Rechargeable drill @#%!

[ldj]

I have a B&D 24v rechargeable hammer drill. I really like the drill. After 3 years the batteries are dead, 1 died in less than 2 years. I checked for new batteries and nearly had a hart attack. Those rechargeable drills are convenient but I just can't justify that expense. One battery is not acceptable to me. For much less than the cost of only 1 battery I can buy a HF drill and extra battery. Their drill won't hold 1/2" bit.

My question is can I get some kind of a power supply that I plug into 110V and then to the drill and save buying battery and still have that good drill usable?

 

[Anonymous-0]

I don't know about a cord but I rebuilt our drill's battery packs with cells bought on ebay. Some careful shopping, some careful disassembling and soldering, and we got two new battery packs for $20. And these were higher Amp-Hr batteries than the originals.

If you try it, you'll want to carefully take apart a pack first to see what kind of cells are in there (Ni-Cd, NiMh, Li-O). It may not say directly, you might have to take a number off a cell and google it. Also find out the size. Ours packs use a sub-C size that is common for cordless eqpt.

 

[504]

You can have the pack rebuilt. Check with a Interstate Battery Distributor(Yellow Pages)

 

[Nancy Howell]

BT DT. Went to buy a second battery pack for my cordless drill. Gave a whole new meaning to sticker shock. Battery pack alone was the same price as a whole new drill a little more powerful than the one I had intended to get a second battery pack for. No Brainer. Bought a whole new drill.

 

[36 Coupe]

Have the battery rebuilt.Ive put some metal roofing on the barn and have driven 400 screws with my 18v dewalt.I have good AC driver but dragging extension cords all over the roof would be foolish.When you buy a battery powered tool make sure the batteries are held to gether with screws so you can repair the packs.1 cell can go bad and shut down the whole battery.Early Dewalt battery were glued together.

 

[Greenday]

2 to 3 years on a battery is pretty good!

 

[Bret4207]

Check Ebay. Places like Sunn Battery sell packs for far less than the manufacturers and they seem to hold up at least as well.

 

[McFarmer1]

I've quit using rechargeables except when necessary. You can buy a really good corded drill that will last many years for what a battery costs.

 

[thurlow]

As has been suggested already, just buy some sub-c batteries and rebuild your own.

 

[Cas]

I saw a video on U-tube a few years ago where a guy made a sub-c battery welder out of a microwave transformer. Duplicated it(very simple)
and have had good luck welding batteries generating almost no heat(battery killer).

 

[Slowpoke]

Any chance of you posting the U Tube instructions for the welder?
I just bought 10 sub-C cells to rebuild a Makita 12V battery and was going to use a 23 watt pencil iron, but your method sounds better.
The cells were $25, but it's better than $50 for a new battery, and the cells are a higher amp hour.

 

[rustyfarmall]

(quoted from post at 17:56:58 12/09/10) I have a B&D 24v rechargeable hammer drill. I really like the drill. After 3 years the batteries are dead, 1 died in less than 2 years. I checked for new batteries and nearly had a hart attack. Those rechargeable drills are convenient but I just can't justify that expense. One battery is not acceptable to me. For much less than the cost of only 1 battery I can buy a HF drill and extra battery. Their drill won't hold 1/2" bit.

My question is can I get some kind of a power supply that I plug into 110V and then to the drill and save buying battery and still have that good drill usable?

Check Amazon.com for replacement batteries. Both of the batteries that came with my 18 volt Black and Decker Firestorm drill were totally dead after just one year. I bought two new batteries on Amazon for about 1/2 the price of just ONE new battery from where I bought the drill, and those two new batteries are still going strong 5 years later.

 

[C.R.]

somettimes you can getNiCad batterys to work again if you give them a zap with a larger battery something about an internal short that is somewhat common with these iv tried it and it sometimes helps there was a thread about it here a while ago

 

[guido]

Hello slowpoke,
If you are going to use a pencil iron, it should be at least 80 watts. Anything less, won't work very well.

Guido.

 

[guido]

Hello slowpoke,
If you are going to use a pencil iron, it should be at least 80 watts. Anything less, won't work very well.

Guido.

 

[country boy 01]

if the battery was closer to 12 volts you can hook a wire to each terminal with alligator claps then hook the wires to your pickup's battery i never have tried it but i heard that it works sorry that doesn't help you out but i thought i would throw that out there

 

[David G]

2 years on a battery is pretty good.

 

[Slowpoke]

Then I guess I'll try the old Weller which I think is 100 watts.

 

[Jiles]

(quoted from post at 14:37:37 12/10/10) I've quit using rechargeables except when necessary. You can buy a really good corded drill that will last many years for what a battery costs.

RIGHT ON----Good advise--- that's what I have done for quite some time. Just had a choice of corded or cordless saw ---for present-- and I chose corded.

 

[scotc]

Instructables.com has instructions for putting new cells into drill batteries and how to build welders to spot weld the batteries and conecting strips together.