Milwaukee M18 battery teardown and repair (002)
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- Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
- In this video, I show off my new Milwaukee M18-CDD cordless drill, which I purchased second hand with two batteries - one turning out to be broken. So for science and monetary gain, I repair it. Because ain't nobody got time for warranty.
High-resolution photos of the reverse side: imgur.com/a/kFSCX
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Making use of the ruclips.net/user/postUgkxcJ22tnHH9l1vjdIdEIG27iOG55P7LXI8 reconditioning plan, I just saved 2 auto batteries from being completely junked. The guides were very simple to follow. I wish I would have found this years ago! You may use the guide to recondition any battery type
Hi, thanks for the best movie about the battery so far on youtube! I have a chinese copy of the battery (circuit board looks the same) and replaced cells to LG HG2 to have 6 Ah. Just after replacing the cells, the battery was not starting, i.e. pressing button was not turning any of the LEDs on and battery was not working with my tool (despite the fact that I charged the new batteries to almost full before). This problem led me to your movie. Thanks to you mentioning about powering micro controller, I realised that it is the problem - microcontroller. Having thinking about what you said on the movie tried to sort out how chinese re-program these batteries and tried to find some intructions or (at least) information about it on the internet without success. One thing that I realized is that if the batteries need power to live, then factory has to program the batteries after assembling, as one of very last steps. Looking on the board, did not see pins for a programming interface, so it is possible that they use the 2nd and 4th pins to activate the battery after assembling / start it. Well, having no other idea, I have connected the battery to charger. Charger showed the battery is full. Disconnected battery, pressed button and now the battery is fully working :) It seems that the charger acts like (re-)starter for these battieries (at least mine did this job). Well, is seems to work this way for chinese copies (at least) that have board looking exactly the same way as your on the movie. I hope my experience can help anyone in the same situation. All the best!
THAT IS WHAT I HAD A PROBLEM AWHILE AGO / BUT THIS OTHER BATTERY WAS DISCONNECTED FROM BATTERIES FOR 2 YEARS AND WHEN I INSTALLED NEW BATTERIES THE LIGHT ONLY BLINKED.THEN I PLUGGED IT IN THE CHARGER AND NOTHING CHANGED BUT THEN REALIZING THE THERMISTOR WAS MISSING REPLACED IT THEN ALL WORKED PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DID NOT NOTICE ANY EPROMS,STATIC RAMS ECT. EITHER JAMES J.DEVITO III; GENERAL DYNAMICS,ELECTRONICS DIVISION
I know it's an old video but it still has a great wealth of knowledge to share with the common Joe like me. Thanks!
Same problem different solution . With the insight of this video I pulled on the negative wire and it came loose. I dreamed a peace out of the plastic over the negative pole and soldered a thick wire which I connected to the loose negative wire which did the job without taking the PCB out. Thanks again for your video which helped me a lot!
I've heard other people say that the processor balances all cells, but only needs power from one or two, so maybe that's why a disconnected negative doesn't cause shutdown. Alternatively, the CT1- post may be a return path for the processor power as well as being the path for balancing on the low end cell.
i took a shot everytime he said uh....
now i better go to the hospital
hell yeah!!
Can you please let me know how you wired it so you didn't lose power as I need to do the same
I suspect the reason they use voltage and not coulomb counting to detect battery charge is that they sell several capacity variations in the same form factor with identical components except for the individual cell capacity.
I had the same problem - Did not use the drill for a couple of years, looked all over the internet on how to resolve issue as both batteries that came with the drill was flashing GREEN/RED when on the charger. I found out rebooting the battery with a simple 9VOLT battery works perfectly. +ve from 9 volt battery to +ve on Milwaukee battery and -ve from 9 volt battery to -ve on Milwaukee battery. I left this on for about 5 minutes and VOILA... It came back to life. You dont have to dismantle the battery if you are not techi sauve.. Good luck
It looks like you have the PCB on life support.... great video....
This is exactly what I needed to know, when I needed to know it. Great video, thanks a ton.
How PCB can handle 30A current flow? Cordless tools always have high AMP current.
I have two seldomly used Milwaukee 18V LI-Ion batteries, and one is experiencing issue with fuel gauge button/indicator not working. The battery was fine (one bar) prior to putting it on the charger, the charger light turned green indicating full charge after a while, took the battery off charger, and the fuel gauge light stopped working. Took top casing off, and measured ~20V across Battery+ and Ground (1st & 5th) from right to left (looking at the fuel light bars), which meant fully charged.
The interesting/disconcerting part is J2 & Ground (4th & 5th) measured ~0V on the bad one, but ~3v on the good one. Tried electrical contact cleaner/brushing, and it worked again when pressing the button to light up, but then reverted to the dud once put back together. Flashing green/red when putting the bad one back on charger, with fuel gauge button not working.
Worked fine for lamp, but no other tools, so it's a communication/self-preservation issue for sure. Any ideas besides full-blown teardown? TIA!
I have the EXACT problem. Problem started the same way.
My problem eventually went away on its own without further intervention. So give it time perhaps.
@@stevechou1121 so..overcharged is my guess. Still confused on why the control cct stopped?
which poles did you put charge on (from your powersupply) ? Did you put on + and - or + and charge pole ?
