Ion Ice Auger battery hack help

I recently purchased and Ion auger with two batteries. One good one bad battery. I took the bad battery apart and found it was corroded. Testing out the cells I found that 4 out of the 20 are bad. Batteries plus etc won’t rebuild the pack. So I thought maybe, that because I have some 18volt Ridgid power tool batteries, I could do a hack using the connectors on the old ion battery pack board and get a couple adapters for the Ridgid batteries and put the batteries in series and get 40 volts and try powering up the auger that way. I do have another battery so I’m not without auger use. It costs me $24 on Amazon to get the adapters that basically have a red and black wire running out of them. I soldered the black and red middle wires from each adapter together and connected them top 2 18 volt 5 ah Ridgid batteries. I get 40. 6 volts measured on volt meter. I then soldered them to the connectors of the old ion battery pack circuit board where the red and black were soldered to the leads from corroded cell (not still connected to the ion batteries, just the circuit board plus and minus) and again I measured and get 40 volts. I then connected it to the auger to test it and.. nothing. No power at all. I then put the good ion battery in it and it works fine? I measure the ion battery and I get 40.5 volts so they are basically the same voltage? I was thinking that maybe amperage was different but the ion battery is a 2 amp hour and the Ridgid is 5 ah so I don’t think that is the issue? What am I missing? I even took the ion battery pack apart and connected it the to the auger just so I could test it out to see if I get different readings? But they are the same? When I test the voltage on both circuit boards they are measure all in the same places? And, again, I have a good battery so I’m not without an auger. But now it’s a curiosity thing to find out why it doesn’t work? And I have tried different Ridgid batteries and they all work the same way? I’m missing something simple I think … 🧐

DON’T DO IT!!!
Nobody will rebuild a lithium ion battery commercially. Too dangerous and risky. Even if you have a battery spot welder, your exposing yourself to high pressure cells and when they ignite in the presence of oxygen, they’re near impossible to extinguish. Additionally, Several of the byproducts of that fire are extremely toxic, even deadly, if inhaled.
In a nut shell, If I were you, I’d bite the bullet and get OEM batteries. Imagine what would happen if you had family in the car when a battery lit up? i speak from experience. We had a battery develop a crack and go up in an un-ventilated area. It took an act of congress to clear and clean the building to make it re-habitable.
You can be wise, or cheap.

Was there any type of circuit board/protection chip in the old battery cell casing? I’d be careful poking around in that stuff though…

I’m not rebuilding it. It’s not even in the equation. Please reread the entire post

No I’m not rebuilding anything or using anything other than the connections and the ridgid batteries. I’m asking if anyone has the experience with this for their opinion

I think the concern is that unless we aren’t understanding you, those Rigid batteries are ALSO lithium time bombs, being pressed into service for which they are not intended. What’s an Ion battery, a couple hundred bucks? Well worth the piece of mind, and plus you’ll then have an actual battery when the other one inevitably fails.

There may be more than two connections on the ion battery. These “extra” connections may be connected to temperature sensors or they could monitor the voltage of the individual cells.

I get that I can buy another battery and I already have 2 extras. But it bothers me that it doesn’t work when it should? I see many hacks using power tool batteries for to power other devices with no problem at all. I’ll figure it out. And the only way the lithiums will explode is if they are punctured or over heated. Even if you connect them backwards they need time to heat up enough to explode

I think you may be correct as there is another connection there but when I measure it I also get 40 volts? And it’s a ground connection. I’m reading the same voltage there as the OEM Ion battery. But that extra connection has to have something to do with making it work otherwise why would they have it? I think it may be a temp sensor? But the batteries are all the same room temp? It’s some sort of protection

mnfish wrote:

I get that I can buy another battery and I already have 2 extras. But it bothers me that it doesn’t work when it should? I see many hacks using power tool batteries for to power other devices with no problem at all. I’ll figure it out. And the only way the lithiums will explode is if they are punctured or over heated. Even if you connect them backwards they need time to heat up enough to explode

It’s the electrolytes in the battery that are the concern with over heating in a properly sealed battery. Not the lithium.

If you break open that seal and expose lithium to any moisture (water) you will form highly flammable hydrogen gas.

If your breaking any seals, even when you think it’s just outside packaging I would be very careful. Some have many seals as a precaution.

Lithium batteries are difficult to recycle because you can start fires when attempting to break seals.