Sick of Cordless Power Tool Battery Technology Changes?

Why? Corded tools cost 1/5 what cordless tools do. There is a REASON I spend the money.

Rebuilding batteries is much cheaper than buying replacements. I just sent a 14.4V Porter Cable batter in for rebuild; $35.

Have you actually looked at the connector on the tools?

All sane people have at least two batteries.

Not going to sell.

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  Keith

I haven't worked out all the details but I really think its possible. Give it some time..Somebody will probably start making this and selling it on Ebay..

I already have a cordless rotary tool, cordless drill and a cordless screwdriver...Well they're not cordless anymore.. They all have cords and plug into a variable power supply. Why...all these tools are old and have dead batteries. The battery replacement is a pita..

Now I have: No charging No swapping batteries No dumbass chargers cooking the batteries No battery babysitting No out of power interruptions And the tools are lighter!

It's wonderful! :) D from BC

I've saved some spent Milwaukee 18V battery packs. They are nothing more than standard C size NiCads strapped together in series. That would be a do-it-yourself rebuild, except I think the shops that do it get a better price than I can on cells.

Yep. And I've got spares for my power tools as well. ;-)

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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Next Generati> Pianka warned of the population bomb, and Mims

Then it'll be 50% more crowded than it is now. Will you and your ilk step forward and invite people from 3rd world countries to move into your neigh- borhoods until they're 50% more crowded than they are now? We somehow doubt it!

See above, argument loser! . .

switcheroo

tools

battery.

or

All you are saying is that you are "recycling" your old battery powered tools because you can't afford, or can't be bothered replacing the battery. While this is admirable, it does sort of negate the whole reason for buying a battery powwered tool in the first place. ie, to avoid having to drag a power cord around wherever the tool is used. Your solution not only re-imposes that condition but it also adds an additional piece of hardware - the power supply unit. Now you have to drag around the cord and the power supply as well. Also, in order to avoid dramatic power loss, the cord from the power supply to the tool must be less than about 2 metres in length which means that you may have to perch your PSU on a ladder when drilling at ceiling height above the floor or, where the length of cord won't allow sufficient reach. Hardly a safety concious approach...

a mains powered tool will typically work much better than the battery one. eg 1200RPM from 0.25" a battery drill and 8000RPM from a 0.25" corded drill, and yeah the corded drill does drill holes 6 times easier.

Bye. Jasen

I'm hoping they are better at opening and resealing the case than I could be, as well.

I've got spare power tools for my power tools. ;-)

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  Keith

My Milwaukee packs are closed with half a dozen screws. Opening and resealing them is so simple I think they may have designed them with rebuilding in mind. Something to look for when selecting a brand of tools?

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Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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Great minds discuss ideas, 
average minds discuss events, 
small minds discuss people.

It is, now that I know such a thing exists. Another useful feature I'll be looking for next time is easily replaced (accessible without opening the case) brushes.

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  Keith

Can't speak about your power tools but the batteries in my battery operated tools cannot be charged while in the tool. They have to be removed to be charged.

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 JosephKK
 Gegen dummheit kampfen die Gotter Selbst, vergebens.  
  --Schiller

The OP's proposed power tool has no batteries (anymore) thus they aren't being charged. ;-)

--
  Keith

On Jun 11, 9:47 pm, D from BC

I never understood the attraction of cordless tools for an homeowner, for all the above reasons, so I never considered buying them in the first place. Cordless electric shavers are even a bigger mystery to me.

I do have a cordless weedwacker, your moving over a large distance outside very quickly, now that makes sense to be cordless (or gas powered), but a cordless shaver? Maybe they should market a gas powered shaver too, just as useless....

** A cordless, electric screwdriver is very convenient - never any need for long extension cables. ** They are electrically safe even when wet, you can shave anywhere in or out of the house.

...... Phil

You might try a few cordless tools yourself and find that you like them. They really are more convenient than getting a cord out any time you're going to need to be drilling/cutting/etc...

Cordless electric shavers are nice in that there isn't a cord that tries to sweep other items on your vanity off onto the floor :-), you can wander around the house to get back to watching the news, starting the coffee, etc.

For professional carpenters, I think you could perform a time-in-motion study and demonstrate that cordless tools increase productivity more than enough to offset the increased price.

Remember the old wind-up shavers?

I'm not totally against cordless tools.. I'm just picking on the batteries.

How about a tool battery pack with easy to change size C NiMH or NiCd cells? Over the years there's been model changes, multiple cordless tool makers and battery voltage changes.

I did a quick search.. Makita 6935 14.4V volt lithium ion Bosch PS20-2 10.8Volt Dewalt DC759 18Volt Panasonic EY6432 15.6Volt Dewalt DCX640 Lith Ion 36Volt Black and Decker XD1200 12Volt Dewalt DW920K-2 7.2Volt

Someday I'm going to see all these tools in a flea for cheap because the owners tossed away the tools to switch to other voltages.

This is why I thought of making a variable power supply to bring these batteryless tools back to life.

I've installed power jacks on 3 batteryless cordless tools.. Works great! D from BC

Hi D,

I think your idea of a universal battery adapter for cordless power tools would sell, although it's not clear to me if it would be in such quantities that you'd be able to make any money at it. :-) The tools almost always comes with batteries, so you're looking at the battery replacement market. Folks like DeWalt do charge enough for batteries (often $50-$100) that people will seek out alternatives, but the big stores like Home Depot already address that concern with their own Ryobi line of tools that uses cheap ($30?) batteries with the tools costing less to begin with as well.

There *are* a handful of universal *chargers*, where you use different inserts (or they have a quite convoluted multi-purpose mold custom made) to match up the battery you want to charge.

For stuff like Black and Decker, yes. For the better quality stuff like DeWalt (which is just high-end B&D these days), there's a thriving market on eBay... and quite often people will comment on whether the batteries included are pretty much dead, new, etc.

There was one manufacturer... Skill, perhaps?... that had a line of cordless tools where they included a battery-shaped "pack" with a power cord coming off of it that would power the tool if your last charged battery was spent (i.e., the "pack" was actually a little switching power supply). Seemed like a good idea, although I don't think it ever caught on.

---Joel

"Joel Kolstad" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

At one time,Hitachi also offered a hi-capacity belt-mounted battery pack and a coiled-cord adapter to fit one of their drills.

I would like to see cordless tool makers (or aftermarket) make Li-ion battery packs and chargers for older tools that used NiCds or NiMH packs. It seems that a 14.4 volt tool could run on either Li-ion (4 cells)or the other chemistries,and I suspect my 9.6V Makita drill could run on a 10.8 volt Li-ion pack (3 cells)without problems.

18 volt Li-ion tools would use 5 cells.

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Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net