Anyone Using Cordless Power Tools?

[snub]

I bet everyone does. How many get thrown out because the batteries won't hold a charge and new batteries cost more than the tool?  I'm guessing...lots.

Anyways, I have a 20 year old Makita 4.8 Volt drill that I love dearly because it is small and light and easy to use in tight quarters. About a year ago it flat out died. Wouldn't take a charge. A friend turned me on to a website that tells you how to 'rejuvinate' old dead batterys.  Well my friends, I followed the instructions and that 20 year old drill is alive and running as good as new. Link to the site:

http://ysuusy.com/easybatteryfix.html


Same friend told me that new battery packs for his Dewalt are $100.00 , but he has had them 'rebuilt' for $75.00.  Well I did some searching on E-Bay and found you can buy these batteries for $1.50 each and they already have 'tabs' soldered on them so you don't have to solder directly on the battery ( Wouldn't that be fun!).

They are "Sub C" batteries, Ni-Cd, 1.2 Volt, 2400 Mah. You will need 15 for a 18 Volt drill.  Most battery packs only come with 1800 Mah batteries, so this is a nice upgrade.  For $22.50.

[Brass_Machine]

Will have to check that out. I have a few batteries giving me issues...

Thanks!

Eric

[-steves-]

Alot of the time its not the issue of getting new batteries, its the fact the manufactuers seal the battery compartment with the batteries in, and when you take them apart, they just never go back together again or if they do an extreme amount of bodge tape is needed .....

Done similar things many times as sub c batteries have been the standard for Tamiya electric radio control cars for umpteen years, well at least the last 30 years that I can think of. Much higher MAh these days though

[jim]

last one i had that died was 9.6 volt. i just opened it up and put some leads on to use a car battery!

still works after 5 years on 12volt

[Jonny]

Looked at those methods last year when my two Dewalt 18V 2.4Ah went down after an easy 5 year life.
Think the cells were around £2 to £3 each plus delivery, so not worth while as new ones could be had then for £35 to £45 if you knew where to go. Well you dont pay the recommended price do you around £100 each.

Bought two 3 .0Ah Lithium and new charger for about £110, they last longer but suddenly die when out of juice.
Favourite tool the Repo saw, does some damage does that.

[daz]

I have been doing something similair at work for a while now and it does work. We go through around 30 dewalt cordless every year and even more batteries!!! The guys on the shop floor refuse point blank to use the air powered drivers we bought in???
My method is as follows.
Use a multi meter to find out which pins on your battery are + or -
Completely discharge the battery, ie stick it in your drill and cable tie or tape the trigger switch in the on position, leave it like that until the drill stops.
Plug in a 12v car charger and connect the - (negative) onto the - on your battery, scratch the + from the charger onto the + of the dead battery creating as much arcing and sparking as you can.
Then connect the +charger to the + on the battery for around 4 seconds at a time with a few seconds break in between. After around hald a dozen time measure the voltage in the battery, if it is below 13.5v dc repeat the process until you reach it.
Stick the battery in it's normal charger overnight and stick it in your drill/driver the following morning.

I have done this on a few dozen batteries from 12-18v and it has worked in all but 3.
I have also built a very simple polycarbonate case with a switch and small croc clips to house the battery in. I haven't had one explode on me yet but I don't fancy being first in line if one does.

hope this helps

daz

[shipto]

chucking them out because of batteries pah! At my place they throw them out because they cant get hold of the brushes off the shelf. I have 2 bosch 14v drills both of which were "fixed" with a small outlay to ebay and a 18v milwauke (spelling) that was as near as dammit new which was thrown (yes this is really true) because the guy it was brought for said the batteries didnt last long enough. As I have used it more the battery life has increased. I have even sold a charger on ebay its quite surprising how much people will pay for them.

[jcs0001]

I had a 12 volt drill (nicad) that ate batteries every year or two.  The problem was the the drill was good quality but the charger was not.  Once I got a hobby charger (about $55 and it will charge almost any chemistry of battery) and used it on the drill batteries, they worked very well.  I recently gave it away but figure the two batteries would last a long time when properly charged.  The hobby charger will also cycle (discharge then charge) the batteries up to 5 cycles and can be set for most any charge and discharge rate.

John.