replacing NiCad cells in cordless battery packs

[Norm]

This will be an introduction on how to save $$$ by having a kit to replace the
NiCads in your battery paks. Once you have one of these you won't have to worry
about buying paks that run as high as $50 -$80 once you have the adapter that
I can provide plans for the cost of the cells for an 18 volt figuring even at $2 a cell would
run you about $30 .
  What's more the cells can be recharged with your 12 volt battery charger or a small
solar panel and Ghurd's dump charge controller.

Bruce S .....You have Mail !

Norm.

[Bruce S]

This will be an introduction on how to save $$$ by having a kit to replace the
NiCads in your battery paks. Once you have one of these you won't have to worry
about buying paks that run as high as $50 -$80 once you have the adapter that
I can provide plans for the cost of the cells for an 18 volt figuring even at $2 a cell would
run you about $30 .
  What's more the cells can be recharged with your 12 volt battery charger or a small
solar panel and Ghurd's dump charge controller.

Bruce S .....You have Mail !
Hello Norm!
you now have mail 
This looks to be an interesting post.
My B/D 18v packs are showing their age. Since I have 6 of them, it'll be interesting to see how well the packs adjust.
Cheers
Bruce S

Norm.

[Frank S]

I have never been a cordless usage type of guy my problem is if I buy a cordless tool today and use if a few times by the next time I need it the pack has died and will not recharge so I either buy a new pack for half or more the price of the tool or buy a new tool which invariably will be a different brand & or different voltage pretty soon I stuck with a box full of useless battery operated junk.   A while back we needed a new electric weed trimmer I had to look a 10 stores before finding a corded one.
 What is needed is a universal corded adapter that fits all popular tool designs and voltages that eliminates batteries 

[dnix71]

Frank S I had a Makita 9.6v cordless drill with an internal battery pack that died. They were N sized nicads. I cut the handle to fit in proper sub-C nicads and then decided batteries were the problem and not the solution. I took an old vacuum cleaner cord (SJ 2-wire) and battery clips and wired the drill so I could run it directly from my car. No chance of running the car battery dead using a portable drill. Of course a 9.6v drill has no cohones either. It had a 10mm chuck so it was only good for making small holes.

An 18v drill isn't going to run well on a 12v car battery unless maybe the engine is running so the actual voltage would be 14.5.

A battery hip pack like fast food drive-through workers wear would make more sense. All you need is a cable with the proper terminal adapter to plug in the drill and you are set to go

[Bruce S]

I rarely buy new packs, if one wears out and I can't find a decently priced one, I build it out myself.
I see them as a challenge to keep me on my toes.
The harder ones are the not so obvious safety keys built in holders. B&D has them in their 18V packs , so I just remove old batteries ( drop off at recycler) then use the hull as adapter. I've done this for our weed whacker. Instead of 1.8Ahr at 18Vdc I wired up 3 and use their better slow (recharge at 9hr ) charger to blend the packs. 18ga multi-strand extension cord allows me to have them on a ARMY web belt .
Old drills, 9.6 up to 12V I just bring wires out to battery attachment.
I'm waiting for norm to post a pic of his E-Cane 
Cheers;
Bruce S

[OperaHouse]

I pull out the batteries too and just attach a cord to it.  I bought a bunch of 150W boost converters and was going to place one inside a battery pack to make 18V, but that box didn't make it on the trailer some how.    I ordered some more from China and report the results later.  I have a lot of Li cells, too bad they just never fit into the packs that have ni-cd.

[Bruce S]

Operhouse
I agree, the number of old Laptop battery packs I am given, just because they no longer hold a charge is funny in an I.T. sort of way.
I open them up mostly to find a thermal wire that's come lose, I either reattach and try to reuse it for laptop or rescue batteries and BMS.
I've only found 1 battery pack that didn't have something useable it in.
 

[mike_belben]

i buy subC cells on ebay by the 30 or 50 pcs.  put the weak pack on the charger, check total voltage across the lugs. 

open it up, check volts across each cell looking for as close to 1.2v as possible.  most of the time, i find one or two that have zero volts and need to be swapped out.  peel the weld tabs off the tops with needle nose and solder the new cell in.  each time i check for a voltage gain across the whole pack before moving on to be sure i didnt kill that battery. 

my snapon 18v nicad impact lasted 7 years of almost daily use before getting weak.  got a $3 cell and is holding 20vdc and kicking a$$ all over again.  i solder cheap high power LEDs from DX.com into the ryobi flashlights that always break a bulb when dropped and get thrown away.  need aluminum heat sink for the 10W'ers though.