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I was wondering if anybody here has had their batteries rebuilt. I have a bunch of Milwaukee batteries that don't hold a charge anymore and started looking at companies that repack the cells. I found one web site http://www.voltman.com who repacks 18 volt batteries for $35, sounds like a better deal than $70 for a new pack. I wanted to see if anybody has had any experience with this as I don't want to throw away my money to have them repacked and still have problems. Thanks

I had some rebuilt by a local company that were on a transit.

and they work great, just ask about the charging interval with the new batteries.

You could always buy some new cells and solder it up yourself, I did that with one of my drills. Got the pattern slightly off, though, and had trouble getting the battery pack case back on. I'd do it again though, REALLY saves on cost for not having to pay some of the extortion-like markups on proprietary battery packs.

Take it apart and see if it's just a bunch of C-cells. You can buy cells designed specifically for use as battery packs that come with solder tabs pre-connected.

Of course, last time I did this it cost $35 in just batteries, and this was a lowball website selling for around wholesale, so that repacking guy sounds like a great deal- almost too good to be true...

Edit, I think your link should be: http://www.voltmanbatteries.com/

[This message has been edited by SteveFehr (edited 07-30-2006).]

Thanks for the correction on the link, thats what I get for going off memory. I looked into repacking the battery myself and the cost was the same or more as sending it out. I read some letters they posted on their site saying how great they were, but who knows where they came from.

I also just noticed that I spelt batteries wrong in my post title... One of these days I will learn to type both fast AND accurate.

[This message has been edited by JCooper (edited 07-30-2006).]