How to charge 3 19650 in serie?

Hi, I have a very old drill



Because the batteries I stop to use it, the batteries dies time ago, I replace them with 3 18650 in serie, now the problem is how to charge it?

I think I cant use the original charger because is for Ni-Cd type.

A hobby charger will charge the pack. You will need some way to make the connection to the pack terminals. Maybe magnets will work.
I suggest you buy a 3s pcb and install it in the pack some how. And figure out some way of using the balancing feature of the hobby charger.
I really would not want to charge the pack without the balancing feature. Balancing plugs can be bought cheaply enough at places like hobbyking or other hobby shops. You will need a 3s plug it should have four wires. There's not going to be a easy solution with this pack besides taking the batteries out and charging them independently. Which will probably take some time to do.

forget it, this drill draws up to 10-15 amps , pcb and cells that can handle such current cost pbly as much as new drill.
don't use cheap cells in there, even good quality 18650 might blow up fom such draw. you need at least imr cells, or better yet a123 cells, and a ballance circuit that can handle current spikes like that

alpg88 said:

forget it, this drill draws up to 10-15 amps , pcb and cells that can handle such current cost pbly as much as new drill.
don't use cheap cells in there, even good quality 18650 might blow up fom such draw.

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I think alpg88 is right. The cost of all the components to make this a safe and reliable pack will cost more than a new battery itself.
It looks like its around 50 bucks for a new battery. You did not post the model so I'am not real sure.
Also from the search i did it looks like you can buy a new drill with battery for about the same price as the battery itself.
If this drill does draw 10-15 amps then go back to the original Ni-CD's or equivlent Ni-CD's. You maybe able to save a little money this way.

Wow, this drill is old... I just find this info:

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/...-Keyless-Chuck-Drill-Driver-Kit/94678/Cat/275

Ofcourse is out of stock... hahhaha

I agree with 007's last statement.
I have had the best luck replacing batteries in my older power tools with the same type bats which on old tools is normally Ni-Cd.
But because of their age the capacity is usually very low like 1ah or maybe 1.2ah and you can buy larger capacity 1.8ah very reasonably to give your favorite old tools new life.
Of course with Ni-Cd's I always cycle them a few times individually to make sure they are in good condition prior to assembling in pack.

On a side note, I don't believe older Ni-Cd tools draw much more than 1C and older cells are rarely more than 1.8Ah capacity.
Hope this is helpful.

Thanks
X/BillyD..

For $25 you can have your battery pack rebuilt. Just Google "Replace nicd with high capacity upgrade" to find a place to do this for you.

X_Marine said:

On a side note, I don't believe older Ni-Cd tools draw much more than 1C and older cells are rarely more than 1.8Ah capacity.

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I can't agree. I have here battery vacuum cleaner and it draws cca 10Amps, batteries are Ni-Cd 1,6Ah. And also I have cordelss drill and it can easily draw 15A...and the cells are Ni-CD 1,2Ah

Changchung said:

Hi, I have a very old drill

Because the batteries I stop to use it, the batteries dies time ago, I replace them with 3 18650 in serie, now the problem is how to charge it?

I think I cant use the original charger because is for Ni-Cd type.

Click to expand...

I have a 12 year old cordless drill and because I only use it now and then it is still in good condition and works well. I have 3 batteries - one had the cells replaced by a local company a couple of years ago and the other 2 have been converted to LiPo cells by me.
I charge the batteries with my hobby charger and I use the balance charging connector that the LiPo packs come with to connect to my hobby charger for a 'balance charge'.

My drill seems to work well and I've had no problems charging my batteries. The LiPo packs are rated for high current but are unprotected - as soon as the power starts dropping off I immediately remove the battery and put it on charge, put another battery in my drill & carry on. I don't want to take the voltage down too low or leave the battery with the cells in a low voltage state for any period of time.

http://www.batteryjunction.com/unsmchforlib.html
Something like this will do, but cell balancing is going to be a constant concern especially dealing with unprotected cells.

Illum said:

http://www.batteryjunction.com/unsmchforlib.html
Something like this will do, but cell balancing is going to be a constant concern especially dealing with unprotected cells.

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Thanks, I will think about it, look fine to me...