Battery Adaptor for Cordless Tool Version 2

Last year I posted my first instructable for a Battery Adaptor for my old 14.4 Volt Ryobi cordless tool set including flashlight, small circular saw and a drill.
First the charger went, then the batteries died, and then before I could buy replacements the company then switched to the 18V format and dropped all product support for the 14.4V line.
I purchased a new 18 Volt drill from another manufacturer in protest but it really wasn't as good as my old one, the chuck slips when drilling and the drill clutch does not seem to handle torque well.
So this is my second Battery Adaptor Hack to resuscitate my old tools cheaply and keep them running!
My newer 18Volt orange and white brand drill and chopsaw combo had a different battery setup than my other 18V batteries that I built my first adaptor too, Cleaning out the garage and workbench this spring I found my other old dead 14,4 Volt battery and started hacking away....

Deconstruct Your Battery

Take your old battery apart, save the screws, and carefully separate the metal clips off from the battery, You can dry fit the terminal end back inside to the top to see how it fits and what terminal is postive and negative.

Prepare the Terminals

crimp and solder a wire on one terminal.jpg

Crimp and solder a wire on one terminal, glue it in place,
Solder a wire onto the other terminal,
When cool, glue into place in the top of the adaptor.
Note what side is positive and negative.

Prepare the Bottom of the Adaptor

Examine and measure the top of the new battery.
Mark the width on the bottom of the battery adaptor.
Cut the bottom, cut the ends,
Remove the cut section.
Cut the back deep enough to fit the T shape on the new battery.
Pry out the tabs,
See if you can slide it in!
Cut any notchs you need,
Try again and it even locks in like it was supposed to be!

Hack a Battery Connection

I wanted to use found items and rather than go to the store I found a used replacement plug .
I measured the width of the connectors and figured it would work.
Once I cut the insert in two and shaved the new connectors a bit they fit in nicely.
The great part was that its really easy to attach the wires!

Final Battery Steps

Find out what terminal on the 9V end of the battery tester is positive ( if reversed the tester goes backwards).
Test the 18V battery to find out what terminal is positive and what is negative.
Mark the terminals so you don't get them mixed up later.
Plug in the adaptor wires ( colour coded).
Slide the battery into the adaptor.
Plug it into the tool and start working!

I 've done a lot of drilling and screw fastening with my 18V batteries in a 14.4V drill and so far no problem whatsoever with over heating or buring out.