Rechargeable battery question

I have a Makita cordless 18v drill (gift from family) that uses 18v Lithium Ion batter packs. Battery model BL1815. BTW, this is one of those 'quick charge' batteries that only require about

12 minutes.

Short story. Battery fell into water during an outdoor plumbing repair. Recovered within 15 seconds. Battery charged OK 2 more times and now, upon trying to charge, is shown as "defective" by the intelligent? charger. It will not charge.

Took battery apart. Unlike older storage packs these batteries come apart by simply removing 4 screws. Inside is a small circuit board with many components, a battery pack and hint of silt from the dunking.

Any chance that this can be fixed somehow? It has only been cycled 5 times total. Son-in-law (who gave me the gift) simply says take it back, or, he will reverse charges on his AmEx credit card. I won't do this. This is simply not a manufacturer's defect.

All advice appreciated. Trying to save $ 65.

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary
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Salt in the silt will be conductive, and would screw up the operation of any analog circuitry (which there surely is) on the board.

Swish it (the circuit board) in distilled water, maybe brush it all over with a tooth brush to get any clinging gunk off, then bake it at about

150 degrees for a few hours to drive out any water.

Then don't be surprised if it still doesn't work. You may not clear the problem, or the problem may have damaged the batteries.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

(...)

What Tim said. In addition, you can use your Water Pik with a gallon of distilled water to dislodge silt from between component legs.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

A chargeback would indeed be wrong. But some AmEx cards provide automatic buyer protection for just this sort of occasion.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

The chip and stuff on the circuit board is a small computer (of sorts) that manages the safety of the battery pack, and if I remember right, many can send the identity of the pack - as others pointed out, any crud that provides a conductive path can mess it up.

You can also try the honest approach to the manufacturer - this pack fell in water, bla bla - charged ok two times and now is defective - can you help me? they may offer to replace or offer discount - I've had good luck this way

>
Reply to
Bill Noble

HP used to be good about this -- a friend of mine sent in a printer for repair and got a brand new one back for about 1/3 the price of a new one (they charged for the 'repair'). So when I crushed my HP calculator (sitting on a briefcase to get it to close is _not_ a good idea when you forget and leave your calculator in it) I sent it in -- and got a $99 calculator for the $35 'repair' fee.

It can't hurt to try.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

To fix it yourself, soak circuit board in the cleanest water you can find with some baking soda dissolved in it. A toothbrush can remove 'crud'.

Then let it dry for a week if you can.

I poured a cup of tea (milk and sugar) through a portable CD player. Oops. Fixed it that way. Still works.

Reply to
Neil

IIRC, those batteries have vents to prevent explosions. If so, water may have gotten into the battery. But there is a pressure relief valve, so maybe that would keep the water out. Something to consider though.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Oops ... I meant LIon *cells* have vents.

But you knew that, Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

Since Li Ion batteries can explode if mistreated, the small pc board stuff can do several things: Like detect how many charge cycles (let me tell you that Dell laptop batteries have this, and it errs on the "safe" side, causing apparent failure of perfectly good units); like detect any kind of open circuit or current leakage (the likely situation with yours), etc.

If the ckt board says the unit is toast, the pak is screwed, as the things don't self-heal or reset.... You may find something by googling hacking (brand) batteries, but good luck with that... /mark

Reply to
Mark F

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