dewalt batteries in firestorm drills.

ant · 2004-11-08T22:07:18+00:00

disclaimer: i checked out the google archives. there are a few threadsthat address this. everyone seems to think it is OK. that said..a friend sold me two dewalt 18v batteries which are almost identicalto my firestorm 18v batteries. the only difference is a plastic tabwhich prevents proper insertion, but i can take care of that. i pickedup my firestorm from the service place today after a recall repair,and asked the fellow at the counter if a dewalt battery was ok in theFS drill. he said that because the dewalt battery kicks out morecurrent it could damage the FS drill.before i left my drill for repairs, i had used the dewalt batteries acouple times and the motor had been sparking up a storm. i dont knowwhether this was some other problem, or a dewalt batteryincompatibility problem.any thoughts?anthony

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Leon 21 years ago

Um like GMC trucks are not in heated competition with Chevrolet... Oldsmobile lost the battle. I assure you there is fierce competition within the ranks of a group of related companies. The better your sales the bigger piece of the pie that you get.

The battery is not gong to force the drill to use more current than it requests. If you feel safer with the same brand batteries go with that as you set your own limit of risk. Keep in mind however that battery rebuilders often use much higher amp hour rating cells when they rebuild your pack. If you burn your drill up regardless of which battery you use it is because you pushed the drill beyond its limits and not because you made available more power.

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ant 21 years ago

the way i understand it, 4A of 18V is a different bird than 2A at 18V, and the motor just might not like the former. (current figures not real, logic possibly mistaken too;)

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ant 21 years ago

fair enough, but i really dont think that the young lady on the phone with me at b&d was thinking along those lines.

well, i'd rather have a battery that i know will never nuke my motor, given that ive already been burned once. literally.

you are saying use the dewalt battery pack, and be aware of the limitations. this would be like driving a car which would suffer engine damage if you went over 55mph. doable, but nerve wracking.

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Leon 21 years ago

No, I am saying regardless of what battery pack you use if you push the drill beyond its limits it will eventually fail. A weaker battery pack will still burn the motor up if the motor is under a constant strain. Having a stronger battery pack may supply the power to ease the strain.

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Edwin Pawlowski 21 years ago

But does not the motor draw the amps versus the battery pushing the amps? Corded tools draw only a few amps, but are commonly plugged into circuits capable of supplying 15, 20, or 30 amps.

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ant 21 years ago

well, i guess i still have to play it conservative. i dont have any way of quantifying whether or not i should expect theoretical damage to the drill, and my practical experience seems to match up with the doomsayer version of the dewalt-firestorm debate.

thanks for your help, though.

anthony

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Lawrence Wasserman 21 years ago

When you turn on the tool the voltage across the battery drops, you can demonstrate this with a voltmeter on your car pretty easily. in fact in some cars with voltmeters on the dash you can see it from the drivers seat. The voltage drop will be less with a higher rated battery, so more current will flow through the circuit. The key to understanding this is that batteries have resistance too.

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Edwin Pawlowski 21 years ago

Thanks. I understand basic electricity, but I'm not an EE

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nopcbs 15 years ago

responding to

formatting link

nopcbs wrote: If we are talking using a higher voltage battery in a tool designed for a lower voltage battery, then, yeah, you can do some damage...especially in extended runs. However, putting any 18v battery as the energy source for ANY 18v drill is NOT going to hurt the drill at all. 18v is 18 v and it matters zip where it comes from. What the differences in the batteries do determine is how long the drill will run in normal use and (if the drill motor has to work against a too high load)how easilly it will stall because you have drained the battery against a stalling load.

Now if you stall the drill then you can damage it using a larger capacity

18v battery simply because the better battery will not go dead as quickly as the weaker one will and you will be running current through a stalled motor longer, over-heating it and damaging it. The weaker (less current capacity) 18v battery will be delivering near 0v while the better battery will still be supplying 18 v.

Don't abuse the drill, and it will thrive with either battery...it will just do it longer w/o recharging with the better battery.

- n> >>> FS drill. he said that because the dewalt battery kicks out

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- nopcbs (none of the time)

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dewalt batteries in firestorm drills.

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