Craftsman 12v Drill Battery

[Jeff McAhren]

Sears wants about $50 for a new 12v drill battery (after tax and shipping), so it makes sense to pay $20 more and get a new drill with two batteries. It's too darn bad that I have to throw away a perfectly good drill just because the batteries are worn out.

I checked a couple online battery discounters, and they don't carry my model. Anywhere else to get discounted drill batteries?

Any deals on drills out there?

[Stoney]

The May issue of Consumer Reports compared battery operated drills. They advise batteries can cost up to $100 and for any drill costing less than $100 it is probably better to toss it and buy a new one. They also say a battery should last through 500 recharges. You can save your old drill, buy the new one with two batteries, and have two drills ready to go.

[jim]

try harbor freight..

they sell cheap battery powered elect. drills and also sell batteries for the tools.. i was in the local store few days ago and they had a whole counter with batteries for drills.. dont know what the power was as i was not looking for them at this time.... you might want to take the battery pack apart and see whats inside and then go with the and buy some replacements for the inside of the battery pack????

[m Ransley]

If you can get the pack open you can get 10 cells for 10$ and solder them in

[Stormin Mormon]

I was also gonna suggest

You might want to get goofy, here. Take the drill apart, run a length of zipcord out, and put a lighter plug on it. Make a 12 volt drill you can use out of your lighter socket.

I know, it really hurts to throw out a perfectly good drill.

How about look on the battery and get the part number. Log onto

and type in the part number of the battery. If that doesn't work, the part number of the drill. I found replacement batteries for my cell phone that way, and also ribbons for my old Diablo printer.

[Dave Mitton]

I did this recently with a Craftsman 12v drill. The battery pack was 10 sub-C sized nicad cells. (@ 1.2v each) There was some sort of widget, I believe a temperature sensor in circuit on the third contact and taped to one of the cells.

I was able to buy tabbed 2100mAh cells from

for about the same price as a replacement at HD, but I probably have better power now. I just rebuilt the pack, soldering the tabs to each other, and scrounging the sensor out of the original.

Dave.

[Jim Yanik]

Dave Mitton wrote in news: [e-mail]:

That's what tells the charger to stop charging the cells.It's a Thermal switch.When NiCds near a full charge,their case temp increases rapidly.

[patrick mitchel]

I did the same thing using "drillmaster" batteries from a harbor freight cordless drill . Big mistake. The batteries have a self discharge rate of

50% in a 24 hr period. Never seen anyhthing like it. Like having all the inconvenience of the cordless drill without the convenience. Ya let the thing sit a while and when you need to drill a quick hole for a bracket or something, you have to wait till the damn thing is charged. I have a maha 777 plus charger that shows the cells taking 1500mah charge- bout right for a cheapie subc nicad. I then can let the thing sit overnight and it takes close to 700mah to top it up. All that to keep a makita 9.6 stick battery drill going. Shoulda accepted that technology has moved on a bought a current tech drill or sprung for some decent cells on the battery rebuild. Ya take some knocks and learn some lessons. Pat

[m Ransley]

Patrick if your batteries bischarge then you have a short, They are probably seconds, it doesnt suprise me comming from Harbor F.

[Stormin Mormon]

I've got a couple of those Drillmasters that were about $16 on sale. I've been very pleased. Wonder why yours go flat so fast?

[Jim Yanik]

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in news:c522cs$28v75p$ [e-mail]:

Could be the storage temperature,or not charging them properly.Some of the cheaper drill/driver kits have ordinary non-regulated chargers.the better chargers are "fast-charge",meaning one hour or less.NiCds like being fast- charged,but not overcharged,nor under-charged.

[patrick mitchel]

I've been using the maha 777+ computer controlled charger for a variety of my charging needs (bike lights/radio batteries/cordless drills). Been a good charger- never had a pack or individual cell go bad from overcharge and the charger has caught a couple of the cells going belly up. I bought one of the 12 v drillmaster and 4 of the batteries when they were on a special sale. While the 12v drill is defintitely subpar (about as good as my older

9.6 makita) I found when I broke the 12v pack open(5 screws - no glue!) that there was room for 2 more cells. With the sacrifice of one of the pack for the individual cells, I made a couple of 14.4 packs. Now the drill has some power. Still no clue as to the rapid self discharge. Perhaps I'll charge the pack and take a look at the discharge of individual cells. Pat

[Stormin Mormon]

They did say with th ose Harbor Fright batteries, that the charger is a "stupid" charger, and has no regulator. I'm sure it's easy to fry the batteries.