The flashing lights when you hold down the charge indicator button are four sets of codes separated by all four leds flashing. So an example set of codes is 0001, 1250, 0150, 2251. Interestingly, The second code is number of days since it's been first charged, so 1250 days ago would be about three and a half years. I found that this second code differs from the date stamp on the plastic housing because the batteries sometimes spend quite some time on a store shelf before put in service. The third code is the battery cycle count, so in my example it would be 150 cycles. The first and last code seem to be status and identifier numbers that do not change so they are not that interesting.
My pack shoots these codes: 0001, 1847, 0063, 1536. That's just over 5-year-old batteries that have only been charged cycled 63 times. Not bad for a free pack (some dude was going to recycle it...I was just going scavenge the cells but I may find a friend that has Milwaukee tools).
good to know
just tried this on my battery and it doesnt work, i hold the button for 3 sec but nothing happens
@@flisko123
Same here, new battery date code May 2018 and no LED codes anymore.
is there any other way to check
Best video so far, use the microchip from TI - MSP430F22x4 or MSP430F22x2 which can be decoded somehow with device EV2300 and I2C protocol
Great video! FYI I replaced the cells prior to finding this video. I had no power indicator bars after replacement. I was about to toss the pack but decided to see what would happen if I stuck it back on the charger. Right when I stuck it on the charger, the charging indicator went green (my cells were from a different battery pack that was fully charged; Panasonic cells). Pulled the battery off and stuck it on the tool. It works!
I’m got a good amount of work to do today so hopefully I can get this fully drained and monitor a recharge.
Hi, I did the same thing, first I replaced the li-ion cells and then I reconnected everything, but as you don't get the LEDs on. So all I need to do is connect the battery to the charger to get it back as before?
I Have A Ryobi Battery The Light Comes on Wen I put It on the charger
But It Wont Come Wen I Push The Test Button. So What Do You Think
Could Be The Problem?
If I don't have a battery yet want to test the Milwaukee fuel drill do I just need to connect the positive and negative to a power supply or do I need to do something with the J1, J2, and Charge one?
My xc 3.0, xc 5.0, xc 6.0 etc doesn’t look like that, i took the board out
Doesn’t have the fuse wire.
Casing looks different as well
I disassembled 2x 4AH dead battery packs and found the front 4 cells in each pack were dead. I made up a good battery pack using 10 good cells. I found that by shorting the 3 centre battery plugs, it jump started the charge board again bringing the battery back to life. I manually charged each cell on my lab power supply (4A at 4.2V cut) to balance all cells prior to soldering the cells back into the pack.
So you mean short J1, Charge and J2 pins on the battery?
You only need to short TWO of the terminals to reset the pack. Just connect Negative (say that's terminal 5) to the terminal immediately next to it (ie #4).
How do you keep power on it so it doesn’t lose its programming.? What connections need to be made and where did you get the power source? From a voltage injector or batteries? Thanks for your help
When trying to charge my battery, the charger only skowing a lit green LED and it won't charge the battery. What could be the problem?
Did you ever find out how to fix it?
I have the same problem on a 9.0
Same here on two purchased together after 2 years of use same issue at the same time
They need to be rebalanced. Disassemble, then charge up the low groups, I use 4A for the 3p 5s bigger battery. Do this after a full charge aka top balance. I have 4 9Ah high demand and after waiting for warranty once, I just do it myself cause they need it monthly, after daily cycles. Just clip on from R:C charger under liIon settings. 4.2v 4A = hour maybe
Always it’s bank 1 &3
@@chriscord6524 for me the stupid one over here.. can you dumb down what I need to do for my 9ah high demand battery to get back to life. Charger shows full charge but take battery off and it blinks 1 bar... are you saying to charge each sell individually with a 4 amp charger?
@@kylegray990 yes, that is what I do. But they are in groups of 3 cells. Each 3=1. You will see the groups. There will b 5 groups of 3 cells, which equals 3parallel 5series. You only got to get each group charged to 4.2v. I use a hobby charger. And it’s much faster to do this after a complete charge from m18 charger. Also anyone seeing this never input on pin 5 or +pin of m18 battery. It’s exit only. Use pin 3 middle one.
What happens if you put in the reverse order the cells? is still hope for PCB to start ?
Can I get a description for all of the five conectors on the baterry? It means what does it do ?
i want to place a buck controller because i want lower torque for some applications and those J terminals are killing me off
What if u are getting 18 volts but the battery still don’t work when u press the button ? When the battery is out on the charger it flash red and green
Hi I replaced all the cells in one of my Milwaukee M18 12.0HD AH batteries, spot welded all the tabs back on and ill plug it into the charger and it just shows the green light. Now when I press the battery level button it shows one bar thats flashing and when I plug it into an impact it just lights the flashlight and the 1 or 2 setting but does not run the impact. Can you help me?
Is there a way to make/hack it so can swap out the cells by simply inserting new batteries (cells) only by hand... Like changing batteries in a tv remote?? I want to get the Milwaukee Top-off tool but only if I can swap out the batteries quick and easily so have endless power. I have bunch of 18650 cells around so that would be awesome. There has to be a way!
