Thread: Triton - plunge drill batteries repacked

Hi LukeJJ,

This is a gem of a post. I've been thinking about pulling another product's battery pack apart, but have hesitated because I know nothing about how battery packs are put together and what is required to charge NiMh.

Are you able to put together a bit more detail please, in a form that would allow a complete novice to have a go. This would really be appreciated.

Have a great Christmas and welcome to the forums,

Interwood

Well done Luke.

I'll second the request from Interwood for a bit more detail though.

Originally Posted by lukejj

Hi,
I was going to buy a new cordless drill as the triton was only holding about 3 minutes worth of charge.
Luke

luuxury... 3 minutes ...I'd be lucky to get 2!

The drill is (was?) very good, used it solidly and especially the plunge mechanism. but now it lives at the back of the shelf under a fine cover of dust. Also very interested to know how to move it to the front of the shelf again.
Fletty

I, too, thank you, Luke, for a very informative post and ask if more details are possible, please?

In a similar vane, I would also like to know how to "repack" the 18V battery.
I have now idea how one goes about building a new charger so I'm assuming that I can rebuild using NiCd batteries as you have done with NiMH batteries and therefore keep using the rather good Triton charger.

At one stage I was considering strapping three smallish 6V Sealed Lead Acid batteries together in order to keep my Triton drill going. I have done a 'strapping' of a 4AmpH SLA 12V to an old Black and Decker drill - not too heavy and works a treat. The drill cost $3.00 at the Recycling Yard and the battery (new) was $24.00 from Radio Parts.

Thankyou in eager anticipation.
TA

The plunge drill was my most used Triton tool. When the battery went, I was lost. I took the expensive way out and took it to Battery World who had it re-packed - cost $140.

The drill now has plenty of grunt. B W assured me that the re-packed battery was a better quality than the original. It certainly holds its charge longer.

While I could have bought a fair quality replacement drill for $140, I NEED that plunge function to give me perpendicular holes.

Am happy with the result.

Geoff

Hi,
The standard battery pack is made up of 15 Nicad sub C batteries. I purchased the 30 Nimh replacements (may have been 40 as I think they came in packes of 20) from a seller (all-battery I think) on Ebay - the American site.
Make sure you get the batteries with tabs - these allow you to connect one end of the battery to the next battery.
You will also need a hot glue gun, this makes it easier to keep the cells in in the correct order for soldering and also so that they will fit back into the battery pack.

I used an 80w soldering iron I bought from Jaycar - it was around $20. You will need a soldering iron that transfers heat quickly so that the cells aren't damaged.

I arranged the cells in the same order as they appeared in the orignal pack - making sure the tabs pointed in the direction of the neigboring cell so that it would be easy to make the connection. The tabs have rubber insulators on them which will prevent them from shorting out. I removed each insulators just before I soldered it to its neighbor - to prevent shorts.

Before soldering, I glued all of the cells together in the correct configuration - make sure the new pack fits into the plastic battery pack before getting the soldering iron out. I found that the Nimh batteries I used where a little larger that the orignals, therefore, I had to remove some of the internal plastic molding - it's not really a bit deal and fairly easy to do.

You will probably need to scratch the top of each of the cells to create an area where a the solder will properly stick to - if you have trouble with the solder not sticking to the cell, do some more scratching. Then you can begin soldering the tabs to the neighboring batteries. Just make sure you are attaching positive to negative - if in doubt use a multimeter to check. The soldering part is fairly quick.

You will also notice an electrical component attached to the last cell. I'm pretty sure this is a thermistor (I couldn't find specifications on it) - used to stop charge to to the battery pack when it gets too hot from charging.

If you are replacing the orignal cells with Nicads reinstall the thermistor with the pack, ortherwise, if you are replacing with Nimh, there is a thermistor built into the charging kit from Jaycar.

The last cell added is the one that sits on top and has the connector attached to it. Once the pack is complete, use a multimeter to check that the voltage is up around 18v - it could be as low as 16v if the cells have little charge in them.

If you are replacing the batteries with Nimh, you'll need to make a new charger or find another cordless drill charger that charges NiMh. I made this charger which is available from Jaycar for about $40.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=
It's not a particularly difficult kit to build - getting the right power source may be an issue. The document that comes with the kit suggests a 27v power source to charge an 18v battery pack.

