Eneloops seem never to fail, vs my C3 Craftsman NIcds die shortly after one year warranty ends. Anybody try rebuilding a tool pack with Eneloops or that type of rechargeable cell?
Can the charger for this tool handle NiMH chemistry?
I have quite a few old Ni-CD chargers that can not charge NiMH.
I’ve rebuilt several NiCad C3 packs by swapping out vented cells with other good used ones, and I may have built a C3 pack with old blue Tenergy NiMh but that could have been a DeWalt pack which are NiMh. Just can’t remember for sure 15+ years later, but the Craftsman batteries don’t hold up so anything would likely be an improvement.
Phil
I just had my last NiCd C3 pack die, jumped on a sale and bought the Max Access (sockets with a hole in the middle for long bolts to go through) C3 tool which came with a small Lithium battery and universal charger. So no rush to do anything, but since I have the old big dead pack I’m open to trying to improve it as a backup to the new smaller pack.
Older chargers, I would not try with Nimh, but I am ok with gutting one and putting in a modern chip or just leaving a connector to use with my hobby charger.
I had a cheap lawn edge trimmer which had 8AA cells in it and the “charger” build in.
The combination from bad charger and bad cells never made me happy.
After replacing the stock cells with eneloops the trimmer runs like crazy and like forever compared to the stock pack.
I made the battery contact available from the outside and I charge it with my hobbycharger.
i believe most packs will use sub c nicad or 18650 li ion, so quality sub c nicads (or NiMH) are available
He rebuilt two dead NiCd-cell packs for me recently with Eneloops
(I took the chance of sawing and cracking them open first and sending him pictures)
They’ve been working fine.
Yes, I have to use a different charger — I have an Accucel 6 hobby charger.
There are also compatible NiMh chargers for sale out there (search AmazonSmile or Ebay for whatever)