Ni cad/MH powered tools worth saving?

[WhyMe]

all i have a nicad and MH powered cordless tools. Some are showing their age in that the batts are losing capicity or faling.

Anyone that has bought them has realized that replacement packs are not cheap. 40-8o is pretty common.

I can buy new lith ion stuff for about the same price.

So how do you decide to keep them or not. Seems to be such a waste to throw stuff away

 

[Donald]

I have converged on Dewalt 18V XPR tools as much as possible. I may have 10 total although not all totally different.

I have gotten the battery packs rebuilt by a company with more powerful (mAH) batteries (not real cheap however).

Dewalt has a fancy charger that cycles the batteries to even up all the cells in a battery pack, or something like that. One of my chargers has that function. In theory it helps, hard to measure.

Even the new 20v LiIon line of Dewalt tools is not as complete as the Dewalt 18V XPR.

I have considered rebuilding my own batteries but have not yet done so.

 

[spackard]

LiFePO4 packs aren't cheap either.

I guess if your pack costs about as much as a new Li-powered tool, then get the tool. Sometimes a tool's cost is 3-4x the pack and made to last a long time. In that case, replace the pack.

Also, Li packs are a lot lighter than Ni-Cd or Ni-MH, and sometimes there's a fatigue factor to consider.

 

[bama7x57]

I've converted over to Hitachi lithium ion cordless tools. Big Sky Tool has great sales on Hitachi sometimes, especially the refurbished units.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I have converged on Dewalt 18V XPR tools as much as possible. I may have 10 total although not all totally different.


I have as well, though I don't have nearly as many yet as you have (it's actually XRP, not XPR, if someone goes to searching for it). I have the drill and the 1/4" impact driver. Next will likely be the circular saw or the reciprocating saw.

After my Craftsman drill finally died a few years ago, I found the cost of replacing batteries to be prohibitive. I also found that most brands (both consumer- and commercial-grade) use proprietary batteries. So I made the choice to buy a line of tools that is very complete in terms of coverage (lots of saws, drills, etc), and will likely have good aftermarket support (battery replacements, etc). The DeWALT 18V XRP line is what I chose.

 

[JHZR2]

I have some battery tools but because of the battery cost issue, Ive maintained a high quality corded tool set, and built it up.

No reason to dump NiMH or NiCd if the tool still works and the batteries can be had at reasonable prices. If you can fit a Li-ion to the battery interface, and the voltage is close, it should work too.

I only have Li-ion, and I store my batteries at roughly 30-50% SOC at as cold a temperature I can, as degradation due to side reactions is the main issue, with electrolyte oxidation at the upper end a bit of a concern too.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: Donald
I have converged on Dewalt 18V XPR tools as much as possible. I may have 10 total although not all totally different.


I have as well, though I don't have nearly as many yet as you have (it's actually XRP, not XPR, if someone goes to searching for it). I have the drill and the 1/4" impact driver. Next will likely be the circular saw or the reciprocating saw.

After my Craftsman drill finally died a few years ago, I found the cost of replacing batteries to be prohibitive. I also found that most brands (both consumer- and commercial-grade) use proprietary batteries. So I made the choice to buy a line of tools that is very complete in terms of coverage (lots of saws, drills, etc), and will likely have good aftermarket support (battery replacements, etc). The DeWALT 18V XRP line is what I chose.


Consider the Dewalt corded/cordless vacuum. It will quickly become your favorite.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: Donald
I have converged on Dewalt 18V XPR tools as much as possible. I may have 10 total although not all totally different.


I have as well, though I don't have nearly as many yet as you have (it's actually XRP, not XPR, if someone goes to searching for it). I have the drill and the 1/4" impact driver. Next will likely be the circular saw or the reciprocating saw.

After my Craftsman drill finally died a few years ago, I found the cost of replacing batteries to be prohibitive. I also found that most brands (both consumer- and commercial-grade) use proprietary batteries. So I made the choice to buy a line of tools that is very complete in terms of coverage (lots of saws, drills, etc), and will likely have good aftermarket support (battery replacements, etc). The DeWALT 18V XRP line is what I chose.


Consider the Dewalt corded/cordless vacuum. It will quickly become your favorite.


+1.

I have one and am going to start leaving it in the car and vacuuming at lunchtime. Just don't let the li-ion battery go above 120F (remove from the car). They will, irreversibly degrade and also gas at elevated temperatures causing a safety issue.

 

[jcwit]

I have one of the Black & Decker Flex cordless vaccuum's. Cost approx $60 bucks at WalMart and works super, will do 2 cars and still have charge left.

 

[gizzsdad]

It's my contention that anything in the lower end of cordless tools is a loss leader to encourage battery sales. You can often buy a tool w/batteries on sale for what replacement batteries cost. They compound this by putting really [censored] chargers in the kits. I've since learned that the better company's offer a smart charger that doesn't over-charge the battery and will keep them topped off if left in the charger.

The cheaper chargers will fry a battery in short order. The smart chargers have helped me get much improved battery life.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
I have one of the Black & Decker Flex cordless vaccuum's. Cost approx $60 bucks at WalMart and works super, will do 2 cars and still have charge left.


The point of my Dewalt vacuum comment is that it takes normal Dewalt battery packs (both 14V and 18V). So a good vacuum AND uses my converged battery.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: gizzsdad
It's my contention that anything in the lower end of cordless tools is a loss leader to encourage battery sales. You can often buy a tool w/batteries on sale for what replacement batteries cost. They compound this by putting really [censored] chargers in the kits. I've since learned that the better company's offer a smart charger that doesn't over-charge the battery and will keep them topped off if left in the charger.

The cheaper chargers will fry a battery in short order. The smart chargers have helped me get much improved battery life.


I have a bunch of Dewalt 18V chargers and every one is different. One has its "smart" (or whatever) option via push button and another one just does it. Says it equalizes the individual cells.

 

[sleddriver]

Yep...me too.

I have two older Bosch cordless drills. The oldest I disassembled the pack, bought new NiCads and rebuilt it. Had trouble soldering the tabs though. I plan on reworking it now that I've learned about ChipQuik, which was invaluable when I had to replace multiple electrolytic capacitors on a Mac motherboard which were originally installed with lead-free solder. I'm guessing it'll make soldering the battery tabs much easier. We'll see...

The newer Bosch I now have four batteries for and only one works and it's charge level is now quite low. So I plan on opening one up to see if it's feasible.

 

[sleddriver]

Last night, I dug into one of my Bosch 14.4 battery packs. I wound up cutting a vertical seam through the plastic case with a small sawblade chucked in a mototool, then worked around to separate the top seam. It came apart faster than I expected.

Contains 12 1.2V sub-C NiCad cells. The pack is rated for 2Ah. Spent some time looking online for a replacement and the indiv. cells.

While inspecting the pack, I noticed that one cell has a white powder on top. Since these are all wired in series (12 x 1.2 = 14.4) if one cell goes Tango Uniform, so does the whole pack.

I can also use it as a corded tool by running it off of an adjustable DC power supply and removing the batteries. If 7.2V R/C car battery packs are avail. I could chain two and go that way as well.