Replacing the 18650 battery in a screwdriver

Li-ion 18650 batteries.

Li-Ion 18650 batteries are the most common lithium battery format today. 18650 batteries got their name on the basis of cell dimensions: 18. battery diameter in mm, 65. battery length in mm. Lithium 18650 batteries are widely used in everyday life, they are installed in powerful LED lights, various power tools (screwdrivers, drills, wrenches, etc.), vapers are used in mech mods, box mods and other vaping devices. Also, lithium-ion 18650 batteries have found wide application in electric scooters, electric bicycles, electric moped and electric cars, which have become widespread in everyday life. If you are an avid fisherman, hunter or just like camping with a stick. you probably need an 18650 flashlight battery. As you can see. 18650 batteries are widely used in everyday life and today almost everyone uses batteries of this type.

Advantages of 18650 lithium batteries:

What are the advantages and why are Li-Ion 18650 batteries so good and what led to such widespread use of cells of this type? Below we list the main features of 18650 batteries, which distinguish them favorably from cells of other types and compositions:

• 

  High capacity and high energy density of 18650 batteries. Batteries of this format with a relatively small size can have a high real capacity of 3400-3600 mAh (for example, 18650 Sanyo NCR18650GA battery with 3500 mAh capacity).

• High current efficiency. li ion 18650 batteries have low internal resistance and high current output, which can reach values ​​up to 50C (where C. is the battery capacity in Ah). for example, Samsung 25R batteries, the current output of which at impulse (short-term) load reaches 100 Amperes. Also, as an example, we can cite the Japanese 18650 Sony VTC5A batteries, which can operate with a continuous load of 35 Amps. Due to their high current output, high-current 18650 batteries are widely used in power tools, electric vehicles and e-bicycles;
• A universal 18650 format.A universal battery size that allows you to produce cells of small dimensions, but with a large capacity. The small size of the 18650 battery makes it possible to assemble various battery assemblies by welding the batteries together. Thanks to this, it became possible to assemble battery assemblies of any capacity, different current output and practically any voltage;
• Low weight of 18650 batteries. Due to the Li-Ion composition, 18650 batteries are lightweight (about 50 grams), which allows making battery assemblies of large capacity and relatively low weight (relative to lead-acid batteries);
• Durability of 18650 batteries. Most cells of this format can withstand up to 600 charge / discharge cycles with virtually no loss of their capacity (LiFePO4 batteries can withstand up to 2000 charge / discharge cycles);
• Lack of memory effect. lithium-ion batteries 18650, unlike Ni-Mh batteries, have practically no memory effect and can be charged at any time at any stage of the discharge. This property of li-ion batteries makes their use much more convenient than batteries with other chemistry;
• Low self-discharge. LiIon 18650 batteries have a very low self-discharge (about 1.5% per month), which allows them to store energy for a long time with practically no losses;
• Fast charging with high currents. charge current for Li-Ion 18650 batteries can reach 4C (C. battery capacity in Ah). In other words, you can charge high capacity 18650 batteries in as little as 1 hour or less.

Varieties of Li-Ion 18650 batteries (ICR, INR, IMR, NCR, NCO, IFR):

Lithium 18650 batteries differ in chemical composition (according to the material from which the cathode of a li-ion battery is made). Depending on what the cathode is made of, lithium-ion batteries 18650 are divided into: ICR, INR, IMR, NCR, NCO, IFR. These elements differ in their composition and properties. Let’s take a look at their main properties:

ICR batteries 18650 (LCO, lithium-cobalt). have a cathode made of cobalt oxides (LiCoO2). The main advantage of ICR 18650 batteries is their low price compared to other subtypes of rechargeable cells. Batteries of this type have a low current output (usually about 1C) and cannot be charged with high currents. Basically, ICR 18650 batteries are used in laptop batteries, low-power flashlights and other similar electronics. Popular models of ICR 18650 batteries are:

INR 18650 batteries (NMC, lithium manganese nickel). the cathode of these batteries is made of nickel, cobalt and manganese (Li (NiCoMn) O2). The addition of manganese and nickel to the battery makes it safe, high-capacity and able to quickly release energy. INR 18650 batteries combine low resistance and safety of manganese and high energy of nickel. These batteries can be used in power tools, electric scooters, drones, vaping. Of the popular 18650 INR models, the following can be distinguished:

