Anybody got any solder/conductive-glue ??

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rt66electric

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I have dissassembled my defunct dewalt batteries. The battery-packs consists of a bunch of "C" cell ni-cad cold soldered in series. My years at 'southern engineering school' has taught me that : the first or last cell in line is bad and the others are usually OK.

My soldering skills/equpiment usually results in themal failure,,,burns-up everything but what I'm soldering.

The original fabrication looks more like a dollop of glue, than a drop of solder.

Is there any product like this??

New Batteries cost $$$$$$ A busy project on sunday doesn't cost as much.
 
dont know about the glue and my soldering skills seem to be on par with yours... I am interested in how this turns out, I have six dewalt batteries I'd like to repair.
 
Usually, rechargable cell tabs are resistance-spot-welded, not soldered.

There are conductive paints and adhesives, like from hobby stores.

You could try a car rear-window electric-defroster-grid repair kit.
 
I have a coworker that says the reverse zap welding machine wiil fix your nicad batteries. He said he recharged his dead Dewalt batteries in a manner similar to this youtube video.

I have four dead Dewalt 18V XRP that I was thinking about letting Batteries Plus retail store rebuild for around $40 apiece. My coworkers says give them to him first.

I heard it knocks crystal formations off the batt plates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H60xtiY8gXE
 
I've never done it, but you can go to a hobby shop (that sells RC cars & airplanes) and buy a tool that will crimp (press) the metal tabs into the ends of the batteries just like the factory does.
 
There is a conductive silver-filled epoxy available--it's very expensive and I doubt that it makes as good a connection as soldering.

My understanding is that battery packs are usually spot-welded rather than soldered. This Youtube video shows a rather elaborate home-built spot welder at work; about 2 minutes into the video, he rebuilds a DeWalt battery pack.

I think as a practical matter your best bet is to either buy Ni-Cd cells that already have solder tabs welded on, or take your battery pack to a battery dealer that has the equipment to rebuild it.
 
Unless the battery pack is one that just cannot be had these days, I'd rather just purchase a new pack and forget about trying to salvage the old cells. If one cell is gone, the rest aren't too far behind.

Yea, you may get a 'good' battery, but is it worth all the time and trouble? And what happens if one of your connections suddenly fail?.... you've got a totally worthless pack. And how much longer is this 'good' battery going to be considered 'good'?

Besides, what you pay for a cell is certainly going to be a whole lot more than what the OEM pays for them since they buy them by the shipful, not 2 or 4 at a time.

It's just a fact of life that batteries are not going to last forever. Fact is, I buy a new cordless drill every year just so I have 99.99% confidence in the tool's performance.
 
480sparky said:
It's just a fact of life that batteries are not going to last forever. Fact is, I buy a new cordless drill every year just so I have 99.99% confidence in the tool's performance.
Click to expand...

That is the thing to do. You can catch a sale and buy the drill with two batteries and charger for almost what one battery will cost.
 
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