OT -- battery drill external batt pack

Have you ever built a battery drill, using a dead cordless drill, and external battery pack? For a while, I was saving a 12 volt drill that was dead.

I save it, becuase I figured I could put a length of zipcord on it, and run it to a lighter plug. Power it from the socket of a battery jumper pack.

Most Sub-C that I've found in drills are 1600 mA hours, Compared to the cheap Rayovac NiMH AA cells, which are about 2,000. could use a 12 volt pack that runs AA cells (eight AA cells, Rat Shack used to have these) and actually have more power than the original pack. Plus, being able to test and replace individual cells as they failed.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon
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Yes BTDT.....didnt work

others will explain why

cheers Bob

Reply to
DD_BobK

PRIMECELL>COM rebuilds your old pack with excellent high capacity cells, far better than your original ones. quality rebuild with welded battery straps.

very affordable the ones i sent came back looking almost like new, they removed graftti, saying dead and must of polisjhed the packs.

Reply to
hallerb

People write good reviews of the company. I've got a couple

12 volt drills from Harbor Freight, that I paid $14.99 each, for the drills. I wonder how much it would cost to have the batteries rebuilt?
Reply to
Stormin Mormon

The problem with HF drills is that the chargers suck.

They are not automatic in that they will over charge the batteries and kill them, so alternate methods of charging should be used. The problem with that idea is by the time you add the cost of rebuilding the cheap battery packs, then getting a good charger it costs you more than a good drill would.

for as much as you need a cordless drill, why not pay once for a good Li ion with lifetime warrantee?

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

Per a previuos posting .....................................

Cordless tools have been around for quite a while now.

So you'd think that some agreement on standard shapes and sizes would have been arrived at?

And before everybody jumps all over that comment; how come we have pretty well agreed standards for light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, plugs/ sockets, water pipe sizes, alkaline and rechargeable cells (AA, AAA, D, C) etc. How come all automobile (almost all anyway) are 12 volts and mostly negative grounded. Telephone dials and/or push button are much the same, world wide. Even debit cards and credit cards are somewhat compatible (often world wide). Tyre sizes and ratings follow standards.. Also within areas of the world radios signals and TV channels are coordinated ............ you don't have to buy a separate TV set for each North American network and your 115 volt shaver will work most places, at least in North and South America from the Canadian Arctic/Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego! Before digital cameras, film came in certain 'standard sizes'; while in the 'early days', my grandfather told me some people used to make their own negative photographic film plates by coating chemicals onto glass plates, in a dark room, (black and white then) no colour of course, until around the 1930s? And then developing their own negatives and pictures.

It's the old 'captive' and short sighted market idea that, among other things, makes American pharmaceutical drugs among the most expensive in the world!

For many quick jobs around the house and especially at the bench the old reliable 115 volt hand drill (BandD $9 at K Mart many, many years ago) is most convenient. It's no heavier and no fiddling around to see which of at least two batteries is charged etc.

But later; batteries age, so it becomes cheaper to get a whole new 'cheapie' drill set with different batteries and a different charger than buy a replacement battery pack/s. It's shame (criminal) how much stuff like that is scrapped!

How does this ISO (Standards) work. Could it be applied to cordless batteries?

Reply to
terry

Of course, your farsighted quality idea is excellent. What was going through my mind, is that once in a while I need to turn screws. I use cordless drill, to take things apart, or do replacements. I've replaced a couple electric sockets recently, and plan to do a bunch more. Those #6-32 screws have a LOT of thread, and the old analog screw drivers get boring after a while.

It would be nice to have another cordless drill for screw turning. I've got two in the van, and one in the Blazer (the one in the blazer has the charge plug with it). I did end up buying a power screw driver with alkaline AA cells for about eight bucks at Walmart.

The drill with external battery pack is less convenient to use, but it's nice thought. Being able to replace cells as they go bad.

As to the HF drill. When it goes low, I put the battery pack on charge for two hours. I'm not sure how old the drill is, but it's got to be two years or more. Going strong. Yes, the chargers are stupid.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I'd like to see a cordless drill that takes NiMH AA cells. Some kind of holder that takes common cells that can either be charged with a wall wart charge plug. Or taken out for individual charge.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

True the cost is more than you paid for a brand new drill, but the primecell standard replacement is far better than your original battery pack. My best friend hads primecell rebiuil;d one harbor freight pack and he is amazed at how well it works with 4 or 5 times the original batter operation.

he is so satisfied he is planning on getting all his batteries rebuilt

from primecells website

12.0 Volts Replace NICD with high capacity upgrade $ 33.00 12.0 Volts Replace NIMH with high capacity upgrade $ 47.00
Reply to
hallerb

Ryobi, Ridgid and Milwaukee are all subsidiaries of the same parent company, but even those batteries are *not* interchangeable.

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy

I've got a Makita 14.4 batter that I someday will send in. For now, I'm getting by with out it, and money is tight. Thanks to the Obama ecnomy.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

While true, not of much use to demonstrate anything about corporate governance re: design of disparate products since TTI didn't exist until

1985 and didn't acquire Milwaukee until 2005, far too late to have had any influence on lack of divergence in battery designs/pack configurations.

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Reply to
dpb

I put the cheap "wall wort" type chargers on a timer for a few hours when dead. Then it turns them on again for about 15 minutes a day. Works great. A 5 year old B&D 12volt I bought in an emergency still works great on the original battery.

Reply to
Tony

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