Cordless Drills ......

[twitch54]

After ten years my Makita can no longer hold a charge and with new batteries costin $80 each I'm thinking it's time to buy a new rig.

Any good recomendations ????

[Tbone]

Do like I did. Buy a drill that plugs in.
$165 for a DeWalt cordless. Batteries quit holding charge. They changed the batteries to ones that don't fit the drill anymore.

[Gas Man]

I'm with T-bone. A cordless is nice to have but I have slowly started to duplicate my cordless setups. I picked up a real nice Hitochi (sp?) corded drill with the side handle, dead stop, 1/2" chuck, case... nice heavy duty unit. On clearance at Lowes... $30

[1haugster1340]

I agree with everyone else about corded drills being the best however in some cases a cordless is nice to have. My Dad bought an orange one at Harbor Freight and I have never seen a battery hold a charge as long as these do. The drill is very powerful as well.

[twitch54]

I have a corded drill, I assume everyone does........ but the convienence of a good working cordless can't be denied.....anyways I've been hearing good things about the Panasonic line of cordless drills.

[Bigincher]

In construction, we use cordless drills on a regular basis. Back in the day, the 9-v 'blue' tools were King. (Makita) Later, the 18-v DeWalt 'yellow' tools took over the throne as the ultimate cordless, and I have 3 of them. I also have the cordless circular saw, reciprocating saw, and hammer drill. They have never failed me, the thing that kills the battery is failing to fully discharge before charging. (Not going to get into a discussion here on battery technology, but it has improved dramatically).
Nowadays, there are several 'off-brand' options on the market, and I can't speak for them, but I will say, from a professional standpoint, the DeWalt has served me well for many many years.

[twitch54]

Originally Posted by Bigincher

the thing that kills the battery is failing to fully discharge before charging.

Understood......this applies mostly to NiCd batteries, supposedly the better chargers for this type of battery do cycle through a discharge cycle before recharging. I also don't like NiCad for enviromental reasons.

I am told current NiMh and Li-ion do not have the memory problems of NiCad.

[CrossBonesRick]

Cords and batts? Screw that, get one with a kickstart.

[milindh]

Most of the newer cordless tools have either NiMh (Nickel Metal Hydride) or lithium ion batteries. They hold a charge longer and don't have the "memory" problem of NiCads. Plus Nicads are considered hazardous waste. Been a carpenter for some decades out here in Cali. You rarely see a corded drill on jobsites anymore. The new cordless tools are getting real close to the corded drills in performance. Mucho expensive though. Still I have an old Porter Cable 3/8" corded that I'll never let go of. I haven't used it in a couple years. I usually upgrade to the latest and greatest in cordless tools every five to seven years.

If you just need a battery Google it. You should be able find a replacement for half that $80. I'd just go new myself. I have Bosch but have a soft spot for Panasonic cordless. Compact, well balnced, and cheaper than the others in the same range and although their voltage is usually a little less than the big brand names they perform just as well or better. In spite of the association of the brand name with cheap electronics they are good pro quality drills.

In case you haven't noticed the best way to drive screws nowadays is with the newer cordless impact drivers. Much much better than a cordless drill.

Good Luck

[unclepsycho]

I too am in construction and use all the Dewalt tools... I have 2 of the impact drivers, grinder, circular saw, sawz-all, hammer drill etc....

A while back while cruising on flea-bay, I found a guy selling a "secret" on how to revive a rechargable battery... his "secret" only cost $8 with shipping.... I took the bait, well, cuz curiousity got to me....

his "secret" is to take your dead, wont-take-a-charge battery... and hit it with "up to" twice the voltage for 3 seconds... to "wake it up"

I used a 9- volt milwuakee battery that has been setting dead for 10 years and hit it with only 12 volts from a car battery (for 3 seconds). IT WORKED!!!!!! for a little while. I figured that it didnt work perfectly cuz it had set for 10 years dead. but it still worked.

the way to do it like he explained was to hook up the negative of the dead battery to the negative of the source of your higher voltage. then to "flick" the positive against the dead battery a couple times (2 or 3)

then just hook it up to your charger and away you go!!!


I actually hooked up that dead 9-volt battery to the 12-volt car battery for 10 minutes.,... and now it will run the drill for almost 8 or 9 minutes at a time... but I wouldnt recomend this... it could blow something up.