Power tool question

I have a cheapie Ryobi set from Home Depot, the batteries will still be charged a month later if I go to use them. That was a black friday deal, circular saw, flashlight, drill/driver, and a sawzall thrown in for $60.00. Something is wrong with your batteries or charger. I have customers that use cordless 3/8 drive impacts that will take stubborn lug nuts off  All the auto wreckers use these as well as cordless ratchets, saws, etc. They have really come a long way.

“Cordless Flashlight” sure sounds kinda dumb, but they save a TON of money on batteries

My bet is your charger isn’t working. The self-discharge rate of the three common types are all much better than one day.

My 2cents other than that….I just bought a new 12v lithium drill from dewalt. Love it. Lighter and more powerful than anything I’ve owned in the past. Holds a charge a long time and charges quickly.

I have had little luck with Skill and B&D cordless “consumer” tools. I have a Skill industrial quality 18v cordless 3/8″ VSR drill that came with two NiCd batteries and a quality charger and I'm very pleased with it. Holds a charge for about six weeks and charges up in about a hour. B&D no longer makes industrial quality tools to my knowledge. I also have the DeWalt 18v NiCd cordless package that includes a 1/2″ VSR drill/driver, gooseneck light, circular saw, and a full size reciprocating saw. So far the batteries hold up good with all the tools, hold their charge for over six weeks, and charge in about an hour. Also have a Ridgid Li-Ion cordless multi-tool – the batteries are very powerful, seem to hold a charge forever, and charge in about 45 minutes, but there is no tapering off when the batteries are dying. They go balls-to-the-wall and then drop dead.

Then there is always this option.

I tend to agree with Grizzly. See if you can find a store display or someone else with a charger and run the batteries through it. May not have been the batteries the whole time

The logic is two fold.  One, you said there were two batteries with the same problem.  In my experience that makes it much less likely to be the battery.  Just statistics talking.  Second, if you don't completely charge a battery of any chemistry it will have fine power but the self-discharge is much higher.  That is why there are all those “battery minder” products out there.  Keep things topped up and they will keep their charge longer.  Ask me how I know (I converted my car to full electric).

I have an assortment of rechargeable batteries for all my cordless tools.  If you have NiCd batteries you can try re-conditioning them by using a technique of “Voltage Surging” to breakup the crystals that form inside the battery. I have used this method and had bad batteries come back like new and saved a ton of money on replacing them.  I also had some that did not work at all.  There are some people that say this process does not work at all, but I’ll leave that up to the individual that actually tries it.  I have the process for doing this stored on another retired computer so I would have to dig it up. Also there is information on the net by “Easy Fix for Batteries”.

The first thing I would try is to drain the battery (NiCd) all the way down by putting a flashlight bulb on it and recharge; this will reset the memory on the battery. Do this several times. This doesn’t work on Lithium Ion.

Larry,

Lenbo stated about the “memory” of the battery. Maybe the battery is only charging to a certain point.

But it seems if that was the case, it would still last more than a day with no load on it. The charger sounds to be the suspect. The good chargers are made to stop charging when the battery is fully charged. If (for some reason) the charger is defective it will continue to charge the battery causing it to “fry” and although the battery will work for immediate use, it doesn't hold a charge for long. The cells are fried. The damage can't be reversed. 

The cheap cordless tools (Harbor Freight) use this kind of charger. That's why, if you leave it on overnight, the battery is shot. It is a cheap charger that's always charging. I know this from personal experience. That's why I own a DeWalt now.

So the circuit in the charger may have gone bad or defective from the beginning. It still charges but doesn't shut off. You probably will need to do as others suggested…. buy new or rebuild.

Oh…. and buy a new charger… or fight with this problem again

Jack

Jack is dead right about cheap chargers ruining NiCad batteries.  Someone gave me a fairly nice cordless drill as a gift, but unfortunately it had one of those cheap chargers which promptly fired the cells in the battery pack because I left it on overnight.  I'd gotten used to my Rockwell cordless drill chargers that didn't do that.  But even the Rockwell batteries ultimately would develop a bad cell and then not hold a charge or not take a charge.  I had several of them rebuilt with good results but I finally got tired of changing them so often while working and bought one of the new Makita 18volt Lithium ion cordless drills.  Man, what a huge difference from the Rockwell!  The Makita was smaller, lighter and had twice the balls and the batteries charged in 15 minutes instead of an hour. 

