Hi all I will need a battery drill/driver in spring to screw down my 18 mil plywood sarking on my new extension roof-about 2000 31/2 inch screws.Previous experience has proved even my 18.5 volt drill driver gives up.Is there any sign of big li-po drivers yet like my tiny Bosch lipo driver Christmas pressy.
Suspect your 18V (not 18.5, 18.0) is a poor quality drill with poor quality batteries. Get yourself a decent 18V with either NiCds or NiMHs and it will work just fine. I used my 18V Makita for several roofs, and the 45 min charger means you just swap batteries and carry on.
How do you mean gives up?
If you mean the battery runs flat - then that is going to happen with any quality of drill a couple of spare batts and a decent charger should make that a non issue. If you mean the whole thing was knackered then it was probably a B&Q special!
Try any of the serious trade oriented tools and they will do 2000 screws a day without any difficulty.
not on one battery though
No, but you certainly can on two with a proper drill...
Which is cheaper - two Ni-Cads or one 'posh' type? Decent quality Ni-Cads have a long service life. Better than others?
I'm not sure. I use a Sanyo mobile occasionally abroad and between uses this phone is simply thrown into the drawer for a period of some 3-6 months. The phone is then recharged, for an hour or so and over the next
7 days, the battery life comes up to about 4 days--light usage. This phone uses Li-ion batteries and is now 6+ years old. I keep expecting to have to replace the batteries, but they survive. I haven't had this good experience with either NiCd or NiMH batteries in other appliances/phones.Regards Capitol
Have you considered a mains drill, with the flex going up the rope used in case of falls?
That is correct. You can pack more capacity with far far better voltage retention into a LIPO battery than into any nickel technology.
Currently though, prices ain't cheap.
Which isn't really important with a cordless tool - it's the cost of the batteries of whatever sort that matters. A phone is a different matter.
Per unit weight. Per unit volume, it's not nearly so far apart.
Not quite. If the cost of Lithium is only twice the cost off NiCd, but the life is tripled and withstands abuse better, then Li is the more economic proposition. However, I don't know that all Li batteries are equal, so some user experience data would be interesting.
Regards Capitol
Yes - but by cost I also meant life. With a power tool it's unlikely the weight etc of a battery matters or how long the charge lasts - within reason. You can always have a spare standing by.
well the ability to hold charge for months on end is sometimes useful.
As is an hour of two of operation without a hugely heavy pack...and the lack of problems in disposal of dead cells.
LIPOS are a step ahead of nickel stiff, but I expect to see them only in pro tools in the short term, but make no mistake, they are the next generation battery technology.
Prices are coming down to match nickels now.
I can assure you for a lot of direct and indirect experience that they are not.
You can optimise for weight, voltage retention, discharge rate, and overall lifetime, but not all at the same time...
Best power to weight I have seen is 1KW/lb - for about 3 minutes :-)
Energy desnity is potentially up to about 1/20th of say diesel fuel, but is currently about 1/.20th.
What is an issue with what I use em for - toy planes - the duty cycle also matters.
Like NiMh, they really need an hour to totally recharge (NiCd 20 mins) If you have a pack that flattens in under an hour, you need more than two packs/one charger to keep going all day.
My gut feeling so far is that they are not as oibust as NiCd, but about as robust as NiMh..but the capacity is hugely greater per unit weight, and a fair bit greater per unit volume, and they do not flatten themselves in a day or three.
Agreed.
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