The good thing about the Jaycar kit is that it is designed to charge the batteries correctly without over charging. It has a thermistor that will cut the charging when the temperature of the battery pack reaches a certain limit. It also does trickle and top-up charging. I installed the thermistor inside each of the battery packs. I attached them to the outside of one of the cells using a bit of sticky tape. I then drilled a small hole in the battery pack and installed a 3.5mm audio jack to which I attached the thermistor. This then allows me to easily attach the charger to the thermistor (via a 3.5mm audio plug) each time I charge so that I can monitor the temperature.

So far, all of this has worked well, the drill has lots of power - I'd forgotten how well it once worked...

If the task of building the charger etc is too daunting or you simply don't want to spend that much time or money, just replace the cells with Nicads - these are cheap, work well and you don't need to change chargers etc.

I hope this helps,
Luke

Originally Posted by lukejj

Hi,
The standard battery pack is made up of 15 Nicad sub C batteries. I purchased the 30 Nimh replacements (may have been 40 as I think they came in packes of 20) from a seller (all-battery I think) on Ebay - the American site.
Make sure you get the batteries with tabs - these allow you to connect one end of the battery to the next battery.
You will also need a hot glue gun, this makes it easier to keep the cells in in the correct order for soldering and also so that they will fit back into the battery pack.

I used an 80w soldering iron I bought from Jaycar - it was around $20. You will need a soldering iron that transfers heat quickly so that the cells aren't damaged.

I arranged the cells in the same order as they appeared in the orignal pack - making sure the tabs pointed in the direction of the neigboring cell so that it would be easy to make the connection. The tabs have rubber insulators on them which will prevent them from shorting out. I removed each insulators just before I soldered it to its neighbor - to prevent shorts.

Before soldering, I glued all of the cells together in the correct configuration - make sure the new pack fits into the plastic battery pack before getting the soldering iron out. I found that the Nimh batteries I used where a little larger that the orignals, therefore, I had to remove some of the internal plastic molding - it's not really a bit deal and fairly easy to do.

You will probably need to scratch the top of each of the cells to create an area where a the solder will properly stick to - if you have trouble with the solder not sticking to the cell, do some more scratching. Then you can begin soldering the tabs to the neighboring batteries. Just make sure you are attaching positive to negative - if in doubt use a multimeter to check. The soldering part is fairly quick.

You will also notice an electrical component attached to the last cell. I'm pretty sure this is a thermistor (I couldn't find specifications on it) - used to stop charge to to the battery pack when it gets too hot from charging.

If you are replacing the orignal cells with Nicads reinstall the thermistor with the pack, ortherwise, if you are replacing with Nimh, there is a thermistor built into the charging kit from Jaycar.

The last cell added is the one that sits on top and has the connector attached to it. Once the pack is complete, use a multimeter to check that the voltage is up around 18v - it could be as low as 16v if the cells have little charge in them.

If you are replacing the batteries with Nimh, you'll need to make a new charger or find another cordless drill charger that charges NiMh. I made this charger which is available from Jaycar for about $40.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=
It's not a particularly difficult kit to build - getting the right power source may be an issue. The document that comes with the kit suggests a 27v power source to charge an 18v battery pack.

The good thing about the Jaycar kit is that it is designed to charge the batteries correctly without over charging. It has a thermistor that will cut the charging when the temperature of the battery pack reaches a certain limit. It also does trickle and top-up charging. I installed the thermistor inside each of the battery packs. I attached them to the outside of one of the cells using a bit of sticky tape. I then drilled a small hole in the battery pack and installed a 3.5mm audio jack to which I attached the thermistor. This then allows me to easily attach the charger to the thermistor (via a 3.5mm audio plug) each time I charge so that I can monitor the temperature.

So far, all of this has worked well, the drill has lots of power - I'd forgotten how well it once worked...

If the task of building the charger etc is too daunting or you simply don't want to spend that much time or money, just replace the cells with Nicads - these are cheap, work well and you don't need to change chargers etc.

