One of the batteries on my much loved Wicks cordless drill - the one with the right angle attachment - has failed. It's a 13 cell 2000mA Nicad.
There are tagged sub-C Nicads on Ebay with free postage, and I can get them for about 20 quid which makes fixing it economical.
Anyone tried them?
I used to have a contact who re-celled pro TV stuff and gave me a good price on Sanyo cells - but he's stopped trading.
I'd avoid NiCd these days now that NiMH has become so main stream. I recelled my B&D cordless screwdriver, 4/5 Sub-C, recently will NiMH cells from eBay, I think... Found the reciept but it doesn't mention eBay so perhaps it wasn't or I found them via eBay but bought direct.
Mine where not as cheap as cheap as yours though at =A32.50 each + VAT mind. But are from GP (used a few GP batteries and they are just as good as other known brands) and NiMH.
I don't buy unbranded, plain cover cells from eBay any more, particularly those from the Far East. IME some are of very poor quality and there's no way of knowing which are which. I do buy branded from eBay but they are obviously more expensive.
It's quite an old drill and both the other battery - still ok - and the charger are for NiCd.
As far as chargers are concerned NiMH =3D NiCd. It might not say NiMH on it but is that because it predates NiMH technology?
I'd be wary of cheap no-brand cells from eBay and I guess you are as well as you are asking just that question. Only you can decide which is better for you, =A320 on no brand cells or =A340 on branded.
No, NiMh=NiCd, but the reverse for some sorts of delta peak fast chargers may not be true, as the delta peak is much smaller with NiMh.
Its not safe to assume NiCd chargers will safely charge NiMh cells. But it is safe the other way round.
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Dave Liquorice" saying something like:
Not so at all, most especially with an old NiCd-only charger.
That's what worried me as it's quite a fast charger which switches off when the battery is charged. And although I could probably modify it, one battery is still just fine.
I've ordered up a set - so I'll report what they're like. Really good branded ones would cost more than twice as much.
I had a Ni-Cd battery pack (Makita) that someone had knackered by running it over-flat; wouldn't hold a charge. Sat in the box occasionally getting charged or swapped into service (until I realised it was the duff one.) Finally got round to opening it up and found only one cell was dead and the rest were dandy. Bought a 'posh' 2/3C and it's probably the best pack of the lot now.
How do you tell which one was dead?
Jonathan
All bar one read 1.4v on the testmeter, the duff one read almost nothing.
Is it a delta peak type or just a simple cheap whack in a resitively limited "2 amps for 30 mins" one? It is the former I was thinking of knowing that most old power tool chargers are just that.
I'm not sure. I believe this particular Wicks drill was made by Kress - and wasn't cheap. I bought it because of the right angle drive - but it soon became my favourite for most things. One of the two supplied batteries is still fine - the other started giving problems ages ago, with a short life. Now it throws up a fault code on the warning light.
There is a temperature sensor, which you don't normally get on the cheap and cheerful type.
Dare you try this?
In message , regworts writes
home-made car battery charger which is capable of delivering 20 or 30 amps for a few seconds. If possible, it's best to do it to a single cell, rather than to a whole battery.
Immediately after the zap, the cell voltage will usually be around 1.2V. However, this is not a guarantee that the whisker has been burnt out. To check further, I measure the short-circuit current. A newly zapped AA cell will momentarily deliver (say) 5 amps, which rapidly drops to near zero. I then remove the meter, wait 20 seconds or so, and re-measure. There should be another short(er) burst of current (showing that the cell has recovered slightly). Finally, I immediately re-measure the voltage. It should be slowly rising (or at least stable). If it's falling, it's probably a sign that the whisker has not been burned away, and a re-zap is necessary. If, after three or four zapping sessions, the cell hasn't responded to this TLC, it's probably beyond all redemption, and is ready to be disposed of.
The main issue seems to be cells being much lower capacity than marked on the outside. 500mAh AAs not 3000mAh, for example. Sometimes the eBay seller's feedback will show up where previous buyers have had this problem.
Plus beware that there are plenty of eBay sellers that pretend to be in the UK but are actually in China. 'Seller's contact details' on the listing often shows that up.
Theo
I was using the drill today and had to charge the remaining good battery. Idly turned over the charger and it says:-
For batteries 12-15.6v NiCad/NiMH.
Wish I'd looked before. ;-(
Thanks - I'll check. I've heard of small cells being inside a large case as it were - I'd guess the weight would be a giveaway.
These are direct from China. FWIW, you can usually tell by how long they say it will take to post them.
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