Cordless Impact Drill

I am afraid this is the problem buying no name equipment, when things go t*ts up finding spares or someone to repair them is often impossible. That?s the reason they are so cheap, no backup, you should regard them as throw away when they go wrong. You may if your lucky able to re-cell the battery but even that is fraught with issues.

Richard

Aliexpress seems to be your only choice as an equivalent for Ferm CDA6009 24v battery, I think?

It's ferm/powercraft

Apologies, mixed it up with those Power-something tools B&Q used to sell cheap, once something broke you were knackered.

Richard

Do you want a spare battery - or would your original fixed do as well? Several firms will re-cell any battery. But may cost as much or more than a new one - if you can buy them.

Powercraft seem to have been made by Ferm. Is it this one:

It's annoying to throw away a perfectly good drill, but is it realistic to spend say £30-40 on a new Ni-Cd battery or re-celling the old one?

I bought some re-celled ones on eBay. I doubt I could have re-celled one for same price.

or with the same (lack of) quality of cells probably... :-)

My experience may not be typical.

I have bought some cells to re-celled a couple of batteries and I've bought re-celled ones. The faff is one thing, but the bought re-celled batteries are still going strong, whereas I was disappointed with my own attempt.

YMMV

Indeed, and it waa a slightly tongue in cheek response. The recelled onea might be good - but it can be hard to know in advance.

My experience with "compatible" and recelled packs I tried, was that while initially ok they did not have the same life as the OEM Makita ones. Same applies to the one I recelled myself - at a price where it was worth doing the performance was not good enough.

There were some pretty weird deals available, and I doubt that you could have recelled more cheaply. For example Makita 4ah for £22 (now, sadly, no longer available).

This claims to be 5ah. Maybe worth a punt for £18?

Ni-Cads seemed to vary enormously in quality. With a drill, the ability to deliver enough current. Does the same apply to Li-Ion?

Based on the tests I have seen, yup. There is also the difficulty that even the well known makers of cells produce varieties with very different max current outputs, so you need to choose something matched to the cell characteristics of the OEM battery.

It could be brand engineered as some are where they are made by a well known company. If that is the case its often a line discontinued by that company and the new kit does not fit the old, though often its just a subtle little change to stop you buying el cheapo batteries for the new model. I've noticed this often in rechargeable radios etc, where the plug on the battery pack is physically different but the battery electrically is the same. They don't want you to fix them, just throw them and buy another. Bah humbug. Brian