RYOBI 18V Battery Not Working? [Easy DIY Charging Hack] 

Just a note for the channel. No Manufacture can deny your warranty claim simply for opening the device. The FTC has given notice on this multiple times and the myth persists. Open all your devices.

I opened up my dead battery to bypass the protective circuit, and just used a known good battery with cover on to jump wires to for about a minute and it worked like a charm.

Thank you! I could not get the 3-wire charging method to work. Instead, I used an old 19V laptop power supply and 2 wires to charge the battery terminals for about 30 seconds. The battery pack went from 2V to 12V. I put the battery back on the charger and it charged! The hard part for me is actually getting the plastic cap to one of the screws out. For the screws, my regular torx almost fit and could take out 2 screws. But I eventually have to go to Harbor Freight to get a $6 security bit set that can unscrew at ease.

I've now watched a half dozen videos on this process, and like this one the best. Many thanks.

I was on my way to HD to buy some new Ryobi batteries and decided to search on fixing them first. Found this video and gave it a shot. Got one battery from 4.9v to 15 in just a few minutes, and the second from 0 to 15 in just a few minutes longer. One is finishing on the charger now while #2 waits it's turn. Awesome hack, thanks!

I know I know they want to sell more batteries, but why the hell don't they have a special connection built in so purchasers of their products to just plug in a special charger of some kind that only allows a 30 second charge to kick start the ( expensive ) batteries for consumers. This a wonderful tip, thank you.

Yooooo, this was an awesome hack!! I had some spare 14/2 wire and I just looped the ends to slide over the internal clips...worked like a charm. Gotta say, I was a little nervous that the battery was going to explode or something, but it didn't. Glad I brought my dead battery back to life. Thanks so much for making this video!

Your video is the best one out there. My Ryobi Li-ion 18v battery was totally dead! Almost no voltage and I measured the voltage of each battery as you said to do and they did not measure the same. I tried your method exactly as you show in the video, and it worked like a charm! Mine went bad after using it on my circular saw. The charge ran out while cutting a board. I let it cool and then when I tried to charge it...nothing! This method brought it back. Thanks

This worked for 2 of my P102 “dead” batteries. What I learned though is that you need to touch the GND side before the + side . When I had the positive connected first … it went to “defective “. When I touched the GND plus sensor wire then the positive… it worked. 2x at 30 seconds then back on the charger and I have 2 working batteries! Thank you!

Easier than I thought! No jump start needed. Once I opened it up and inspected the cells I found a break in the circuit. They were all held together with hot glue which had cracked. Probably a sharp blow like dropping the battery had broken the joint connecting two cells. I glued everything tight and soldered the bus. It worked! My 5 tool pack now has 2 good batteries... just like it came with 18 years ago.

Thanks a lot for making and sharing this video. Clear, concise, and easy to follow. It did not work for the 2 RYOBI 18 V batteries I have. I’m glad though, because you pointed out that, it will not charge or wake up, if one or more cells is depleted. Mine read

This worked! Thank you! $20 trickle charger and $10 for a set of hex lock heads saved me $100 on two batteries!

I fixed mine by putting the battery in and out of the charger quickly about 6xs and on the last one it recognized the battery. Worked on 2 of them.

Great video, I had this exact same problem, my battery would just flash red on the charger and wasn't that old, I found your video and said, I might as well try this before I go out and buy a new one. Well i followed your video step by step and IT WORKED, my battery has recharged and is back to life. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

Thank you. Your instructions are clear and easy to follow. The most difficult part was getting the correct T10 bit to extract the screws.

Thanks! Your tutorial made this a quick and easy project! I brought an almost new but non-functioning pack back to life!

I had a brand new Roybi 18V battery sitting in garage for a few years and never been used. Recently take it out and plug in and it won't charge. I tried three methods and not be able to revive the battery. This is the fourth try and it worked. Thank You ! Also in my case I found out that the negative and neutral wires should not be touched each other when attaching them to the negative terminal of the battery. I felt really happy finally the battery can be revived using your method.

It worked!!! I had two dead (detective according to charger) ryobi batteries laying around for about 3 years. This worked like a charm. I used my car battery to jump them.

This worked for me. :) But, It occured to me that if all you're doing is pushing a bit of charge in, there's no need to use the ryobi charger, and wire nonsense. (I have a different charger that seems to have another security pin). In the end, I just used a 12V 500maH wall charger that gives 17V not under load. held that aginst the terminals for about 5 mnutes, until I was solidly above 13.5 V (which I'm assuming is the cutoff voltage of 2.7V per cell). reassembled, and it is charging as we speak . Cheers!

Also know that Ryobi's various chargers can have different circuitry and if one of my batteries won't charge in one charger I'll try a different one. I have 3 different models acquired over the years (Models P114, P117 & P118) and sometimes the newer P117 or P118 charger won't pass the test to charge a battery but the older P114 model will. That particular charger dates to 2014 or 2015 and either came in the box with a leaf blower or as part of a 6 piece tool combo.

Such a great hack. Thanks so much for posting this video. Had a great time trying it out. I had an even better time confirming it works. You’re the man.