Anyone know about the pin outs on the m18 battery? you get a voltage between the two inner pins of 3.2v, however my impact sometimes stops working and then I check the inner pins and they are at 0v, i can reset the battery by plugging it into my drill to bring them back up to 3.2v then it works again, so the impact must detect a fault and tell the battery to disconnect the pins?
PS though the inner pins are at 0v and the impact doesn't work, the led light still powers on battery connection.
mines just out of warranty, of course. 20v fully charged (possibly over charged?)... 18.0v+, 3.0v??, 18v.0+, 0.0v-, 0.0v-, !!!!!! no 3.0v control cct !!!!!!, no indicator lights, red/green flashing lights on charger. Dont want to pull apart any further as I dont want to lose power to pcb. Newer model than in video. Any thoughts?
Nice video! Does anyone know what is the part for the female connector to the tool blades? I am trying to make a PCB that directly takes 18V with some bypass caps. I can't seem to find it anywhere. Many thanks in advance!
It would be interesting to find how exactly to power only the chip while replacing cells, without needed to do all 5 pair bypasses.
Those are not even Milwaukee batteries . They are knockoffs ....
@@joemessina9183 I could use some pirate Milwaukee PCBs, like the ones for Makitas.
@@joemessina9183 As another commenter mentioned, I'm reasonably sure these are the European graphics on OEM Milwuakee batteries. The off-brand control boards look different. Could be wrong.
Great video - thank you.
I do not have a charger. I have a Dc to DC lithium charger. How do I conet right my battery to the charger?
1. Plus (+) to negativ (-) ? or
2. Plus (+) to Charge pin ( no. 3 pin) or
3. Minus (-) to Charge pin (no. 3 pin)
If you need to ask, you really shouldn't be playing with stuff like this. Anyway, positive to positive and negative to negative. You need a current limited power supply to safely charge this pack.
how did you charge it using power supply?
With the pack disassembled, I just clipped the alligator clips from my lab power supply to the positive and negative electrodes of the pack. That's obviously only possible if you fully remove the casing of the battery pack.
how about the built in balance charger? still working when you did it?
This battery doesn't have any battery balancing built-in, so there was nothing to break :) Like pretty much every lithium ion battery nowadays, it never balances the cells, it just stops charging/discharging if one of the cells goes out of safe bounds.
@@PowerElectronicsBlog In this case whats the purpose of Charge pin? And why each cell is connected to the board? :)
@@shchepetov - not sure what you mean by "charge pin" - if you mean the centre pin then that is where the charger supplies +21V, whilst the left pin (marked +) is directly connected to the cells and where the tool draws (nominal) +18V. The cells are connected to the BMS PCB so it can MONITOR the cells. There almost certainly is some cell balancing in this pack, and in most other tool packs.
It's not resistive balancing like used in cheap chinese balance boards. That style of balancing works by charging the whole pack to say 5x4.2V=21V then discharging the highest cells down to the same voltage as the lowest cell. You can identify those because they have mosfets and resistors for each cell. The balance process is slow, and final pack voltage will be lower than 4.2V per cell.
There's a more advanced method called "Active Balancing" which charges the pack to 5x4.2V=21V then uses separate DC-DC converters to transfer charge from the highest to lowest voltage cells. You can identify those because they have mosfets and inductors for each cell. The balance process is slow, but pack will end up much closer to 4.2V per cell.
Modern BMS (and especially where you want immediate full voltage after charging) usually use "top balancing". This is where the cells are individually charged to (say) 4.2V EACH, rather than just as a series group. When the first cell reaches 4.2V, it stops charging but the other cells keep charging until each are done. This results in "instant balancing" to full rated voltage, and none of the cells get over-volted then discharged back back to "balance them". You wont easily see extra components to this kind of balancing, as the charge regulation will be done using the main IC.
Does it have balance charging circuitry on the PCB?
Except for very rare exceptions (not this one) tool batteries never have "balancing". They monitor the cell voltages, and that's all. If you think about it, you'll realise that there isn't hours to wait while the pack slowly balances itself.
A Milfukey like AvE says :p, the string wire is a Fusible link, mostly used in older cars ;)
+Damicske I was very strongly thinking of referencing AvE here, but I can't pull off a skookum canadian accent like he does.
what are the two poles, J1 and J2 for again? i didnt catch that part. and why is there a separate one for charging?
where is it's corresponding negative?
It looks like using the Charge pin allows balanced charging of all cells. J1 and/or J2 should be communication from battery to theh tool to say that battery is dead and tool should stop working, as cells are hard connected to tool. So thats the only way of over-discharge protection
It's 2 years later. Have you figured out you can replay RUclips videos yet, in case you didn't catch something on the first watch?
@@shchepetov From investigation it seems 0v on j1 and j2 means a faulty tool, but the tool communicates to the battery, I know this because my impact causes the inner pins of the battery to latch to zero.
My Milwaukee 9ah battery will only charge to two lights but I'm still able to use it.
Good fortune! well done - from UK
See the indents on the red side buttons? The bootlegs are indented all around while the real Milwaukee is indented only on the outer edge.
Wow! Who knew the 18v we're so sophisticated! Do you think these batteries can be hooked in series for a ebike battery??
