 |
Matronics Email Lists
Web Forum Interface to the Matronics Email Lists
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
lcottrell
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 1494
Location: Jordan Valley, Or
|
 Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:03 am Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
 |
|
I imagine most of you, like me use a battery powered screw gun to do a lot of your repairs on your Kolbs. One of the problems of course is that the batteries soon will not take a charge. If you use one of the major brands then finding a battery is not a problem, just the cost of new ones is the only problem.
I have a Makita and am on my second set of batteries. The last two that I bought cost $39.00 I was using it yesterday and the charge ran down to worthless, so I stuck it on the charger. I have two chargers, but the battery kept tripping the fault button. I had managed to charge it the last time by standing there and restarting it when it clicked off. A real pain and the nearest replacement was 130 miles away, so I resorted to a tip that I picked up off the internet. It is just using a wire feed to knock the shorted nicads back to life. The wire feed of course has amperage controlled by the wire speed. The higher the wire speed the higher the amperage. Voltage is adjusted by the other adjustment. The idea is to have three times the voltage,- 27 volts for a 9 volt battery, with no amperage. Set your wire speed to zero. I clamped a screw into my ground clamp, and held it on the minus side of the battery while tapping the wire sticking out of the gun to the positive side. You should tap or make contact 10 to 15 times. This will allow the battery to return to useful status in no time at all. After that treatment my battery was able to receive a charge and I could complete my work.
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
--
If you forward this email, or any part of it, please remove my email address before sending.
[quote][b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
_________________
do not archive |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
byoungplumbing(at)gmail.c
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 12:39 pm Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
|
|
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
I have seen the fallout after a NiCad exploded... a 2 x 4 inch hole in the ceiling sheetrock where the rest of the battery pack landed. and bits and pieces of the exploded cell everywhere, bits of battery case imbedded in the wall,,,, don't think I would have enjoyed the fireworks in person. a friend left his battery connected to a 15 min charger and forgot it,,, an 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours is all it took for the battery pack to turn its self into an "auto reminder"
another method that works is to take a very large capacitor, charge it up to 50 volts or there about, dc, and jump + to + and - to - it does the same thing but you don't need a wire feed welder.
what I have been told,,,, there are fine whiskers that grow from plate to plate and short out the cell.... the high voltage/ current. burns out the wicker, like burning out a fuse,,,, but the down side,,, there more whiskers that are almost all the way to making the full bridge, these are not burnt out. so you will have to repeat it over and over at increasing frequency till you give out. or the cell dries up on the inside and wont take a charge anyway.
boyd young
do not archive
[quote][b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
phactor9
Joined: 16 Jun 2011
Posts: 78
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 2:27 pm Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
|
|
I have three Dewalt 12v cordless packs. I took each apart and zapped each cell individually with an old UPC 12v gel cell - pos to pos and neg to neg. I barely touched about 20 times, but held the connection for half-a-second on three or four of those "touches".
I just recharged two of the packs (the third is still in the charger) and they seem to have new powerful life - the drill now spins up fast and sweet.
I could have sworn I heard a POP on some of the first touches of some of the cells... rather like something inside the cell was being "vaporized". I would like to imagine that was an indication the crystalline threads that cause NiCds to "wear out" were being fried.
Nice tip, guys. Thx.
Phil H.
--- On Thu, 8/30/12, b young <byoungplumbing(at)gmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: |
From: b young <byoungplumbing(at)gmail.com>
Subject: Re: a helpful tip for tools
To: kolb-list(at)matronics.com
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 4:35 PM
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
I have seen the fallout after a NiCad exploded... a 2 x 4 inch hole in the ceiling sheetrock where the rest of the battery pack landed. and bits and pieces of the exploded cell everywhere, bits of battery case imbedded in the wall,,,, don't think I would have enjoyed the fireworks in person. a friend left his battery connected to a 15 min charger and forgot it,,, an 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours is all it took for the battery pack to turn its self into an "auto reminder"
another method that works is to take a very large capacitor, charge it up to 50 volts or there about, dc, and jump + to + and - to - it does the same thing but you don't need a wire feed welder.
what I have been told,,,, there are fine whiskers that grow from plate to plate and short out the cell.... the high voltage/ current. burns out the wicker, like burning out a fuse,,,, but the down side,,, there more whiskers that are almost all the way to making the full bridge, these are not burnt out. so you will have to repeat it over and over at increasing frequency till you give out. or the cell dries up on the inside and wont take a charge anyway.
boyd young
|
[quote][b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ceengland7(at)gmail.com
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 3:19 pm Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
|
|
If you're handy with a soldering iron & you can get the pack open, you can buy inexpensive nickel-metal-hydride (Ni-MH) cells & replace the nicads in the pack. Same current capacity will be a lot smaller, or you can go up a bit in capacity & still fit them in the pack. Just use the same number of cells that were in the original pack.
On 08/30/2012 05:24 PM, Phil wrote: [quote] I have three Dewalt 12v cordless packs. I took each apart and zapped each cell individually with an old UPC 12v gel cell - pos to pos and neg to neg. I barely touched about 20 times, but held the connection for half-a-second on three or four of those "touches".
