Convert a Black & Decker Cordless Drill Battery to Lithium Ion

by rnijland

42K12718

Intro: Convert a Black & Decker Cordless Drill Battery to Lithium Ion

My 2007 black and decker battery's are dead now, and already bought a new hilti set, so time to try out some things.

I have done some research on the internet about lithium ion and seen a lot other conversions here on instructables.

STEP 1: Delete Your Original Battery Pack and Save the Connector.

first, please measure which contact is + and which is -

it's easy to open up the pack, some torx screws and voila.
be safe and wear some gloves, pull off the pins and take off the big one on the left and 1 of the 2 others. You only need 2 pins.
I soldered wires on it, about 10cm but it's up to yours.

STEP 2: Get Some 18650 Holders and 18650 Battery's

I got the holders from eBay, just search for them. For holding 3 and 2 batteries

The battery's are more difficult, you need good ones. I gathered old makita battery's with error. There are always some good cells in it. To get 18v, use 5 of them and charge them up with a good li-ion charger. monitor them, after 3 days they should be above 4v, if not they are bad.
If you want t new ones search for good battery's with high drain. Makita is using 15A ones. On my multimeter, they are about 2100 mah

Solder the wires to make a 5 pack in series and connect the contacts.

the 3s holder is hard to get in, just push. the 2s is for on top.

STEP 3: Close the Pack

Please be sure everything is right, measure the + and - and be sure the contacts are in the right place.
Close the case and test your drill, happy and or not?

STEP 4: Protect Your Pack

It is difficult to find a good protection. Protection is needed for lithium ion because draining them empty and they will be damaged and also the can explode.
Also charging should be with a lithium ion charger, never use a ni-cd or ni-mh charger. Never use the original charger of the black and decker!
I am using an Imax B6 mini charger with crocodile clamps to charge the pack.

There is not much space left for a protection board, so I should change the pack without the holders. I will update this when my pcb/BMS is in the house.

I ordered a 20A high drain BMS with a higher 30a peak. The BMS also charge the pack and balance it.
I don't know if that BMS is working to well but I will let you know.

STEP 5: Finally, Protected!

I bought an protection board this on
Rated at 20a continious discharge, I dont know for sure about the discharge rate of the battery cells, it are sony SE US18650V cells

I did find some info, that they are 20A discharge rated, another site says 15a discharge. So maybe it is better to find batteries that are 20A of higher rated for protection only.

I made a video:

As you can see, there is full power, and the drill is not stopping so far, but I cant stop it by hand. Maybe if its get stuck when drilling, large holes or something, I would like to see what happens. So just not finished this instructable yet.
Also the BMS does not fit in the battery case with the batteries in the holders. I have to make the batteries in the case without the holders, and have to solder the wires on to the batteries to make it fit.

Will be continued....

STEP 6: Fitting It In

The BMS was not that small it could fit in it with 18650 holders.
I decided to lose the holders and put the batteries without it. I packed it somehow with electronical tape, and soldered nickel welding tape with flux on it. Maybe it is better to weld it on them, there are sevarel instructables here how to make a welding machine from an old microwave. But thats to much work for me, solder works, I used S39 (not that old acid but new one) and a gas soldering iron. First solder a drop on the battery with flux, then preheat the nickel strip a little bit, use pliers to hold, then push it on the battery with the iron till the solder melts.

I used double sided tape to fix the BMS , I taped the little nuts.
Funny that my charger says 282 m0hm resistance, while the original battery more than 999....

Project finished, battery works well, charging goes well, blower and drill work well!

17 Comments

Marvv89 4 years ago

Welk type Mitsumi ic wordt er gebruikt op het BMS bord?

lousiezhang 7 years ago

So cool. I sell black & decker cordless drill battery. If interested HMU.

rnijland 7 years ago

Altijd leuk om te zien. Ik zag je dremel 3d instruvtable. Ik wou eerst een iets groter accubakje voor 10 cellen maar dat is toekomstmuziek. of een soort converter dat een makita accu passend te maken is maar die hebben geen goede bms erin enz....daarom heb ik alleen de goede cellen gebruikt.

