DeWalt News

[Leon]

Any same shape battery. Not different shape.

[woodchucker]

+1 THAT'S NO BULLSHIT LABELING.

I think the fact that they did not represent NICAD on their 18v was deceptive too.

[Puckdropper]

"J. Clarke" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I think the bigger problem was the 12V size drill/drivers. 3 3.6V cells gives you 10.8V and not 12, and that would make a pretty big difference in the minds of the assuming public. It happens that 5 3.6V cells equals 18V, so there was no loss there, but the manufacturers are at least being consistent in their exaggerations.

It's horsepower and CFM all over again.

Puckdropper

[Dave in SoTex]

My partner and I quit DeWalt cordless tools years ago account poor battery performance, primarily that they didn't seem to last more than two or three years. After which I acquired a Makita 18v kit whose batteries lasted seven or eight years. More recently one of two plumbers who did some work for me plugged his well-used DeWalt charger with battery into a nearby GFI receptacle. Some time after they left I discovered the GFI had tripped. Didn't surprise me.

Dave in SoTex

[krw]

But three 4V cells *is* 12V. LiIon is somewhere between 3.6V and 4V (give or take a little), depending on its charge state.

No, Crapsman HP is a damned lie.

[Casper]

I don't have a cordless DeWalt anything.

Of the few cordless tools I have owned, I have had mixed success. A life of 2-3 years for a battery pack at current replacement prices ($80+) doesn't cut it for me.

My Ryobi cordless weed trimmer and mower lasted over ten years before needing a battery replacement. I got 15 years out of the trimmer and still going with the cordless mower at over 20 years, both with one battery replacement. My B&D trimmer came with two batteries and is dying after 4-5 years. BD says to keep the batteries plugged in at all times but only gives you one charger. My Makita handheld blower/vac battery died year 2. Got a rebuildt replacement is on year 3 and showing signs of end of life.

I was gifted a DeWalt corded drill [D21002] to use in a mount for several projects but this model has no trigger lock-on. So, it is still sitting new in the box.

I own a DeWalt scrollsaw with DeWalt attachments that is a joy to use.

As far as DeWalt goes, they're corded tools have worked fine for my uses. I haven't tried their cordless and am a bit cordless-shy from the trouble I have had and seen from friends and family with any brand of cordless. The only successful cordless tool I have and still have, is a Milwaukee cordless screw driver still going strong after 20 years with only one battery replacement.

Just my 2 cents on DeWalt and cordless.

[J. Clarke]

I thought I killfiled you.

[J. Clarke]

And how does that distinguish from the 18v lithium ion DeWalt tools that do not take the same battery?

[Leon]

What should it matter? You tool does not know what chemical make up of the battery is nor does it matter.

And if the voltage is slightly different that does not matter either.

At this is all true with well designed tools.

[Leon]

Thought, there is only one way I get here.

ROTFLMAO

[Martin Eastburn]

Smart motor controller not a dumb one. One that provides 2 or 3 voltages for the circuits and a master branch for the motor.

New designs require new batteries.

Mart> "J. Clarke" wrote:

[Leon]

Maybe, voltage to the motor is not as touchy as one might expect. Although I am sure the "smart" part is how the charger deals with different voltages and types of batteries. The Festool charger basically will charge any battery that will fit, regardless of voltage or chemical make up.

Many Many years ago ,1979ish, I worked for a GM dealership and for specific reasons did my best to burn out a "defective" 12 volt window regulator motor, the motor that raises and lowers the window.

I hooded it up to two brand new 12 volt batteries and the result was that the motor ran faster. Long story short I had the voltage up to 72 volts, 5 batteries, and the motor screamed for 1 minute and I gave up. I was unable to burn the motor up to that point

I seriously doubt if any power tool would reject being powered by as much as double voltage. I could be wrong, there could actually be, as you said, smart circuitry, that would prevent a consumer from doing this. Again referring to Festool, their drills will work with any battery that will fit regardless of chemical make up, there are two extremely different styles and there is no mistaking one for the other, as long as the voltage is equal to or less than the stated rating for the tool. This is my charger,

[J. Clarke]

It's my understanding that in deWalt's case the change was mostly driven by a desire to move the protective circuits from the battery to the tool and charger to allow a cheaper battery. They took the opportunity to redesign the battery to a more convenient shape in the process. And apparently they've standardized it across deWalt, Black and Decker, and Porter-Cable.

[krw]

I would agree about the chargers but unless the protection circuits are in the tool (rather than the battery pack) there is no reason a the packs couldn't be made interchangeable. It would be a simple matter to make the form factor enough different that people wouldn't be tempted to use the wrong one anyway.

>

[Leon]

I doubt that Li-Ion batteries will come with out protection circuitry. This circuitry communicates with the smart charger during recharge so that the charger does not damage the Li-Ion charger.

[Lew Hodgett]

------------------------------------------- During the mid sixties, I worked for a company that manufacturied electric motors for antennas, windows, etc.

We referred to these motors as powered guiltiness.

Part of the spec from the OEM was that the battery fail before the battery.

Fires were another part of the spec. Didn't the door panel catching on fire if the motor locked up.

Lew

[J. Clarke]

I really wish you people would learn something about the products you are criticizing before you criticize.

DeWalt makea a line of 18v tools. For those tools they have NiCd packs and LiIon packs. The packs are interchangeable in the tools and the most recent chargers will charge either and NiMH as well.

But the packs fit tools that were not designed for lithium ion and there's a possibility that someone will try to charge one in an older charger that was not designed for lithium ion, so the packs have to have the protective circuits that are necessary to keep them from blowing somebody's ass to Hell. That adds to the cost of the packs.

The 20v tools have a differently SHAPED battery pack that is different so that nobody can put one in a tool that was not designed for lithium ion or in a charger that was not designed for lithium ion, and so the packs don't need to have the protective circuits and can thus be made and sold at significantly lower cost.

Saying "therei's no reason the packs couldn't be made interchangeable" just displays ignorance of the the fact that deWalt makes packe that ARE interchangeable.

[Leon]

which failed before which? ;~)

If the regulator motor locked up a fuse should have blown and or a breaker tripped.

[Leon]

The circuits are to protect the battery regardless, with out the circuitry the correct charger will damage the battery. It adds to the cost of "ALL" Li-Ion batteries.

Does not matter if a Li-Ion battery is used in what ever tool. It is all about the charging of Li-Ion.

Which backs up what we are saying.

[Lew Hodgett]

---------------------------------------------------- The battery had to fail by definition.

No circuit protective devices were allowed.

You should have seen the test to distruction when a large cranking motor for a large Cummins was bolted down in a large bench vice cranking locking the roter and stator together.

A pair of 8D batteries were connected to the cranked motor via a 400 amp knife switch that was nailed to the the floor.

The weldinq cable was doing a St. Vitas dance while the test was in progress.