Very good video
Hi. Great video man! Could you please tell how you did the yellow wiring from tp1 tp2 ct1 etc to the pack. Thanks
You find some wire, and a soldering iron. You use a material called "solder" to join the wires between the PCB and the battery cells. If you cannot understand this simple thing, you REALLY should not be opening of modifying lithium battery packs.
Nice the detail you know . I know nothing about circuit boards . I know their expensive a 6.0 AH was 145 dollars !
This was a very informative video. Nice!
How would you recommend cleaning the battery terminals thoroughly. My Fuel impact runs but spins slowly, slower than 1st speed. While on 3rd. If I push in on the battery and move it around a bit it jumps back up to full speed, then precedes to jump jump around before slowing back down.
Batteries work fine on other Milwaukee tools. Terminals are dirty, but I'm not sure if it's on battery side or in the drill. Have any thoughts?
Yes, my thoughts are that you can USE YOUR EYES to see whether the terminals are dirty or not. And since the problem only exists with one drill (you say the battery pack works with other tools) then you already KNOW whether it is the drill or battery that has a problem.
Ik heb een m18 baterij 5.0 ah heb hem naagemeten met een multimeter en zit heelemaal vol maar in het apparaat doet hij niks en in de lader krijg ik broken accu lichtjes jij enig idee ? Pm me mvg dennis
Great video, could you tell us what 18650 batteries milwaukee uses in their M18. Thanks
They're not branded with something that indicates the exact cells they are. All I can say is that this pack is 3Ah, has 10 18650s, and is rated at 30C, so they're probably 1500mAh 30C cells. Something like LG INR18650-HB2s
3amp hr ones are inr18650 13q
My m18 red lithium xc has 18650s clearly marked samsung INR18650-15M samsung SDI 121
The batteries he is showing in the video don't look to be a genuine milwaukee battery
Hi I’m grateful for your video you seem like you know your way around a battery lol so maybe you could possibly help me with the problem I’m experiencing. I used my battery multiple times to jump start my car pos to pos neg to neg. but the last time I couldn’t find insulated wire and was forced to use bare and of course rushing around the two touched. Created a short? Battery says fully charged(green light on charger) but when taken off and hitting battery status button, it blinks red referring to a dead battery. I’m gonna open it but was hoping you could point me in the direction to look for the problem. I’m hoping I didn’t ruin it it’s only about a year old,....thanks a lot
You have tripped the over-current protection. You should be able to reset it by inserting it into a genuine Milwaukee charger. Try quickly shorting the Negative pack terminal with the terminal immediately next to it, as that's how the Charger reinitialises a battery that has gone into protection mode.
Best video I've seen on understanding the Milwaukee lithium battery pack. Hopefully you can answer a question. 18 volt 3.0 mah pack that worked fine, just quit and when placed in charger got the flashing red - green lights. No light when when pressing the battery charge level button. Checking the battery terminals there is 15v. or so on the two positive blades. Now the interesting thing: battery works in the flashlight but not in the drill. Should help with troubleshooting if I just new what it indicated. Can you help?
Seems like you deep discharged the battery. If you have a bench power supply, try using that to charge it up to ~17V, then complete charging in the 'official' charger. Without a bench power supply... uh, find somebody with one :)
I have the exact same issue, did you resolve it?
@@beenesgarage2055 - did you READ the reply?
Could you post a diagram on how you kept that PCB powered when you removed the battery pack? I have one with bad cells but I don't want that board to go dead on me. Love your videos.
ever figure that out?
Vu Nguyen nope, sorry
have you taken the board out? if so was it still in good condition?
Why the fuck do you need a diagram or further explanation? The guy showed us in the video and explained it in detail. You simply need to use your eyes to watch, your ears to listen, and your brain to think. If you wanted to keep the power on a certain connection, whilst you removed the main terminal on that same connection... think Think THINK about it.
@@johncoops6897 There are no stupid questions only stupid answers
I am wanting to use a Milwaukee m18 xc 8.0 battery for another project but need it to be 14-16v max.
Can I unsolder/delete 1 cell and still have the batt. & charger still function at the lower voltage ?
Of course not! If you want to reduce the voltage then buy a Buck (step down) module from eBay etc. These will also provide a Constant output voltage as the battery runs down. Buy a module capable of delivering about double what you plan to draw from it... in other words if you wanted 15V 3A then buy a module that the Chinese supplier rates at 6A. That's because the current ratings tend to be overstated and/or rely on extra heatsink and fan cooling.
I need to know if bad cells can be fixed or how to check which cells are bad.
Por ciclos de carga y descarga dependiendo de la marca , y tiempo de trabajo de las celdas si con el opus herramienta para censado de celdas varias ..
Hi, thanks for the video, I 3d printed an adaptor to use the new M18 batteries that came with my new driver/drill set with my old milwaukee tools, but need to include a overdischarge circuit, do you know what voltage the new M18 battery cuts out at? I plan to check that when my drill needs charging, but have not gotten there yet. Wish they would just make one like Dewalt did. the old tools work great and will keep working well for a while, so want to keep them in service
The drill seems to cut out at 3.3V/cell.
Can you do an ohm resistance reading between:
B+ and J1
B+ and J2
B- and J1
B- and J2
Your question makes no sense to me and I know these tools.
good work,
I have an problem with replaced battery, the discharging is ok, and voltage shows also ok, but I can not charge via charger, shows broken batery. It is possible to "restart" some how?
