Cordless drills

[dor]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

[Robbo]

Buy the same drill with multiple batteries. Then you'll have two drills!

[Nickhlx]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

 

I have the same problem.. I tend to keep an eye on E-Bay for when bankrupt stock appears and buy then - you can also buy cells from E-Bay

but the issue I have had is the tags are too light duty for the (heavy) current that the drills can take and only a couple of spot welds on the tags.

You can solder to improve but that compromises / risks the cell ( worth it if cells are cheap )

 

On one I converted it to a "corded" drill as its useful to have a small but still useful DC drill on board ..

 

Nick

[Grace and Favour]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Take one of your batteries, prise/carefully cut off the 'end' of it (where you can see a join - it'll probably be glued)

 

Inside you will see a collection of standard (oft AA) Ni-cad battery cells - wired together with a matrix.

 

Carefully copy the matrix on to paper, buy a new load of AA Ni-cads from Maplins, and reassemble.

 

I've done it once - successfully - - it's worth a punt!

[Ex- Member]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Don't throw them

It's likely that most or if not all of those batteries are able to be revitalised, I did mine some months ago with 2 Bosch batteries 2 D'walt and Hitachi batteries. Basically all you need to do is find something you can spark the batteries with that's about double the volts of the battery. I posted about this last year here I think. All the batteries I revitalised ale all still working ok having been used periodically over the past year.

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=39930&st=0&p=723883&fromsearch=1entry723883

 

 

[Timleech]

Buy the same drill with multiple batteries. Then you'll have two drills!

 

Very often by the time your batteries have died, the manufacturer has changed the design so that doesn't work!

There are people who offer a battery rebuilding service, including at least one advertising on fleabay. Never used that service, though I did buy some perfectly good used (not rebuilt) Metabo Li-ion batteries from one such rebuilder on ebay.

 

Tim

[Rebotco]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

 

What I did was cut my losses and went for 18v Li/ion and the improvement is unbelievable. They don't gradually get weaker like NiCDs, but keep going at full bore til run down. But then only 22 mins to recharge. And they are so much more powerful - the screw torque settings are greater than I can do by hand. It doesn't lose its charge either when unused for several weeks. Mine's a Makita with the 3 Amphr battery and I wouldn't now have anything else.

Makita Li-ion Drill

[smileypete]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

NEVER use a pack beyond the point it starts to 'fade' always recharge ASAP.

 

Anyway, split the packs, charge with 100ma, leave a while and check for self discharge, then swap cells around to make a good pack.

 

cheers,

Pete.

[Pete of Ebor]

Does anyone know whether there is some sort of electronic gubbins inside these 18V tools which would stop them running on 12V ? If they ran at all, I appreciate that they'd obviously run slower, but would they run at all ?

[Ex- Member]

Does anyone know whether there is some sort of electronic gubbins inside these 18V tools which would stop them running on 12V ? If they ran at all, I appreciate that they'd obviously run slower, but would they run at all ?

 

 

 

There's a neat conversion on a De-walt drill that has pos and neg terminals fitted through the rear of the battery pack to connect direct to 12 v supply, only slight problem is a bit under powered as it's an 18 volt drill.

I do intend to adapt an old Bosch 12 volt drill by emptying the battery pack and fitting some terminals through the casing and use 12 volt direct through the battery. I'll fit a din plug on the end of a decent 12 f/t lead, that means I can use the drill anywhere on the boat.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Julynian

[Timleech]

Does anyone know whether there is some sort of electronic gubbins inside these 18V tools which would stop them running on 12V ? If they ran at all, I appreciate that they'd obviously run slower, but would they run at all ?

 

In some cases, the 12V and 18V tools, for instance, are exactly the same, they just go faster on the higher voltage!

 

Tim

[Arthur Brown]

I may try to re-cell some battery packs but often they are an odd industrial size available from RS CPC etc. More likely I'd look at fitting 10 - 15v drills with cable and crocks for battery use.

