Recommendation for cordless drill/saw??

[mike]

I have a big pile of 20 year old cordless drills and saws. I have a big pile of batteries. Problem is that the batteries that seem to be good don't fit any of the drills...

I expect that any "new" batteries for such an old tool were sitting in a container in Arizona for a decade or two and will be crap. Ditto for EBAY and old store stock.

I have a battery tab welder and have tried numerous times to make one good pack out of several bad ones. But, when the cells are all 20 years old, they fail quickly. Purchasing new cells is prohibitively expensive.

So, might be time for a new drill. Early lithium batteries weren't up to the task. Are the newer ones reliable?

Do they use balance chargers? If not, doesn't that guarantee early battery failure? The Kobalt brand has taken the electronics out of the battery pack and put it in the drill. Looks like only three contacts. That seems like a failure sooner than later.

Anybody have experience with the Kobalt 24-volt brand at Lowes? They have a $10 lithium battery pack. They have brushless motors. I like the idea, but it seems like a lot more stuff to fail.

I'm a light user. I've never had a cordless tool fail. It's ALWAYS the battery.

I won't be using it much, so don't need super quality, just want it to work when I need it.

I don't want to spend a fortune, so looking at the stuff you get at Lowes or home depot on sale.

Recommendations? Thanks

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Tue 04 Apr 2017 12:02:49a, mike told us...

I bought a Ryobi. It's only an 18-volt battery, but the power is outstanding and the charging time is 30 minutes. I like that the batery and charger can be used with a variety of their tools, not just drll. Very good quality, but not the cheapest. I also boght a rotary saw and a hand-held air compressor. Check these out.

[Fake ID]

I have a DeWalt 12V drill & saw. 20-25 years old (I'd have to check). 4 battery packs: 2 original, 2 ~10 years old. The only battery that can provide any runtime is one of the originals.

What I'd like to do is, since these are 12V, is get power from a AC adapter--a corded battery pack. The most ambitious and unachieveable would be to embed the switching power supply electronics inside the battery pack shell. Or, more reasonably, put a connector on the battery pack to receive the barrel plug of a off-the-shelf AC adapter. I've already removed the cells from one dead battery pack and found one gotcha: the pins sticking out of the pack were held in place by the cells.

One thing I'm not sure about is how many amps the battery is supposed to deliver so I'd know how powerful of an adapter would be needed. I attempted to test this with a Harbor Freight Free multimeter. I put the probes on the battery pins and immediately smelled smoke and the black wire became too hot to touch.

I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has already implemented this idea.

m

[Jerry]

I too feel your pain. We have two choices, either buy new batteries every 3 years or buy corded tools.

And FWIW, the after-market batteries are total junk.

[Diesel]

Those meters are piles of shit. Don't trust their readouts!

[Meanie]

Dewalt

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per mike:

Lithium is my choice for intermediate/occasional use because it does not self-discharge very much: I can pick up a drill that has been sitting for three months and it will have a full charge.

I am committed to Ryobi, but if I were starting from scratch would choose a higher-end line after investigating the conditions of the battery warranty.

When one of my Ryobi batteries failed - obviously before it's time - the answer from Home Depot was "Sorry, not covered". I think they based it on the length of time since purchase... but occasional use *does* get you into those situations.

IIRC, Home Depot's "DeWalt" line offered a warranty that covered the batteries better.

OTOH, after that one failure, I have not had any additional battery problems with Ryobi.

[Terry Coombs]

I'll second that . I use the older NiCad packs , and they last well if you remember to fully discharge before charging .

[Frank]

My Ridgid from HD has a lifetime battery warranty.

[Ralph Mowery]

The 4 or 5 that I have seem to be ok for general usage around the house and car. I do have several Fluke meters to compairthem with.

When the first poster said he put the meter across the battery to see about the amps, he was using the meter wrong. That meter is only rated for 10 amps. You do not test a battery for amps by placing a meter across it. Those batteries will dump lots of amps out when shorted in that way. Lots more than the 10 amps the meter is reated for.

[Wade Garrett]

Gotta just love these pinheads that use an item the wrong way- or for a purpose it's not designed and intended only to find that, guess what? It malfunctions, breaks, or does harm.

From here, the knuckleheads progress rapidly from surprise and alarm to anger and blame-externalization.

Eventually this leads to revenge-seeking against the manufacturer or seller. This scenario has put many product liability lawyers' kids through college;-)

[HerHusband]

You get what you pay for. The money you have spent on that "pile" of drills and batteries would have been better invested in a good quality tool that lasts.

