Look what I found in the recycle bin

I gave the Chant Box to a friend. He. Has. Not. Been. Seen. Since…

The numbers are starting to come in……
So far the first 8 I tested have capacities in the high 1900’s
I got this pack at a Lowes and I’m sure it was Lowes that threw it out, unopened.

There are other parts besides the cells that can be useful from these packs. Here is a pic of the BMS board from this pack. It just happens that is the mate to the header on the 18v Ridgid drill pack battery. I will remove that header and put it aside, someday that will be useful.

I showed my father how I use to get high drain cells before I started buying the latest. One of the 40v packs like in the OP was in there. Quit beat up on the outside, but 2 of the charge-level LED’s light up just like in the OP. My father didn’t have any security bits at home. So I didn’t get to tear it down for him in person. He seemed quite fascinated and excited about the concept. I picture a whole stack for packs waiting for me the next time I visit.

Get the 100 bit set from Harbor Freight and you can open almost anything which is screwed together. A few of those bits I’ve never seen for sale anywhere else and a few of those oddballs proved useful here. Worth the few bucks cost and good for gifting to the budding DIY’ers in the world :slight_smile:

Phil

Ima4, tell your Dad there are screws behind some of the labels. On mine I peeled one off and split another with a knife at the seam.

An update on the one I mentioned in the OP. Since them I bought the toolset it goes with and verified that it is a new fully functioning pack. The battery test button included in the pack has a loose connection and sometimes does not work, thereby giving the impression the pack is dead. Probably the reason it was chucked into the bin by HD. There is a silicone dab of goop over those connections so it is not easy to reflow. For the time being I have decided to leave well enough alone and leave it as is.
It is a perfectly functioning pack. :smiley:

Thank you SawMaster. I will check out that bit set. Sounds great.

Thanks for the heads up on the hidden screws dcho. My father has one of the Thor X type lights like you modded here that no longer works (dead battery). If the cells are good, thinking of making him a 4S5P pack with balance leads for charging. Then, convert the light to HID. Maybe also rig it so that he can use to also jump start a car. Would need to figure out how to LVP the pack though.

I have converted a couple of old 12v SLA battery halogen into HID with salvage packs. I go 4s4p and have run 35w to 55w balast with 35w bulbs. I deal with torx security screws with a automatic center punch on the pin.They usually break or smash pretty quick YMMV.I use H3 size bulbs and do the balance leads with the hobby charger.

^
Sounds like we think alike. I’ve found 4S gives the best performance with those 55w ballasts. May I ask why you use 35w bulbs instead of 55w?

Thanks for the tips on the center pin willie. Got to give that a try next time that I don’t have my security bits with me.

EDIT: Do you have a LVP solution? I’ve just tried to becareful about usage, but would like to automate the protection. Maybe and Attiny with voltage divider that triggers a normal automotive relay.

My first HID was a Titanium Innovations Mega Illuminator Just scored Titanium Innovations Mega Illuminator $39.99 HID . Member 2100 (guru member) suggested the 55W ballast. The free auto kit I was given was actually a 35W HID china marked 55W. My Mega is still 12V SLA. I did buy a Tractor Supply broken clearance halogen and it was my first conversion. Ordered a 55W from one of the China sources but it proably 45W(?). To monitor voltage I installed an RC lipo pack monitor w/ dip switches to set voltage monitor with an led that I ended up covering with black tape to mute but is still visable.
Bright blue - Full charge
Cyan - Very good
Green - Good
Yellow/Amber - Low warning
Red - Batteries low
Something programable would be great but simple works. More voltage monitor options now that are digital and cheap. My last conversion was a dead battery halogen spotlight for free. Built the first pack from two matched 9 cell laptop packs from the same recycle bin that appeared new. Second one was built from two packs from member 18sixfifty. If there is an advantage to running true 55w bulbs and the price is right please clue me in.

Great idea. Something like this here. That will do good enough for me. Thanks :)

EDIT: Finally broke down that 40V pack I pulled from a HD recycle bin. Every cell, except 4, was at 4.07v. The other 4 were at 4.06v. Before breaking down the pack, the pack voltage tested at a little over 18v. So I expected some bad cells. Did a quick test of internal resistance on a few and they were in the high 20's to low 30's cold. If they are all good, I'll build a 4S4P pack that will be used to power a big HID light. When not in use, the pack will also kept in the trunk for jump starting purposes. The 2 cells missing from the below picture are in the process of being discharge tested.

Date codes are:

K3D3

So March 2013, if I follow sixty545's date code theory correctly.

EDIT2: If you ever come across one of these packs, grab it. Seems the control board in it must have failed or bricked out the pack, because the cells are behaving like they are almost new. So far 4 cells have been discharge tested and all are just under 1.3 Ah (1280 - 1296mAh) and have low internal resistance. I'm expecting the remainder of the cells to behave the same. So I will only report back again if any surprises arise.