I just recharged two of the packs (the third is still in the charger) and they seem to have new powerful life - the drill now spins up fast and sweet.
I could have sworn I heard a POP on some of the first touches of some of the cells... rather like something inside the cell was being "vaporized". I would like to imagine that was an indication the crystalline threads that cause NiCds to "wear out" were being fried.
Nice tip, guys. Thx.
Phil H.
--- On Thu, 8/30/12, b young <byoungplumbing(at)gmail.com> (byoungplumbing(at)gmail.com) wrote:
| Quote: |
From: b young <byoungplumbing(at)gmail.com> (byoungplumbing(at)gmail.com)
Subject: Re: a helpful tip for tools
To: kolb-list(at)matronics.com (kolb-list(at)matronics.com)
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2012, 4:35 PM
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I have seen the fallout after a NiCad exploded... a 2 x 4 inch hole in the ceiling sheetrock where the rest of the battery pack landed. and bits and pieces of the exploded cell everywhere, bits of battery case imbedded in the wall,,,, don't think I would have enjoyed the fireworks in person. a friend left his battery connected to a 15 min charger and forgot it,,, an 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours is all it took for the battery pack to turn its self into an "auto reminder"
another method that works is to take a very large capacitor, charge it up to 50 volts or there about, dc, and jump + to + and - to - it does the same thing but you don't need a wire feed welder.
what I have been told,,,, there are fine whiskers that grow from plate to plate and short out the cell.... the high voltage/ current. burns out the wicker, like burning out a fuse,,,, but the down side,,, there more whiskers that are almost all the way to making the full bridge, these are not burnt out. so you will have to repeat it over and over at increasing frequency till you give out. or the cell dries up on the inside and wont take a charge anyway.
boyd young
|
[b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
neilsenrm(at)gmail.com
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:21 pm Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
|
|
Larry /all
I used to have a Dwalt drill. Paid big bucks for the drill with two batteries. It was a good outfit but eventually the batteries died and were expensive to replace. Currently I buy Harbor Freight drills they have them on sale from time to time for $16. They aren't super quality so no big deal when they die. In fact I keep two drills in Florida and in Michigan. When I work on a project I take both drills. Normally I chuck a drill bit in one and a screw driver bit in the other. I was just in one of their stores to day and they had replacement batteries for $15 so for another $1 I get another drill and charger. I'm currently in Michigan and have three of their drills. The oldest drill is 4-5 years old and is about dead.
Oh yeah I haven't flown my VW Powered Kolb since my flight to Durand. Been busy selling our Grand Ledge MI home. Closed today.
Please do not archive.
Rick Neilsen
On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Larry Cottrell <lcottrell1020(at)gmail.com (lcottrell1020(at)gmail.com)> wrote:
[quote]I imagine most of you, like me use a battery powered screw gun to do a lot of your repairs on your Kolbs. One of the problems of course is that the batteries soon will not take a charge. If you use one of the major brands then finding a battery is not a problem, just the cost of new ones is the only problem.
I have a Makita and am on my second set of batteries. The last two that I bought cost $39.00 I was using it yesterday and the charge ran down to worthless, so I stuck it on the charger. I have two chargers, but the battery kept tripping the fault button. I had managed to charge it the last time by standing there and restarting it when it clicked off. A real pain and the nearest replacement was 130 miles away, so I resorted to a tip that I picked up off the internet. It is just using a wire feed to knock the shorted nicads back to life. The wire feed of course has amperage controlled by the wire speed. The higher the wire speed the higher the amperage. Voltage is adjusted by the other adjustment. The idea is to have three times the voltage,- 27 volts for a 9 volt battery, with no amperage. Set your wire speed to zero. I clamped a screw into my ground clamp, and held it on the minus side of the battery while tapping the wire sticking out of the gun to the positive side. You should tap or make contact 10 to 15 times. This will allow the battery to return to useful status in no time at all. After that treatment my battery was able to receive a charge and I could complete my work.
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
--
If you forward this email, or any part of it, please remove my email address before sending.
| Quote: |
get="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List
tp://forums.matronics.com
_blank">http://www.matronics.com/contribution
|
[b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
rickofudall
Joined: 19 Sep 2009
Posts: 1392
Location: Udall, KS, USA
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:45 pm Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
|
|
Guys, Two things. One, Interstate Battery stores can do the replacement batteries for you if you don't feel confident about doing it yourself. Two, Christmas is coming, Makita's new 18 volt drills with LiPo batteries are absolutely amazing. I've had mine for a couple of years now and I couldn't be happier with it. Charges last a long time and recharging takes less than 15 minutes. I've done projects where I drilled a lot of pilot holes and drove a lot of screws. I was never left waiting on a recharge. Pricey, but far better than Ni-cad or NMh.
Rick Girard
do not archive
On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 1:01 PM, Larry Cottrell <lcottrell1020(at)gmail.com (lcottrell1020(at)gmail.com)> wrote:
| Quote: | I imagine most of you, like me use a battery powered screw gun to do a lot of your repairs on your Kolbs. One of the problems of course is that the batteries soon will not take a charge. If you use one of the major brands then finding a battery is not a problem, just the cost of new ones is the only problem.
