Portable Rechargeable Drills

[Flurette Farm]

If you don’t use your drills enough to completely discharge the battery and you have 2 batteries are you better off only using one battery or should you alternate batteries. The actual question being will the batteries last longer by alternating them or will they last longer (life) by using one until its worn(won’t take a charge) out and then using the new or remaining battery?

 

[John Harmon]

I run my Cordless Drills until the battery has very little life left on its charge and then switch to the other one provided i remembered to charge it after use.regardless ,about 30 minutes on the charger and the worn battery is ready to go.I have 2 Ryobi 18 volt drills and 4 batterys so usually one of the batterys is charged. if not while a quick charge is being done I will if needed switch to one of my 12 volt ryobis to continue what i was doing. I have all the 18 volt Ryobi tools available and use them all at least weekly. Good products,cheap price,throw away if they fail.

 

[Guido.]

Hello flurette Farm,
If the battery pack has NiCad's batteries, they will develop memory, and won't take a full charge.
Discharge them 100% before charging them.
The new NiMh. battery will not develop memory, recharge them at any state of discharge.
Guido.

 

[farmall300u]

Very good guestion. I think the best way is to alternate usage between the 2 batteries, You don"t want to leave the batteries in the run down state. You need to charge immediately after you run it down. If you used just one battery, it will run down over time and then not hold a charge. Never leave them in the charger after it is charged. Some people charge them once a week to overcome internal leakage.

 

[Brian Jasper co. Ia]

Cordless tools are nice, but if you don't use them regularly, the batteries don't last long. New batteries usually cost nearly as much as the tool did new.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I've got a Makita set with 2 batteries, an impact driver, drill, and florescent light. Going on 3 years of use (mostly driver and light). I run the batteries dead and recharge. So far, so good.....

Dave

 

[Fred Werring]

I built a box with a bathroom fan timer with male and female cord ends coming out of the box.

Allows me to set a 60 minute charge time so my batteries don't sit there and cook.