I hope this helps,
Luke

************
G'Day Luke,
I realise this thread is quite old,
but I was wondering if I might follow-up
on the "Repacking of the Triton 18V Batteries"
with NiMh batteries and the making of the charger to do the charging.
I have an old Triton 18v Plunger Drill that's been sitting for a few years,
and wondering how much hassle it'd be to do the above.
Thank you.
Cheers, Crowie

crowie,
Instead of a DYI battery repacking , you might want to consider Akkupak in Dural...not far from you. I needed my Metabo battery pack done (the last time I purchased a new one at my local supplier it cost $125), so I sourced out Akkupak.

I posted my non working 9.6v 1.4 Ah in a 3kg postbag .....postage $10.70 I recieved it back a couple of weeks later repacked with new 2.4Ah batteries
and they paid the return postage.

Total Cost $67.70....................... $57.00 for the repacking and the $10.70 postage

They do just about all brands ..will have to check their website for the cost ....probably about $115

Works perfectly and no effort on my part.

They used NiCad batteries so I didn't need a new charger

Cheers
Scott

Hi Guys
This is an interesting post BUT I was wondering if this could be done with Lithium-ion batteries as they last olnger and don't tend to loose charge if left for a long time unused.
Thinking caps on All you electrical buffs!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by greybeard

Hi Guys
This is an interesting post BUT I was wondering if this could be done with Lithium-ion batteries as they last olnger and don't tend to loose charge if left for a long time unused.
Thinking caps on All you electrical buffs!!!!!!!!!

There are a couple of problems with swapping to lithium.
Firstly you need a different charger. This can significantly add to the cost.
Secondly if you run a lithium battery flat it may never recover. To stop this happening tools that are designed to use lithium battery packs have a low voltage cut out switch. Once the voltage of the battery drops to a certain level the tool just shuts of. Thus leaving some charge in the battery and allowing it to recharge without issue.
(My impact driver does this all the time. There is no slow down before stopping. It goes flat out then stops dead when it needs to be charged.)

Gents,
I was only thinking of replacing with NiMh batteries,
but even then I'll need to upgrade the battery charger from original.
Cheers, crowie

PS - I've sent a P&A enquiry email to the Akkupak people...

G'Day All,
I got a reply from AKKUPAK as below; bit expensive.
Back to the drawing board.
Cheers, Crowie
===========================================================
The cost for repacking a Triton 18v battery with Ni-MH 3.0AH battery cells is $155.00.
With Ni-Cd 2.0AH cells the cost is $95.00.
Unfortunately we cannot supply a charger.
Thank you for contacting AKKUPAK
===========================================================

I've done some further research on the Triton 18v Drill Battery Repack and come up with another option.

In another "thread" on a similar issue someone put up a post on a website shop called "Coolcar Spare Parts" were I had in the past purchased replacement batteries for my Hitachi 14v Drill [they've been very good].

Anyways, after some searching through some old paperwork I found the contact details for the bloke from "Coolcar Spare Parts" and sent him an email asking after Charger plus replacement Triton Batteries options.

Long story short; the original Triton charger is suitable for the Ni-Mh batteries with his offer as follows:

Many thanks for your help. That’s good enough.
Yes, your charger is a 3 stages smart charger, will accept both Ni-Cd and Ni-MH battery.
You can rebuild your battery with Ni-MH cells and keep using this charger.
What I recommend is you can just send the battery to me, I’ll do the repacking for you.
The price for 1X 18V 2.0Ah Ni-Cd rebuilding is 45+10=$55, price include postage.
The price for 2X 18V 2.0Ah Ni-Cd rebuilding is 2X45+10=$100, price include postage.
The price for 1X 18V 3.0Ah Ni-Mh rebuilding is 60+10=$70, price include postage.
The price for 2X 18V 3.0Ah Ni-Mh rebuilding is 2X60+10=$130, price include postage
My address is

11 Christine Court, Kellyville，NSW, 2155, Australia

Please use register post.

Best regards, Hanson
----------------------------------
Coolcar Spare Parts
ABN 44 217 047 309
11 Christine Court, Kellyville，NSW, 2155, Australia
Email：[email protected]
************************************************
I'll be posting my batteries to him next week.
I hope this helps other blokes with older Triton 18v Drills who's batteries are either dead or on the way out.
Cheers, crowie