I have a Makita and am on my second set of batteries. The last two that I bought cost $39.00 I was using it yesterday and the charge ran down to worthless, so I stuck it on the charger. I have two chargers, but the battery kept tripping the fault button. I had managed to charge it the last time by standing there and restarting it when it clicked off. A real pain and the nearest replacement was 130 miles away, so I resorted to a tip that I picked up off the internet. It is just using a wire feed to knock the shorted nicads back to life. The wire feed of course has amperage controlled by the wire speed. The higher the wire speed the higher the amperage. Voltage is adjusted by the other adjustment. The idea is to have three times the voltage,- 27 volts for a 9 volt battery, with no amperage. Set your wire speed to zero. I clamped a screw into my ground clamp, and held it on the minus side of the battery while tapping the wire sticking out of the gun to the positive side. You should tap or make contact 10 to 15 times. This will allow the battery to return to useful status in no time at all. After that treatment my battery was able to receive a charge and I could complete my work.
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
--
If you forward this email, or any part of it, please remove my email address before sending.
| Quote: |
get="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List
tp://forums.matronics.com
_blank">http://www.matronics.com/contribution
|
|
--
Zulu Delta
Mk IIIC
Thanks, Homer GBYM
It isn't necessary to have relatives in Kansas City in order to be unhappy.
- Groucho Marx
[quote][b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
_________________
The smallest miracle right in front of you is enough to make you happy.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ulflyer(at)verizon.net
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:09 am Post subject: a helpful tip for tools |
|
|
My experience with a Mikita I bought about 20 years ago, the batteries lasted 10 years but really didn't have the power to drive 3" deck screws in 2x4"s - can't say what they will today. I found that my batteries lasted a long time. Problem cost of replacement batteries I could buy a whole new more powerful unit for same cost. I upgraded to a Dewalt.
Driving power of most battery power drivers have improved since then. Throwing together 2x4's for benches and shelves (in support of building airplanes) my current Dewalt will drive 3" deck screws without a problem but using my friends current Dewalt product it would drive them and just keep going. Better than mine, I was impressed. I am not pro Dewalt but I can't complain based upon recent experience with them.
Watch Lowe's weekly ads, they recently have had some very attractive prices on Dewalt battery powered products and sets.
jerryb
At 12:43 AM 8/31/2012, you wrote:
[quote]Guys, Two things. One, Interstate Battery stores can do the replacement batteries for you if you don't feel confident about doing it yourself. Two, Christmas is coming, Makita's new 18 volt drills with LiPo batteries are absolutely amazing. I've had mine for a couple of years now and I couldn't be happier with it. Charges last a long time and recharging takes less than 15 minutes. I've done projects where I drilled a lot of pilot holes and drove a lot of screws. I was never left waiting on a recharge. Pricey, but far better than Ni-cad or NMh.
Rick Girard
do not archive
On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 1:01 PM, Larry Cottrell <lcottrell1020(at)gmail.com (lcottrell1020(at)gmail.com) > wrote:
I imagine most of you, like me use a battery powered screw gun to do a lot of your repairs on your Kolbs. One of the problems of course is that the batteries soon will not take a charge. If you use one of the major brands then finding a battery is not a problem, just the cost of new ones is the only problem.
I have a Makita and am on my second set of batteries. The last two that I bought cost $39.00 I was using it yesterday and the charge ran down to worthless, so I stuck it on the charger. I have two chargers, but the battery kept tripping the fault button. I had managed to charge it the last time by standing there and restarting it when it clicked off. A real pain and the nearest replacement was 130 miles away, so I resorted to a tip that I picked up off the internet. It is just using a wire feed to knock the shorted nicads back to life. The wire feed of course has amperage controlled by the wire speed. The higher the wire speed the higher the amperage. Voltage is adjusted by the other adjustment. The idea is to have three times the voltage,- 27 volts for a 9 volt battery, with no amperage. Set your wire speed to zero. I clamped a screw into my ground clamp, and held it on the minus side of the battery while tapping the wire sticking out of the gun to the positive side. You should tap or make contact 10 to 15 times. This will allow the battery to return to useful status in no time at all. After that treatment my battery was able to receive a charge and I could complete my work.
The theory is that the nicads build up inside and short out. The increased voltage burns these contact points off and return the battery to + and - condition as they should be. I do recommend a face shield, I have never heard of one blowing up, but I would just as soon take every precaution.
For what it is worth!
Larry
--
If you forward this email, or any part of it, please remove my email address before sending.[/i]
| Quote: |
get="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List
tp://forums.matronics.com
_blank">http://www.matronics.com/contribution
[/b] |
--
Zulu Delta
Mk IIIC
Thanks, Homer GBYM
It isn't necessary to have relatives in Kansas City in order to be unhappy.
- Groucho Marx
[b]
| | - The Matronics Kolb-List Email Forum - | | | Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
Get Email Distribution Too!
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