IMR 18650 batteries (LMO, lithium manganese). These batteries have a manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) cathode. These batteries are the most high-current among all the 18650 batteries. The presence of manganese in the battery allows it to quickly release its charge without getting too hot. These batteries are much safer than batteries with ICR chemistry. Representatives of 18650 IMR batteries are:

NCR batteries 18650 (NCA, lithium nickel cobalt alumina). batteries of this subtype are the safest lithium 18650 cells. NCR 18650 batteries are similar to INR, but without the high-current properties of manganese. NCR batteries have a lower current output compared to IMR and INR cells, but NCR batteries have a higher capacity and a longer life cycle. In addition, NCR batteries are more resistant to physical stress, which makes them safe battery assemblies for e-bikes and electric vehicles. Most popular NCR 18650 batteries:

NCO batteries 18650 (Lithium Nickel Cobalt Oxide, LiNiCoO2). batteries with such chemistry are quite rare, they have an average capacity and low current output (6-8A). Representatives of NCO 18650 batteries are:

IFR 18650 batteries (LFP, lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4). these batteries outperform other 18650 subtypes in several ways. Lithium iron phosphate 18650 batteries can operate at high currents (up to 40C) while maintaining a high capacity, they are durable. they have a large number of charge / discharge cycles (1000-2000 cycles), and they can also work well at low and negative temperatures. But along with the advantages, 18650 LiFePO4 batteries have several significant disadvantages: low nominal voltage of 3.2V (other Li-Ion batteries have 3.7V), rather high self-discharge compared to other lithium-ion batteries. LiFePO4 18650 representatives:

Separately, in a nutshell, I would like to say about 18650 batteries with and without protection:

Li-Ion 18650 batteries with protection: A special board is installed on the batteries with protection, which controls the charging and discharging process and protects the battery from overcharging, overdischarging and incorrect polarity. The protection board makes the use of 18650 lithium-ion batteries safe in everyday life, the protected batteries can be used at home without fear. Protected 18650 batteries are also called household.

Li-Ion 18650 batteries without protection: there is no protection board on such batteries, you should be careful when using them. Li-Ion 18650 batteries cannot be overcharged, over-discharged and short-circuited without protection. With all of the above symptoms, an unprotected battery can fail or even explode. Unprotected 18650 batteries are also called industrial, because they are mainly used in industry to make battery assemblies for power tools and other appliances.

Screwdriver battery repair. features of the power tool battery

The screwdriver, like most handheld power tools, uses a standard battery design. Several battery cans are placed in a plastic case. They are connected to each other in series by means of spot welding or by means of sliding contacts. The number of batteries may differ based on the output voltage of the instrument.

In complex models of batteries, there are controller boards that monitor the charge level and temperature of the cans. Similar boards can be found in branded products with li ion battery sections.

Repairing a screwdriver battery involves disassembling the device and the power system itself. As a rule, the parsing procedure is quite simple, regardless of the device model. However, they meet with batteries, which can be difficult to disassemble. they require special tools. In any case, this task must be entrusted to specialists who will do everything without risk to the device and in compliance with safety measures for humans.

Screwdriver battery recovery

Most modern models of power tools are equipped with a rechargeable battery, which increases the comfort of their use. The device with a rechargeable battery can be used even in places where it is not possible to connect to an outlet. That is why, in the event of a battery failure, it is extremely important to quickly eliminate the malfunction. This is especially true for the restoration of the battery of a screwdriver and drill.

Screwdriver battery repair. what types are repaired

The following types of batteries are used in power tools:

• Ni-Cd. Used in budget models, work well at low temperatures. At the same time, they are environmentally unsafe. Repair of batteries of this type of screwdriver is often carried out due to low capacity, tendency to self-discharge.
• Li-ion. They are used more often than other types, including in budget-level power tools. They can be recharged at any time, have a large capacity in a compact size. Designed for a huge number of recharge cycles. Restoring a li ion battery in a screwdriver is important in the case when the battery starts to get hot, swells up, and also when its capacity decreases.

