"Paul Gilbert" wrote in message
news:1Umwe.21974$FP2.808@lakeread03...
My Dewalt 18v batteries have slowly been headed south. One is shorted and
two others last about 5 min. in a drill. Batteries Plus wants $50 to
rebuild the battery and new ones cost about $65.

Today I went to Harbor Freight and purchased a 18v battery ($14.99) for
their drill and then went home opened up the DeWalt and Harbor Freight
battery packs. They have the same individual cells (15 x 1.2v), but the
individual cells are spot welded together with a strap which keeps them in
a fixed position. I can't force the Harbor Freight batteries into the
format of the DeWalt pack.

The last time I tried to solder batteries together it didn't work. Anyone
know how to cut the straps and solder the batteries back together?

I think soldering cells together may be trickier than what meets the eye.
IIRC the biggest trick is to not heat the cell up when you solder the
connections. The heat build up damages the battery if the connection does
not take very quickly.