Build Dirt Cheap power tool Battery Packs : Milwaukee Dewalt Makita

Building any power tool pack is easy and fun.

WANT it QUICK, order from Amazon:

SAVE a few bucks:
Wait a little while and get the same ones direct from China via Aliexpress or Ebay for just a little bit less. I don't have links as those listings are constantly changing. Generally searching by a battery part number ie "Makita BL1850 case" for the brand you want will get you results.

Tools I use:

SUPPORT THE CHANNEL or support the SHOP DOG's treat addiction:

Lithium Li-on 21700
Makita Packs BL1815N BL1820 BL1830 BL1840 BL1845 BL1850 BL1850B BL1860
Dewalt Packs 20V DCB201 DCB203 DCB204 DCB200 18V
Milwaukee Red Lithium M18 18V 3.0Ah 4.0Ah 5.0Ah

[gorak]

DUDE - the FIRST rule of battery scrounging club is DO NOT TALK ABOUT BATTERY SCROUNGING CLUB

[fraydnot]

I went to 5 stores and asked for used batteries, I got one dewalt spending $20 in gas. Thanks Moe for the great video. Going to be sending you something in the mail

[SemperMortem]

Because of you, i built a 10ah battery for my dewalt / Milwaukee. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!

[Blakehx]

Great video as always, thanks for sharing and trying to save us some money! A couple tips for anybody doing this… 1 if you kinda suck at soldering (like me) solder the positive terminals first (too much solder on them can overflow and short out against the negative casing) 2 a big clamp or large vise grips are good for holding batteries still and upright while you’re working

[garethmcgregor]

Great video Mo.
I got a bit lost with the balance wire, but I'll ask my brother to explain it to me. He's very clever like you and has literally thousands of cells that he has collected due to the industry he works in. His plan is to build his own 'Tesla style' battery for his home. His cell collection is crates a little over a cubic metre each packed full and ready to test all the cells. The battery packs they use just go in a big skip when they stop working properly or after a certain amount of time, regardless of how well they function, and since he's in charge he just packs them all up and brings them home.
Now I understand what he's up to.

[coltonrowe]

Brilliant! I can’t believe I’ve been throwing away expensive battery packs for years and I could’ve made a few of them work. Thank you for this.

[thenewman]

Great video. It's amazing that for the last 12 years something stupid such as a $4 circuit board or a few bad cells causes so much warranty grief and wastes so much time at the local big box store when most battery packs can be salvaged and rebuilt for around $10.

[ZippoVarga]

Excellent tutorial as always Moe! I hoard 18650's for this purpose as well. Any time I go to yard sales and see bare batteries I can always pick them up for 3-5 bucks. Cheers my Friend! Zip~

[ronniepirtlejr]

Good job!
I think you did a good job explaining it. It really is easier to do than what most people realize.
I have always soldered mine like that. It's like you said.." keep your soldering hot. Get in & get out fast!"
Who cares how it looks. It powers your own power tool & it is hidden on the inside.

[alward]

Great advice on checking the battery’s I have 3 AA ‘s in the smoke detector it’s always just one that ‘s lowest. Just change it & she’s good to go.

[luvmechanix]

Be careful and only use cells from the same batch and used for the same amount of cycles. The internal resistance can vary and under high drain they can overheat/catch on fire. Don't burn your house down over a battery pack. Better yet, just avoid playing with lithium batteries without really knowing about them. I have seen spectacular failures with 18650 cells and I am worried

[kanadianken]

Great freaking idea to grab “dead” battery packs and snipe the good ones out !!

[yodasbff]

Good stuff. I have rebuilt several Ryobi battery packs doing this, they work well but usually don't seem to have quite as much life as new packs, but a whole lot cheaper. Yoda says hi to Ginger. 👍

[billrimmer]

I have some old packs. I will check them out. Thank u! Appreciate all the good stuff on this channel!!

[shannonbradley]

Awesome Moe. Person could fix their bad tool battery by isolating bad cell and replace it instead of buying a brand new COMPLETE pack. One recycled battery pack could repair multiple others from harvesting the good remaining cells in it .Great freak g idea. 18650 's aren't cheap when you have to buy several .Great idea dude !

[haneyoakie]

Very cool. I have 4 battery packs for my 18v DeWalt. Two of them work. It would be nice to have 3 working battery packs, as I have the impact, and the drill. One in impact, one in drill, one on charger ready to enter the game would be great.

[BlueEyedColonizer]

Medical supplies have great batts and they are replaced before they even get bad

[simonlunt]

Well done sir A old friend of mine did all this kind of thing years ago and it works great stuff 👍

[bobthompson]

Sometimes if you have a dead battery and forget to charge it then the charger wont charge it because the charger thinks its to dead to charge. So get a fully charged battery of the same brand and voltage and get some good thick wire keep it short and put the wire from one positive to the other positive and negative to negative and make sure to get it RIGHT or you'll fry the board it them. then let them sit hooked to each other for 15 mins then try to charge the "bad" one and see if it will charge if not try again for 30 mins then try to charge it. you can also check the charge indicator also. And MAKE SURE not to drain the good one to far or it wont charge.

[redpandabus-adventuresinlife]

I started watching you a few months ago and l am amazed at all the things you have taught me. The first video l watched was plastic welding. It turned out perfect.

These battery pack have been a curse to me. When they do go they are expensive to replace. It's so nice to know now that l can now fix them myself and not be afraid of doing it. Your just awesome! I think this is my first post on your site! Just lov'n it! Autumn!