Cordless Tools - Another SUCKER PRODUCT

[mkirsch1]

Yeah, I've found color laser printers to still be ridiculously f*cking expensive and the toner cartridges for any laser printer are just as bad as inkjet cartridges.

[Matt]

Thanks for pointing out some relevant facts.

Sorry I wasn't clear: I meant they should use OTS rechargeables.

Then they could just standardize the strapped assemblies of cells on the insides of the packs so a user could swap out the whole assembly at once.

After all, if you open up a big 6V lantern battery, you find 8 "D" cells hooked together.

[Robert Green]

8 times 1.5V = 12V - I think you meant 4.

-- Bobby G.

[Robert Green]

Yeah, I've found color laser printers to still be ridiculously f*cking expensive and the toner cartridges for any laser printer are just as bad as inkjet cartridges. ============================================= Expensive? Maybe, but laser color printer carts are DRY. I once had an HP printer that would clog completely if not used for a few days. I spent most of the ink cartridge printing the cleaning test. I threw it in the trash and got a color laser from Fry's on sale for under $200. Inkjets are just a way to piss away money. Another advantage of a color laser is the printouts don't smear when wet. I will never buy or recommend an ink-jet to anyone, especially the casual user that prints a few pages in color a month. About the only people who could like inkjets are reformed junkies who like to play with syringes. (-:

-- Bobby G.

[aemeijers]

Amen to lasers over inkjets. When I lived in the apartments, every month I would find one or two sitting by the dumpsters, in perfect condition except for needing ink. When I priced the cartridges, I realized why. Notice how the market for the home 4x6 photo printers has basically collapsed? People realized it was a LOT cheaper to send their pix online to the corner drugstore, which would print them on their commercial-grade printer. I don't print much at home, so I only have a couple BW lasers, both of which came from garage sales. If I ever need color, I'll sneak it at work, or take a thumb drive down to whatever Kinko's is called these days.

I do still have my old 24-pin dot matrix in the back room, though, along with a couple sealed ribbons for it. It makes a fitting museum companion for my old suitcase Kaypro v20 (xt class) machine. Neither is worth any money any more, so I figured as long as I have room, I may as well hold onto them for giggles.

[krw]

A 7000 page toner cartridge for my HP P2015dn is about $35. I don't need color at home. I still have an inkjet printer but ink is expensive and the damned printer was always plugged up when I wanted to use it.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

[snip]

There are always advantages AND disadvantages. Laser printers (ARAIK) won't print on photo paper.

Still, the laser is best for printing on ordinary paper.

[Matt]

Check it yourself. You wouldn't even have to cut one open. You can just look up the dimensions of the standard packs.

I was a bit surprised myself to find eight. There are two series circuits of four cells each, the two circuits in parallel. Or is it four parallel circuits of two cells each, in series? The latter, I expect.

Anyway, a lantern pack is eight D cells arranged to give six volts at double the amperage of four cells.

[Matt]

Maybe he was just saying that innovation is still possible even in the presence of standards.

[Matt]

I think you mean alkalines don't have current/power ratings as high as rechargeables. I think alkalines actually have higher mAH ratings than for instance NiCd's. See my reply to Smitty Two.

[Robert Green]

That's definitely not what *I* saw when I took one apart many moons ago. Not this guy's experience, either:

This cutaway view shows four, too

Are you sure you weren't cutting up a 12V lantern battery?

-- Bobby G.

[krw]

Innovation? Car starter batteries? You're kiddin' right?

[Jim Yanik]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

the higher self-discharge of both NiCd and NiMH precludes their use in low drain or seldom-used apps. they may self-drain faster than the load drains them.

altough I noticed today at Wal-Mart that there are new compact power drivers offered that use AA alkalines....??? maybe somebody wants to prop up dropping alkaline sales.

I've also come to distrust AA and AAA alkalines just because of their frequent leakage of electrolyte. Brands I used to trust have recently leaked in a very short time after purchase,despite their "use-by" package dating.

Some stuff is just not replaceable.

[krw]

Certainly. NiCds should only be used in high current, frequently used applications.

Maybe it is a good idea for the average home owner. As you point out, this use is a killer on NiCds.

I can't remember the last time I had a device ruined because of electrolyte leakage. It must be a couple or three decades, at least. I use the $.20 (100/$20) Lowes specials, now, too.

[Robert Green]

I think it's been shown here that printing services do a much less expensive job of printing out photos, and for the rare times I actually need photo quality prints, I use them. The color laser is great for printing out web pages that lose a lot of critical information when printed in B&W. I used to use it extensively to print maps out before I got a GPS unit. Most of the times I print stuff out on the HP 6, a real workhorse that's loaded with magnetic ink so I can print my own checks.

-- Bobby G.

[Matt]

But who would think of swapping the positions of the negative and positive terminals? That is thinking outside the box.

[Matt]

Uh oh. You are right. I must have imagined cutting one open. Actually the dimensions don't match. But if they did, you could build a 6V lantern battery out of 8 cells as I described. :-)

Thank you for the kind correction.

Anyway the cordless tool makers could standardize the packs so that the rechargeable battery assemblies could be bought off the shelf and swapped in and out and easily recycled.

[Robert Green]

That's OK. I misplaced an entire neighborhood in NYC that I traveled through for four years in a previous post. I was told that combining cells in parallel is a no-no. I can't recall why but I can say I can't recall ever seeing it done that way. Maybe the experts here know.

Did you see the Scopes piece about the 32 AA batteries inside hoax:

Yes. And the Pope could sell off the riches of the Vatican to feed the poor and pay off molested altar boys instead of letting dioceses take the bankruptcy route. He could also choose to wear simple robes and walk in the shoes of the original fisherman, Jesus Christ.

Don't hold your breath on either that or standardized drill packs happening any time soon! (-:

-- Bobby G.

[DerbyDad03]

re: "Laser printers (ARAIK) won't print on photo paper."

The laser printers we have at work have settings for Glossy paper and Transparency stock.

We use transparency stock all the time for presentations and I've printed some pretty nice "photos" when using the glossy stock.

[chaniarts]

the cells will drain trying to charge the other ones. no 2 cells are at the same charge amount, so the battery bank would be dead pretty quickly.