Have you ever had a cordless drill that's no longer holding a charge?
If you have, then you know how frustrating it can be to have a tool that doesn't work when you need it to. That's why I offered to help my neighbor and converted his NiCd battery to a Li-ion one, so he could keep using his Einhell drill without any problems.
The Lithium cells are actually salvaged from old laptop batteries so this makes this conversion a double win as we can fix the tool as well as reuse those old cells in a new life.
The conversion is basically done in a few steps where we first disassemble the old battery pack and remove the old NiCd cells. Next, we'll add in the new Li-ion cells, and wire everything up to the BMS (battery management system) module. With a little bit of electrical know-how, basic soldering skills, and some patience, you can convert your old tool batteries to Li-ion ones and extend the life of your cordless tools.
Below is a list of everything that you might need for this conversion:
- 18650 battery cells - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DlReMG5
- 4S BMS - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeUGEbx
- 16.8V charger - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBLqFez
- Spot welder - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmI7WlJ
- Soldering iron - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCdlSuz
- Multimeter - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DD1fZGD
- Wire snips - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBFhBVT
- Wire stripper - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DcykHKz
- Screwdriver pen - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDq1DYh