Thread: Re-packing Plunge Drill Battery Pack

Looked at the price of individual cells the other day - bloody hell - might be cheaper to buy some spare drills (with their 2 battery packs) just as spares!

Originally Posted by Stuart

Looked at the price of individual cells the other day - bloody hell - might be cheaper to buy some spare drills (with their 2 battery packs) just as spares!

Good luck finding them, as I just found out...they're now a rare species. Mind you, I reckon Stu's right, and it will probably be cheaper.

Just opened up a Plunge Drill battery.

There are 15 "cells" inside. Each is attatched in series to its neighbour, by a strip of metal that is punched to the battery.

I think, given a soldering iron, the replacement batteries and a lot of time, I could possibly re-pack a battery, but decided against it as taking up too much time.

Next step will be to have a look on the net to see if there is a business somewhere that does this type of work.

Does anyone know of a company like this?

Steve

There are plenty in Australia. Perhaps this organisation might be able to provide a source in Japan

http://www.baj.or.jp/e/about/index.html

The cells I was looking at in Jaycar the other day came in 2 versions for each size, one with tabs already soldered on, and one without. There were a lot of sizes I haven't come across before too, so I imagine it wouldn't be hard to source the right size for the job (and the presoldered tabs would make the job much easier!)

My triton respirator could do with new battery packs, nothing available in the UK for this tool and an agent in Holland, the price put me off.

Has anyone done the respirator yet?

No where near as many cells in that, and they are the standard D size. Should be pretty straightforward

Anyone re-packing batteries, should be using the tabbed cells. Soldering directly onto the battery, is not a good idea.

Originally Posted by chrisb691

Anyone re-packing batteries, should be using the tabbed cells. Soldering directly onto the battery, is not a good idea.

Read an article in Silicon Chip a while back, they said that these cells should not be soldered, but spot welded.

I went to Battery World once - never again. They want over $170 for Panasonic short C's which is what it takes and thats without fitting them. Whilst the batteries are probably better quality than the original, the drill just isn't that good to make me want to spend these sorts of dollars for. I do like the click out frame but I also own a bench drill.

Think I'll be buying a Maketa 14V next

Did this couple of months ago for my GMC, using tabbed cells from Jaycar. Basically simple, and drill like a new one. In fact I am only about to charge it for the 3rd time since. Can't remember the cost, but ~ same as a new drill, but performance now better than new. For a more expensive drill it would be a furphy.

Regards