# Volt Man Batteries....



## wee3

Thats good to know,good info


----------



## Woodwrecker

Keeping this for future use.

Thanks a bunch.


----------



## woodman88

Yes I use them alot. I think the batteries hold a charge better than when they were new.Cheaper than buying new


----------



## JJohnston

Am I missing something? My cordless set is a 19.2 volt Craftsman. Voltman wants $55 to rebuild a 19.2 volt battery, and new ones from Sears, Amazon, etc., are all about $35. Mine are all going bad, so I do need to do something.


----------



## ssnvet

just make sure you compare apples to apples…

Ni-Cad, Ni-MH or Lithium Ion…

or your exact model number.


----------



## Grandpa

Sears sells replacement really cheap. They also sell drills cheap.


----------



## JJohnston

All I'm seeing is a choice of standard rebuild or high capacity, with a choice of voltages in each. The $55 is for a standard rebuild in the 19.2 to 22.8 volt range. They say they don't rebuild lithium, so it has to be either Nicad or Ni-MH, and they appear to be listed together where the prices are shown.

It seems the customer pays to ship the bad batteries to them; does the price include return shipping?


----------



## ssnvet

*does the price include return shipping?*

I believe the answer is yes…

I know it was for me 2 years ago


----------



## Grumpymike

I had them rebuild some Ryobi batteries and the rebuilds have lasted 4 years so far. the OEM off the shelf batteries last about 18 months and they need replacing … IMHO it's worth the extra couple of bucks for better than OEM.

Grumpy Mike retiring in 9 days to build my new shop


----------



## Idonno

I rebuild my own battery packs with batteries and other supplies I buy from Voltman. I'm very pleased with this company. 
It's been a little over 1yr now and all my rebuilds are doing great. You won't save as much much on Dewalts 18v packs since Dewalt sells 2-packs for a reduced price but, the savings on 12v packs as well as some others is way up there.

My cost in 2011: 12v = $18.80/OEM's = $65, 18v = $28.20/OEM's = $89 (2-pack OEM = $120) Great Savings!

The prices for supplies have increased a little in the past year, but it's still a great savings.


----------



## ssnvet

Did you solder the conections?

I thought about doing my own, as I had soldered up battery packs years ago on RC cars…

In the end, I decided to just let them do it.


----------



## Idonno

Yea I did "ssnvet" . On my Dewalts the top battery that's in the part of the packs neck that goes into the tool is a little bit of a challenge because you have to solder to the battery itself on the side and top.

You need a fairly powerful soldering gun so you can heat it up fast so you don't end up heating up the battery to much. The iron I use is 400w but a little more wouldn't hurt. First I rough up the spots on the battery to be soldered, melt some solder on it, then on the piece that is going to be attached as well. After that I hold them together and finish the job.

The rest of the batteries are pretty easy because I buy the ones with the tabs so I'm only soldering thin tab to thin tab.
The first side is the easiest because you just trim the tabs a little with scissors, line them up, then solder. The next side is a little harder because the tabs don't line up without folding them to the direction you need to go but, it's still not bad.

You do have to be careful to keep the solder buildup to a minimum or else the pack wont close all the way. It's a really tight fit without any room for extra solder.

It's not the easiest thing to do but, it's completely doable and considering the amount of money I saved I think it's worth it.

I had 8-18v, 6-12v and 4-7.2v that needed rebuilding and I was actually thinking of building a DIY CD battery tab welder (Capacitive Discharge spot welder) It can be done for about $100-$200. If you goggle it there's a whole bunch of people who've done just that.

Now that I've already soldered them, I hope not to have to think about it again for a while but, when the time comes I might. A CD welder is definitely the way to go.


----------



## KenBry

+1 for them. I got better cells when i sent mine in well worth it. Mine are dewalt 18v


----------



## Firemandave

Just saw your post, I'll save that for later, Thanks


----------

