18 Volt Makita Battery Repair

Step 1 Dismantle and Inspect

Before you start disassembling, remember that even if your batteries have stopped working, they can hold a lot of energy. Be careful how you handle them and most importantly make sure you don't short them.

Therefore, the first step is to remove the cover. This button is held in place by four Anti Tamper T10 screws, on newer models there may be a white Anti Tamper plug covering one of the screws. I found that the easiest way to remove it was to screw in a small wooden screw and pull it out with pliers.

Therefore, the first step is to remove the cover. This button is held in place by four Anti Tamper T10 screws, on newer models there may be a white Anti Tamper plug covering one of the screws. I found that the easiest way to remove it was to screw in a small wooden screw and pull it out with pliers.

If you open it up and you see clearly damaged cells, you'll need to replace them, which is beyond the scope of this article.

Related: Nicad Battery Repair Free

Step 2 Check the battery.

I have four faulty batteries and have checked the voltage of each battery and the pairs of cells. I found the following:

lander 1: Do not charge with overheat warning. The plastic part on the side of the release button is also bubbling. It shows 7.99v across the entire battery, which corresponds to 0.04v, 0v, 3.96v, 0.04v and 3.97v on each pair of cells, respectively. When opening the battery, the second pair of cells is clearly damaged.

Battery 2: Unable to charge with classic red/green flashing light. It is 12.84v on battery and 3.2v, 0v, 3.22v, 3.22v and 3.21v on each pair of cells respectively.

Battery 3: Doesn't charge with classic red/green turn signals. It is 15.54v on battery and 0v, 3.89v, 3.89v, 3.89v and 3.89v on each pair of cells respectively.

Battery 4: Cannot charge with classic red/green flashing light. There are 18.15v on the battery and 3.62v, 3.63v, 3.6, 3.63v and 3.62v on each pair of cells respectively.

For comparison, a known good battery seems to measure around 20 volts when just charged.

Step 3 Replace the control board.

The control card comes with precise instructions on how to adapt, but it doesn't explain everything. Perhaps this is because it can be used with all 18v LXT battery models manufactured by Makita. If you have some common sense, you should be fine.

So aside from soldering you can expect to have to cut a lot of plastic and assuming you're as lucky as I am and don't need to replace the cells. The best way to do this is to determine where to solder to the cells, because if you solder you could overheat.

As I previously took out the battery pack, the first thing to do was remove the existing PCB and cut the plastic PCB holder etc. Follow the instructions. I chose to cut the nickel contacts instead of smothering it. Mounting the PCB and soldering the wires to the contacts was simple, although I had to tear off my biggest solder.

Makita 18v LXT Lithium-ion Battery Repair:

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