Toller wrote:
"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
. ..
Toller wrote:
I have a Dewalt 18v battery that came with a tool at an auction.
If I put it partly in my drill it works fine, but putting it in all the
way breakes the connection. Sometimes if I wiggle it around it will work
briefly all the way in.
It works that way in 3 tools, and a new battery works normally; so it is
the battery.
I have put contact cleaner on it, scratched it up with a file, and tried
bending the contacts in an out; but nothing helps. The blades look
pretty much like the ones on the good battery, so I can't imagine why it
isn't making contact. Any suggestions?
Sounds like a "loose disconnection" inside the pack.
If you can figger out how to pen it you should be able to easily find
where that is and repair it with solder or even conductive epoxy.
Yes, that is exactly what it is, right at the top so it is pushed together
when partly in, but separated when in all the way.
My soldering iron isn't up to the job. What is conductive epoxy?
It's a silver bearing epoxy which has amazingly high conductivity.
I just went to the kitchen fridge where SWMBO, bless her heart, lets me
use one door shelf in the freezer to store my back up supplies of epoxy
and seldom used adhesives. And pulled out my pack of conductive epoxy,
I bought a 0.5 oz. kit of it (Two little tubes, Parts A & B) about ten
years ago, and thanks to keeping it in the freezer it's still usable
when I need to make a connection that just doesn't lend itself to soldering.
The card the tubes were blister packed to says the conductivity is 0.001
ohm/cm, which is about 5 times as high as soft solder, but if the
distance you span is small, you'll never notice it.
One drawback though, the stuff is damn expensive in small quantities,
around $24 for a little package, like this one:
http://www.web-tronics.com/2400.html
It might be cheaper for you to buy or better yet borrow a larger
soldering iron. G
HTH,
Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."