Restoring the battery capacity of the screwdriver

The workshop employees carry out the restoration of the battery of power tools of the following brands:

• Bosch;
• Hitachi;
• Dewalt;
• Bison;
• Einhell;
• Makita;
• Metabo.

Contact Batteries if you encounter any battery malfunction. Any problem will be promptly resolved here, while you will be pleased with reasonable and high quality services.

Determine the malfunction of the screwdriver battery

Charge the battery to full level, remove from charge and disassemble to access the cells.
2.With a multimeter we measure the voltage (in DCV mode) of each cell (battery).
3. In good condition, Ni-Cd and Ni-MH give out 1.2-1.4 V, and Li-Ion. 3.6-3.8 V.
4. Collect the battery and discharge it until an obvious slowdown in the rotation of the screwdriver.
5. Disassemble and measure again. a voltage drop to the level of 0.4-0.8 V indicates the wear of such a cell.

Partial replacement of worn-out cells

It will be more economical to replace each cell separately if you have free time. Here you need the skill of spot welding. soldering the cells with an ordinary soldering iron can change their characteristics and spoil!

Complete replacement of the battery with a new one

Can the battery of a screwdriver be restored? 4 methods

You can restore the screwdriver battery on your own. You will save up to 30% on the total cost of your tool if you follow these instructions.

The guide will help restore the autonomy of any models of screwdrivers (18 volts, Makita 12 volts, Makita 14.4, Metabo, Hitachi, iMax B6 and so on) with Ni-Cd (NiCd), Ni-MH and Li-Ion batteries. You should carefully consider the recommendations and clarifications regarding the different designs of the power tool.

What you need to know before you start rebuilding a screwdriver battery?

Most batteries in a power tool have the same design features (series connection of compact cells).
2. It is necessary to pay attention to the type of battery (Ni-Cd, Ni-MH and Li-Ion) and capacity (in mAh).
3. When disassembling the battery pack, observe the polarity (/.) of the connections.
4. “Banks” are protected from overheating by a thermistor with a soldered resistor.
5. It is impossible to restore a Li-Ion battery (how to determine its serviceability, see below).

How to restore a screwdriver battery?

Elimination of the “memory effect”

If, after a full charge, the screwdriver quickly consumes battery power and after a while continues to work a little, then you are faced with the “memory effect” of Ni-Cd or Ni-MH.

To eliminate the “memory effect” in a screwdriver, its calibration (training) will help:
charge up to 100% (with low current as possible);
completely discharge the tool with a low power rotation feed for a long time;
repeat this procedure 3-5 times, and the battery will come back to life.

We continue to disassemble the battery of the Interskol screwdriver

This can be done in several ways. you can unsolder the wires that go to the board.

You can also simply remove the contacts from the top battery cover. The photo shows the shape of the curved contacts, so you can easily remove them yourself.

Under the plastic cover, we see how the batteries are connected to each other. They were spot welded. This solution is used in almost any battery of another tool. This is a safe and gentle battery connection. At the same time, the destructive heating of the lithium batteries themselves is minimal.

Carefully tear off or bite off the metal tape with pliers to disconnect the cans from each other. From the side of the board, they were also connected together with a tape and put on glue on a cardboard gasket. This is done so as not to short-circuit anything on the board. Do not forget to put it back in place when reassembling the battery.

Due to the lack of a spot welding device, new lithium-ion batteries will be soldered very quickly with a well-heated powerful soldering iron. We remember that heating lithium-ion batteries reduces their service life and is generally explosive.

Pay particular attention to the condition of the wires inside the battery. They can be broken or frayed. They need to be qualitatively isolated or replaced with fresh ones. Since I was repairing a screwdriver battery on the road in the field, I had to apply a brilliant invention of the engineering mind. I took out a blue radio technical tape.

