In article
,
Ecnerwal wrote:

In article ,
Joseph Gwinn wrote:

I have a perfectly good Bosch 18-volt model 3850 cordless drill that I
bought new for $200 in June 2000 at a closeout sale that is getting weak
as the batteries wear out. The batteries (model 2 610995 894) are NiMH
construction.
...
There was a company that rebuilds tool batteries for far less. Who was
it?

There are at least a few that do that, google will find them, or people
will eventually post which ones they have used and liked/hated.

When I was rebattery-ing my Bosch 12V, I found at that time (2003?) that
replacement batteries (not Bosch brand, but fit and worked fine) from
suburban electronics cost less than having them rebuilt, and for a while
I had two still-semi-usable Bosch batteries to back up the new ones.
That may or may not currently be true. At this point the replacements
have crapped out (lasted longer than the originals) but it's time for a
whole new drill this time.

You do pay for the brand name, and can often do better rebuilding the
battery pack with better grade and (if possible) larger cells.

The Bosch battery packs are glued together, so it may not be easy to
reassemble them.

While I don't have a spot welder for attaching tabs to cells, one can
usually buy the cells with tabs already installed. (Soldering directly
to a cell is likely to ruin it from overheating.) Or, one can use a
large capacitor charged to a few hundred volts to weld a wire to the
cell. (This is the traditional thermocouple welder design. Fancy
welders do the work under an argon blanket.)

Joe Gwinn