Cordless Drill Battery

[GB]

I have a very decent rechargeable drill that has done good work for the last

6 or 7 years. It came with two batteries which are holding less and less charge. I would quite like to buy replacement batteries, rather than throwing the whole thing away.

Looking around these look like Hitachi batteries. Is there any way to find out for sure what batteries to use, or can anyone put new cells in the existing plastic battery case? The drill is badged Detor Power Gold - it's just a sticky paper label - but as I said this drill has been quite a class act, so I'm wondering who actually made it. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.

It looks like each battery has about 15 cells in it connected with strips of metal that have been spot welded (or something like that, but well beyond anything I could do anyway).

Also, failing that I was wondering about this one as a replacement:-

there better/cheaper? I really can't justify spending a lot more, though.

[Bob Minchin]

Get the pack re-built if you can't do it yourself. Google for "recell" to get details of several firms who do this.

Bob

[GB]

Sadly, the only places I can find charge the best part of £50 per battery pack to refurbish. It's almost cheaper to buy the new dewalt drill. Shame, really.

[RubberBiker]

I have 3 tools that use bosch 14.4v NiMH cells - I had a real good look around to get my batteries recelled - in the end the best deal was to buy an (unwanted) base-model drill that came with 3 batteries. That was actually cheaper than buying whole batteries *or* getting them recelled.

[The Medway Handyman]

Buy the DeWalt. Cheaper in the long run & you won't believe how good a quality pro tool is.

[Neil]

Personally I've always preferred Makita tools, but unless you're using them day in and day out it may be difficult to justify the initial outlay.

Neil

[GB]

I'm not, so I've ordered the DeWalt.

[The Medway Handyman]

Great Makita fan myself, but its a good deal & I don't suppose for a moment its a bad tool.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can by tagged sub C cells from many electronics suppliers which can then be soldered to make up a pack to your requirements. But as you've found out it's often cheaper to buy a complete new drill.

[RubberBiker]

IME the quality pro-brands are all pretty equal Bosch = Makita = DeWalt etc - no huge differences.

(Unless you go to the top rung like Festool, Maffell etc)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I think it's unwise to go by brand alone. The very best of any particular class of tool will vary.

[The Medway Handyman]

I'd prolly add Hitachi to the above, they make some good stuff.

Panasonic seem to be aiming for that sector of the market. Anyone used their stuff?

[The Medway Handyman]

True enough. Makita drill drivers, impact drivers, drills, routers seem to be the mutts nuts, but their circular saws let them down. I'd describe mine as OK, but wouldn't buy another.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They are perhaps the world leader in battery technology. And that is what mainly sets the performance of a cordless tool.

[Rod]

A thought has been circling round my head for a while now. If I took the casing of my old 12V drill battery I could connect a flex of maybe a couple of meters. That could connect to a relatively inexpensive gel lead acid battery.

Obviously that renders the tool not a true cordless - but nonetheless it would not require a cable running to the mains and it would also be lighter. And if the battery had a larger capacity...

Is this feasible? Or are there issues such a maximum current, that make it a non-starter?

[jsabine]

Borrowed a Panasonic 18V combi the other week - just for an hour or so

- and was most impressed. Smoother and more solid-feeling than my normal DeWalt (admittedly, that's showing its age a wee bit and at that point was suffering from very dead batteries. Also 14.4V.) - I'd say definitely worth a look.

[Pete Verdon]

[...]

A colleague of mine produced for his chippy father-in-law a transformer to run his DeWalt cordless off the mains rather than batteries. Never really got a straight answer as to why; I think the FiL preferred the clutch and speed control of the cordless and couldn't find an equivalent mains drill.

I could put you in touch with him if you think it would help.

Pete

[Rod]

Thanks Pete. I think if I did something like this it would have to remain battery powered but that is encouraging.

[Roger Mills]

I've done precisely that with one of my 12v drills. I've connected a flex with a cigar lighter plug on the end. This plugs into one of those rechargeable power packs with which you are supposed to be able to start a car in an emergency. So, as you say, the drill is no longer truly cordless - but it can be operated without needing a mains supply.

The only problem was that the cigar lighter plug contained a low value (3 amp?) in-line fuse which blew if I loaded the drill too much - so I replaced the fuse with a suitable bit of brass rod!

[GB]

I'm surprised that the contacts on those cigar lighter plugs can take even 3 amps, let alone much more.