+Žaneta Seidlova That is very likely a broken charging MOSFET between the charging and battery+ pole (look in the video for exactly what I mean). You can replace that MOSFET, but you need a hot air rework station to do that.
Just dissapointed that you did not show the repair, tiss like watching a cooking showwhere they always leave out all the critical/ interesting bits.
Desde Colombia
Gracias
El mismo problema
La misma solución
The Craftsman 20 volt lithium Ion Pro Series battery has almost an identical control board on top, but batteries lay sideways. A PTC thermistor has high resistance cold, then lowers when hot, not hard to check. (For Readers)
I wanted to see how to remove the battery straps from the control board. Cut with dermal close to battery then solder with twinned plate or copper? The tabs fold under and no soldered joints on top. With a EEPROM, an external power supply is needed, nice.
Advice? I can't afford the $100 each X 8, as one battery lasted 12 years. They only have a communication wire, power and ground. I don't have any chip that is a multiple pin controller just a MOSFET, and voltage sensors for cells and temp. Help?
ASE Master Tech since 1978 - Retired 10 years during "WU-FLU" panic. I made a mask for a beard, using a "Crown Royal" purple cloth sac. Can't find the bottle, but hangs low enough to cover my facial hair w/o elastic pulling on ears. Thumbs up!👍
why the 4.0 so big on that battery
gee mcgee not an actual Milwaukee. It’s a knock-off brand.
It's NOT a fake/clone. It's a genuine Milwaukee from a non-US country. The product code is M18B4 4932430063 - This battery is the same as the current US Model called "M18™ REDLITHIUM™ XC 4.0
The Milwaukee product names, codes and graphics in the USA are different to elsewhere in the world.
USA uses RedLithium graphic and a unique part number:
www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Batteries-and-Chargers/M18-Batteries-and-Chargers/48-11-1840
AUS uses international part number, but old "non-RedLithium" graphics
www.milwaukeetool.com.au/power-tools/batteries-and-chargers/m18-batteries/M18B4.html
EUR uses the same AU part number and used to have "big 4.0" graphic (like in this video), but have just changed to the USA "RedLithium" stickers
uk.milwaukeetool.eu/m18-40-ah-battery/m18-b4/
My battery was put on the charger overnight in the garage but it was quite cold and has not worked since. Terminals 1 to 5 measure 18V and terminals 1 to 4 are 15V. When you press the button the lights do not show a charge. When you put it in the charger it flashes red and green. When you put it in the drill it does not work! Please advise.
Did you ever get this resolved? I know this was a while ago but it sounds to me like a single cell is dead and can't be charged. I collect a lot of my 18650 batteries by getting either free or very cheap dead laptop batteries and occasionally tool batteries.
This sounds like a dead cell in the battery and so the charge circuit detects the fault ( red/green flashing) and won't charge it.
I basically get the battery packs pull them apart test the individual cells and dispose of the dead cell and keep the good ones. You could do the same but take care and replace the batteries. I would replace them all though to make sure you dont trip another fault by having a new cell with different capacity.
It's also an easy way to convert say a 4 Ah battery to a 9 Ah battery and possibly cheaper, as AvE said the battery capacity is just a measure of voltage of the overall battery condition, so nothing else would need changing.
Search Google for the words "milwaukee to infom you protection" then find the info sheet that covers cold weather bms reset.
@@t1bzy - you cannot use laptop battery cells in power tools, as they are higher mAh capacity but not rated for high enough current. They are different kinds of batteries, power tool cells are typically rated 30A while laptops are max 10 Amps. To increase the mAh of a tool pack you must add extra cells... so an 18v 1.5Ah Pack will have 5 x 18650 cells (each rated 1500 mAh), whilst a 3Ah Pack will have 10 x 18650s of the same type. You cannot get the same result by replacing the 5 tool cells with 5 x 3000mAh cells from a laptop.
I accidently shorted the poles on my battery trying to ghetto charge it after my charger broke... can't see anything obvious wrong with it when I look at the board... what do you think is wrong with it?
k I got to the end of the video and I'm assuming the same thing happened to mine... probably blew the fusable link... how the hell did you get the board up?
I was wondering the same thing. If you look at the board carefully in the video where he has the circuit board off you'll see he desolderd some points on the circuit board ct1+. Ct1-. Ct2+. Etc
Great vid. I learned a lot. One question, does the built in protection circuit of this battery prevent over-discharge if it is used in a non-Milwaukee tool? In other words will the battery self-shut down before permanent damage is done if power is drawn only from the + and - terminals?
Nope, you can charge and discharge it with other tools until it's broken. The terminals are directly connected to the battery cells inside.
Thanks, makes sense. What would be a reasonable low voltage cutoff for this 18v battery to avoid killing it in a non-Milwaukee application, then?
A safe cut-off voltage for any li-ion cell is about 3.3V, so given these batteries have 5 cells in series, that would be 16.5V. (fully charged is 4.2V/cell, i.e. 21V)
David Moss from experience, I tried running this battery on a 20v craftsmen impact and it ended up blowing that exact same wire he has here in the video. So it doesn't seem to work.
Did you ever decode the secret blinky lights when you press and hold the battery charge level button?
