DeWalt drill battery question

[Terry Coombs]

I managed to fry one of the batteries to my DeWalt 18v drill , and I'm a bit confused ... My batteries are model DC9098 . I find all kinds of replacement batteries , and one of the most common is a DW , not a DC 9098 . I see a difference in the A/Hour ratings , and wonder if this is the difference in the letter designation . I'd match the battery to the model of the drill , but the tag with the number is damaged . I've been a fan of the Dewalt drills for over 20 years , and until now the only battery failures I've seen were due to not completely draining them to dead before charging . I had a 12v battery last over 6 years ... but this 18v unit died the other day while I was using my drill to mix mortar for the stone work behind my WB stove ... got hot , then nothing and now it won't charge . And I gotta have a 2nd battery , one to use while the other charges .

[Terry Coombs]

Not NiCad's , they'll never take a full charge again if you don't discharge them fully before charging . I and a coworker both got identical new drills at the same time . He would slap a fresh battery in as soon as his slowed a little , I'd run mine all the way down . My batteries lasted an average of 4+ years , his were being replaced on average in less than a year .

[Mike]

Different strokes. I do it like your buddy does and I have several packs that are nearly 12 years old and work fine. If you take them down much below 1.1V/cell you are not doing them any favors. Your drill may refuse to run before you get there. Thus your good fortune so far.

[Fred McKenzie]

The problem with "all the way down", is that after a cell gets to zero volts, continued current flow will reverse charge it. Your 4+ years batteries probably had well matched cells that all discharged at the same rate.

When I have trouble with my 18V batteries, I take them to "Batteries Plus". They refill them with the higher A/Hour cells. The refills are less expensive than DeWalt, and seem to last longer.

Fred

[Ralph Mowery]

Don't know about the refiles, but it seems that youcan get a new drill, charger and 2 batteries for the same price or less than 2 batteries.

[Terry Coombs]

Yup , and I'm considering buyiong another one just like this one for that very reason .

[BenDarrenBach]

They will be made in China though...maybe some in Japan left (Makita, Panasonic).

[Ralph Mowery]

If I needed a cordless now, I would look in to that just because of the free batteries for life. I have an 18 volt Dewalt and the batteries seem to be in good shape. I don't use it very often,so they may go bad because they are not used much. I do charge them a couple of times a year.

[Stormin Mormon]

How do the prices compare to

??

[Art Todesco]

Yup, I did that last time Lowe's had them on sale for $99. However, you get the smaller batteries. That's ok for me because they are certainly lighter in weight. With the way I use them, I've not noticed a problem. And the big plus for me is that I think my old charger was over charging (in a trickle mode after the light goes out) because the battery always remained warm while on the charger. The new charger with the drill kit, doesn't do that.

[BenDarrenBach]

On Thursday, September 18, 2014 8:29:36 AM UTC-5, Art Todesco wrote: However, you

Lithium batteries are smaller/lighten, charge more efficiently...last at least at long. Possibly what you have?

[Art Todesco]

Definitely not. DeWalt does have a smaller NiCd battery with a little less capacity, lighter in weight and slightly smaller in size. I wish they did have a LIon replacement for the 18 volt DeWalt batteries. It might be nice.

[RayRay]

My battery dewalt charger was fried with battery on it, does that mean battery is fried

[mike]

My Dewalt drill smells like ozone & sparks a lot. But it still works.

Why does it smell like ozone?

[micky]

Because it's sparking a lot.

Just like my Lionel train.

[gfretwell]

Brushes are shot

[micky]

FWIW, the top motor on previous car, or the one before that, probably that one, the '95 Lebaron, got so bad the top would not go up most times unless I opened the trunk and whacked the motor with a heavy wrench. Then I had to whack it 3, 4, 10 times and then it didn't work at all.

I'd been looking for brushes and at the hardware store he had an assortment. My size was maybe $4 a pair and I took the motor out and apart, and then I saw that, though the brushes were the same size, the braided connector on what I'd bought was much thinner. The motor used a lot of current. I didn't want to do without the convertible top until I could mail order better brushes. I thought about stretching the springs but I don't think that would work well,, so I balled up tin foil and put the brushes in their slots on top of one foil ball for each, on top of the spring. It was fine for another two years until the car failed for other reasons.

[bruce bowser]

Trains are still in style? I thought that now, these kids play with radio controlled drones with laser beams, etc..

[Clare Snyder]

And if they are into trains it's virtual on the computer - withsimulators like flight sim or race simulators that give you the "engineer experience"

[micky]

Well, it's still my train, even if I haven't played with it for 60 years. (Someone at a hamfest gave me extra track only 15 years ago!)

I should have sold it long ago when it would have brought money, but I guess we were sort of saving it for my nephew.