Cordless drill: staying power of batteries

I've got a budget cordless drill, "Classic Power" CP18-2 that I run with an 18v NiCd battery. It works okay for my purposes, but staying power of battery is pretty useless.

If I get another cordless drill, (like a Dewalt) should I avoid anything with NiCd batteries?

How much does the actual charger make a difference with NiCd batteries? Thanks

Reply to
Rich
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Have you seen the "Site" one on offer from Screwfix for £40 with 2 batteries .Made by Makita ..There was a post about in here a few days ago. I've got one and am pretty impressed so far .

Reply to
Usenet Nutter

Par for the course I'm afraid.

Not necessarily. Top brands like DeWalt, Makita, Blue Bosch with have much better quality NiCd's and there are some excellent offers around for cordless tools with 2 or even 3 x 1.3a/hr NiCd's.

This Makita for example for £80

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've run one of these for around 4 years in daily trade use and only just upgraded the batteries to NiMh. For DIY use its going to last for ages - and even then you could buy 2 x replacement batteries for under £60.

Bear in mind as well, that a top brand 14.4v is probably going to outperform a budget 18v.

Huge difference. El cheapo chargers ruin batteries. Again, top brands have 'intelligent' chargers.

HTH

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Thats an incredible offer.

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the £80 one I posted a link to.

Grab one before they all go.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I was just about to ask what the difference between them was .I can only see that the dearer one has 2 more torque settings and a fan-cooled motor but apart from that looks like exactly the same model.

Reply to
Usenet Nutter

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>>> Forget the £80 one I posted a link to.

AIUI the Site brand are Makita's 'last year' models. The Site jigsaw is identical to the 4340 I have, which is now called the 4350 or something and has a few minor changes.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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> I've run one of these for around 4 years in daily trade use and only

Exactly. NiCd is the not the very best type of battery, but I do wonder if part of my problem is a naff charger that does not really handle to NiCd batteries I have very well at all.

But, when I come to taking action I bet it's best to go for a wholesale change by purchasing a complete new cordless drill set. :c)

Reply to
Rich

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>>> I've run one of these for around 4 years in daily trade use and only

Highly likely. Makita chargers are excellent (no experience of DeWaly & Bosch, but no doubt they are equally good).

Assuming you could actually get a spare battery for a "Classic Power" CP18-2 - a quick Google reveals nothing, you are going to find yourself in the same situation soon.

Go to Screwfix & grab that £40 Site/Makita for £40 - while they still have some left.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

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Nicads are good at abuse, reassoanble at charge retention butr are now efcetively almost abnned as cadmiums is a Bad Chenmicla (TM)

NiMh are better capacity totally useless charge tertention, and cant take abuse, but they are Ecologicallly Bewtter.

Lithium batteries are fantastic on energy density and charge retention, but fragile with respect to over and charge and discharge, to the point of being dangerous.

They are however infinitely better if surrounded by protection, than the other two.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Cracking bargain - I wish I needed one!

Reply to
Steve Walker

Best DIY tool:

- Site (Makita) from Screwfix for =A340

Best 1-drill for all:

- =A338 - Makita 6337/6347 body with 13mm chuck on Ebay, made in USA

- =A322 - Buy 14.4V multi-charger (DC1414F if I recall)

- =A335 - Buy 2x 1.3Ah NiCD for DIYer or 1x 2.6Ah NiMH if regular use

Irregular DIYers are better with 2x NiCD because one can be recharging whilst the other is used and NiCD has a slow self-discharge rate compared to NiMH (which discharge extremely rapidly).

There is another drill above the 6337, can't recall what it is with a side handle. The 13mm chuck is handy for a "takes anything" although you could get a 6280 and just change the chuck to a larger one. The

13mm chuck however has a nice ratchet action and doesn't suffer slippage like the normal cordless chucks. The 6337/6347 are however heavy above your head.

Battery quality varies significantly re 1) matching cell voltage 2) granularity as I recall etc of the internal chemicals. The branded companies can use a simple trick to extract more value - not necessarily buy the best sanyo/panasonic cells but just match the voltage through the packs so charge/discharge is linear across all cells which maximises life considerably. Not unusual to find people having put 8yrs on the original Makita batteries.

There was a =A399 Dewalt on Ebay which had a good chuck but also higher RPM than most drills, that high RPM under load can be better for punching through when other drills are losing RPM.

Reply to
js.b1

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