DEWALT DW9116 7.2-Volt to 18-Volt Pod Style 1 Hour Battery Charger

If you need this charger, buy this charger here. It works like it says it will and it is incredibly inexpensive. The charger got to me quicker than I thought it would. What more needs to be said?

Review, review, review.... is a good thing before ordering a replacement product. I have a black & decker firestorm drill and needed a charger bad. I put that on hold for a year believe it or not because the charger prices, and I'm glad I did. I search for my charger and then I read the reviews for that black and decker charger and it was bad because if you had a faulty battery it would make your charger go bad. Then another customer wrote that he ordered the Dewalt charger DW9116 that also takes the fire storm batteries and gave it a five star rate, due to the fact it will not allow your drill battery that might be bad to damage the dewalt charger. When I saw that I ordered the dewalt 9116 right then. I'm so happy that I made that choice and folks it pays sometimes to read reviews before buying the product. I'm glad I pick the right choice. Thanks you all for the reviews, and thanks Amazon.com for the option and the products you sell.

K. Parker

A step up from the Black & Decker it replaced. LED indicator is helpful for diagnostics.

This charger works great as an exact replacement for the original charger at a great price.

Black and Decker PS145 FireStorm 18-Volt NiCad Pod Style Battery.

If you buy this charger and your PS145 batteries still won't charge (no red light at all), don't regret buying this charger. Your batteries might literally be broken - but not junk.

The Black and Decker charger will overheat a small fusible link inside the battery. Rather than throwing the battery away, I fixed them in 5 minutes.

Step 1. I removed the 5 screws holding the case top and recharging stem. I had to pull a little bit for the clips to release but there's nothing else holding the case lid and recharging stem other than the screws.

*When I have a Type 3 battery see Step A, Type 2 battery see Step B.

Step A: On P145 Type 3 batteries the fuse location is fairly obvious. It's located right next to the 'stem' and I could see a little burn spot where the metal melted. I removed a little of the green plastic and red paper to expose the fuse bases. I placed aluminum foil over the fuse break to reconnect the cells. Then I put a piece of electrical tape over that to hold the fusible link in place, and I could put the battery cover on again.

Step B: On P145 Type 2 batteries the fuse is located in the circular base of the recharging stem holder. If the fuse link is toast, I can pull the metal cylinder that has the recharging prongs from the 'cigarette lighter' looking plastic piece. I constructed a new fusible link from aluminum foil or thin gauge metal and after peeling the tape ribbon open, taped the new fuse in place and threaded it through the slit in the base of the plastic cylinder to contact the metal base of the recharging stem.

Step 3: I put each battery in the Dewalt charger for 10 hours and took thank you's from mother nature and my wallet.

Notes:

When constructing a new fusible link, I use metal that's the same thickness of the metal I am replacing (or thinner). Thin aluminum is best - and aluminum foil will work if I have nothing else.

I don't use the black and decker charger. The Dewalt is far less likely to break the fusible link by overheating the circuit.

The PS145 nickel cadmium chemistry should last 500 charges. That's good for the tool lifetime in most 'honey do' household task scenarios. Of course, Black and Decker want you to buy new batteries right? That's why you throw that B & D charger away now.

This is only a record of my experiences and I don't recommend you try fix batteries yourself (only to fail and sue me or Amazon). However, I was able to fix all 4 batteries I had - and I'm no battery engineer.

If you don't want to touch them yourself, bring the batteries to a tool repair center.