Recelling services

[Huge]

I've been meaning to get my Hitachi battery drill re-celled for months, and now my apathy has bitten me, because our post box (which lives at the end of a 1/4 mile drive) needed running repairs, which I have done, and it just occured to me (d'uh!) that I have no way to drill the new holes required to fasten it back to its post (no, I can't reuse the old ones).

So, shall I get it re-celled, in which case, where? Or bite the bullet and buy a Makita?

(No, ICBA to do it myself. I took one of the battery packs to pieces, thought "nope" and put it back together again.)

[Brian Gaff]

So, what was inside then? Brian

[Andy Burns]

Usually tagged sub-C cells.

[Bob Minchin]

Has your google stopped working Huge? lol

Loads of results if you enter "recell battery"

I've always DIY so can't recommend one over the other.

Bob

[Scott M]

Logically, you can't get it recelled because the postman will have nowhere to deliver the repaired battery to.......

(IMO, I'd probably buy a new drill (like a shot if one could get one with the same battery connector but I doubt they "allow" that) as for the cost of re-celling the 3 NiCds that came with my Makita drill & impact driver set I could just buy a new set the next time an offer comes round at Screwfix.)

[Huge]

Umm, no.

And which one's the best? No way of knowing without personal recommendation.

[Biggles]

Where do you buy the cells? I've got a few batteries to re-cell so could do with finding a source of good ones at a reasonable price. Do you solder the tags or spot weld?

[John Rumm]

I have always found that is the show stopper - quite often the price of reasonable cells is more than that of a new battery.

the existing ones will be spot welded, but I am sure solder is adequate although a little slower.

[John Miller]

A couple of years ago I used

to recell my Bosch nimh battery. Got the capacity uprated at the same time and was well pleased with the service and results

John M

[Huge]

[snippage]

Thank you.

[John Rumm]

I think I looked at them for getting some 18V 2.6Ah packs done... in the end I bought three new ones for slightly less than the cost of recelling them.

[Huge]

Well, I've spent Gawd knows how much time looking at this this morning and I can buy a new no-name battery pack on eBay for less than the cost of the batteries to recell it myself, much less have someone else do it. So, I've ordered one of those. A bonus is it's 2Ah rather than the 1.5Ah of the original. If that proves to be pants, I'll buy the cells and have a go at it myself, and if not, I'll buy another no-name pack.

One pain of getting it recelled is that the Royal Mail and the first 2 or

3 courier firms I selected won't carry batteries. Who knows how the eBay vendor and cell companies get the new ones to you!

[Bob Minchin]

Buy tagged ones as trying to solder ones designed for spot welding generally needs aggressive fluxes and high temperatures which could easily cause damage to cells. Wire up with flat copper braid for better current carrying capacity for a given volume.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The holy grail...

The only way you'll get a good deal on them is by buying perhaps a million from the manufacturer. Same as the tool makers do.

Soldering is a sure way of damaging the cells.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I had one of my Wicks drill batteries done by them last year. (I like the drill as it includes a removable right angle drive)

It was a reasonable price (IIRC about 35 quid) and works ok - but doesn't last as long as the existing second original - which must be getting on for 10 years old.

[Biggles]

Have you found a supplier of "good" cells?

[John Rumm]

I tried one of the no name 3Ah ones from ebay. It was not pants in the sense that performance was actually ok. The thing that let it down was lifetime, which was probably only a third of that from the OEM packs.

[John Rumm]

Yup sorry, I did mean using tagged ones - I would not try soldering non tagged.

[dennis]

They look expensive.. I wanted some done for a ryobi one+. In the end I bought a B&Q special offer and got two li-ion batts + a drill and a charger for about £20 less than they wanted to re-cell my two nicads.

[Andy Burns]

The "no batteries alone" rule is relatively new, the bottom-end of the food chain seems to get round this is by throwing a free LED into the box and describing the shipment as a "torch including battery".