Battery drills - capacity, cost & weight.

[rusty69]

I finally got around to buying a new battery drill today. It is a lovely yellow one. I didn't spend much time researching it. It came with an 18V, 2.0 Ah battery, and I also purchased a spare.

The questions are:-

1. Could I, all other things being equal,use say a 4Ah or 5Ah battery?

2. If answer to (1) is yes.Are there any benefits/drawbacks over using a 4Ah battery over 2x2 Ah batteries? The obvious drawback being weight,cost and charge time, but there may be others.

 

3.What brand drill did you choose?

Sorry if they are stoopid questions.

Stoopid answers welcome though.

It is a DeWalt drill with an 18V XR battery FWIW.

Thankyou.

Edited January 9, 2020 by rusty69

[BEngo]

You can connect the drill to any 18v battery.  The hard part is doing it.  Quite a few people dismantle a dead battery holder and connect leads to the case terminals at one end and to a battery or bench power supply at the other.  The disadvantage is that this turns a cordless drill into a corded one.   A bench power supply needs plenty of capacity as cordless drills can use a lot of Amps.  Most popular for 12v power tools as large 12 V  lead acid batteries are easy to get and can handle the power demand. 

Mind you 3 x 6 V Trojans in series should be OK for an 18 V drill.

 

N

[WotEver]

17 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

It is a DeWalt drill with an 18V XR battery FWIW.

I use the same (among others). 
 

1. Yes. 

2. Only the ones you mention. 
3. As at top. 

I’ll add - I’ve had great success with clone batteries off eBay. DeWalt ones are just too pricey. 

[mrsmelly]

22 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I finally got around to buying a new battery drill today. It is a lovely yellow one. I didn't spend much time researching it. It came with an 18V, 2.0 Ah battery, and I also purchased a spare.

The questions are:-

1. Could I, all other things being equal,use say a 4Ah or 5Ah battery?

2. If answer to (1) is yes.Are there any benefits/drawbacks over using a 4Ah battery over 2x2 Ah batteries? The obvious drawback being weight,cost and charge time, but there may be others.

 

3.What brand drill did you choose?

Sorry if they are stoopid questions.

Stoopid answers welcome though.

It is a DeWalt drill with an 18V XR battery FWIW.

Thankyou.

That's the drill I use. Good bit of kit for what I need anyway. The pukka batteries last years. 

[GUMPY]

I have 1.5ah and 4ah for my Bosch cordless, I only use the 1.5ah battery when the 4ah is recharging.

The reason is there appears to be much more torque with the 4ah making the drill much more useful.

As for charging times, I have never noticed a difference but then I've never sat with a stopwatch and timed them.

 

[Sea Dog]

Not yet mentioned is the advantage to using the lower capacity batteries - lightness of the tool in use.

[MtB]

I bought a hammer drill. Was quite disappointing. It worked fine as a drill but turned out to be virtually useless for banging nails in. 
 

 

[nb Innisfree]

5 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Not yet mentioned is the advantage to using the lower capacity batteries - lightness of the tool in use.

+ handy in confined spaces. 

[blackrose]

or for those with weak wrists! ?

[BilgePump]

Mine's only a cheap 20V Aldi Workzone drill with a 1.5Ah battery. Think it was £30 twelve months ago. With the battery on it comes in at 1.5kg (of which 500g is the battery) whereas my corded drills are around 2kg.

 

Mentioned before was the amount of torque available with the higher capacity batteries. As they get low they just cut out when there's too much resistance. Pushed it too far today by trying a 25mm Forstner bit in pine with low charge. Just wasn't having it whereas the bench drill went in like butter and the corded hand drill is capable enough with such a bit.  The larger capacity battery may well be able to do the heavier duty stuff for longer.

 

I imagine a larger battery, say 4Ah, won't make it much different to a corded weight wise. But that battery should last ages on a single charge. Even the 1.5Ah on mine is capable of drilling a lot of holes and driving in 4x50mm screws an inch deep into pine. I was really chuffed with what the small battery is capable of.

