Battery Hookup "10 Pounds of Mixed Tool Batteries" Offering

[J.P.]

For those of you who might be interested in this offering from Battery Hookup.

The Battery Hookup Ad says (in part): "MOST CUSTOMERS REPORT THAT THEY SALVAGED OVER 95% OF THE CELLS. SOME CELLS MAY BE LOW VOLTAGE BUT MOST WILL TAKE A CHARGE. WE HAVE BEEN BREAKING DOWN AND TESTING TOOL BATTERIES FOR A LONG TIME. MOST CELLS TEST BETWEEN 80-100% CAPACITY AND A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF CELLS WILL BE BAD BUT NOT MANY AND THE CELLS THAT ARE LOW VOLTAGE YOU CAN APPLY SMALL POWER TO WAKE THEM UP AND MOST WILL RECOVER. CERTAINLY BETTER RESULTS THAN TESTING DEAD LAPTOP PACKS."

I purchased 20 lbs. of these "Mixed Tool Batteries" and here are my initial results.
Of the 21 battery packs they sent me:
(15) - Ryobi 18V (5 cells per pack)
(1) - Makita 18V (5 cell)
(1) - Makita 18V (10 cell)
(1) - Ridgid 18V (5 cells)
(1) - Dewalt 20V (5 cells)
(1) - Interstate 18V (10 cells)
(1) - Hoover 18V (5 cells)
TOTAL - 115 Cells

Of note, all of the Ryobi packs had the outer case screws removed.
Not sure why as all of the other packs had their screws intact, but it was nice to not have to remove them.

VOLTAGE RESULTS: (Fluke 117)
Ryobi Pack #1 LGDAHA11865 (0.581V) (0.607V) (3.429V) (3.285V) (0.599V)
Ryobi Pack #2 LGDAHA11865 (-0.007V) (0.010V) (0.014V) (-0.020V) (0.016V)
Ryobi Pack #3 LGDAHA11865 (0.016V) (0.013V) (-0.007V) (-0.012V) (0.004V)
Ryobi Pack #4 LGDAHA11865 (0.001V) (0.002V) (0.000V) (0.002)V (0.004V)
Ryobi Pack #5 INR18650-15M M (-0.015V) (-0.001V) (0.000V) (1.118V) (1.171V)
Ryobi Pack #6 The inside of this battery looked like it had spent time in the bottom of a lake and was so corroded that I did not even bother with it.
Ryobi Pack #7 INR18650-15M M (0.000V) (0.000V) (0.000V) (0.733V) (0.769V)
Ryobi Pack #8 INR18650-15M M (-0.030V) (-0.020V) (0.021V) (0.527V) (0.800V)
Ryobi Pack #9 INR18650-15M M (0.000V) (0.000V) (0.000V) (0..877V) (0.930V)
Ryobi Pack #10 INR18650-13Q M (0.000V) (0.000V) (0.000V) (0.000V) (0.000V)
Ryobi Pack #11 LGDAHA11865 (-0.003V) (0.001V) (0.000V) (0.007V) (-0.004V)
Ryobi Pack #12 LGDAHA11865 (0.000V) (0.000V) (1.213V) (1.082V) (0.008V)
Ryobi Pack #13 LGDAHA11865 (0.008V) (0.009V) (0.016V) (0.010V) (0.013V)
Ryobi Pack #14 LGDAHA11865 (0.487V) (0.515V) (0.810V) (3.513V) (3.514V)
Ryobi Pack #15 LGDAHA11865 (3.565V) (3.554V) (0.519V) (0.734V) (0.653V)
Makita Pack #1 SE US18650VT (3.961V) (3.949V) (3.960V) (3.958V) (3.960V)
Makita Pack #2 SE US18650V All 10 cells were 0.000V and the positive ends were very corroded and a couple had holes in them.
Ridgid 18V SE US18650VT (3.930V) (3.938V) (3.930V) (3.937V) (3.934V)
Dewalt 20V INR18650-13B M (3.952V) (3.720V) (3.662V) (0.000V) (0.000V)
Interstate 18V INR18650-15K M (4.036V) (4.018V) (4037V) (4.038V) (4.036V) (4.038V) (4.036V) (4.036V) (4.036V) (4.036V)
Hoover 18V INR18650-20Q M (0.006V) (0.005V) (0.006V) (0.006V)(0.008V)

Of note: Not sure why some of the cells read a negative voltage. I had the leads on the correct ends.

Summary of cell voltages:
(10) > 4V
(18) 3V<4V
(0) 2V<3V
(15) 1V<2V
(52) 0V<1V
(15) Completely unsalvageable

I don't know if the (15) Cells that were less than 2V or the (52) cells that were less than 1V down to 0V will "wake up" or not or even if they do will they be worth anything but I will go through the process and find out and maybe I will come back and update this post once I do. Regardless I will not use them in anything important.

CONCLUSION: Even though these were only $12/lb (+ shipping), to only recover (28) cells that were in the proper voltage range is a bit disappointing.

 

[Gmac04]

4 18650 2200MAH CELLS IN MODEM BATTERIES​

I purchased 212 modems (LG/Samsung) last year from Battery Hookup. They were a real pain to open and took me over a week to extract the cells, but of the 848 cells, 790 tested at least 2000mA - some over 2300mA. About 20 were completely dud and the rest came in between 1500 and 1800mA.
The modems + shipping, customs and VAT totalled £604 so the usable cells worked out at about 77p. That makes them a pretty good buy. A few modems had a label with a date in 2010 so they will have been in storage for 11 years.

​

 

[J.P.]

UPDATE: Of the 52 cells that were basically 0V, 40 of them would not take a charge.
Out of 115 cells, only 75 (65%) would take a charge and be usable for something.

 

[A.Justice]

I only had about 15 good cells, and 2 fully functioning packs, in my 20 lbs. All of the Ryobi packs were unsalvageable, except for a cell or two, a few Rigid packs were able to have all of the cells salavaged, and an old 28 volt Milwaukee pack with HUGE cardboard cells still worked.

What made it worth it for me was the one 3.0 M18 Milwaukee pack that still holds most of its charge. I use M18 tools and it is, even at its cheapest, a $25 used pack. It doesn't have the oomph that my other packs have, but it works just fine for my drill.

I also learned that most of the packs battery hookup sends out are Ryobi, they seem to have a high failure rate. No Ryobi for me!