That’s good to hear ImA4. The one I found in the OP was brand new and now that I have the tool and charger for it I have a perfect 2nd Battery
Recently I have found 2 more of these. One brand new that will not charge up on the charger, however it will run the tool. Another that I just found on my current trip is slightly used and shows 3/4 full. I haven’t tested it yet. I am hoping someone broke their tool and threw away a perfectly good battery.
More good news, I think you scored 4 - 10 cell holders out of this. I have some from Black and Decker bats that work very nicely for me. Hold onto the extra parts’ there may be other good stuff too

^
You have 3 so far? I guess I’m not surprised after tearing this one down. I expect to be seeing more of these showing up in recycle bins. Getting the control board separated from the pack is a little touchy. It’s thru-hole soldered to the pack in like 12 places with tin tabs. Little tricky to unsolder without creating a short. You can’t just cut the tabs. That will pretty much guarantee a short. The cell packs appear hard to disassemble as the tin plates that have tabs connecting the cells appear to be integrated into the plastic holders. Turns out they are just under a thin plastic cover that is seamlessly welded to the holders. So the plastic cover just rips up with the metal tabs. Once I finally figured that out the pack tear down went fast.

Yeah, there is are some other goodies in the pack. Quality electronic components (I think those FET’s you gave me came from drill packs). The cell holders are sweet. One thing I really like about this pack is the case. Super strong and it can be reassembled after the tear down. I wish it fit in the Thor Colossus. If it did, I would use it to build my 5P4S (Changed my mind from 4P4S as all cells tested great). I’ll eventually find a good use for the case.

got 8 new samsung laptop packs that were reportedly bricked by a bad laptop.
every cell in these packs were at 2.5v with very little deviation.pinkish red sanyos with white ring.iirc thats 1950.
all over 2000mah.i didnt try to figure out why they bricked but i suspect poor calibration in the bmc allowed the laptop to discharge below the “drop dead”point which bricks the pack.
this can occur in other types of packs too.
thats why a “bad” pack dropped in the recycle bin can have perfectly good cells.

If you can run you HID on 5S4P, you could use the BMS from a recycled Ryobi pack the balance charge to whole shebang and use your Ryobi fast charger.


In case anybody didn’t know, or still didn’t believe that Ryobi and Ridgid are made in the same factory, I offer a recent find in the recycle bin as proof. On the same day on a trip at 2 different Home Depots I found these 2 - 24V battery packs. One is Ryobi and the other is Ridgid. Except for the registration notch on the Ryobi, they are identical. Inside and out.



It turns out that the Ryobi pack had a bunch of dead cells, the Ridgid has one cell pair that is not “sync’d” with the others. When I took the pack apart one cell pair was sitting at 4.10V while all other cell pairs were exactly the same, all sitting at 3.34V. All the drill packs I have come across and can charge with it’s intended charger, I have found that the chargers do not balance charge. I think this pack was tossed because charging stops when any cell reaches charging cutoff voltage and shuts down when any cell reaches low voltage cutoff. I tested all cells for mAh capacity and they all test at about the same capacity. I should be able to manually balance these cells and hopefully be able to put this pack in service. How that one cell got so out of sync is a mystery to me. If that one cell pair had a greatly reduced capacity, that could explain it. But it doesn’t. When I return home I will know more.

^

Very handy info. Thanks dcho.

Today I pulled one of these out of a HD recycle bin. It appears to be unused and has 4 bars. Probably a display unit. They are used in chain saws, blowers, and power heads. Since the charger for one of these bad boys are $80 and I don't know for sure if the pack is good, I'll be tearing it down.

Hmmm… anything over 48V is considered to be potentially lethal and has all sorts of additional regulatory requirements. I wonder if they meet them all?

Congrats ImA4
That’s the biggest pack yet! Good news is that it is 4Ah, that means 2 parallel 2A cells or maybe some 4Ah 26650’s?
If they are 18650’s you should get maybe 28 2Ah cells.
WOW, what an awesome find

Concerning my post about the Ridgid and Ryobi 24V packs, I went back to the same recycle bin a couple of days later and dug a little deeper. I found a second Ridgid 24V pack that also was lightly used. It was inside an identical plastic bag and was in the same identical condition. One cell sitting at 4.10V and all others at 3.34V
I did manually balance charge them and both work just fine now. I still can’t figure out how 2 packs could end up like that.
A clue to how could be this. Even though all cells test out “good” as new capacity wise, the pack shuts down when any one cell reaches about 3.3V, not the usual 2.75. So instead of having a useful capacity of 2.6Ah, because of the early shutdown, I get about 2.0Ah out of them.
Since then I have found another Ryobi pack that is in excellent condition except for 1 cell pair being dead. As soon as I can figure out how to replace those 2 cells with good ones, I will be able to test at what voltage that pack shuts down at. As I mentioned both the Ridgid 24V and Ryobi packs are identical inside and out.