Battery Drills: I now have 4 bad ones.

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Red:

As I recall, when I purchased the HF cordless drill, HF was selling the drill and a light as a kit for about $30.00 and if I purchased a spare

18.0 volt battery pack, then the total sale price was just under $40.00.

The comment was not intended to be a hit on HF. It was a comment on the marketing, and price point, susceptibility a consumer like me will fall for; my bad.

The cost of replacing my Sears 18.00 volt battery pack was something like $60.00. That Sears cordless 18.0 volt drill originally cost during a December Holiday sale (12/2001?) for something like $55.00 or so. Replacement power packs for that drill are no longer available. Replacement packs for my old Hitachi (?) from circa early 1990's haven't been around for many, many years. My original Sears cordless is from more than 20 years ago.

I expect this holiday season Sears and the BORGs will be having sales on cordless drill sets under $40.00 again. More land fill for the future.

For myself, I thinking more of a cord drill. If I can find one on Sale this holiday season. The cordless feature is no long worth the frustration of the battery pack.

Reply to
Phil Again
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Not saying prime cell prices to replace and rebuild my battery pack are not worth the price,

But the cost of a another battery pack replacement is still just about the price of a new cheap corded drill.

But I do thank-you for your offering the link. Now only if prime-cell would offer a cheap re-build to convert my 18.0 volt battery pack to a standard household current corded drill. I don't think they would be able to offer such a service at an economic price point.

IMHO, economics of mass production and production tooling vs manual production makes it impossible for Prime Cell to be inexpensive compared to a new drill.

Reply to
Phil Again

Yep, that may be the way I will go. Just waiting for the Holiday sales I guess.

Reply to
Phil Again

Duff wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

if you only replace bad cells,then your pack's capacity is no more than what the ORIGINAL cells have.(and then you begin reverse-charging those cells,ruining them.)

IIRC,Hitachi used to make a cordless drill/driver that had an optional belt battery pack,it used a dummy battery pack in the drill's handle to connect power from the belt pack. Empty out a dead battery pack,wire in a coil cord and that to a power source that can supply several amps at the rated voltage.

Of course,with no batteries in the pack,the drill's balance will be gone.

Or you could buy newer Lithium-ion packs and a new charger,if available for your drill. Those hold their charge for months of storage.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

I too had four (4) worn out B&D 14.4V packs and replacements are no longer available. For $40 I sent one to a place in PA that rebuilt it with fresh batts of higher capacity and it easily powers all my devices with more power than before. If I needed another I wouldn't hesitate to use this service. I wish I could find my bookmark of this place but I am sure someone here will remind you.

Just my $1,98 worth (not $200 worth)

Reply to
Bob M

or get a used variable speed on craigslist

Reply to
AZ Nomad

Battery packs are easy and cheap to rebuild, and contrary to what people say, YES you can solder to NiCd cells. As long as you use a good heavy high-wattage soldering IRON, not a "soldering gun."

That's because you fall for the scam, and buy garbage tools. They see you coming. Buy something halfway decent like Ryobi One+. Replacement batteries are cheap, two for $50 at Home Depot, and even less on eBay. The nice thing about Ryobi is that the battery design hasn't changed in years.

Normally they don't last 1/3 that long. You did well. What are you complaining about?

Reply to
mkirsch1

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Bedford, PA.

Reply to
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

Our 13.2 volt Bosch was our first experience with cordless a few years ago, a good tool and we were impressed. While overseas in 2007 I re-celled the battery packs. Then home again the charger went kaput. The replacement charger now costs $70+, in Canada. That's more than half the original cost of the Bosch with its two battery packs. Also in the face of our cheaper cordless drill that cost in total with it's two battery packs about $80! That and several other cordless acquired free with dud/weak batteries gets one thinking! One site was recommended for replacement cells; each cell costing anywhere from $2 to $4, plus shipping. For a 13.2 pack that's 11 cells (plus own labour), at least $50 to re cell one battery pack. Think I will pursue the DC power supply idea, since do have a 26 volt DC PS that could possibly be wired to DC outlets on work bench. For balance probably just leave cells in place but disconnected? If necessary can probably reduce the voltage of the power supply to around 15 or 18 volts or even 12 volts.

Reply to
terry

theres no easy way to heat sink a battery, welding much better.

i have a friend who would freeze batteries before soldering on them

Reply to
hallerb

well realize primecell is rebuilding with cells far better than the original ones that came with the unit when new.

cheap cordless use cheap cells. with less capacity.

primecell uses superior more expensive cells, which cost more.

but hey you want the cheapest?????

a lot depends on how much and where you use the tool

Reply to
hallerb

battery pack.

34 bucks at primecell, for higher capacity cells.

upgrade to lithium triple original capacity? for 52 bucks

Reply to
hallerb

quoted text -

Freezing is a great idea, Heat sinking is not easy and still alows temp to rise, I have done it without ruining cells but its risky. Spot weld is best if that is what they do.

Reply to
ransley

ll one battery pack.

LiIon dont last as many years, as of now. Charging is a bit different, many old chargers are not good enough.

Reply to
ransley

de quoted text -

primecell spot welds all connections, dependable fast and no real battery heating

Reply to
hallerb

With all them duff batteries, I'd be breaking into all the packs to find all the cells that were capable of taking a charge, Then take a discharge reading off the individual cells ( I did that by loading them with a halogen bulb to discharge over mebbe a half hr) and make up a good pack for your favorite drill. The upside to the h freight drills is the battery packs are screwed together(least the drill master and chicago electric that I've had thus far)- makes breaking onto them and replacing them much easier, even if the drills are generally inferior to the brand names. Even if you have to buy a h freight battery pack for the cells (there are some that are 1.7 amp/hr batts- not bad but about half what good cells are rated for), it won't break the bank. Pat

Reply to
patrick

Phil Again wrote in news:m5CdnT9FgMfsIb_UnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

For 40 bucks you dun good for an 18v. We never like them when they die even if it was bought with throw-away in mind.

The reason I like to have the likes of a B&D homeowner cheapo around is that it's smaller, light and easy to handle. I really wouldn't have wanted to use the 18v Ridgid today to unscrew a couple of countertopscrews in a 12" cabinet if ya know what I mean.

Reply to
Red Green

All the battery packs I've seen use tabbed batteries. No heat sink or welding is necessary.

Reply to
Duff

o heat sink

most replacement cells lack the tabs:(

Reply to
hallerb

WHERE?

Reply to
Anon bozo

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