[dmr]

Tradesmen appear to split about 50:50 between DeWalt and Makita, and maybe Makita just have the lead, they even do a coffee maker.

 

Both sell "bare" tools without batteries so once you have the drill and batteries can get more tools without having to pay for another battery and charger. A battery angle grinder is a really useful thing to have on a boat and this certainly needs the higher capacity batteries as they don't last long if you work them hard. The more amp-hours you own the more stuff you can  get done before you have to have a recharge stop.

 

Don't be tempted by eBay replica batteries, they likely do not contain the safety electronics, my children almost lost the house last year when one exploded and set light to the curtains.

 

...............Dave

[bizzard]

But half the time folk don't need power tools to do simple little jobs when peaceful hand tools can do it. Most folk these days have lost the art of using hand tools. Around here for example we have folk starting up wretched chainsaws to cut up twigs when they can be cut much quicker with a hand saw or busted over the knee. Mucking about with clumsey battery drills with the big club foot of a battery on the handle just to drill a couple of wee holes when a nice Stanley hand drill will do the job and quietly. Sanding down a rusty spot as big as a penny on the boat can be done just as well by hand without a buzzing sander. On a fine day here its awful, the noise, shreiking drills with blunt bits, dreadful noise from sanders, as for the horrid frantic chains saws racket, they ought to be banned, get out the bow saw and hand tools folks and get some fat off with excercise.  Far less likely drill holes in yourself or slice a limb off too.      A whole lot more healthy, peaceful and cheaper.

[Richard10002]

2 minutes ago, bizzard said:

But half the time folk don't need power tools to do simple little jobs when peaceful hand tools can do it.

Presumably, the other half of the time they do need power tools and, if you have one for half if the time when you need it, you might as well use it for the other half of the time?

 

just a thought  

[dmr]

3 minutes ago, bizzard said:

But half the time folk don't need power tools to do simple little jobs when peaceful hand tools can do it. Most folk these days have lost the art of using hand tools. Around here for example we have folk starting up wretched chainsaws to cut up twigs when they can be cut much quicker with a hand saw or busted over the knee. Mucking about with clumsey battery drills with the big club foot of a battery on the handle just to drill a couple of wee holes when a nice Stanley hand drill will do the job and quietly. Sanding down a rusty spot as big as a penny on the boat can be done just as well by hand without a buzzing sander. On a fine day here its awful, the noise, shreiking drills with blunt bits, dreadful noise from sanders, as for the horrid frantic chains saws racket, they ought to be banned, get out the bow saw and hand tools folks and get some fat off with excercise.  Far less likely drill holes in yourself or slice a limb off too.      A whole lot more healthy, peaceful and cheaper.

You are correct, and battery angle grinders are the work of the devil because they are just so convenient. Before I got it I would think "so much effort to get the mains angle grinder out, untangle the extension lead, run the engine to get 240v, easier to use sandpaper"

 

...............Dave

[BilgePump]

12 minutes ago, bizzard said:

But half the time folk don't need power tools to do simple little jobs when peaceful hand tools can do it. Most folk these days have lost the art of using hand tools. Around here for example we have folk starting up wretched chainsaws to cut up twigs when they can be cut much quicker with a hand saw or busted over the knee. Mucking about with clumsey battery drills with the big club foot of a battery on the handle just to drill a couple of wee holes when a nice Stanley hand drill will do the job and quietly. Sanding down a rusty spot as big as a penny on the boat can be done just as well by hand without a buzzing sander. On a fine day here its awful, the noise, shreiking drills with blunt bits, dreadful noise from sanders, as for the horrid frantic chains saws racket, they ought to be banned, get out the bow saw and hand tools folks and get some fat off with excercise.  Far less likely drill holes in yourself or slice a limb off too.      A whole lot more healthy, peaceful and cheaper.

