Cordless drill battery advice needed.
I’ve tried sifting through some old posts here, but haven’t been able to find what I needed so I’m posting this.
I have two cordless drills. One is a Dewalt 9.6v, the other is a bosch 14.4v. Each one has two batteries, a charger, and a case. Each is at least 10 or 12 years old. I replaced a Dewalt battery about a year ago. I’m not in the trades but have used these alot over the years for remodeling. Both drills work fine, its the batteries that give me trouble. After I charge them, they just don’t run for very long, maybe enough to drive a dozen screws.
I started looking online for replacements and came across some articles on rebuilding batteries. It seems as though sending them in to be rebuilt, or driving to a place to have them rebuilt, would be about as much as ordering new.
Another option I’ve considered is rebuilding them myself. It doesn’t seem too difficult, although my battery cases are glued together and I’d have to pry them apart. This looks to be cheaper as I could probably replace all the cells for half the cost of a new battery. Some articles also said that I could get away with replacing only the cells that are bad , not all of them.
I’d like to ask then, what route would you choose? I have three dead batteries that need replacement or fixing. Should I rebuild myself, send in for a rebuild, or just buy new and save the trouble?
Replies
I get mine rebuilt at Batteries+ with pretty good results, for about 2/3 or less, IIRC, the price of a new. (That said, Lowes is selling their old DeWalt batteries now cheap, like 1/2 price, since DW is going to Lithium. You might wanna check that out.)
I didn't bother trying to rebuild my own since I understand the contacts are attached to the batteries with a type of spot weld, and the heat of soldering can be bad for the batteries. In short, it wasn't worth saving $10 to me to try to do it my own self.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
Edit: You may also want to consider just moving on to the newer technology. My understanding is that the Lithium cells are more forgiving of occasional use since they don't discharge on the bench nearly as fast as the nicads.
Edited 6/25/2009 9:32 am ET by MikeHennessy
Replace all the cells
Cheapest source is to buy entire packs fromo HF when on sale - lots of old threads on rebuilding.
Voltman rejuvenated my Milwaukee NiCad batteries after they would no longer charge but long before Milwaukee issued a recall. These days the battery is often half the cost of the tool and manufacturers keep coming out with new tools that require new batteries that are not compatible with the old one.
I would expect that Voltman recycles your old NiCad batteries in the pack. If just buying new ones I would stick with name brand ones and turn your old ones in to Home Depot for proper recycling.