The Rockwell now sits in a cabinet with no good batteries for it.  One of these days I'm going to wire it with a 20' cord and a cigarette lighter plug so I can keep it in the service truck.  It's a good drill motor, but the Makita is waaaay better and also has the only keyless chuck I've ever found that actually holds as well as a keyed chuck.  Well, except for a $200 Albrecht chuck and who would put one of those on a cordless drill?  I like the Makita chuck so well I'm going to order a couple more for the shop's small drill presses.

Ah yes Rich…. another can of worms to kick over….. keyless chucks!

Hate it when you have one that doesn't hold the bit. Then it spins around and the first thing you notice is that it ALWAYS removes the lettering/scribed bit size. Unless you immediately place it back in the index instead of laying it on the bench, you're guessing… “Damn, is this the 5/16 or the 1/4 I just used?” 

One time I was in a hurry and guessed wrong. Can we say Heli Coil? 

Then there is the problem that I have, that I'm sure every Mech worth his weight does. No Mech throws a bit away unless it's broke. So, you collect them in a little tray and when you accumulate enough, it's off to the drill bit sharpener on the bench. So now you have a bunch of sharp drill bits in great condition…. with no size marked on them. Then you think “Damn, where did I place that drill bit guage?”.  All this because we can't jusitfy paying the price for a new one.

Jack

My solution to that issue was to just buy a whole crapload of the bits up to 3/8″ so I never run short.  I got this set for half price on sale a couple weeks ago.  Hard to beat the price and the bits are plenty good enough for my uses.  Sure saves a lot of screwing around looking for that missing/broken/dull bit!

Nice Rich, I just might invest in one, although up to 1/2″ would be a “bit” better….

Oh… and look…. it has the proverbial drill bit gauge for when you spin the sizes off them 

Jack

Somehow, over the years I seem to have accumulated about a thousand various drill bits and a good half dozen 6″ calipers.  I just mike 'em when I can't read 'em, which is usually since I don't see teeny little letters too well these days.   Pretty soon though, I'm gonna need to get one of the new digital calipers as I'm getting so I have a hard time reading a vernier accurately.  The two dial calipers never seem to be where I want them , either.

I picked up a digital caliper at Harbor Freight a couple years ago, inches, fractions, metric, inside/outside. I saw them on sale lately for $14.00, about what I paid. One of the better 14 bucks I've spent

Yeah, I saw them on sale too and ordered two of them, along with one other little thing.  They sent me the other little thing and NO calipers, just a note saying they were only available in stores, not online.  The SOB's charged me the full freight for what the order would have been if it was all delivered, too.  I called and bitched about it and they gave me $10 gift card.  Big deal – I really wanted the calipers.  Now discontinued, naturally.  Sometimes HF really annoys me.

If I see one on sale at the store do you want me to pick it up and ship it to you?

I was going to sign up for the “inside track club” online but when you click on sign up it puts a card in a shopping cart. I called customer service and asked, if I sign up over the phone can I use it before the plastic card physically shows up? I was told it takes SIX WEEKS after you sign up and give them money before it can be used! No sale.

If you happen to see them in the store, I'd happily take two of them – that's the Item #98851.  I was just checking my old orders so I had the part number right at hand.

It would sure be nice to get one or two of those – they're the perfect thing for the work I do. 

I sure appreciate the offer, Tin!     If you get them, let me know so I can send you payment.

Rich

That's the part number of the one I have and you're right, they don't make it anymore. The closest thing they have is a #47257  Inches/metric, but no fractional.

I'll check them out next time I'm in Bend and pick a few up when on sale if the fractional thing is not a deal killer for you.

If you are looking for a caliper with fractions google for:

WIXEY WR100 6 in. Digital Calipers with Fractions

I personally don't have one but I've handled one and it seems to work pretty well.  They claim they do a better job of when to display the fraction versus the decimal.

back to the batteries try a batteries plus store they will redo the batt. for you about 58.00 for a 18.0 volt, they claim their cells have more usable amps than the factory batt.had them do 2 dewalt batt. and they are strong and holding up well.

I Googled the WIXEY WR100 6 in. Digital Calipers with Fractions, not bad, looks real close to the one I have that Harbor Freight no longer sells, right down to the case. Worth taking a look at Rich. Checked it out at Amazon.com, lots of toys to choose from there. Might be less elsewhere, I didn't check.

Habor freight still has one for 12 bucks, maybe not the one of the past:

http://www.harborfreight.com/6…..99639.html

Aubrey

Tin,

Don't bother with the others – the fractional output is necessary and I found one on Amazon that looks real good.  More than the HF closeout one, but reasonable enough.  I ordered it so I'm all set fo rnow.

I sure appreciate your kind offer!

Rich