I almost bought a Triton Respirator at a woodshow - $200 Canadian rather than the usual price of about $350.
I thought it would be good for lathe work - sanding mostly.
I took a closer look at it and was surprised to see NiCad batteries. These develop a memory in no time. I don't know why they wouldn't go Ni-MH or perhaps even Lithium-Ion.
Even at $200, it wasn't worth it given that the battery will be toast in no time.
Brian
I don't understand the logic. Instead of buying a respirator that may need $10 in batteries in a year to three, you use no protection? Or spend an additional. $150 to save $20 in batteries. Perhaps it will take NiMH batteries anyway, as many do these day.
IIRC, it uses D size batteries (maybe C) and they are soldered in. Not a trivial change, but not too difficult either. How well the NiCd perform has more to do with the quality of the recharger than anything else. When I looked at the Triton, the recharger didn't strike me as a smart one. It should be fine for a pro that wears it 8 hr/day and recharges it every night, but it would be mediocre for a hobbiest that uses it infrequently. Lithium Ion would be ideal for the latter.
It would probably trash any warrantee they offer if you changed the batteries. I wouldn't pass up the repirator on that basis though.
Mike
Memory is a near myth. Lousy chargers are real.
"B Man" wrote in news:daw1g.6009$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com:
I did buy a Triton at the NWA show in Saratoga. I am only a very occasional woodworker, hating MDF and other dust. I have a beard and glasses, and the Triton is the first "mask" I am comfortable with. I have asyet no experience with recharging the thing, that's how occasional I WW.
just to add 2 more cents to this:
An addition to the myth about nicads was that you should completely discharge the battery before recharging it. If you do this you will destroy the battery. The batteries on drills that stores have on display with are usually in this state because customers "try" them beyond complete discharge.
Norbert
I wonder if they are destroyed or the sales people are just too lazy to recharge them. ;~) I can say that I used to clamp the triggers on the old NiCad's on my drill to run down the battery and they still lasted about 4 years on average. I think leaving them discharged could be a problem.
Hmmm- don't think it's laziness so much as unaware. or don't care.
I'll have to think more about this based on your experience with clamping the trigger. My understanding is that this is not necessary and may be detrimental.
I have always gone with what the manufacturer suggested. It may all depend on what kind of charger you have also. Some chargers actually will discharge the battery before recharging. IIRC many do not recommend letting a discharged battery set uncharged for long periods of time.
To make a short story long, my experience has been.
I went to CTC to buy a battery drill for a job. They had a Milwaukee that they were discontinuing - on sale. I had admired the drill many times but thought it expensive ( which I believe is why they were discontinuing it - not many sales) It is - by the way an excellent drill, and worth the money, even at full price, but I couldn't pass on the sale price.
The one I took home was the last they had and had been on display. The battery would not take a charge. The charger would not even recognize it. I did some research on the net and concluded that the total discharge had finished it. I went back to CTC to see what they could do and they found the same drill at a nearby store which they brought in. Turned out one of it's batteries was fried as well, but they gave me the one that would take a charge. Happy ending for me and an experience to learn from. I wish I could give you the source I found on the web that talked about nicads, but it was long ago. The instructions that came with the tool said recharge it when it started to slow down. The recharger seems to know what to do.
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