Rigid 18v lithium help

[Ryan j]

I accidentally left my 18v rigid lithium battery in the rain. There is a little visible corrosion on a capacitor but that's it. The confusing thing is, it shows 18.5 volts at the terminals that connect to the tool, and it charges normally. But when I snap it into the tool, nothing. What exactly is going on?

 

[audioguru]

Maybe the battery terminals have corrosion that must be cleaned off.

 

[Ryan j]

I wish. Nope they are clean. I think the microprocessor in the battery shuts of power as soon as it is drawn. I think that because of how the battery will reads full voltage with a meter but will not power anything. Not even a light bulb. Weird. And I suspect if I bypass the micro processor the battery will no longer charge correctly.

 

[dr pepper]

Welcome here.
I think your right, the cells are probably fine, the micro or whatever device manages the battery has been affected somehow.
You might be able to clean it up, deposits might have built up on the board shorting something.
Be carefull pulling it apart if you decide to do so, if you short a nimh or a lipo bad things happen.

 

[Ryan j]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah there is a little corrosion on the board. I'll try to clean that off. I'm pretty handy but micro electronics are unknown to me. There's a cap that looks like it needs replaced. If I disconnect the power from the board is it going to cause problems.

 

[dr pepper]

Cant be certain but I dont think so, the device will most likely have a non volatile memory, otherwise it'd be to easy to defeat.

 

[spec]

I accidentally left my 18v rigid lithium battery in the rain. There is a little visible corrosion on a capacitor but that's it. The confusing thing is, it shows 18.5 volts at the terminals that connect to the tool, and it charges normally. But when I snap it into the tool, nothing. What exactly is going on?

Just a thought. Did the water get into the battery circuitry or is it all sealed up. If you think water may have got in, leave the battery somewhere hot and dry and it may start working again.

I've got damp into a watch, weighing scales, cell phone, and laptop. In each case they stopped working but after a couple of days in an airing cupboard (warm cupboard for storing cloths) they all recovered