I post for people out there with batteries that won't charge!
I fixed a battery for a drone, for a cordless drill, and a dust buster!
I bought a used drone to toy around with and the guy tried to make it seem like the battery was fine, but it wouldn't charge. I tried charging it all night. Nope. I tried charging it with a different outlet, with a different charger, after having read the manual from cover to cover, and... nope!
So. I googled. I watched you tube videos. I destroyed 3 different charging cables of older technology sitting around the house. I used some random CHEAP tech that I had lying around the house and SUCCESS!
Here's what I did and maybe you can do it too. (disclaimer: do this at your own risk)
- Watched videos that I'll put at the bottom.
- Opened up the cover of the battery to expose some wires (videos told me it was possible without dying).
- Destroyed 3 different charging cables opening them up to see if I could use them to give life to the battery. Got frustrated and moved on.
- Realized that the battery's cables were covered in hot glue so I scraped it off and scraped just enough of the insulation on the wire off to expose actual wire. I will re-glue later.
- Put 4 AA batteries into "AA Battery Spring Clip Black Plastic 4 x 1.5V (6V) Battery Case Holder Box Black Red Wire Leads" I'd link to amazon but worry reddit would destroy this post. I had some of these laying around from a previous project.
- I used a multimeter ($3 at a garage sale) to figure out why the frick nothing was happening and realized that just because the wires are black doesn't mean that the other black wires are "compatible."
- Held the exposed wires from the AA battery pack to the correct exposed wires of the drone battery for 30 seconds. Checked progress with multimeter. There was a higher voltage!
- Repeat #7 a few more times at a few more minutes each.
- It's sitting on the official charger right now, zero problems!
- Decided to try and revive some other stuff
- Grabbed the cordless drill and dust buster.
- Plugged in and unplugged a bunch of times the charger and again SUCCESS!
- Tell my wife then tell reddit because I feel accomplished and saved a bunch of $$ by not having to buy new batteries.
Video #1 DIY: How to revive a dead 18650 (or any) Li-ion battery cell
Video #2 How to revive a dead USB power bank battery pack same guy as #1
Video #3 (because of #6 above) How to quickly determine the polarity of your DC power supply with a multimeter
Video #4 Revive Your Old NiCd Batteries...!
And the guy on video #4 says it. It pays to do your homework!
Money saved by not buying new batteries:
- $32 for drill battery
- $53 drone battery
- $40 dust buster (you just have to buy a new one)
- Total: $125!
Hope this helps someone out there someday!
February 19, 2019 at 10:00PM