I've gotten positive feedback from somebody that it's indeed a date code and serial number, but not exactly how those work. So not really.
Have you ever had to remove one of the cells? If so do you have a video of it?
No, so far both of my battery packs have been running perfectly balanced, without any issues. If you're interested in battery pack tab welding and the such, I do have a few tab welder videos although I don't really show me disassembling and assembling a full pack. That will come sometime in spring 2017 when I convert one of my bikes to electric.
The information about the blink codes can be found on a Google search. The first set of blinks is probably just "battery OK or dead" The second set of blinks is # days since battery was first connected to the buyer's charger (not same as days since manufacture), the third set is # times the pack has been recharged, and I don't think anyone worked out the 4th code. These codes are simply for warranty purposes.
Good video.
Dewalt have the same safety fuse.
It often burns. Someone used the battery not for designated purpose.
To batteries of Milwaukee replacement 18650 is admissible. They will work.
Blocking of the controller doesn't happen.
Whether loses the controller that that important? I don't know.
I had dead batteries. I repeatedly packed their new 18650.
You must repack with high amperage batteries, not cells scavenged from laptops etc. The cells in power tools are designed for 30A or more current, whilst laptop cells have higher capacity but max 8A or 10A... They will fail if too much current is attempted.
Makita is the worst, it burns out without a reason
Great video, awesome work! May i ask - i have similar Fuel M18 battery but no charger. Charge status button shows battery dead (1 LED blinking). I charged battery to full with lab power supply (4.2V for each cell now) but status still showing dead (1 LED blinking). Long press does not go into service mode. Pos and neg connections from connector to cells are ok. What could it be?
Same problem. I found 2 shorted (0.2V) cells , replaced those but still only show 1 led blinking. Have charged to 3, 6V all cells but still not taking charge from charger , green light (meaning full battery) and the battery doesnt work on tools.
If 1 LED blinking, it means that the pack has fallen below the minimum voltage threshold during the last discharge cycle. To fix it you must reset the pack, which is automatic if you plug it into a Milwaukee charger for a few seconds. [HAVE EDITED BELOW HERE]
I read online that it can be reset manually by applying a short-circuit between the Negative pack terminal #5 and terminal #4 immediately beside it. SO I just manually recharged a very flat M18 4.0 and it has not responded to the short circuit trick. The voltage on the 4th pin is at 0V anyway, so shorting it to Negative doesn't do anything anyway.
I'll test this further and see if I can detect anything happening from the charger side.
@@johncoops6897 Hi. Thanks for the advise, i tried and got the same result - voltage on pin 4 is zero so no effect from shortening. I will try to investigate further. Do you have the original charger? Do you have any possibility to discharge the battery completely and then plug it to the charger while monitoring voltage in pin 4? I also suspect that the guy suggesting that just confused which pin needs to be shortened..
Finally i got an original charger and tested how it works with the battery run into protection and manually charged with +- terminals.
First of all, the + terminal of the battery is not used in the charger.
If we count the terminals as 1 being - and 5 for +, number 5 is not connected at all. When battery is placed on the charger (unplugged from the wall) - there is aroung 20V on terminal 3 (coming from the battery). When you plug the charger - on terminal 2 there is around 11V and some pulses with duration ~5ms (checked with scope), on terminal 4 - around 2.3V sometimes changing to 1.8..2.1V (checked with multimeter).
To me it looks like there is some communication between charger and battery controller.
So i would say that without the charger you cannot do much. Trick of shortening some terminals on the battery - maybe works on some different models.
Or maybe battery must be charged by the 3rd terminal (if charged manually) instead of 5th?
@@johncoops6897 hi. Have you figured out how to reset the battery when having no original charger but lab power supply with CC/CV function? Any specific terminals need to be shortened to reset the battery or perhaps something else can be done?
I attempted to replace 4 bad cell in a pack and to my surprise even if they were correctly replaced, the battery does not power the drill. The LED of the drill does light, but the LED indicators and the drill are not working.
Sounds like the mystery of the inner pins, they should measure 3.3v across them, if they are zero they wont start tools up, just light their less. Did you maintain power to the board whilst disconnecting the bad cells?
@@suzesiviter6083 No, I did not know it needs a heart bypass at that point.
@@BorgOvermind Understandable, I didnt until I saw this video, seems these Milwaukee systems are overly complex, feel I need a DSO just to decode the tools now.
@@suzesiviter6083 They are not anti-repairing too much. If I do cell rebalance (I usually bring them to the value of the highest pair) for cells below usable value (battery flashing as for undervoltage) and then discharge the series a little, when connecting it to the charger the charger will reset the status to good and the battery will work. So it's not perma-kill like for Makitas.
@@BorgOvermind Recommend any good spot-welders?
But how did you repair it?..
Just guessing here. At 13:45, he pulls off an insulator to reveal a broken connection, which he suspects to be a burnt fused link. It looks kind of like a piece of solder braid. Assumedly he replaces the braid with a piece of high current wire, or some other type of fuse, and then reassembles the battery.
The best video examining a Milwaukee battery, great job! I wonder how is the balancing implemented, if there is no balance cell leads to the charger and the pcb doesn't seems to have a balancing facility (a row of 5 resistors with small fets should be quite obvious) then does the microprocessor only monitor the cell voltages?
