Milwaukee 18-volt battery pack

[rebelbayou]

Hi,

I had a friend give me his old battery pack from his 18 volt Milwaukee impact driver. I took the screws out and split the case and there are 5 grayish-colored 18650s'. I have acquired several 18650s' from laptop battery packs and use them all the time. But these say IMR-18650E and are made in Canada. They also have "Moli" printed on the side of them. Could this be the same "IMR 18650s'" that I see people talking about on this site? Also, they are sitting in the case and are all connected with what looks like heavy duty aluminum tabs on each end. All the laptop batteries I have extracted were just connected with small wires and thin tabs that I could just pull apart. I can't pull these apart and it looks like they may have to be cut with a dremel, which I have. Can anyone offer any advice on what kind of 18650s' these are and how should I go about seperating them? Thanks in advance.

Rebel

 

[Starlight]

They are emoli type 18650 batteries. They are a high current version, similar to the IMR batteries sold by AW. They are slightly lower capacity than the 18650 that are used in laptop batteries, but are designed for outputting many more amps. They will work fine in any light you have that uses 18650. The metal tabs are welded in place in very small spots. Cut the tab between batteries with snips to seperate them. The tabs can then be removed by holding the end of the strip with needle nosed pliers and rolling the tab around the pliers. You will probably still have some small bits of metal left on the battery. I have tapped them down with a small hammer and I have ground them off with a grinder, depending on where I intended to use the batteries.

 

[syncytial]

Molicel operates in Canada and Taiwan.

You'll find the data sheet for that cell under the power cells link on the website.

Quick specs:

1400 mAh nominal (min. 1350 mAh)
charge current <= 6.5 A
discharge current (max.) 20 A
cutoff voltage 2.5 V
charge voltage 4.20 +/- 0.05 V
unprotected (external protection required in pack use)


- Syncytial.

 

[rebelbayou]

Thanks for the info guys! I'm fixing to get out the dremel and "carefully" cut through the tabs on the ends, check the voltage with my DMM and hopefully put them on the charger if they are 3.6 volts or above. Thanks again!

Rebel

 

[BigusLightus]

Interesting. Last week I ripped apart a Milwaukee V18 battery pack and found five Emoli 26700's inside.

 

[rebelbayou]

Hey folks,

One more question. What is the lowest voltage reading on a single cell that I should try to charge? I have read on various posts from 2.67-3.6. I know that they shouldn't be discharged below 3.6 and not above 4.2, but I'm not sure about these "emoli" cells. 2 of the cells are reading 4.06, 1 is at 2.84 and the other 2 are 3.42. The charger that I have is a simple 2-cell direct plug in the wall. I always charge only 1 battery at a time and take them off at about 4.17 or 4.20. The green light does come on at about 4.25 and the charger shuts down, but I always monitor the battery on charge with my DMM about every 30 minutes, just to be as safe as possible. Thanks in advance for answering my question.

Rebel

 

[Mettee]

charge um you will be fine, are you using the "ultrafire" dual bay?

I should add I have been given several of these packs in various condition. Everytime the cells seem to just be out of balance, and the Milwakee charger doesnt like it so it gives a "bad" light. But I have taken apart 5 or so of these 18650 packs and I have found exactly what you are seeing here. All my cells are still in use today.

 

[Starlight]

There is no difference in charging and discharging voltages between regular Li-on and emoli cells. Whatever you use for one, use for the other. The difference in the cells is current, not voltage.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Couple of older reference threads with tool pack photos:

• Safe Lithium A123 & Emoli 18650 sizes

• Lithium 18650 Safe Chemistry Performance Shootout @ 5, 10, 15 Amps

• Lithium Ion Categories

 

[rebelbayou]

Thank you all for the great info, especially you, LL for the links. They told me, and showed me with detailed pics, exactly what I needed to know. You have an uncanny ability to direct people to links that explains everything thoroughly. I charged 4 of the batteries to 4.15 volts and they work fine in my flashlights. Just waiting on my ROP bulbs to come in so I can build my second 2C ROP. Love those ROPs'!

 

[ssvqwnp]

Just wanted to say thanks to all involved in this thread, this was exactly the information I was looking for after dissassembling a 12V Milwaukee pack earlier today. Keep up the good work CPFers! :twothumbs

 

[ryguy24000]

Interesting. Last week I ripped apart a Milwaukee V18 battery pack and found five Emoli 26700's inside.

Milwaukee has two types of 18v battery packs. one has 18650 the other uses 26700.