I have had exactly TWO cordless drills over the last 16 years or so.

The first was an 18V Craftsman brand. It worked well but the NimH batteries didn't hold up as well. I had to buy new batteries every few years and they weren't cheap.

Several years ago I bought a Dewalt 20V drill with lithium batteries. So far I haven't had to replace a single battery. They all hold a charge as well as the day I bought it. Over the years I've added a variety of Dewalt

20V tools to my collection, including lights and impact drivers.

I recommend staying with the major brands, Dewalt, Milwaukie, Bosch, etc. as you can buy them just about anywhere. This lets you shop around for the best price and replacement batteries and other tools are widely available. I typically buy mine online from Amazon and they get shipped right to my door.

If you buy a store brand like Kobalt, Rigid, Ryobi, etc. you're basically stuck buying them at the one store (Home Depot or Lowes). You can't shop around for better pricing or better selection, and if the store is out of stock you're out of luck.

Based on my own experience, I would choose Dewalt's 20V tools.

Good luck!

Anthony Watson

[Diesel]

I wouldn't rely on them, myself. I've seen them drift too much. One by as much as 30 volts or so. As, reading 30 volts LESS than what was actually on the circuit. Not good. Sometimes, even free, isn't worth having.

Fluke's are great meters, but, pricey. I'm still trying to locate a decent and reliable meter that can measure into the thousands for me. I've been on their website, so I've either missed it, or, they don't make one?

I don't need a million volts ability mind you, but 10k or so would be very helpful for those rare occasions when I want to get a reliable readout for so called high voltage output. Instead of just knowing it's generating some.

I can't test the output of say, a microwave transformer or anything else essentially like those with the meters I've got handy. My fluke isn't a shitty model, but it's not rated beyond 1000Volts, either. I don't know of any mw transformers or neon sign power supplies (the newer ones aren't really just a transformer, it's actually an electronic power supply that produces 5k+ volts) that produces 1k or less voltage, even if it has no real punch behind it.

That includes the itty bitty ballast you don't see common in laptops anymore, or flatpanels for that matter. Most (all?) have switched over to LED backlighting and done away with the cold tubes.

I didn't address that aspect of his post. I thought? it was relative common knowledge, but, that's what I get for assuming. Right? :) That's usually hard on the battery too. I observed a mechanic (yea, I know.. crazy) do the same thing with a high output GEL battery once. The wire actually caught fire before he could disconnect it. ROFL. The insane aspect was that he had a battery tester on his bench and opted to test with the meter instead. stupid, but, wasn't my decision or my equipment. So...

[Diesel]

When Dewalt was actually Dewalt, sure. Now, they're actually black and decker. And, if you have an impact capable one, it's using plastic (yes, plastic) gears instead of the Metal ones they USED to use. Older Dewalt, good choice. newer Dewalt, black and decker junk.

[Meanie]

Likewise. I use the tools until it doesn't have enough spunk to to the task, then I hold the trigger until the battery drains completely. Probably overkill but I've had them for years now and still going strong.

[Meanie]

Welcome to the real world where almost everything is being built with plastics or another form of composite material.

[Ralph Mowery]

You probably will not find a voltmeter/multimeter that goes over around

1000 volts. Or not at a reasonable price for most.

To go over 1000 volts you will need to get a high voltage probe. That converts the common meter to read a higher voltage. I think Fluke has some good to about 6 KV for just under $ 100 and some good for 30 or 40 KV for over $ 200. Lots more than I want to spend to check out the few things I have that will do over 1 KV.

I would not buy a used probe for that kind of voltage. Once you get much over 1 KV things that should be insulators seem to want to arc over.

If I want to get an idea of a bad transformer I use a varac to cut the primary voltage way down and bring it up slow to the meter on the secondary gets close to 900 or so volts. Then do the math to see if it is reasonable.

I have also used a 6 volt transformer in the same way .

[Muggles]

I have the Ryobi 18-volt battery tools, too. Drill, saw, light, blower, and they've never failed me on any wood working project I've done.

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Tue 04 Apr 2017 05:05:12p, Oren told us...

Nothing lasts forever, and that's particularly true of rechargeable batteries. Batteries of all types have always been a temporary source of power. Why would you expect anything different.

[hrhofmann]

Any hi-voltage probe must be used with a voltmeter of the correct input impedance/resistance, as it acts as part of a voltage divider.