black & decker firestorm power drill

hey all...

my B&D firestorm power drill appears to have quit working. I have 2 batteries and they look like they're the problem. anyone know of a good source of cheap batteries for it?

Reply to
dilbert firestorm
Loading thread data ...

primecell.com rebuilds the battery pack to way better than new.

its not cheap but they do a wondeful job.

Reply to
bob haller

Never used the service but I know you do not save money by getting a cheap battery

Reply to
philo

The usual suspects, Ebay and Amazon.

My guess is that it will be cheaper to buy a new drill set. Rather than the a la carte option of batteries. Sadly, that's so often the case in our throw away society.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

For the price of the batteries, I would go to Lowes and get a Dewalt that is on sale for $ 89 that comes with 2 batteries.

I don'tknow what it is with the replacement batteries for almost all devices, but they seem to run almost as much as the tool and new batteries.

I have a very good Mikita drill the batteries quit on me years ago and when checking on the price of batteries, decided to go with a new Dewalt. If that Dewalt batteries quit, I will probably just buy a whole new combination drill and batteries of some brand. Maybe the same brand, and maybe another.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

As someone else already mentioned, use Primecell.com I had the same drill as you and the rebuilt batts were better than the new ones that came with it.

Eventually I dropped the drill off a ladder and broke the gears. Then I had to purchase a new replacement with LiIon batter. They seem to last forever before requiring a charge.

Good luck.

Reply to
bobm3

+1

Yup. I opt for corded tools wherever possible. The last thing I need when I take on a project is to find the battery flat -- then, after waiting for it to recharge, discovering that it won't hold a significant charge. Or, perhaps, any charge at all!

So, I'm "suddenly" faced with making a new purchase -- instead of tackling the job at hand.

I had a delightful little cordless soldering iron many years ago. Came up to temperature almost instantly (push button to turn on). But, as it didn't see regular use, the battery eventually failed. Do I buy another? Or, an entire replacement iron? Or, just resolve myself to live with the corded irons and keep an outlet (or extension cord) nearby whenever in use?

[Ans: the latter]

BTW, I've saved a couple of cordless drills to convert to "hand/foot-crank" generators! Far more available power than you can get from the toy hand-crank flashlights. Much less than what's available from a genset or car alternator -- but also easy to use indoors without having to rely on a fuel source! (other than the fuel source that keeps your body running)

Reply to
Don Y

Sounds like the soldering iron I had. A whal or wahl , something like that. Great for a couple of quick connections, but I did not use it very much after I had it for a year or so. Then it took longer to recharge it than to heat up the one with a cord. Battery finally would not hold a charge, so junked it.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Possible. I think Wahl made the clippers we used to groom the puppiemonsters. And, this looked a lot like that!

It wasn't very robust -- flimsy would be a gracious description! But, very effective for small jobs when you just needed to join a few items and didn't want to have to "get all set up" with the soldering station, mask, illuminator, etc.

I wonder how much scrap goes to landfills in the form of batteries... and, if the economics make sense when all things are considered!

Reply to
Don Y

The Wahl company that made the clippers made the soldering iron I had. They started out making clippers (saw the first one a few years ago when I changed barbers) and later made the soldering iron.

I had a soldering gun for the quick jobs if I needed a lot of heat, but for a quick PC repair the gun was too much of a good thing where the iron was just right.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

OK. Mine was red (if that means anything) :>

I have a couple of "soldering pencils/stations" that are temperature controlled (one allows me to actually *set* the temperature; the others have the temperature "encoded" in the replaceable tip that is currently selected) that I use for most work. I can adapt them (by selecting the appropriate tip) for the type of work that I'm doing.

E.g., soldering thru-hole components usually works well with a small tip; less bulk, less thermal mass required, etc. OTOH, sodering the metal mounting tabs for, e.g., a USB connector *into* a PCB needs a lot more heat in a lot larger area -- so, a bigger tip.

I have a hot air iron (Leister) that I use for surface-mount components.

And, a Weller "coat hanger" gun that I use for soldering really heavy gauge wire, etc.

(I call it "coat hanger" cuz you can use a wire coat hanger bent in the appropriate shape as a heating element, in a pinch -- crude!)

Years ago, I had a heavy soldering "wand" that was suitable for sweating joints on pipe! :-/

Reply to
Don Y

You know, when you get to Heaven, there are no battery operated tools. But there are receptacles every 20 feet. They tried battery tools for a while, but when the batteries wore out, instead of recycling them properly, some would just drop them on the floor. And of course there was no floor and the batteries would fall to earth, going enormously fast by the time they hit the ground. Several people were hurt and 2 were killed. The press covered it on those 2 occasions and said "died of unknown cause" because they didn't think the battery would have enough speed to kill. No one wanted to admit the obvious, that they had falled from a great height.

>
Reply to
Micky

yes that is true... with ebay, amazon.

however, further search apparently revealed another alternative...

formatting link

zapping batteries

formatting link

Reply to
dilbert firestorm

replacement bateries are usualy old new stock.so they dont work well.......

so company x manufacturers millions of a battery operated drill, and orders thousands of replacement batteries.

the original batteries begin to fail so they start selling the replacements that have been sitting on the warehouse shelf for years.

they are unused but as old as the batteries they are replacing and cost almost as much as a new drill. worse because they are old they dont work well

the feds should require all cordless tools have easy to replace cells in the battery packs, this could be done.

just open the packs and install new cells.

less waste.

oh and dont solder to any new cells you purchase.

the manufacturers spot weld the connections, which doesnt heat the cells.

soldering heat yyour new cells and can do long term damage,.

Reply to
bob haller

One possible theory is that all power tools are divinely powered. They never need charging, and never go flat. Of course, this theory isn't Biblical, so no body better believe it.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Ralph Mowery posted for all of us...

I had one of those too. It was really handy working under car dashboards and odd places. It crapped out too. Couldn't find another. Then reliable crimp connectors and tools came along.

Reply to
Tekkie®

I've noticed Home Depot and Lowes are selling cordless stuff as "bare tool" with no battery or charger. I didn't compare pricing.

Reply to
Dean Hoffman

Dilbert-

I have older B&D Firestorm and a Dewalt drills that both take a 9.6 Volt battery. The batteries look alike, but are not fully interchangeable due to some slight mechanical differences. However a Firestorm battery can be charged in a Dewalt charger.

It may be possible to purchase a Dewalt 9.6 Volt battery and transfer its contents to the Firestorm battery case. However the cost may be greater than purchasing a new drill with a modern battery!

As others have suggested, your best bet may be to find a place like "Batteries Plus" that can rebuild your batteries. They may want to sell you a new one for the same price as a rebuild, but be aware that their new battery may not fit your drill. I purchased one of their Ray-O-Vac batteries for the Dewalt drill. It will not fit on the B&D Firestorm.

Walmart used to carry the 9.6 Volt Firestorm batteries, but discontinued them. I found a couple on clearance for a bargain price several years ago. I doubt there are still any out there, but you never know.

Fred

Reply to
Fred McKenzie

the one I have is 18 volts.

Reply to
dilbert firestorm

yeah, I was gonna bring this up after seeing a number of instructable pages about replacing batteries. replacing batteries can be had for $12-15 and in some cases, free, old batteries can be brought back to life if they are NICD batteries, not sure about NIMH batteries tho.

I see that they are basically R/C batteries placed in a container. It's a basically a rip off more or less based on the razor blade model sales.

Reply to
dilbert firestorm

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.