It probably uses active balancing rather than resistive balancing. Cell voltage will be measured and trickle handled by the MCU. Remember, it only has to "stop charging" each cell once it reaches target voltage... it won't be transferring power between any cells. Think of it as 5 x Single cell chargers (each 4.2V 3A 12.6W) in series rather than one 21V 3A 63W charger with separate balance connectors and bleed resistors.
@@johncoops6897 that would be ideal, but there is no connection between the individual cells to the charger for that to be possible
@@OFERbikes - the PCB inside each battery pack is the charger. The CC/CV charge controller, BMS for under-voltage, over-voltage and over-current, plus active top balancing is all handled by that PCB. The base unit (that we might call a charger) is just a (3A) Constant Current >21V power supply. However it has some active circuitry inside to communicate with the battery PCB, which will switch on that big Mosfer and allow the "pack assembly" to accept a charge on the +/- terminals. The power tool and "power supply" don't have a function in BMS or Charging. Almost all lithium battery tools are configured that way, it's not unique to Milwaukee.
@@johncoops6897 Are you sure about the active balancing or you are guessing? I was also surprised to find recently that makita batteries have no electrical connection at all between the cells to the pcb nor the charger, which is nonsense to me.. treating a li-ion battery as a ni-cad..
@@OFERbikes I am not sure, and came to this video to get confirmation. However this RUclipsr decided not to tell anything about that.
As for "active balancing", this is common for consumer battery packs as it is much better than resistive balancing, as that's just over-charging the entire pack then slowing draining the voltage from the cells with highest voltage.
As for Makita... bullshit. They DO have connections between each cell and the BMS ruclips.net/video/PNVBbOQZW64/видео.html
hi, how did you repair the broken fuse, you didn't say, I have 7 batteries that are all doing that, that have had alot of use but not that old.
cheers.
+999metalme The fuse isnt a standard part, it looked like a piece of braided copper. So I replaced it with solder wick braid of the same size (6mm/1/4 in)
Your a champion, Thanks for the quick reply I hope my batteries problems lies in the same area.
Call Milwaukee and they will fix or replace them free of charge, if the batteries are less than 3 years old.
I just wire around the fusible link. I have never had any trouble with this way.
Can anyone confirm the LVC for the modern Milwaukee M18 tools?
Nope, but you could check the datasheet for the cells.
Got what I expected
Nice video dude
Why didn't u explain how to hook up power to the micro controller it's kinda of pointless to explain how to fix a battery if the micro controller loses power it will wipe it's ram and never work again????little confused but over good vid thx for sharing ur knowledge
If you have to ask then its best staying away from these jobs, especially since large battery packs can output a kw, enough to give you serious burns, its almost like shorting a car battery.
When you had it on the Milwaukee charger, was it flashing red and green?
+Clayton Magnet Nope, it was pretending to charge. But almost no power draw.
+PowerElectronicsBlog Just wondering because I have a battery pack that flashes red and green on the charger, the battery level doesn't work, and wont power the tool. The cells are charged though.
Insert properly same problem on mine just push down abit more
Mucho blablabla y poca acción, ve directo al grano y dinos que desoldar y volver a soldar
Nice Video. Thanks. I have a broken battery. The charge of 19 volts shows on meter for a second then goes to zero. Any thoughts on same. I got my drill at the recycling center with charger
The battery is broken. That is why somebody threw it away. Quite obvious really.
Great video, just a comment on what I think may make it even better. Your voice volume seems to drop every once and awhile and it become hard to understand what's being said. Try to keep the level the same through out and be a little more clear with your words.
Great work, keep it up. Thanks.
Agreed re: the voice. I have the computer volume up to full, and it still sounds muffled and like he's mumbling.
thats a fake battery the genuine ones have a green circuit board
Hey I got a battery for you to repair on video if you want a challenge?
Poor audio ,you fade in and out. I have an M18 has voltage will not turn on. So your on the same path ?
Good video but can you show me way to remove the board ?
I would like to know this too.
@@BADAZZGAMER Add wires from board to cells to keep board powered, remove the solder from board with desoldering wick, remove the board :)
Thanks
Hmmm... this has some potentially bad news for me. I removed the PCB from two of my Ryobi batteries (similar, made by the same manufacturer) to do some soldering on it. If it has the same type of micro controller, you're saying it won't work when I put it together?
There's a significant possibility it won't work anymore if you completely power down the electronics and then reconnect it afterwards. Unfortunately that's how a lot of BMS systems work. But you can always try, she's already fucked, can't fuck her any more... wait...
Thanks for the info. Perhaps you can let me know if these PCBs do actual balancing of the cells or not during charging.
any idea what voltage output on those 2 "data" pole?
+edwardlui531 They seem to have pull-ups to 3.3V. But there is no way to say what they do without properly probing.
The data poles will have DATA on them, not a Constant voltage.
@@johncoops6897 Is that the two inner pins of the battery?
@@suzesiviter6083 - The M18 batteries use data communications between the battery and the charger. You need to pass a data string from the battery BMS to the charger in order to get it to commence charging. There is also some information back the the BMS which stores charge cycles, etc in memory for diagnostics.
