We have De-Walt, Mastercraft, Bosch and Craftsman batteries; all different. Most of the batteries or the associated chargers are 'shot'! And are incompatible with each other.
Just wondering if we will ever see a 'standard' range of (rechargeable) cordless tool batteries; along same lines as ............... 'D', 'C', 'AA' ...... etc.?
And just looking at a Ryobi catalog ............... advertising that their battery powers 40 different tools! Bet that's a different battery pack again!
BTW, last night, fiddling around with a DC supply to power some older
12 volt cordless drill found that they work fine on anything from 10 to 18 volts. (With adequate amperage of course). It's always the batteries (or occasionally the chargers) that are gone; the drills are fine. **Haven't measured yet; but hypothesizing: If a 12 volt drill takes say
8 amps (96 watts) at full load before stalling that means that a (good) 12 volt 3.5 ampere hour pack might last 20 mins. to half an hour? That makes sense?** Maybe battery packs are one of those self-defeating schemes like 'too small' printer cartridges or 'sub standard tires' as original equipment on new cars? Deliberate and planned obsolescence?
Anyway we are planning using two substantial UPS supplies for our several computers; using old truck batteries. That means we will have
12 and 24 volts in significant amounts of current for occasional use, adjacent to main work bench! So our battery packs may end up with disconnected cells and DC plug in cords ready to go at a moments notice. Kinda gets away from the idea of cordless tools but saves our few good De-Walts etc. for which we have several up to date battery packs, for outdoor and portable work!Any suggestions or better ideas welcomed.