# Makita battery replacemnet?



## Gary0855 (Aug 3, 2010)

I need to replace both of my Makita #1234 batteries.
The question I have, has anyone used the knock off brands? are they just as good? I know they are about half the price.

Where is a good place to buy them?

Thanks for your reply


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## smokey1945 (Feb 20, 2009)

You might check these people out. I've not delt with them, but have them bookmarked for when I get to that point.
MTObattery.com

Smokey


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## tvman44 (Dec 8, 2011)

I have had a couple of battery packs rebuit, much cheaper than new, and lasted longer. The replacement cells seem to fresher than some of the new packs I have bought.


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

If you can get the battery pack open you can rebuild the pack yourself. A little bit of soldering to remove the old straps and solder them onto the new replacement cells. Just keep the replacement cells the same type (e.g. NiCad) and physical size (e.g. AA). You can change the ampere hour rating if desired.


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## TMA Woodworks (Apr 23, 2010)

Hi Gary,

I had the same problem with my Makita. There is no easy method of opening the case and replacing the batteries. I was never too shot up with the off brands as a rechargeable battery does have a shelf life. You really don't know long they have been sitting there. The company I work for does deal with a company called TNR batteries. They do sell to the public and they are very honest if you decide to try to crack it open and replace the batteries. I broke down and bought a dewalt for the simple fact that the battery pack is screwed together. There are a couple of places on the web that go into detail on rebuilding a makita battery but none are real simple. I guess that's why the rebuild places charge $50 bucks to rebuild I guess.

Bob


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## djg (Dec 24, 2009)

rrich said:


> If you can get the battery pack open you can rebuild the pack yourself. A little bit of soldering to remove the old straps and solder them onto the new replacement cells. Just keep the replacement cells the same type (e.g. NiCad) and physical size (e.g. AA). You can change the ampere hour rating if desired.


 I have an interest in doing this for one of mine. Do you have a source for the replacement cells?


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## SeanStuart (Nov 27, 2011)

djg said:


> I have an interest in doing this for one of mine. Do you have a source for the replacement cells?


This post is a little old, I just saw it and I just rebuilt two Dewalt packs and they both only needed one battery each. Cost about $10. The dewalt 9.6 takes a sub-c short. If you google sub c batteries you will get plenty of results. Even if you have to gently break the case apart then glue it back together, it is worth it. 

The two batteries I replaced showed zero volts on the meter after fully charging. 

They had the batteries at Radio shack. A little pricier, but no shipping, so about even. 

Luck.


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

If you haven't done it already, before rebuild/replace a NiMH unit, give battery reconditioning a try


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## Gary0855 (Aug 3, 2010)

Thanks Steve, I'll give that a try.


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## Dan4071 (Mar 5, 2013)

To answer your question - knock off brands (that is the aftermarket) is an excellent alternative to the high priced Makita branded battery. In addition the Makita 1234 is only a 2.6Ah battery and the aftermarket batteries can get as high as 3.3Ah. Which if you want batteries that last longer well you have to get the higher amps.

I bought 2 of the Makita 1234 batteries (aftermarket battery) from Batteryship. The exact page is http://www.batteryship.com/htmlos/htmlos.cgi/batteryship/catalog.html?item=MAK-1222-EXT

These are the 3.3Ah batteries and they work like there is no tomorrow. I tested them to make sure they worked (they did) and then gave them a 10 hour charge and they just keep on going forever. They actually outperform my original one from Makita. 

Hope that helps!


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## Enkidu1 (Jan 10, 2013)

*Battery experiment*

I just wanted to post a quick response to this subject. I have been experimenting with how long can I let my Makita Batteries sit before they go bad and I am about 15 months into it. The result so far is, they are pretty well drained when I take them out to use them so I put one of them on a charger for about 3 hours and it worked fine. I didnt notice that much of a difference in usage time, but I was only repairing a gate. I am still lettiing the other one sit for another 5 or 6 months to see if that will kill it. Both of these batteries I had rebuilt at this place Drill Batteries. They did them for me in about a week I would highly recommend them and will definitely use them again. The guy I talked to (Ron) told me that they use closely matched cells so they would last a long time. I dont know what that means, but I can tell you that they are lasting me longer than the original Makita Batteies that I bought for twice the price.:thumbsup:


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## Bill Nook (Aug 10, 2012)

*Battery rebuild*

I had good results with www.battrx.com. You can get a complete Makita kit and even upgrade to NiMH.


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## rrich (Jun 24, 2009)

djg said:


> I have an interest in doing this for one of mine. Do you have a source for the replacement cells?


When you take the battery pack apart, there are numbers on the cells. You can search the web with that number. 

You can search the web for battery replacements. I think that is what I did when I replaced the batteries in a Norelco razor. 

I think that you will find that most battery packs (NiCad) use cells that are AA in size. Try an electronic store like Fry's. (Heck the Tesla used AA batteries at one time.) In stores there are zillions of replacement cells of that size. Get the ones with the highest Ampere Hour rating. (Milliamp is 0.001 Ampere)

Home Depot sells replacement AA batteries for solar powered garden lights. They sell both NiCad and LiIon but the LiIon are not a true AA size. (Intended to prevent use in NiCad fixtures?)


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## Nick Williams (Aug 8, 2012)

*battery rebuild*

I think you're mixing types of batteries. Power tools are either nickel based or LIon. There are really very little else available. I've rebuilt with the mechanical kit from www.Battrx.com with good results. Hell they even have a video to guide you through the selection and rebuild process


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## BruceM (Dec 9, 2013)

Gary
About a year ago I tried one of the knock-offs from Ebay for my 14.4V NiMH, which at the time was $26 + shipping, as compared to about $70 from Makita. I believe the supplier was Imax. It has been working fine. Power seems good and I've not noticed that I'm having to charge it more often than I was the originals. I just checked and looks like the price has gone up to about $33 but thats with free shipping....but still way better than Home Depot Makita brand at $79!

BruceM


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Ran across this one.


















.


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## Manco247 (Dec 21, 2013)

I have a Batteris Plus store where i am, they rebuilt my older 12 volt craftsman pack for $35. If you have that store or 1 like it, i would suggest that as a way to.


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