Rebuild Your Ryobi ONE+ Battery Pack

by Marsh

123K3952

Intro: Rebuild Your Ryobi ONE+ Battery Pack

I've had my Ryobi ONE+ system for over five years now and the batteries are shot. Let's see what it takes to rebuild one.

STEP 1: Tools Needed

Screwdriver
Wire cutter
Soldering iron
Solder

STEP 2: Take It Apart

Remove six screws from the bottom. Pull the black and orange sections apart.

STEP 3: Identify the Cells

Remove the cluster of batteries and identify the number and type of cells are contained in the pack. In this case, there are 15 Nickel Cadmium C cells.
From here we have some options. Since they're C cells, we can replace them with any popular battery chemistry.
We can use NiCad, NiMh or Lithium Ion.
NiCad or Nickel Cadmium are the least expensive and least powerful at $2.70 for each 2400 mAh cell. This gives us a material cost of $40.50 plus tax and shipping.
NiMh or Nickel Metal hydride is next up in cost and power. At $4.85 for each 5000 mAh cell. Replacement of the cells would be $72.75.
Finally, Lithium ion cells are $10.99 each for 3.6 volt 8500 mAh cells. Granted, you would only need 5 to get to the desired 18 volts, but then they're going to rattle around in the case.


STEP 4: Make the Purchase!

With the cost of cells alone exceeding the cost of a replacement battery pack, I think it's time to pack this project up and go buy a battery pack.
Seriously, with brand new Ryobi NiCd packs available for as little as $30 and their new Lithium Ion pack for as little as $40, this is not a worthwhile project.
Don't forget to properly dispose of the old batteries.

46 Comments

upperiscope 5 years ago

harbor freight batteries, remove from their battery casing install in ryobi, i have 18 volt batteries from Harbor Freight 15+ years still take a charge (does not last as when new) way better than Ryobi. Just need soldering instructions and placement, I purchased 7 years ago 5 18 volt batteries (@ $12.00 18 volt battery) with the before mentioned plan.

alexandriaptt 5 years ago

Uh. Well, that wasn't particularly useful. Maybe you should retitle this so people know you're not ACTUALLY rebuilding it in this instructable?

KevinM599 6 years ago

What about buying a bunch of packs and using one to fix 2 batteries.

Marsh 6 years ago

Not worth it. The new LIon batteries are $59 for a pair and they last half again as long.

Jackass_Of_All_Trades 6 years ago

youi absolutely cannot swap out different types of cells like lithiums, SAYING TO DO SO WILL GET SOMEONE KILLED IN A FIRE OR SPRAYED WITH CAUSTIC CHEMEICALS.

Ok the berating is done.

there isd a reason there aren't any NiMH battery packs for tools, NiMH doies well at low discharge rates, but they can't keep up with the demands of power tools.

Marsh 6 years ago

I've since switched over to the new Lithium packs. They're way better

joesradios 7 years ago

I really appreciate this Instructables! After researching several different scenarios to replace my Ryobi P100 One + battery pack, I decided that it would be cheaper to purchase the same battery pack that I found on Amazon for $22.99 with free shipping with Amazon prime.

No I'm not a paid advertising for Amazon prime, I just know barking when I see it. I'm not sure this was a true Instructables but it sure did walk me through a procedure where I learned that there were probably about nine dead cells in this one cluster of 15. I double checked with a different meter and still came up with the same number of dead cells.

By the way, before I took it apart I had reversed polarities and used a 12 V car battery to reset the battery and break up the crystals. This work for about two years but finally it would not accept the charge and I realized that something more was wrong. So I'm grateful for this Instructable and will devote my time to other more worthy DIY projects. Thank you again and hi5.

W0JT 7 years ago

There are several incorrect statements in this article. The cells in the NiCd pack are NOT C cells, they are sub-C cells. And even though the complete 18v packs are fully interchangeable (as long as you use the dual-chemistry charger), the individual cells are NOT interchangeable. Yes, you could replace all 15 NiCd cells with 15 NiMH cells. But you can't rebuild a NiCd pack into a Li-Ion pack. The battery management board of a Li-Ion pack has one (P105 or P108) or two (P104) extra electrical tabs that protrude through the top of the case and interact with the dual-chemistry charger. Without that, you would build an incendiary device instead of a battery pack.

JDM18 7 years ago

No "Rebuild" here - Clickbait & Spam

FredS78 7 years ago

How is this "Clickbait & Spam" when there isn't any actual Spam?

JerryT14 7 years ago

What a waste of time. Shame on you sir!

What a trolley car....

DanY12 7 years ago

I respectfully disagree with those who are disappointed in the review. Step one could have said "go to Home Depot or ebay", but at least this shows disassembly, what they look like inside, then the per cell cost of replacement...which is more than the cost of buying brand new, OEM batteries of same or better capacity, without considering your time and effort, which is considerable when trying to solder/weld to batteries. Other, obsolete battery packs may be worth the time and effort to rebuild. However, due to massive availability and thus reasonable cost, there is zero benefit or incentive to rebuild the Ryobi one plus batteries.

BufordF 8 years ago

highly misleading. What happened to the Harbor Freight batteries mentioned in the heading. Have rebuilt Black And Decker with them. Was hoping for similar instructions for the Ryobi. You disappoint.

ChrisH341 8 years ago

here an idea but i dont knownhow to do it... would it ve possible to use the adapter to make a corded drill instead? it eould be a neat way to have it ad a back uo option if it was cheap enough?

DaleA1 9 years ago

You can get 5 x 18650 LiIon batteries for about $1 each on ebay (UltraFire). Of course if you're going to rebuild with LiIon cells, you should put in some charge control circuitry, so that you don't explode it when you try to charge, or drain the batteries too low, but should give you MUCH more capacity. (Technically you can use protected cells, but that will add a bit more.). Charge control circuitry can be had for about $20.

par64guy 8 years ago

I would use extreme caution with UltraFire. There are a lot of fakes out there depending on where you buy. One thing I learned as a designer of battery-powered devices is that physics and chemistry limits the capacity of an 18650 to around 3000mA-hr. If you see a battery labeled as higher capacity, then it is almost certainly fake. Take a look at this video to help the warning sink in a bit better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzEHsJVZhA

Dretra09 8 years ago

The original mah is around 1300. If you replace with nimh with 5000 mah then you are getting a lot more bang for your buck

Marsh 8 years ago

You can actually buy those pre-made for $39. Way less than the cost of the cells alone and comes with a warranty.
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