Very true when it's just a few holes. I picked up three Stanley Continental 748A drills over the years for four or five pounds each. They are twin geared. In the low gear I've easily drilled 3 and 4mm holes through the steel susperstructure of a boat to put hooks on the outside to hold open the rear doors. Quick and easy enough. 

[rusty69]

8 minutes ago, bizzard said:

But half the time folk don't need power tools to do simple little jobs when peaceful hand tools can do it. Most folk these days have lost the art of using hand tools.

The reason I bought it today is that tomorrow I have to go up a ladder.I have a hand drill and a corded drill. A hand drill up a ladder leaves me no hand to hold on with. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. 

 

Besides, did I mention ......It's yellow.

[WotEver]

33 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Not yet mentioned is the advantage to using the lower capacity batteries - lightness of the tool in use.

Point 2 in the OP

15 minutes ago, dmr said:

Tradesmen appear to split about 50:50 between DeWalt and Makita, and maybe Makita just have the lead, they even do a coffee maker.

I understand this is because Makita clone batteries are widely available. That’s what my builder neighbour tells me anyway. 

17 minutes ago, dmr said:

Don't be tempted by eBay replica batteries, they likely do not contain the safety electronics...

I have several Ebay replica batteries which have always worked fine for me. 

[rusty69]

17 minutes ago, dmr said:

Tradesmen appear to split about 50:50 between DeWalt and Makita, and maybe Makita just have the lead, they even do a coffee maker.

I looked at a Makita next to the DeWalt in Wickes .For me, the Dewalt looked slightly better (plus it was on offer) at Screwfix.

[bizzard]

3 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

Presumably, the other half of the time they do need power tools and, if you have one for half if the time when you need it, you might as well use it for the other half of the time?

 

just a thought  

Yes of course use them if the jobs big and warrents their uses, but for little jobs, by the time a power tool is got out, found the bits and bobs that make it work, for the small jobs a hand tool could have done it and you'd be having tea. The worst is listening to the power tools being used with blunt cutting tools, drill bits shrieking, blunt cutting wheels whining ect which increases the time it's in use, and of of course the noise. Like Smart phones many folk can't help playing power tools too.

[dmr]

10 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Point 2 in the OP

I understand this is because Makita clone batteries are widely available. That’s what my builder neighbour tells me anyway. 

I have several Ebay replica batteries which have always worked fine for me. 

Don't leave those replica batteries on charge unattended, you only need one failure to make a lot of trouble. Battery exploded sending cells flying off in all directions each sending out a plume of fire. Until the explosion my son would have said exactly the same as you.

 

Tool nicking is a big problem on some sites so cheap batteries are a big plus for tradesmen

 

..............Dave

[bizzard]

20 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

The reason I bought it today is that tomorrow I have to go up a ladder.I have a hand drill and a corded drill. A hand drill up a ladder leaves me no hand to hold on with. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. 

 

Besides, did I mention ......It's yellow.

If you dangled by your feet on a rope from a window or drain pipe you could use both hands for a hand drill and all would be peaceful.

[rusty69]

So,the next question. Will a higher capacity battery charge in the charger supplied with the drill, all other things being equal?

[bizzard]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

Don't leave those replica batteries on charge unattended, you only need one failure to make a lot of trouble. Battery exploded sending cells flying off in all directions each sending out a plume of fire. Until the explosion my son would have said exactly the same as you.

 

Tool nicking is a big problem on some sites so cheap batteries are a big plus for tradesmen

 

..............Dave

Nobody would ever want to nick my 65 year old tennon saw that I nicked from school.

[WotEver]

8 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

So,the next question. Will a higher capacity battery charge in the charger supplied with the drill, all other things being equal?

Yep

[rusty69]

7 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Nobody would ever want to nick my 65 year old tennon saw that I nicked from school.

You did!