My ni-cad batteries once again flat when I tried to use them – can I upgrade battery packs rather than buy a whole new drill? (Bosch PRS 18)

Ta

Be cheaper to buy a new drill would be my guess.
The battery will need a clever charger as well so go take a gander at Screwfix.
Tim

lithium batteries need a different charger so, generally, they’re deliberately a different shape to prevent them being used with the wrong one. I think Dewalt were the only ones to do a dual charger and make li-ion batteries that could be used with older tools but I think they’ve dropped that idea now

You could buy replacement battery packs rather than upgrade or a whole new drill.

You won’t get a single li-ion battery for less than the price of a whole new Bosch PRS 18, there are Ni-Cad and Ni-MH batteries available for them aftermarket but their only £10 – 15 cheaper than a new drill and two batteries.

Thought as much.

Arse.

Annoying, isn’t it.

I’ve got a bunch of B&D Versapak tools, all great, but the batteries are dying / dead and replacements are silly money on eBay. Replacing the lot will cost me a fortune and there’s nowt wrong with them.

B+Q currently selling the Black and Decker 18v lithium for 45 quid. Only one battery but i couldnt resist it

Oi dutch – you sure that was Lithium? I saw a Ni-cad one for that sort of money with two batteries early today but not a Lithium one. If so I’m off to B&Q again as that’s stupid cheep.

Unless you get paid to use tools then having as single battery isn’t much of a handicap. With older batteries you needed to fully charge them each time to prevent the batteries from failing prematurely. The benefit of li-ion is the battery charges very quickly but they can also be part charged without harming them. They take a large percentage of their charge pretty quickly – my charger has a light to indicate 80% full which it reaches in 10 – 15mins, so a flat battery is only a tea and biscuit break away from being useful again.

My brother upgraded to lipo batteries for his Ryobi kit, and though it’s great for some stuff, it’s made the drills horrible to use- they’re balanced for the heavy battery, take it away and they’re really awkward.

Personally I wouldn’t throw money at green bosch.

There is meant to be a method of recovering ni-cads, it involves connecting across a car battery to break the whiskers that grow between the cells. Try googling for the method (ebay sellers also sell these instructions for a couple of quid).

I haven’t tried it, and it sounds like a risky strategy to me (definitely one to do outside with a lot of space around you), but it is meant to work.

I have 2 Bosch batteries that I need to recover, but as they are 14.4V, it means connecting 2 car batteries up which is both a pain in the butt, and twice the firepower, hence I haven’t done it yet….

Or spend £20-£30 on 2nd hand ebay ones.

B+Q currently selling the Black and Decker 18v lithium for 45 quid. Only one battery but i couldnt resist it

I got mine for £60 a few months back. was well chuffed at that price!

There is meant to be a method of recovering ni-cads…

I’ve not heard of that one, but methods I’ve tried successfully with ebike batteries are discharging quickly and recharging quickly several times, and also putting the battery in the freezer for 48 hours.

Some things that happen to batteries are reversible, but once the membranes start to break down there’s nothing you can do.

There is meant to be a method of recovering ni-cads, it involves connecting across a car battery to break the whiskers that grow between the cells.

Yep, I know people who have used it successfully.

There’s plenty of YouTube footage for sorting dead Ni batteries out.

You can open the batteries and replace/re-solder in some new cells, and cheaply.

You may try out batteryfix, the guy replaced the batteries in my 9-year old B&Q drill, and they have lasted well for the last 2 years, and are miles better than those that came with the drill.

I have no connection to them other than having used them in the past, I think he charged around £40 for replacing one pack with Lithium-ion cells, and reconditioning the other pack as a backup.

Sven

tbh I usually try to replace drills like-for-like and while the old batteries are dead, at least I’ve now 2 drills 🙂