’d appreciate any insight on how we might be able to turn this $5 find into a cool, usable tool, especially anything that could be done on a low budget.
take it to a store and ask to try a battery out, don’t buy a new battery until you know if the drill is ok. then rule out a problem with the charger…
Good advice. Any thoughts on where to get Makita batteries?…and where they’ll let you try one without purchasing? Seems like at Lowes they’re all in hard plastic packaging — would they let you break into one of those just to try it? Thanks for the help.
Home depot should have them out on display….best case if you email Makita and they are in a good mood, you may be able to warranty the battery!
Thanks for the tip. 🙂
Without knowing anything about the drill or the battery, it’s hard to say. You can have Ni-Cad batteries rebuilt pretty cheap, Lithium batteries you cannot. Depending on the age, model, and condition, it may be worth an $88 battery, or it may not. If its old and beat to hell you might consider getting him a Ridgid or Porter Cable. They can be had for reasonable prices and the Ridgid carries a lifetime warranty that applies to the batteries as well.
OK; good to know. Pardon my ignorance, but what’s a cable — I know what a “cable” is, but what exactly are you talking about as to something that could be used in the stead of a battery pack? About the drill and battery, it does look old but doesn’t look beaten up. We tried to post a picture, but somehow it didn’t go through. The label on the drill is worn off, but the label on the battery says: Ni-MH Rechargable NIckel-Metal Hydride Battery. It does have a rather large number on it, which actually may be the model number — 1834. Then it says 18V 2.6Ah.
Thanks for the help.
Ha — my 12-year-old son just educated me on my recent question… “Mom, Porter Cable is a brand.” (sheepish grin.)
Makita most likely will not warranty it, you have no proof of purchase(aka when it was originally bought) Your best bet would be as conductor mentioned go with a brand like Ridgid(lifetime warranty) Ryobi, Porter Cable, Kobalt, or Craftsman. If you spend $80 plus on a battery for a tool that is old, with any of these brands excluding ridgid(cheapest Ridgid kit at the moment is $159) you can pick up a drill/driver kit for around $99 to $130 dollars that will have two batteries and the charger. Any of those above mentioned brands will perform awesomely for any DIY and should be an awesome gift for your son. Again if you are even considering buying a new battery, consider spending the extra $20-$30 on a new kit.
Here are some option that are good tools for advanced DIYr’s
Ridgid 18v Drill/Driver(more expensive, but carries the lifetime warranty)
Ryobi 18v Drill/Driver with 1.5 AMP hour Batteries
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-18-Volt-One-Lithium-Ion-Drill-Kit-P817/203406858#.UhZEZD9NWMM
Ryobi 18v Drill/Driver with 2.0 AMP hour batteries(larger capacity)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-18-Volt-One-Lithium-Ion-Drill-Kit-P818/203466926#.UhZEZT9NWMM
Kobalt 18v Drill/Driver
Porter Cable 20v Drill/Driver(really runs at 18.6, no really advantage of this being a 20v)
Craftsman is truly not a bad deal
Just some links for you to look at and compare prices. Most retailers will start having specials around late October to start holiday sales. This are all Lithium Ion-Tools, maybe your something your son knows is better than NiCAD or maybe not. If you get him a Lithium he will thank you in the future!
You can get a non oem battery pack for around 50 bucks, but I still don’t know if it’s worth it. http://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower%C2%AE-Extended-192828-1-192829-9-193061-8/dp/B007BG14TW/ref=pd_sim_hi_2
Ryobi has sales on their kit’s all the time you can pick up for lithium ion drill for around 60 dollars some times. That’s the problem with cordless power tools most of the value is in the battery packs, and if they go bad out of warranty it’s not worth getting new packs.
If the battery is the problem which I suspect it is the they are easy enough to rebuild with the solderless kits available online.
You can get a new pack on eBay for $69.99 with free shipping.
You can replace the battery and be $75 into the old Makita. That is your cheapest option.
For $99, you can go to CPORidgid.com and get a reconditioned 18V with 2 batteries. It won’t have the lifetime warranty, but it’s still a nice drill.
It’s a matter of preference, but I’d spend the extra $30 on the Ridgid.
I would definitely go reconditioned, you can get a tool so much cheaper than new, and it runs and looks like new, I like conductor said, that will be your best bet, CPO is a great company which you can trust!
I rebuilt a Ryobi 1plus 6 months ago with the solderless kit and they have already lasted longer than the originals.
Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. I think I’m going to have to have his Dad take over and sift through these options with him. We appreciate all the input. It may be a bit before we’re able to check back, but feel free to add any more thoughts. This has been helpful.
OK. I opened the battery pack and tested the little batteries inside the shell. Most of them tested at around 1.300 V, but one of them was a little less (1.100 V.). Being that it is a series circuit, does that effect all of the batteries or just that one? The drill will run at first but will lose its charge very quickly.
Chris
It should pull from each cell simotaniously rather than sequentially. Sound like the battery is toast. Nimh batteries are subject to a memory effect just like Nicad and while they offer more run time than a Nicad of the same voltage, Nimh packs discharge faster on the shelf. You can rebuild Nimh batteries, but I’m not sure what it costs.
Nimh will last longer but today’s problem is with the charger. Most chargers are quick charge, Nimh needs a trickle charge (overnight) for full effect. Other than that, don’t waste money upgrading unless you are using the correct charger. I’ve successfully rebuilt with the solderless connectors.
That’s what I did. Ordered an 18v kit from online and put together myself. My drill works great.
Do you care to share where you ordered the rebuild kits from?
I got a set from www.battrx.com easy enough and much more powerful than the originals.
I watched the video.Seems to be the a lot easier and safer. Just ordered a couple 18V DeWalt kits.
The battery fix depends on what type the battery is. If it is NiMH or NiCd you could order some individual cells from a high quality rc supplier made for making your own battery packs you mostly will need some of the battery tabs. I have seen lithium fixing with an rc lipo battery by soldering a connector into the pack. On ebay you can also find some cells for fixing drill/laptop battery’s.
The big problem with lithium repair is that once the battery is disconnected from the internal circuit board you have to reprogram it to accept a charge and know when to shutoff. That’s probably one big reason that nicads are still made.
I don’t know much about battery repair, but I found this link, I hope it could be of some assistance – http://www.instructables.com/id/Makita-18v-LXT-Lithium-ion-Battery-Repair/
Two years ago I ordered this kit (on a recommendation from a friend) – http://www.gasweld.com.au/makita-dlx2055t-combo-kit
The battery still works like it was brand new, and the DHP481Z is immaculate.
Holy post resurrection Batman!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Hehehe 🙂
Welcome to the forum Cynthia, thanks for sharing those links, make yourself at home, ask questions, don’t mind the occasional nut-cases floating around here LOOOL
cful wrote:
1 hour ago, cful said:Hehehe 🙂
dwain wrote:
On August 22, 2013 at 0:08 AM, dwain said:take it to a store and ask to try a battery out, don’t buy a new battery until you know if the drill is ok. then rule out a problem with the charger…
I agree with this but if it was the drill I won’t repair it because with the pleases around me it’s just $75 for them to open up the drill and what ever it cost for the part and then labor so by the time u pay for all of that it’s almost cheaper to buy a new one