Thanks man i had 2 4 ah batteries that i let sit too long and wouldn't charge it was my fault but still a huge bummer. I have watched a few videos about this yours was by far the best i have come across. I have been a little nervous to try this until i saw this and you broke it down simple and clear. I now have both my batteries back and you just saved me 100 bucks thanks man

This trick is something I have done with car chargers, the newer smart chargers won't charge a car battery if it's really low (like 8v or lower) but if you hook up the charger then also hook up another 12v battery (or anything close) it will then start charging, I had 12v batteries from UPS power supplies and I would use that to just trick the charger. Now, technically if a lead acid battery drops that low the cells are damaged but you can still put enough charge into one this way to last a few days and to get you to the store to buy a replacement.

I had success with this same issue by just connecting the positive and negative terminals on the bad battery to a good battery for 2 minutes without taking the battery apart. After this the charger did its job and charged the dead battery.

Worked great, I used alligator clips to make it easier and just used the plug to disconnect. Originally read as 03.009V, after 3 cycles of 45sec it read 13.641V. I was then able to charge normally. Thanks for the tip. 😊

I just found a bunch of ryobi tools in my alley in a box saying bad battery blower drill, this 💯% works

Thanks got my two battery packs working in 30 minutes. Good video. Except I just flashed the terminals with a small 12 volt battery charger for 30 seconds.

Thank you for the video, worked great. I have some batteries that I ordered but this allows me to use my tools still until they come in.

Thanks for the video . From your video I did something a bit more simple. I have a trickle charger so after I took it apart I taped the trickle charger ends directly to the bottom negative and positive for about 10-15 seconds. I tested it with positive results and now it charges. My items were manufactured in 2014 and never got taken out the box!

Worked for me. My battery was 0.5v and I had to charge it to 18v to get it working.

Dang! Bro thanks for sharing it’s amazing my battery now charging, it saved me from buying another battery.

A simpler way I found in another video is to just connect one working, fully charged battery directly to the bad battery, positive to positive, negative to negative. Some wire and electrical tape did the trick. It worked on one of my bad batteries, after a couple of minutes of battery to battery charging the charger accepted the bad battery. For this to work you need to have one working battery, obviously. I have one bad battery left. I'll open it and check the cells. Thanks for a great video.

Life saver, or actually battery saver. Thank you!

Works perfectly!!!!!!!!!! I had one battery that wouldnt charge and I only used it once. Put the wires on for about 30 sec and BAM! it is now charging!!! I was wondering, could you just put the wires on the battery terminals without taking it apart? 2 wires on neg and the one on pos?

I used a similar method, but the old battery was so low the charger still didn't recognize it. I put a good battery in the charger and once it begins charging, use ur method below the board on the dead battery, AND wallah! Worked like a charm.

This is a great video fella. You helped me to fix my batteries. Thanks a bunch.

Thank you! Took about 10 mins. Canceling my order for replacement batteries.

Great video brother, thank you!

Hell yeah, this helped save one of my batteries I was about to throw away! Thanks!

Thank you. That worked perfectly

Answered some questions I have had , thank you

It's the only hack that worked for my Ryobi batteries after watching loads of different vlogs.. much appreciated.

Thank you for the DIY info. I was able to recharge now my battery following your instructions.kudos.

What a good video! Thank you for the sharp concise information!

Dude you are a legend. Thank you!!!

Worked a treat - charging now - thank you....

thank you for the easy to follow instructions

Thank you for saving me the cost of a new battery!!!!

I followed your directions and it worked!!! Thank you for saving me some $$$.

This worked out great! Used my portable car booster to jump the battery back to life…. CLEAR!

Great video! I was unable to charge a dead battery using the 3 wires from the charger. I was able to use a fully charged battery and jump the dead battery pack with 2 wires. The dead battery showed 1.56 volts at the battery pack, while the tower showed .2 volts. 10 seconds of contact gave the battery pack 13 volts, and the charger accepted it.

Always good to see a worker that reuses duct tape for minor uses. Your trick puts you in my investigate other vids for potential subscription. Question... I have several older sony camera batteries that won't take a charge ... will the same trick work if I can break open the battery case? Lawson Texas

Sir, you just acquired yourself a subscriber. Thank you for the upload.

Thank you so much . Your method works like a champ .

It works! Thanks bro 🍻

One of these days gotta try that.thanks 👍✌️

this method works, thank you

Thank you. I ended up using a power supply with a diode inline and it worked as well.

Worked great! Thank you!!!

Thanks so much. Great video.

I have a ryobi pbp 005 battery. Inside I get 17.5 volts, at tower only 0.5 volts. Tried boosting the inside with another fully charged ryobi battey, but no luck. I have done many in the past boosting the inside when they were low and brought them up to be acepted for a charge. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thank you for your tutorial, and all the best from New Rochelle N.Y.

Good idea and helpful video. Unfortunately my Ryobi battery pack was a dead duck; only one battery with ~ 3 VDC, the rest of them 0 VDC. Could not be resurrected..