Wall-led 7 years ago

ja je zou ook kunnen kijken om een bakje te printen met een 3d printer maar daarvoor zou je eerst hem moeten ontwerpen haha en dat gaat niet in de koude kleren zitten. En dan zou ik geen pla maar abs als kunststof gebruiken. Ik had een laptop reparatie dienst gemaild en die stuurde me zo een doos met 11 oude laptop accu's op voor nop dus dat was ook wel een meevaller. Ik begon pas wel te merken dat mijn omgebouwde accutol het af en toe begon te begeven dus ik dacht dat ik een kapotte cel had maar gelukkig was dat het niet. Mijn contactpunten naar de tol zelf zaten niet goed vast. (Had hem vastgezet met hotglue) maar dat valt gelukkig te repareren haha.

Wall-led 7 years ago

hier is mijn zelfgemaakte 18650 charger met mijn voorraadje 18650

Wall-led 8 years ago

goedemorgen,

ik hoorde aan je accent van her filmpje dat je Nederlands was. ik hen dit zelf ook gedaan met mijn 12v accuboormachine. er zaten dus ook 10 ni-cad cellen in en heb ze vervangen door een liion 3s2p pack die ik zelf in elkaar gezet heb. had een bms board besteld via banggood alleen niet op de maximale output gelet. er kon dus maar maximaal 4A uit haha. hierdoor heb ik de output gelijk vanaf de cellen gepakt en met opladen gaat hij via de bms. werkt echt prima alleen moet ik hem wel iedere keer na gebruik gewoon opladen zodat hij niet onder de 9v komt. voor de rest is het geweldig. standaard als ik hem even nodig heb dan kan ik hem gewoon gebruiken en met de nicad zooi was hij altijd leeg als ik hem nodig had. maar mooie instructeble trouwens!

groeten,

wall-led.

rnijland 7 years ago

Hoi, ja ach zo is het geinig wat te leren van lithium ion en ik kan me oude tools nog gebruiken.
Als je ampère te laag is zal die bij te hoge belasting stoppen. Het is ook lastig vinden naar de juiste bms of ze passen niet in de accubak of zijn ondergeschikt enz....
En solderen op batterijen is ook best lastig ben er niet zo'n held in maar ach het zit vast en werkt.

Groeten Robert

Wall-led 7 years ago

ja klopt inderdaad. Is leuk om te leren ook. Vond het zelf ook lastig om op de 18650 cellen te solderen. Maar hij doet het prima. Ik zak binnenkort ook wel een instructeble ervan bouwen. Dan stuur ik je wel een linkje als je wil.

Groeten,

Wall-led

rnijland 8 years ago

I updated the instructable.

MikheilG 8 years ago

I did same thing.
I used 1865 2 parallel of 3 in series

Only problem I have is I have not figured out how to charge them.

rnijland 8 years ago

Hi so you have a 12v pack right?
I have almost all my stuff received to update this instructable for charging. Please wait for about a week. Get an Imax b6 charger to charge your cells.

j1969n 8 years ago

Better to get the imax b6, it gives you so many options.

darrenbassett 8 years ago

You're missing the point, what he has purchased has over discharge protection, safeguarding the cells from being drained beyond charge.

The Imax b6 is a good product, I have 2, but nothing will prevent your cells from accidental death other than a discharge protection board OR being very, very careful with how you use them, and in a high discharge tool such as a power saw, being careful isn't always an option.

tintinmilou 8 years ago

So, where to get, or better yet how to build, a Lithium battery charger?

rnijland 8 years ago

it should be possible but a lot of other companys did that already. I have an Imax b6 mini charger and will soon put some pics of it here. that charger is small, smart and cheap.
You can buy it here 100%

Original SKYRC IMAX B6 MINI 60W Balance Charger Discharger For RC Helicopter Battery Charging Re-peak mode for NIMH/NICD
http://s.aliexpress.com/jeE7rq6z
(from AliExpress Android)

you can charge almost everything with it.