How To Convert A Sears Cordless Screwdriver To 18650 Lithium Battery 1

When disassembling the battery of the Interskol DA-10 / 10.8 ER screwdriver, I was pleasantly surprised. a thermal sensor was installed in the budget screwdriver to control the temperature of the batteries. It turns out that when the lithium cans overheat, the protection circuit turns off the power until the temperature returns to normal. True, the owner never managed to drive him into such a regime. We carefully tear off this thermal sensor so as not to break it. then we will place it in the same place on new cans.

Do-it-yourself screwdriver battery repair with battery replacement

Hey! Today we will repair the screwdriver battery. Did you know that the history of the creation of the screwdriver goes back to the deep Middle Ages. already in the 15th century, when the knights put on armor before the battle, and the squires helped them to twist parts of the armor, guess what? Screwdriver!

The USA and Japan were the first to master the production of household and professional cordless drills and screwdrivers. All this happened thanks to the emergence of new energy-intensive batteries of electricity. We will urgently change them inside the Interskol DA-10 / 10.8 ER cordless drill-screwdriver that fell into my hands. The malfunction was as follows. when the button was pressed, the engine simply did not spin, but the LED lit up, though it shone weakly.

Dismantling the battery of the screwdriver

Let’s start repairing the screwdriver battery. We remove the battery from the handle of the screwdriver and unscrew the three self-tapping screws that are located under the sticker below.

After unscrewing the screws, carefully push back the hooks of the latches, as in the photo. And remove the bottom of the plastic battery case.

Inside we see lithium-ion cans of the Chinese company HighStar, model ISR18650-1300 Li-Ion. This means that the batteries have never been changed. Because it is known that Interskol purchases batteries from this company and inserts them into almost all of its cordless tools.

The photo below shows the insides of the screwdriver’s battery in all its glory with cans in the amount of three pieces, which were produced already in 2011. These batteries lasted five years during active use at a construction site. So the result is very decent. Usually they die earlier, probably they were not exploited in cold weather.

To replace the battery cells, you need to disassemble it even more. I advise you to remember the location of the plus, minus and charging contacts so as not to confuse the wires when reassembling.

Pay attention to the voltage control board on the batteries. especially often stabilizers and protective diodes fail on it. It is imperative to ring suspicious radio elements on this board with a multimeter.

VOTO 12 Volt Lithium-ion Battery Cordless Screwdriver. Battery Replacement

We check the voltage at the output of the battery. it turned out 4.4 volts, and it should be 3.7 x 3 = 11.1 volts in the norm and 10.8 volts with the minimum charge of the batteries. In general, the banks are dead. they need to be changed unambiguously.

Solder the batteries

can be done in different ways, for example with thick wires. I decided to solder a torn-off metal strip taken from old cans. First, I tinned the tapes in the places of future contacts on both sides. Then I tinned the battery contacts with a well-heated soldering iron with a drop of solder. But so that they do not get too hot. let them cool down. Then he pressed the tape to the contacts of the cans and soldered the tape again without severe overheating of the battery cans.

The minus leads are the hardest to solder, but with a good flux, things go very quickly. True, then it is better to wash the flux afterwards to clean the insides of the battery.

When assembling, do not forget to replace the cardboard gasket between the banks and the board. This is so that fresh soldering does not short-circuit anything on the board.

This completes the repair and restoration of the lithium-ion battery of the Interskol DA-10 / 10.8 ER screwdriver. Almost all batteries of popular screwdriver manufacturers are repaired in approximately the same way: Bosch, Makita, DeWALT, Metabo, Hitachi, Elitech, Skil and my favorite Bison. This concludes my story about repairing a screwdriver battery. Ask questions in the comments. Better yet, in the corresponding thread on our forum or write to the Solder Master personally by mail.

Best regards, Solder Master. Successful repairs!

Screwdriver battery repair

Replacing an old Ni-Cd screwdriver battery with a Li-Ion cell

It happened in my case as well. The RYOBI CMD-1202 screwdriver was purchased by me on the occasion of repairs in the kitchen and served with faith for 3 years, after which the battery charge was enough to screw in a pair of medium screws. This screwdriver was equipped with two 12 V, 1.7 Ah Ni-Cd rechargeable batteries. The cost of two new batteries turned out to be more than the cost of a new screwdriver of the same class with two batteries included. The latter was purchased for household needs. The old screwdriver went to a well-deserved rest in the closet.

