Aldi Cordless tools Rant -> Super Cheap 18650s

[jennyjj01]

First the Rants:
Rant #1
Aldi (and Lidl) sell their cordless power tools without battery or charger and never seem to have the battery in stock at the same time as the tools. Other sellers do this, too.

Rant #2
Aldi changed the battery design at least twice since we bought our rather nifty WorkZone Circular saw. Of course, there's sod all compatibility between WorkZone and anything else and the old Parkside WAHS20 Battery is well obsolete and unavailable anywhere.
Rant #3
Battery died after only modest use: We obviously neglected to keep it charged.

So. We either chuck away and replace the perfectly good saw and knackered battery, or FIX the battery. You might guess where this is going.....

Opened up the dead battery and it holds 5x 18650s, so I figured we'd get some cells from 'the bay' and solder them in.
DON'T DO IT. READ THE SAFETY FOOTNOTE BELOW!!!

Best price for 18650 2000mAh about £3 each so 5 x would be £15, which beats replacing the saw and appeals to my frugal and environmental principles.

But Then......... I just went shopping at Aldi. They had no power tools in but did have Ferrex 4Ah batteries at just £14.99
This product
https://ferrexpower.com/products/2x-4-0 ... 2962601309

4aH for £15 makes them a steal, so we bought one with the intention of either butchering it or cannibalizing it for the batteries.

And inside that 4aH battery: TEN x 18650 2000mAh cells which works out at £1.50 per cell.

Surgery is scheduled for after teatime tonight.

SURGERY CANCELLED. DON'T DO IT!

If you want cheap 18650's at £1.50 or even cheap 20V cased up storage, I challenge you to beat this value. Even better if you have a Ferrex tool that takes these. Fill your boots.

I'm guessing they are selling these cheaply as next seasons tools will use a wholly different design!


Yes. I know there are SOME power tool battery converters on the market.

Tight or what?




Footnote: Safety.

Mr JJ refused to solder the cells into place. Risk of thermal runaway or accidental short circuit is too big a risk and the batteries won't accept solder anyway. So now I've wasted £15 on a battery I can't currently use. I could possibly return it for a refund, but I'll probably offer it on FB marketplace. Oh hum! Theyre still cheap 18650s.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Get a spot welder and some strips

https://ebay.io/m/Yx3Waq


You can solder aluminium tabs but it's not recommended with the correct flux

But £20 proper tool is a no brainer

[jennyjj01]

I've given this more thought after being shown how deadly risky it would be to try to solder cannibalised cells into my saw battery.

With the caveat that there are still dangers in dismantling the cheap ferrex battery......*

To fix up my old saw, I fix two x 3 cell, spring cell holders under my stripped out workzone battery. I short out one slot so that I can use 5 cells to feed 20V to my saw, through the old battery carcass. Those 5 batteries get charged from my existing, separate 18650 chargers. Not the Workzone charger and I keep other 18650s on charge.
I still cannibalized the 10 cells from the Ferrex battery, giving me two sets to rotate into the saw.
The big risk of the surgery was* that a cell, or cells get shorted out by tools. Disconnecting the negative end of cells is a simple case of pulling off the spot welded connecting plate. But for the positive end there is the danger that a tool can pierce the sleeve and short the cell tip to case. Fortunately the welded connectors are soft and cut and tear off easily by pulling and not levering.
*I've already done the dismantling. I did it outside without incident.
I might pick up another battery just for its cells which I'll use in my COB lamps.

It still pees me off that each manufacturer uses its unique design, often just very slightly different.

[jennyjj01]

Get a spot welder and some strips

https://ebay.io/m/Yx3Waq


You can solder aluminium tabs but it's not recommended with the correct flux

But £20 proper tool is a no brainer

LOL. I'm fixing a 50 quid saw, not rebuilding a Tesla,
Besides I doubt I'd get good welds because of the lumps where the previous welds were.

[Peter]

Some years ago I bought a Draper cordless drill, I chose a 12 volt version, thought was if the battery
failed connect two cables with battery clips (for car battery) and job sorted.......

Yes you’ve guessed.......motor burnt out

[Yorkshire Andy]

Imagine shtf the little cottage industry you could set up fixing tools

Most stuff uses this type of cell set up

Last time I built some lipo packs (that was fun) I used aluminium flux and it worked great for the task but if I was to start playing with 186500s I'd invest


The look on the guy at the council tips face was one of horror when I handed him a pile of dead cells and power banks ... We don't take them... According to the councils website you do as they set the bin lorrys on fire..... Errrrrr


Oh and I've just bought a Lidl parkside gold plated SDS hammer drill and breaker ...this weekend I'm going to piss off the neighbours

[jennyjj01]

Imagine shtf the little cottage industry you could set up fixing tools

I imagined (post shtf) "acquiring" one EV and knocking out hundreds of emergency lighting rigs.
But then I also imagined Mr JJ explaining to the insurance how the garage full of petrol went up as a Lithium incendiary got blown up by a fool with a welder powered by a shady dodgy solar rig. Have you seen how fiercely they can burn just from a short circuit?

The look on the guy at the council tips face was one of horror when I handed him a pile of dead cells and power banks ... We don't take them... According to the councils website you do as they set the bin lorrys on fire..... Errrrrr

When I tried to return a mis-ordered laptop battery, no postal or courier service would take it, so amazon eventually just refunded me. Leaving me with it. But yes. Household waste tips should take batteries.

[GeraldTheBonzai]

I have a slight neurosis about lithium batteries. I have a lot - both single cell 18650's, power banks with several and big old powerbanks like Aferiy and Ecoflow. The better branded ones I worry about less, but the cheapo unbranded ones you can get on ebay..... Don't like having them in the house, if I can avoid it.

Did some research some time ago (posted it here somewhere) about how lithium batteries degrade over time. Not nice.

If you are going to build your own packs, check the discharge rates, especially if you want to power devices like drills etc. And charge them individually first.

[jennyjj01]

I have a slight neurosis about lithium batteries.

Ditto.
TBH, Even cavalier me has some dread. Have seen one burn and would not want that near me or the house or car or on a plane. The flames are intense and furious, like a magnesium flare. My main dread is from knowing how reckless I am It's easy to find oneself chucking batteries in a box, not thinking of the consequences if they short out.