Recovering some Samsung cells from a Worx tool battery pack worth it?

I have some 20V Worx brand battery packs that went bad after 3 years and inside I knew were 5 Samsung 18650 cells. Today I tore one battery pack apart and wondering if this is going to be worth it. The pos and neg ends of the cell have little feet from spot welds that look like they will be problematic to lights and chargers. I tried to trim it off but it still left a little sticking up.

They say:
INR18650-15Q
Samsung SDI
096

My hope had been to salvage a few for use in a yet-to-be-purchased multi-cell headlamp. Are they salvageable?

Here is what they look like:

There should be some good life left in them in my experiences. Usually you have one cell that goes bad and causes the whole pack to fail.
That’s not always the case but is more of what I have seen. I have never had this particular pack though.
According to what I looked up the cell was rated at 1500 mah and I would guess its a bit under that now from all the use and age.
If you have a way to test them that would help to determine if they are still good cells.

This is just my opinion, but at that low of a capacity and the price of good new higher capacity cells I wouldn’t have much use for them.
You might have a use though. :wink:

Almost forgot, if you have a dremel tool or something similar you can buy sanding drums that will get rid of those spot welds with ease.
https://www.amazon.com/Jumbo-51pc-Drum-Sanding-Kit/dp/B007FER2IW

15M’s are good cells, you’ll probably see 1425-1450mAh actual capacity on your chargers test function on the good ones. They arnt super useful for your EDC or other has-a-job lights cause of the capacity but they are high(er) current so they work well in lights that don’t see a ton of use. Personally I like to keep all working lights loaded with good cells, even the ones I almost never use, and these type of tool pack cells are great for that; price is right and they have the oomph to run the lights like my good cells.

Is that a .22LR round laying out on the bench next to where you’re disassembling a li battery pack?

Hmmm, surprised they use such low capacity cells. 1450 mAh doesn’t sound like much. But they ran my blower pretty darn good.

I’d still like to get some use out of them, but like you said I use my other 4 ‘good’ cells for my EDC and working lights. Maybe I can make a multi-cell charger for cell phone or my emergency USB lights. Is there a cheap box folks use?

Yes. That’s a 22lr round on my messy workbench.

Hi, the Samsung INR18650-15Q is the predecessor of the Samsung INR18650-15L: it is a 18650 cell of typical capacity of 1500mAh and having a maximum continuous discharge of 18 amps. So yes I think you think you can use them in a multi-cell flashlight, after all depends on the level of wear of the cells that you have recovered and the total power that dedmanderas your flashlight, it would calculate all this :wink: .

Worx is a chinese brand?

wiki