Charging a Ryobi Battery without the original shouldn’t pose much of a challenge. There are several ways to make this happen. Some of them require that you purchase an energy source while others will make use of items you already have.
Ways to Charge Yoru Ryobi 40V Battery without Charger
Follow this guide to charge your Ryobi 40V battery without a charger.
Charging Ryobi 40V Battery With Off-the-shelf 1.5V AA Cells
This method does come in handy if you’re not able to get another fix to the problem. It is also one of the most expensive ways of recharging your Ryobi 40V Battery. Using AA cells, these will serve as the electrical source which should charge the battery. You will have to purchase a good number of 1.5V AA cells and connect them in series to get up the desired voltage.
For the Ryobi 40V Battery, the voltage is set at 40V. This means you would have to spend a bit more to get enough battery that will meet the voltage rating when connected together.
For the Ryobi 40V Battery, you will need to connect 27 or more cells in series for up to 40.5V. You might want to save yourself time and go for 12V batteries instead. You would only need to connect 3 cells to reach 36V which is a great charging option.
When using this charging method, they might not fully charge your battery as these cells have a minimal capacity. You should also know that this method has a very slow charging speed. In most cases, the charging speeds will be very slow.
You can get more out of this charging method if you’re able to get hold of rechargeable AA cells. These options usually come with a charger, but that will be an expensive route.
Jump-charging Ryobi 40V Battery with another 18V battery
This is probably the easiest method to get Ryobi 40V Battery battery working again. You will need a spare battery or you can get a spare battery from your neighbors. This method could effectively charge your battery completely.
To get started, you will need to get another drill battery with a working charger. You can easily do this with a spare battery. From there, you can use that drill battery to charge your battery.
When you start charging, you want to make sure that the other battery is of the same 40v voltage and fully charged. When you’ve confirmed this, all you have to do is connect the terminals in the same polarity.
To get the battery charging, you will have to use jump wires for the connections. Keep in mind that this should not be permanent it will be of great help in an emergency.
Charging a Ryobi 40V Battery With a 20V Solar Panel
This is an expensive solution but could come in handy if you don’t have any other means to charge your battery. Solar panels are a good source of energy but they can be problematic. When it comes to reliability, this option doesn’t really impress. The output voltage of the solar panel is not constant which does pose a problem. The output voltage will vary due to the change in sun’s direction and temperature.
For the best charging experience, you need to buy pre-built panels with voltage regulators. The only problem is that they are usually on the expensive side.
Using a solar charge controller is the best way to connect the solar panel to the Ryobi 40V Battery for charging it up.
A solar charge controller is a safety device that prevents your car battery from getting over-charged. Overcharging can damage a Ryobi 40V Battery and lower its lifespan. The solar controller can also prevent reverse current flow. You can also charge your car battery with a solar battery charger and it is the safest way when you are charging from a solar source.
The safety features ensure that your Ryobi 40V Battery will never get damaged. If you are buying a solar charger, you should consider the size of your Ryobi 40V Battery when making your decision. This ensures that the charging will meet your requirements. A 100W solar charger can charge a Ryobi 40V Battery in a few hours. You can actually go for even smaller types and still enjoy fast charging benefits.
Charging a 40V Ryobi Battery with a Laptop Charger
Depending on the rating of your laptop charger you might be able to use it to charge your 40 V lithium-ion battery. Keep in mind that most laptop chargers are rated for 18-20V. This might not make them the best option for charging a 40V Ryobi Battery. If you’re able to get a laptop charger with a High voltage rating, then you can go ahead to use the laptop charger.
The process of recharging the 40V Ryobi Battery with your laptop charger is very simple. But first, you will need to understand the type of connector that your laptop charger has.
Once you’ve done that, you will need a compatible female connector for your laptop charger. You will need to solder the female connector with the internal battery connections (that means positive with positive and negative with negative).
Make a cut hole for the female connector to sit in, and with that, you can charge your battery without the original charger.
To save you the time of bothering with the connector type, you can get an off-the-shelf two-pin connector set and make connections in a way positive aligns with positive and negative with negative.
Another option to go for is an Apple Macbook charger like the old Megsafe type. Check the rating to confirm you can easily charge a 40V Ryobi battery with the charger. You can check the output voltage ratings on the back of the charger.
To use the MagSafe charger, simply connect the positive terminal of the laptop charger with the positive terminal of the battery you want to charge and the negative terminal of the laptop charger with the negative terminal of the battery you want to charge.
You will have to cut down the Megafe connector to make the connection work.