 

I sometimes buy a pair of cheap drills (at the same time) Firstly if the charger dies I can use the other and if the battery or drill goes I have the other, also I can take two batteries to a job and have one on charge while I use the other so I'm not tempted to use one battery til it dies permanently. Sometimes I'm using both drills for tapping and clearance holes.

[OldGoldy]

 

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless.

 

Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill.

 

This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

Any suggestions?

 

If you or someone you know is passing anywhere near Burntwood (between Lichfield and Cannock) there is a company called STRIKALITE who will rebuild a drill pack while you wait for not a lot of money.

 

They will do postal, too, but then due to the weight of these things, the costs start to ramp up.

 

ETA link

ETA link is not being added for some reason, so = www.strikalite.co.uk

Edited March 19, 2012 by dave69700

[Semitrad]

Take one of your batteries, prise/carefully cut off the 'end' of it (where you can see a join - it'll probably be glued)

 

Inside you will see a collection of standard (oft AA) Ni-cad battery cells - wired together with a matrix.

 

Carefully copy the matrix on to paper, buy a new load of AA Ni-cads from Maplins, and reassemble.

 

I've done it once - successfully - - it's worth a punt!

 

Wile I agree that you have nothing to lose, the problem with just cutting the end off means that you have to have some way to stick it back on again!

Also the cell sizes can differ, many are "sub-c" and physically smaller than a standard cell. Then we come back to the price dilemma, the cost of the replacement cells can be greater than that of a replacement battery.

Unless you are a whizz with the Rubic's cube, reassembling a battery pack may well defeat you.

[dor]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

 

I've replaced my drill at home with a Bosch 18V Li-ion which was on offer at B&Q with second battery (plus my diamond discount! - about the only benefit I've managed to find so far for reaching 60).

 

Sainsburys are doing some NiCd 14.4 drills on offer for about £12, so I will go for that for my boat one - just not worth messing about with battery packs for that!

 

As Tim says, even the same manufacturer keeps changing their battery format (like Canon cameras) so all my cordless drills (and I have about six of them!) have different batteries.

 

So, regrettably, the drills will go for landfill and the batteries for recycling if I can find somewhere that takes them.

 

If anyone wants them however, if you can pick them up from the Nantwich area you are welcome.

[smileypete]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

 

I've replaced my drill at home with a Bosch 18V Li-ion which was on offer at B&Q with second battery (plus my diamond discount! - about the only benefit I've managed to find so far for reaching 60).

 

Sainsburys are doing some NiCd 14.4 drills on offer for about £12, so I will go for that for my boat one - just not worth messing about with battery packs for that!

 

As Tim says, even the same manufacturer keeps changing their battery format (like Canon cameras) so all my cordless drills (and I have about six of them!) have different batteries.

 

So, regrettably, the drills will go for landfill and the batteries for recycling if I can find somewhere that takes them.

 

If anyone wants them however, if you can pick them up from the Nantwich area you are welcome.

Why not just own a couple of decent drills, with at least 2 batts each.

 

 

Unless you are a whizz with the Rubic's cube, reassembling a battery pack may well defeat you.

It's not hard to swap one or two cells, cut the links to the duff cell near to it as poss, leave the links to the donor cell a bit longer, overlap and solder, use some wire if it's really needed.

 

What's wrong with spending half an hour actually trying to do something? (FFS! )

 

cheers,

Pete.

Edited March 20, 2012 by smileypete

[Proper Job]

I've been very impressed with the "Ryobi one+" tools.

 

We've been using them at w#rk for a while now and they've stood the test of time.

 

The nice thing is that you can buy the drills, sanders, jig saws, etc, etc all 'bare' and the batterys and chargers seperate.

 

Everything is 18v and can use NiCads or Lithium Ion batteries.

