Battery quandry

[The Medway Handyman]

Don't really know which way to go here.

I've got a 14.4v Makita combi which came with 2 x 1.3 a/hr NiCd's - which are shagged after 4 years heavy use.

Bought a 14.4v 2.6 a/hr NiMh battery which is great. Also have a 14.4v impact driver with 2 x 3 a/hr NiMh - which I only use for decking jobs. So, no problem with 14.4v batteries.

Also have a 12v driver & a 12v impact driver, both of which I use a lot. The 1.3 a/hr NiCd's they came with are starting to die.

A new 12v 2.6 a/hr Nimh battery is going to cost me around £52 and I'd prolly need 2 of them.

But for £100 + I could buy a brand new Makita 12v driver with 3 x 1.3 a/hr NiCd's.

For £32 I could buy a 14.4v driver body only & retire the 12v - which seems a great shame.

Confused of Medway. Dunno which way to go..

[Jules]

Buy a bunch of mains stuff and throw a genny in the van? :-)

Never been a fan of battery stuff TBH - always goes flat on me wright when I don't want it to, need to carry extra (charged) batteries, batteries don't last forever etc.; I'm happier having to run a few hundred feet of mains cable if I have to...

[dom]

Most of my cordless kit is Bosch 14.4v (impact, combi, and drill/ driver) and all my batteries had had their day after several years heavy use.

I bought a Bosch 14.4v drill that I didn't want, because it came with

3 x 2.6Ah NiMh's - definitely the cheapest way out of the problem.

However the price deals with the credit crunch, and prices on tools with lithium batteries rapidly decreasing - I would now upgrade to the latest technology (and a few more volts for the extra clout).

So if I was buying today, I would probably buy 18V lithium impact driver and combi.

However, last year there was a very good introductory deal on Bosch

10.4v lithium - and I bought impact driver, drill/driver, angle drill and torch in a bundle. I bought it mainly for the angle drill - but in practice the angle drill is rather too lacking in clout, whilst the impact driver and drill have amazing clout and battery longevity for their tiny size, and are very well used.

So that's another possibility if your work pattern fits very lightweight and compact tools - Mak do a near identical range, and these things are much more powerful than their size would suggest - and the longevity from the tiny battery really surprise me.

As standard, I keep a PZ3 bit in the large impact driver, 6mm pilot drill in that (to knock home 6*80mm turbogold quickly) and PZ2/3mm pilot drill in the lithium kit for typically 4*xxmm turbogold on trims.

[The Natural Philosopher]

[ar for the course.

batteries are the real cost of portable tools. The casing gearbox and motor are probably less than a tenner to make, and the charger not a lot more than a fiver.

Surely you can recell your packs for less than 50 quid tho?

OH. perhaps not..4-5 wuid is the going rate for a (good) sub C it seems.

Bit cheaper in the USA

cells are a bit cheaper,

[Andy Dingley]

NiCd Makitas are dirt cheap, as they seem to be shifting stock before the European cadmium bans get tighter. However if you already have commitment to the 14.4 NiMH, I'd go down that route.

As you note, the money is in the batteries and not the mechanisms, particularly if you need enough of a stockpile to work with them (as a DIYer, I can wait for a recharge). So commonality with 14.4 is a big advantage itself (you need to own fewer batteries for equal service availability), let alone the benefits of NiMH over NiCd.

Then stick the 12V kit on eBay, with an honest description. A DIYer will still buy them, and be happy enough.