Looking for spare battery for Ferm drill

[Mike Hall]

I've got a Ferm 12v drill/driver from Screwfix;

could do with a second battery though, - does anyone know of a UK supplier for these, or if there is a suitable compatible product?

[John Rumm]

Yup just order product id 46130 from screwfix (you will find they include a free drill in the package when it is delivered. You can either throw this away or keep it for a spare!)

Failing that, send the pack you have to

and they can stick some decent cells in it. It will last twice as long and work much better after that.

[Mike Hall]

Well that is a bargain deal.... ! :-)

[John Rumm]

Well it's not bad - I would normally expect to pay more than that for a battery pack on its own! ;-)

[Lobster]

Never heard of them before, sounds a really good idea, especially the bit where they say you can save 50% on the cost of new OEM batteries. But I just looked to see how much it would cost for a new 14.4V battery for my all-singing all-dancing (ahem) B&Q Performance Pro driver, and it was 44 quid! And the tool itself only cost me 24 quid IIRC. But I suppose they're talking about 'Proper' batteries for 'Proper' power tools, eh?

David

[The Natural Philosopher]

That may be a clue as to the quality of the supplied pack.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Definitely. A cheapo 1200mAh Nicad SUB-C can be had for about 1.50 a cell, a top of the range 3300mAh NIMH is over 3quid a cell.

The 1700 Nicad is a nice one - good capacity and power delivery and takes the abuse. I am not a NiMh fan particularly.

3300 cells are being advertised on Ebay in the R/C models section.

A sensible cost replacement is this one

1.95 a cell. Not sanyo, and probably less good than a sanyo, but good enough for a cheap power tool.

12 of those is going to rock you about 27 quid, with postage.

[Lobster]

So do most powertool batteries use the same cells (and are these SUB-C items typically the ones?)

Is it a feasible diy job to get into the (apparently sealed?) battery packs and replace the cells?

David

[The Natural Philosopher]

I am pretty sure all power tools use Sub-c's. Your toothbrish may not.

well, there's the rub.

Some can be unscrewed and split, and the cells are generally

spot welded to tabs, soldering coaxouter braid in is a viable

alternative. Some are moulded in, and here it may be a question of hacking to pieces, using the connector, and moulding your own pack out of car body filler etc :-)