 

They're becoming very common out on site these days and taking over from the usual DeWalt etc

 

 

(no connection with Ryobi, just a contented user)

Edited March 20, 2012 by Proper Job

[DustyDave]

Buy cheaper drills. There is a limit but the Hitachi drill I bought last year has done me as well as the Makita I bought years ago and it's a lot cheaper. Maybe not as refined but it does the job fine. Li-Ion all the time now. Hitachi don't seem to change their batter design as often as Makita either.

 

If I was a pro I'd buy the more expensive drills all the time. The batteries last much longer. I'm not a pro so I'm happy to wait a little now and then.

 

Dave

[dor]

It's not hard to swap one or two cells, cut the links to the duff cell near to it as poss, leave the links to the donor cell a bit longer, overlap and solder, use some wire if it's really needed.

 

What's wrong with spending half an hour actually trying to do something? (FFS! )

 

My 18V Bosch has 15 cells in the pack! How long would I have to spend messing about with them for the sake of £12? I hate throwing anything away (hence my garage being filled with dead drills) and try and fix most things but there are times when you just accept that it's time to get a new one.

 

My Li-ion drill is brilliant, and hopefully will remain so. I've also got a big heavy duty Corded drill. I keep them at home, but take them to the boat for any serious work. I just want a basic drill to keep on the boat for the odd jobs that arise when I am out. For that a cheap NiCd will do. Like the 14.4V sainsbury one (that looks suspiciously like a Draper on offer half price.

[Slim]

I have a number of cordless electric drills cluttering up my garage, including a good 18V Bosch that is only two years old.

All the batteries for these drills are completely useless. They are all NiCds, and the 18V Bosch one mentioned above came with two batteries and fast charger. Yet to buy new batteries costs more than buying a new drill. This seems such a waste to me, but what can I do with all these useless drills?

 

I've got a 12V one, which I could hard-wire so that I can run it off the boat batteries, but apart from that there seems little I can do with them.

 

Any suggestions?

 

IF my memory serves Multicell used claim to be a able to 're-cell' drill batteries, Worth a call if the drill is still good.

 

 

Sorry, really must learn how to provide a link.

 

 

 

 

Frank

[Bones]

I've been very impressed with the "Ryobi one+" tools.

 

We've been using them at w#rk for a while now and they've stood the test of time.

 

The nice thing is that you can buy the drills, sanders, jig saws, etc, etc all 'bare' and the batterys and chargers seperate.

 

Everything is 18v and can use NiCads or Lithium Ion batteries.

 

They're becoming very common out on site these days and taking over from the usual DeWalt etc

 

 

(no connection with Ryobi, just a contented user)

 

are they good for going through metal? It is about time I replaced my hand drill...

[bottle]

Personally, I think battery drills are a waste of time if you only need a drill for the odd bit of DIY.

 

Batteries die if not kept charged, to keep them charged needs 240v

 

So a corded drill is probably of more use for the odd DIY.

 

It can be stored and be immediately used, if 240v is available.

 

ps. Bones the drill does the turning but it is the drill bit that does the cutting if the bit is sharp it will cut metal easily assuming it is a bit designed to cut metal and not wood..

Edited July 5, 2012 by bottle

[Bones]

Personally, I think battery drills are a waste of time if you only need a drill for the odd bit of DIY.

 

Batteries die if not kept charged, to keep them charged needs 240v

 

So a corded drill is probably of more use for the odd DIY.

 

It can be stored and be immediately used, if 240v is available.

 

I am inclined to agree but I don't have 240v at the moment. I had thought I could charge the battery during the day and do the jobs over the next day or two.... or perhaps I should just sort out my 240v!

[bottle]

Yes you could charge them during the day, whether they would last two days depends on the usage.

 

If you buy one, the batteries will need to be looked after.

[Bones]

Yes you could charge them during the day, whether they would last two days depends on the usage.

 

If you buy one, the batteries will need to be looked after.

 

Easy - I can sit them next to some ginger cake on a flannel.

 

Edit - I guess I need to sort out the 240v as it is metal I am wanting to drill through, not wood.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Bones