I cannot remember the full details, as I gave up trying to hack it. From memory, nobody has been able to completely reverse engineer it - I'm not saying it is impossible, but just that I couldn't find a proper analysis online after a lot of time searching.
@@johncoops6897 This is where a good data storage scope would help, thanks for your reply.
You say data goes from battery to charger, I think its duplex, that's why my battery seems to 'trip' on the impact and reset by my drill, the 2 inner pins measure 3.3v on untripped and 0v on tripped.
can you supply a diagram of which points you connected the jumpers to allow access to the P C B .V
You don't need a video or diagram. Watch this video and listen... He clearly shows and explains what to do. If you use your brain you can work it out, and if you can't work it out then you certainly should not be fucking around with dangerous lithium battery packs.
Thanks for the detailed video. The same breakdown was . Your video helped me a lot . One problem - I cut the wire to a temperature sensor :(
Can I connect by soldering the ends cut off ?
+Povorotam Well, you can try - there's not much else you can do I guess. Or, if it already works with the wire cut, why not keep it that way?
+PowerElectronicsBlog
All broke :(
Closed the sensor contact with the battery contacts .
Processor let smoke :)
Now I'm looking for where I buy a motherboard for a battery . :)
Here's a link to a new case and board:
www.aliexpress.com/item/Li-ion-Battery-Plastic-Case-M18-Shell-Charging-Protection-Circuit-Board-For-Milwaukee-18V-M18-48/32837214698.html?shortkey=nmeEbi2u&addresstype=600
You say once the battery cells are drained to 0V they are done for and the uP looses it's memory, that's not true. I've restored a battery pack which all cells had 0V just by force feeding each of them a high current for short periods. After they had about 2.5 to 3v on each I just put the pack in the charger and it took the normal charge and works fine.
Hey Walter,
question about this, I actually picked up a brand new pack that was completely drained (all cells 0.0x volts) and individually charged each cell, but from what he said in the video all hope is out because it wouldn't work since the uP lost all power. That being said, it looks like you had some success with recharging each cell individually, I did it while they were in their series (didn't remove them from their place) but I'm still not getting any 'life' from the pack, not even a response when I click the button on the front. Did you do anything special during your repair.. or? Thanks for your time. ~Charles
@@charlesfoster3933 you need to reset t the BMS by shorting the Negative terminal of the pack with the terminal next to it. E.g. terminals #5 and #4
Looks like chinese knockoff milwaukie batteries
NO - they are 100% genuine Milwaukee batteries that are sold in NON-USA countries. Same product as "RedLithium 4.0 XC" which is part code 48-11-1840 in the USA and sold as "M18B4" under part code 4932430063 in almost all other countries.
The big 4.0 sticker is the graphic prior to the "RedLithium branding, only recently changed in Europe yet still used in Australia.
@@johncoops6897 i have a bunch of them
and when you take them out of the case,
entire batteries bank are enclosed with Milwaukee PBC covers them all.
This can be knock off
Bro this is a counterfeit battery. Useless for anyone wanting to know about real Milwaukee M18 battery workings
I use two wire to charge my Milwaukee battery negative and positive and it blow the fuse of the transformer
You cannot use a transformer, and you should NEVER charge batteries that way! You must use a proper "constant current" lithium battery charger with suitable charge voltage (M18 = 5x3.6v nominal 5x4.1v charge). A transformer will not regulate the Charge Current properly nor have the correct Constant Voltage phase at the end of the charging cycle, so you will completely fuck your expensive Milwaukee battery if you don't manage those aspects properly.
Negative broke. ok
I'll just come out and say what most people are thinking after struggling to the end of this masterpiece. Do you even know what your doing aside from ripping shit apart and doing cut away to meter screen.
He uses some of the correct terms for things, but overall I'd say he was learning as he filmed. Hardly an instructional video, and hence it was incredibly tedious to watch.
Oh for crying out loud dude, that is NOT a fusible link, these circuits have an internal shutdown circuit, secondly you should be testing each individual battery, i have done this many times, i find one battery usually defective, do NOT try and charge the defective battery, get another one off ebay, i replace them and voila, all good , all charging and all lasting.
Don't know how to break this to you, but it is a fusible link and there
is no shutdown circuit. It was literally melted through. I don't know
how more obvious it can be. Your entire comment is false.
There was (and still is) nothing wrong with the cells. They are well-balanced and the machine still works a treat on the repaired battery. I've actually checked last week; the cells are still within 50mAh of each other, which is very well-balanced for an abused pack like this.
Yes it is a fusible link. That is why it has a crimp band on either side. They would not be there otherwise. To bad they don't use a fuse holder externally, available for fuse replacement. Since corporations are only profit driven, and we live in a throw away society, we probably will never see that design.
Hi could i hv ur email add pls? I hv a chinese drill n m having some problems. I would like to show u the problem im facing with. N get some advice.
Great, but the fix was too easy, was hoping for something more telling.
crap drills ..they don't honor there warrantee either, do not buy this crap
show us what you did to fix like a diy video this was not super duper helpful haha but overall very good video
+Gavin Haag Sorry man, this was one of those cases of 'I repaired it, then tested it and oh I forgot to tape that part where I show the actual repair'...
its ok man but cool video
Obviously.. Obviously.. Obviously..