Will we ever see 'universal' cordless batteries.

There is standarization inside the packs. They all use the same type of cell.

Selling batteries is a source of income. It makes a lot of sense for something like the Ryobi setup where one battery can power many tools in the brand, but you'll never see interchange amongst brands as long as they make a profit on batteries. Once you have a couple of tools in the brand you'll likely stick with them for convenience also.

OTOH, places like

I doubt it. Same deal with cell phones. About a zillion different type of batteries. Compare that to FRS walkie talkies which take AA or AAA cells. Cameras can be bad, with AA, CR2, CR123, and so on. I'd like to see some standardizing on cordless tools. I doubt I'll ever see it.

Years ago, I found a Sears cordless 12 volt drill on the trash pile. Brought it home, and as expected the batteries aren't any good. I kept it for a couple years, and planned to wire it to zipcord and a lighter plug. I could then run it off a vehicle battery jumper pack. I never quite got that project done. But, I do have a couple 12 volt Harbor Freight drills for when the batteries die.

The newer NiMH cells in AA size have good storage capacity. Some up to 2600 mA hours. I'd like to see cordless tools on AA cells. Most of them run on sub C, with 1600 mA hours. But, alas, I'll probably either never see one, or have to build my own.

Yes; gather expensively and have myself rebuilt a battery pack using 'good' cells from another pack!

Also OTOH I have a an old AC hand drill bought at a K mart for around $8 on sale some 40+ years ago. And a large 230 volt drill bought in

Yes! It will happen on the same day that we see universal ink cartridges for computer printers.

Yes, what a lot of folks probably don't realize is that a lot of manufacturers make nothing on the original sale and depend on the sale of accessories/spares/replacement parts to make a buck.

How about a battery operated battery charger?

primecell does a excellent job at rebuilding packs the cells are often better capacity than the ones that originally came in the pack.

connections are welded on, now go price new high capacity cells with attached leads.

primecell is very affordable

It's just like them damned printers. They next to give the things away, but they ream you on the ink.

Steve

Blame some dude 100 years ago named Gillette, for that business model. The cell phone companies sure have taken his advice to heart, as have the printer companies.

-- aem sends...

My first color printer was $400 in 1985 dollars (about $800 today's money). Today you can get one that scans, makes copies and faxes for $39. But they still get you for the ink.

Which will be a couple weeks after the Second Coming of the Undecieded for atheists and agnostics?

Standard Oil, giving away oil lamps in China? Then, charging for the lamp oil.

I have two. One plugs into the lighter socket or any 12VDC source and recharges NiMH AA and AAA batteries and the other uses a lighter socket or any 12VDC source and recharges AA, AAA, C, D and 9volt Nicad cells.

TDD

Maybe. Seems like folk have got their heads together and are working on universal phone chargers now in the interests of saving the planet - and if they can manage that, maybe they can do the same for battery packs. Might be another 20 years away, though...

When I last moved, I couldn't find the charger for my (very good) Milwaukee 12v drill. I ended up buying a black and decker 12v on sale for about $15 at WalMart and used jumper wires from it's charger to charge the Milwaukee batteries. The B&D was actually useful at times for simple things, so when lowes put their "Firestorm" branded version of the same batteries on closeout I bought 2 @ under $10 a piece. I'm going to open up one and put the individual batteries into a Milwaukee battery case.

I've only had HP printers and I have excellent results changing the default setting to "Fast Draft". It prints well for most everything I print. It used about half or less the ink and that works great for me.

I have seen other brands that print too light on fast draft/rough draft/... but on HP it really works great.

Stop and think for a moment. How much are you paying per ounce for INK? The way HP sells it, it is more expensive then good perfume. It's INK, for cry eye. The same stuff that prints newspapers, and is sold by the barrel. A few pennies per ounce, until HP gets a hold of it. Then it's $75 an ounce.

Why do you suppose HP makes a different cartridge for almost every model printer? It's to keep them as proprietary as possible to keep the prices ASTRONOMICAL. Many of these "different" cartriges are different only by a small bump or groove that allows them to only fit one model. It's not by accident.

So... do you use a computer printer or do you type everything?

I don't marvel about how I get great savings by using draft mode while paying $75 an ounce for INK. Even the lowest rung of laser printers is vastly cheaper per page than the most economical inkjets.