How to Bring NI-CAD Drill Batteries Back to Life & Make Them Charge Again - Ryobi

Use this trick to save $$$ - This is how I bring Nicad Batteries back to life when they will no longer charge or the go dead quickly between charges.

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[michaeltrevorpurnell]

This guy gives so much of his time helping others (this helpful tip is brilliant, and it works) why are there so many negative people giving him shit?, if he wants to smoke surely that is his choice.

[fraglerian]

I loved this. When it didn't work you weren't bothered, just tried again. This speaks of real. Thank-you for the video.

[yqwkygs]

The thing I like about this video is it shows the reality of a fixer's life. Nothing ever goes right all the time, or at least not for long. So he's in the middle of filming and the multimeter starts playing up. That's so real. One out of three of the batteries is a failure but you can't resist giving it one more try. Great job, Frugal!

[PeterWhiteVoiceTalent]

Great ref. material here! I bought almost new Ryobi drill/charger w 2 batts at goodwill for $7.50. Batt NG. Tried your method and YES MAN!! Works great. Let the haters hate, I think yer great!

[GamingKeenBeaner]

If you continue to do this, you would really benefit from putting some wire leads on the battery so that you arc against the wire ends and not directly against the contacts.

[braeburn]

Ive done this but i used two good tool batteries wired in series to form a 36 V cell. I used that to zap the bad batteries instead of a welder. It worked well.

[tiggywinkle]

My 20 years+ old Bosch drill/driver's battery (NiCd) packed up.
I sawed off the base of the pack and found 6 cells inside, wired in series.
Removed them with side cutters, making a drawing of where they went, polarity, etc.
Ordered 6 modern NiMH cells (Batteriesplus), with twice the Ah capacity and higher current capability (more power). They arrived fully charged in 48 hours.
Soldered them all back into the case (the cells have solder tags) and fastened them with the hot melt glue gun. Then glued the base back with Superglue, and painted over the cut to conceal the repair.
The old charger works fine with the new battery, you just have to time the charge using NiMH, and not leave it on permanently.
The repair saved me over £50, and my old Bosch drill works better than new with its upgrade!

[Jamespennington]

I tried this with just a pair of 12v car batteries and some jumper cables to make 24v and holy crap it worked! I had six old Ryobi ni-cads that hadn't charged in at least 10 years but I kept them hoping I'd find a tip like this. Thanks man!

[haroldkline]

Thanks a lot dude! I don't have a welder, but I was able to get them working again using a car battery (in parallel) that puts out about 2700 Watts. They went from reading flat zeros to about 7 volts and now are taking a charge. Great tip!

[johnmilner]

Hitting it with a stick or mig welder will usually make the Charger see the batt as chargeable but once the Charger completes the charge, the drill will not last long on that charge. I tried this with my Milwaukee 12V. My fix was to buy a new 12V pack.

[wholeNwon]

YT video from some young guy who suggested putting the battery in the charger and plugging and unplugging the charger from the receptacle several times in rapid succession to cause charging to resume. I really doubted that it would work, but it sure DID! I was amazed and thanked him.

[stephenjones]

You just saved me having to buy another battery...worked after 6 "resets"....Perfect, thanks!

[stevenpeterson]

Awesome video. What I really love is that you didn't cut out all your mistakes. Very helpful to those of us prone to making them ourselves

[TheCarnager]

It's the high voltage pulse that knocks those whiskers off, the bendini magnet motor design does same thing and can help restore batteries the same way.

[dreadcat]

Two days ago I put my Harbor Freight Drill battery on to charge it. Then forgot all about it until I saw your video. Ran down to the basement and checked it. Charger and battery very hot. Tried the battery and it still works. Hope I didn't ruin it! Thanks for the video.

[mr.wizard]

Necessity is the mother of invention. Improvisation is the mother-in-law! Good job man!

[johnbrown]

After seeing this I tried it on my 3 18v dewalt 100% flat batterys which has been in my store room unused for 6 years I used my battery charger on 24v with full 30 amp out put to spike the dead batteries 6 times each and to my surprise all 3 recharged on the dewalt charger and are working fine.

[jecammer]

Thank you, even TV doctors can’t bring them all back. Lol

[winstonpoole]

This Bloke should be renamed Spider... He never gives up !

[RJCooper]

Great idea -- a pair of welding gloves and a motorcycle helmet with a full face shield might also be prudent at any time you're playing with potentially explosive materials, or maybe set the battery on a blasting cabinet during that procedure. I just hate reading later about people with Burns over significantly large percentages of their bodies, just knowing how much I've suffered in the past from a tiny one of my finger.