That moisture tab is just to let Ryobi know that you got the battery wet, so they dont need to replace it under warranty - it does nothing to actually stop the battery from charging. This battery wont charge because the smarts in the board are detecting some issue (likely due to rapid metal corrosion in the presence of the oxygenated water). That helps protect Ryobi from you suing them when your garage burns down, by ensuring if something seems off, they dont let juice get to your battery cells, potential avoiding fires. Hope that helps.

@mknmike

3 ай бұрын

I wonder if there's a simple way to bypass those bad items on the board. These four batteries still sit in my basement. A friend considered setting them up as a 12 Volt battery to use for car testing.

You need to get a meter and see what individual cell voltage is. I suspect that they are all very low, below the threshold that the electronics on the PCB is expecting. IF the voltages are all the same, balanced, then I would start by charging each cell pair (there are 5) up to about 3 volts, which would give you 15 volts. Then check the POS and NEG on the tower to see if they read the same as the battery pack with out the protection of the Printed Circuit Board. At that point I think you can get the charger to accept the battery and charge it up to full, 4 led's bars on...

@mknmike

3 ай бұрын

I think all of the cells are ok in all the batteries. I tested them and even found a way to charge some cells that I wasn't able to charge "the right way". I think the circuit boards got screwed due to moisture.

Just curious - why do you think that item is a moisture sensor, as opposed to a temperature sensor?

@mknmike

9 ай бұрын

I believe I read that the sensors turn pink or red when wet. These batteries were completely submerged and full of water (and rust). I don’t regret opening them up, but it was a total waste of time. I bought a couple additional batteries for cheap on eBay, maybe generic on Amazon. I’m back in business. These batteries can be disassembled for their cells for later fun maybe. I assume the brain board is junk.

@BobBob-nr1zt

9 ай бұрын

​@@mknmike Oh I see what you're saying. Yeah that could be moisture detection material. However the black item with two wires that you refer to as a tab is actually a temperature sensor. The temp sensor will not have been affected by exposure to moisture. However water and corrosion getting between the little tiny electrical connections of the various surface mount components on the board could have introduced some shorts between those connections, and between those connections and the battery terminals. This may have allowed electricity to flow where it should not have, maybe causing permanent damage to some components. Maybe washing the board off with rubbing alcohol and brushing it clean with a toothbrush could bring it back to life. Meanwhile, each battery should be between 3.5 and 4 volts. If the battery voltage dropped too low, this can cause permanent damage to the batteries, although sometimes you can bring them back to life by connecting a charge source. The battery assembly electronics won't allow charging if the individual batteries are too low and/or if the individual batteries aren't all roughly the same voltage. The corrosion on the battery terminals won't hurt anything as long as it did not eat through the little round spot welds connecting the metal battery terminals to the batteries. The easiest way to repair one of these batteries is to buy a new battery, swap out the internals, and then return the new battery as defective.

@mknmike

9 ай бұрын

@@BobBob-nr1zt I understand all that, and after figuring out how to open the battery, that is all pretty apparent. One of the screws on each of the battery housings had a soft rubber cover that can’t really be removed without damaging it. I’m not going to say that a Home Depot store employee would notice that, but I’m also not trying to rip off Home Depot either. Their store(s) provide me with a great service that enables me to fix up a lot of stuff. And even if it didn’t, it wouldn’t make it right to rip off Home Depot. These batteries probably paid for themselves by now. I was able to get 4ah (or greater) replacements for less than $25 each on average buying on eBay used and generic on probably Amazon (or eBay). They all seem to be working well. I spent $100 but now have more and better batteries than before. Small addition to the ~$6000 project I took care of myself that would have cost ~$26,000 had I hired the pro I was planning to use for the project. I also decided to buy a 16” lawnmower for my tiny lawn used in eBay too for $160 which comes with another 4ah battery. I figure it will make it just that much easier to mow the lawn, not worrying about the extension cord every time I mow. The yard will look nicer thanks to Ryobi. :-)

@BobBob-nr1zt

9 ай бұрын

​@@mknmike There must be some way to remove the plug without damaging it. Maybe with some oil lubricant and a vacuum created by a large syringe you could pull it out. As far as after-market batteries, I'm afraid they are almost always not the capacity they claim, they are sometimes not even the chemistry they claim (i.e. nicad instead of lithium) and they will typically not last for nearly as many cycles as a quality battery. Also, they are usually missing safety features and are exponentially more likely to start a fire and burn your house down. And even if you buy Ryobi branded batteries, there are tons of counterfeit Ryobi batteries flooding the market place. The only way to get quality batteries is to buy from large suppliers such as Home Depot, Mouser, etc. As far as the ethics of stealing from Home Depot, you are misinformed about the role that corporations play in society. Corporations are massive wealth theft machines, enabling concentration of vast quantities of stolen wealth into the hands of a tiny proportion of the population - the kleptocratic class. And as far as Amazon, this is an anti-democratic organization that provides logistical support to ICE's kidnapping and sexual assault of brown children, organizes against unions, and generally undermines democracy. So, no one with any sort of moral compass would buy from Amazon what they could buy elsewhere. It's good that you have a moral compass, but if you need to acquire a basic education about wealth inequality and social problems, otherwise you'll just continue to help make this world a less safe place for all of us.

Moisture sensor....hahaha.....that's merely an adhesive pad to keep the temperature sensor/probe in contact with the battery.

@mknmike

3 ай бұрын

I assumed because it is red / pink it was a moisture sensor. This thing was SOAKED. Thanks for letting me know that wire was a temp sensor. I wasn't sure what it was for.

Why should a battery have a "moisture sensor"???? That only shows that You do not know a bet of what you are talking about (excuse my English) that is a TEMPERATURE SENSOR!

@mknmike

3 ай бұрын

Are you sure it's a temperature sensor? Other comments say it's a moisture sensor too. Thanks for your comment.