Dewalt Li-Ion 18V battery

[Donald]

Has anyone tried the Dewalt 18V Li-Ion battery. Its about $100 vs $60 for the NiCad. Is it worth it?

 

[Donald]

Can I charge it in a normal Dewalt charger?

 

[05ChevyI5]

?#1= No
?#2= Yes
?#3= No

 

[UNC151]

The Ni-Cad will rapidly develop a "memory" that will eventually prevent it from accepting a full charge whereas the Li-Ion will not.

If you ALWAYS run the battery completely down before recharging then the Ni-Cad may work for you, but if you keep it on charge or "top it off" then the Li-Ion is a better choice.

Hope this helps!

 

[JT1]

The main reason I picked the Li-ion over nicad is the weight savings, second to that is the faster charge time. I'm happy with it so far.

 

[Donald]

My other option is to get a Dewalt impact wrench that uses a 18V battery. This includes a battery and will get me down the road (partially) of standardizing on Dewalt 18V tools. Its $50 more than a Li-Ion battery alone, but has the older battery.

 

[NYEngineer]

We bought some aftermarket batteries for our 18V DeWalts at work. They're Topcell. I think they were 64 dollars each and seem to work better than the DeWalt batteries. I'm looking at one right now, but it doesn't say what type of battery it is. Oops.. There's the recycling sticker. It's a Ni Cad.

 

[mikiee]

One thing about Li-Ion power tools is that there's not much warning when the battery is low. With my regular drill,Ni Cad, I could hear the battery getting weaker and weaker and then switch to the other. With my new drill,Li-Ion, it just stops when the battery is too low. It'll be going full bore, then stop. I always make sure I have the extra, charged battery with me now.