JCB 24v SDS Batteries

[The Medway Handyman]

Started using my £20 JCB 24v for a few jobs.

On a fully charged (according to the light on the charger) battery I drilled about 6 x 6mm holes and the battery ran down to the point where the drill suddenly stopped - seemed like some kind of cut-out operated. 5 mins later it could be re started & I drilled another 2 holes - then it stopped again.

Would it have some kind of low power cut-out? None of my other battery stuff has one.

It has a 'battery level indicator' on the back of the drill which showed

100% charged at the start & 80% charged when it stopped = not sure if these things are at all accurate, seems like a gimmick to me.

Trouble is I have no experience of battery SDS drills, so I don't know if this is usual for a battery SDS? I would have expected to drill more than

8 - 10 holes on a charge? What would a 24v brand name do on a charge?

Could be that the batteries are going through the initial stage where they won't hold a charge until they have been charged/discharged a few times - is this likely?

[Allan]

For your information mine is exactly the same. Like you I've not used it enough to tell if the situation will improve. I have a JCB 240V drill which has been one of the hardest tools I have ever owned. I was hopeing the battery version might have been of similar stock

Allan

[Dave Plowman (News)]

More likely an overheat cutoff on the drill motor.

[Peter Andrews]

I had a JCB jigsaw (230v) and it's probably the only tool I have ever thrown away BEFORE it broke or wore out!

Peter

[dom]

We told you so!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Perhaps you now know why it was returned...

[A.Lee]

No exaggeration, I can use my Dewalt 18v SDS for 50+ holes of 7mm, as well as a 40mm hole through double brick - I know as I did it last Friday when fitting out a bathroom and new skirting in a living room. I've got 2 batteries, and expected to use them both, but havent changed it since that morning, and also did another 10 or so 7mm holes in brick yesterday. The 18v Dewalt recip saw is another thing though. 20 minutes at best when cutting tree branches. Alan.

[dennis]

Its not the battery by the sounds of things. I bet if you were to set a slow speed on your DeWalt it would behave in a similar way. When running at less than full speed there is nothing to blow the heat out as the fan is usually on the motor shaft. There are some fan cooled models that have a separate motor for the fan just to avoid this problem. Not that I would say TMH was running it too slow but the speed controller or thermal switch might be FU.

[The Medway Handyman]

this only cost me a score!

The 4 x SDS bits & the SDS/Jacbs adaptor are worth that.

[The Medway Handyman]

Thats the odd thing, it has clearly never been used, not a mark anywhere, not a scrap of dust, all the packaging pristine.

[The Medway Handyman]

Obviously a different class of machine entirely. I'd be happy with a quarter of that for £20 though :-)

[John Rumm]

Sounds like it was worth it (just)! ;-)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "The Medway Handyman" saying something like:

That's a possibility, but such a poor showing as new isn't good at all. If the body of the drill is of reasonable quality it might be worth your while re-celling the packs. Fwiw, my Bosch 12V SDS, when the batteries were newish, could do at least four 1/2" x 2" deep holes into concrete per charge, or ~20 6mm holes, or dozens of screws. I've now got some decent cells to have a go at re-celling mine and I'm thinking of using a car portable power pack as a 12V wired supply fed into the remaining empty battery case used as a power plug.

I'll give you a fiver for it. :)