Anybody got any solder/conductive-glue ??

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rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
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.
 

Sam Moore

Member
Location
SC
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.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
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.
 

jeremysterling

Senior Member
Location
Austin, TX
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
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
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.
 

steved

Senior Member
Location
Oregon
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.
 

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
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.
 

ceb58

Senior Member
Location
Raeford, NC
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.

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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