Thanks sir! This fixed my battery! Much appreciated

Wow! Thanks so much for this video. I was very frustrated that one of my relatively new batteries was dead even though the other one that came with my tool at the same time was just fine. Tried your hack and it worked perfectly. So glad to know about this.

thanks for the information

Thank You!!

Hey, it worked! Thanks for your tip!

Thanks 👍 its working ☺️

I just nearly used up both of my batteries on a job, am still on the job, and my charger seems to be dead -- no LEDs when I insert a battery and plug on the power cord. My batteries are both fairly new and both still power a tool but are now down to "one LED" (one of them even blinking). Need to charge these! Any thoughts on what might be wrong with the charger? I opened the case and found a glass fuse-looking thing, but it appears to be intact. I don't currently have access to a meter, alligator clips, scrap wire, etc.

It worked! Thank you!

Awesome video! I just saved 2 batteries! Thank you sir. 👍

This is great, thanks!

great thanks just brought it back to life

Genius! I gotta try this

Brilliant, worked like a dream

Thank you 🙏🏽 you so smart🤩

Thank you so much, It works

Great vid....thanks for posting this

what if all teh cells are good, balanced, and total battery volts is 19.5+? but the tower volts is 0.07 or lower? whats the reset/fix/ to turn on the board and allow it to let volts flow?

Great trick. I had already 5 deep discharged batteries from Makita. Once I forgotten to charge them (let them unused for several months) I had to order a new third brand one á 35 euro 😢.

Cheers worked like a charm all good 👍👍😜😜

Thanks. I just use fully charged battery instead of charger and it worked

Works like a charm!!!!!

Thanks for the assist, broski!

Can you just use the positive and negative terminals on the battery exterior to manually charge the battery, (without taking it apart)? The official charger is what is denying the charge, not the battery or its electronics itself, right? I am guessing the charger polls the voltage of the battery and then just refuses to charge if it doesn't detect a normal voltage. Therefore, the fastest way to do this would be to design a clip for the terminals, then hook it to a 20 V DC power supply. Whenever you have a sub-charged battery, just pop it on the clip you designed for a minute.

Hello, very interesting and informative video. I have a P191 3.0Ah battery. It has voltage on its main terminals (positive and negative), but it does not have any power on the terminal tower. Is there any other way to reset this battery? Is it a good idea to totally discharge the battery and try to charge it back (maybe it will reset it)? Thank you in advance.

Thank you😊😊😊

I was repairing power tools up until 22 years ago & we didn't have the luxury of repairing battery packs like that & we couldn't be bothered sending them next door to get refurbished because we were working next door to a business who repaired battery packs. If they were under warranty then Ryobi just sent us a new battery & their chargers were a bit crude for their smaller power tools because they only used a DC power pack & battery stand which were replaced under warranty very often. That was up until 22 years ago which was the end of my apprenticeship, battery technology has evolved from NiCd batteries back then to NiMh batteries then to Liion batteries which we have now. The problem with the newer batteries is transporting them because they can't be shipped from overseas with the power tool because they can't fly them overseas by air. Those old batteries are probably worth saving in your own spare time but they were never economically viable to repair at work,my boss who owned the business in partnership with another person ran a maintenance business in the electrical trade but he never managed me during my apprenticeship, someone else did !

If all the cells are tied together they are going to read as one cell. They have to be separated to read each individual cell

Thanks Mr. vlogger my battery now is working

Don’t wire it this way , the circuit is a bcs and a balancer . Shoving volts through the bank kills the battery further . Get a 18650 single cell portable battery bank . Open it up and remove the circuit from case and battery. Connect on each cell SEPARATELY and charge them up to around 3.9v when power is removed ( it’ll charge but you want to remove power and it hold stable around 3.9 v ) . Screw it back together and it will start charging . You must never charge a bank In series and some cells take charge more than others ( that’s the reason why cells charge separately , even a quick shunt across a bank could fry a cell in an instant . If it doesn’t charge then either the bcs is bad or a single cell ( or more ) is bad . Never at any time should you shunt the bank and if you don’t understand why then ask a rc modeller but be prepared to be called a looney if you suggest shunting a series charge

Thanks, easy fix

Nice hack, thanks. Worked a treat on my tired 9 mAH big battery as well.

it works, thanks.

Hi ! I have a Ryobi P107 Li-Ion battery that won't charge. It reads 4.6 volts on the tower, but on the battery itself it reads16.7 VDC. It also reads 4.6 volts at the board connections for the tower. Any thoughts are welcomed !

I took two years of Japanese in highschool, late 90s. I would correct people, it's Ree-o-bee. They told me to tell my story walking. That wasn't very nice.

Would it be possible to connect the test tab of the charger to the test tab of a good battery while plugging the bad one in (its test tab covered)?

I am doing the same thing but I have 2 different styles of chargers one of the chargers is reading the voltage as being too low but the other one isn't and the one that is reading it too low is the smart charger and the one that is working is the basic charger for it

Bro u r genius

I have had Ryobi tools for years the batteries are 2017 never had any problems but i do use the bigger slot in charger