Recently, on the Internet, I came across an article about replacing the nickel-cadmium battery cells of a screwdriver with lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in the 18650 format. Fortunately, the latter have accumulated in a decent amount, mainly from licked laptop batteries. After spending several hours studying the issue, it turned out that there are several options for implementing such a replacement.

Simple daisy chain connection of the required number of 18650 cells and use the native charger. A superficial knowledge of the peculiarities of charging batteries connected in series is sufficient to exclude such an option. Without delving into technical terms, we can say that Li-ion batteries cannot be strongly discharged and recharged, only work within 2.5. 4.2 V guarantees a long and safe battery life. Charging a battery converted in this way with a native charger will quickly disable Li-ion cells, and their destruction as a result of overheating is also possible.

Connection of elements with the addition of additional balancing wires, which are output to a separate socket. Smart chargers such as iMAX B6 and Turnigy Accucel-6 are used for charging. The charging process in this case turns out to be “correct”, however, as in the first case, the discharge of the batteries is not controlled in any way, and their excessive discharge will significantly reduce the battery life. In addition, it becomes necessary to purchase and use a special charger, which is extremely inconvenient in a construction site.

There are also extremely exotic implementations of this idea. Some people build miniature voltmeters into the battery case, according to the readings of which they determine the state of charge. Experienced radio amateurs design and manufacture charge and balancing controllers. These solutions are either difficult to replicate or do not provide adequate control and the required reliability.

Having decided on the terms of reference: using a native charger for charging batteries, no additional connectors and wires, the presence of charge control and balancing of elements, I began to look for implementation options. As always, our Asian friends did not disappoint, they offer many options for charge control modules, both single and connected Li-Ion batteries. At this stage, we need to choose the nominal voltage for our Li-ion battery. Option 3S Li-ion batteries with a voltage range of 12.6. 7.5 V is not suitable for power engineering, since under heavy load there is a strong voltage drop even on a fully charged battery. Rechargeable battery of 4S Li-Ion batteries with a voltage range of 16.8. 10 V will provide the maximum continuous operation, and a slight excess of the operating voltage is not critical. The option suitable for me (bought here) has the following characteristics:

Charge and protection controller BMS 4S for 4 x Li-Ion 18650 batteries
Charging voltage limiting: 4.25 V
Discharge cut-off: 2.5 V
Maximum charging current: 3A
Peak discharge current: 30A
Discharge working current: 15 A
Short circuit protection
Overcharge / overdischarge protection
Overcurrent protection

We proceed directly to the alteration

We disassemble the old battery and remove the Ni-Cd cells, as in most of these batteries, the contact pad is fixed directly on one of the cells, so as not to “farm” with the contacts in the future, we glue them together with this element using hot glue.

We collect 4 elements Samsung ICR18650-26C 2600 mAh in such a way as to provide the most convenient location in the case. We connect the individual elements by soldering the wires; this must be done as quickly as possible so as not to overheat the battery. We connect the resulting battery with the protection board according to the connection diagram.

We install the battery into the case. Battery ready.

The weight of the old batteries with Ni-Cd cells was 560 grams, the new Li-Ion battery “lost” 180 grams. and weighs 380 gr. At the same time, the energy capacity was almost doubled from 20.4 Wh (12V x 1.7 Ah) to 38.48 Wh (14.8 V x 2.6 Ah). A screwdriver converted in this way will serve as a faithful assistant for many more years in our service center.

First charge

The initial stresses on the elements are 3.85. 3.95 V, we charge it with a native charger. To control the current consumption, a multimeter is connected in the current measurement mode between the battery contact and the charge controller in the wire break. The voltage of the storage battery and a separate cell is controlled by two miniature digital voltmeters. Just in case, using an infrared thermometer, we control the temperature of the batteries and transistors on the charge controller board. Charging results are shown in the table and graphs.

After the completion of the charging process, the voltage across the cells is 4.15. 4.17 V, battery voltage in general. 16.63 V. During charging, the battery temperature did not rise above 34.5 ° C, the charge controller board did not heat up at all.