ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Which BatterTools???

To All:
I now have almost exculsively Milwaukee, I really like them, but the one I like the most is the mil 14.4 with the heavy-duty battery and thats for a couple of reasons.
1. I have 4 batteries for it ( these were left behind by the theives who didnt take them but took the tools) that notwith standing when the Milwaukee 14.4 runs out of gas its, like now and you got to change it, and they take a 1/2 inch drill shank and will drill thru just about anything.
2. I had a DeWalt 18 volt hammar-drill/Drill and it worked fine and had no complaints except it was very awkward when it had to be used on a ladder, Its one super redeeming feature was when I put in a service on an all brick building with no power it drilled into the brick without a problem.
After it got stolen( I got hit three times) I never replaced it but tried the Bosch 18 volt and it was really powerful but very fragile, I dropped two from a 6-foot step and the collet broke off each one, the dealer replaced them each time but after the third time I went back to the Milwaukee.
As far as the batteries not holding a charge I have not yet had that problem, as I said i have 4 but hate the thought of shelling out 60 dollars for a new one,(the orange store sells them for 54.95 plus tax)but still alot of money for one battery. Just as a side note I still have three chargers(the Mil.Universal type) and i leave two in the case and two on the chargers amd carry the third charger in the case, Just in case.
But thats how I see it.
-Mark-

The way I understand it, charging NiCds (NiCad is a brand name) before they are almost completely discharged allows crystals to build up in the cells which is this "memory" problem. Chargers that pulse charge help to prevent this (I've been told that some pulse chargers will actually break up the crystals and restore old cells somewhat), and "smart" chargers, like Bill pointed out, that discharge to a preset point first are even better.

The danger of discharging too far is that the cell may reverse polarity. I have never seen this happen, and I have abused my share of NiCd packs!

I'm going to surf for a few articles by respected RC modelling mags to see if there are any tips out there...

BRB...



[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 06-15-2002).]

http://www.rcmodelers.com/INTRODUCT/introbat/introbat.html

Here's an intro...

I'll look for something a little more "techie"...

BRB...

... Hmmmm, no luck...

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 06-15-2002).]

I've got the 18V DeWalt Hammer drill, Recip. saw and circular saw. Never tried the Milwaukee cordless tools.

I to have problems with short overall battery life. (probably two years) But the way I look at it, thats a lot of holes and screws.

One thing that I did a while ago to assure charged batteries when I need one was buy an inexpensive inverter ($25-$30) and plugged the DeWAlt charger in while I was driving.

On the way home and on the way to work I would charge batteries. Even between service calls.

All our cordless tools are DeWalt 18volt. Absolutely no problems. I am always amazed at the large amount of work we can do between charges. I do know DeWalt has 2 lines, one is not as heavy duty and the batteries are light duty too. The new Dewalts have a battery charger with a renew cycle that completely discharges and recharges over an extended period (up to 8hrs). I've been considering getting 12 volt ones for light assembly work and trim outs.

Now for corded tools all our big drills are Milwaukee

Here's a pic of my Expanded Scale Voltmeter that I use with my planes. It tests under no load, under 200 mA and 500 mA. The expanded scale shows a range of 4.5VDC to 6.0VDC for 4 cell packs, 4.8 being the nominal. Green is good, yellow, maybe squeeze in a short flight (I never do!), red, you're dead (if you try to fly). BTW, this is one instance that analog meters are better... the *movement* of the needle while under load and rebound when the load is released is where most of the story is!

This is for Remote Control planes, not full scale.



Dead batteries + full tank of fuel = free flight airplane travelling 40 mph for twenty minutes! If it's trimmed out well, it could travel nearly 20 miles, assuming trimmed for 250 fpm climb under power and -250 fpm glide while out of fuel, it could be a lot greater than that say 25 miles with a L/D of 10:1 (Am I talking greek yet?)
25 miles is a lot of ground to cover to look for the $1000 crater, if it hasn't created a liability of even more by hitting something/someone.

That's why I'm anal about my NiCds!


</threadjack>

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 06-16-2002).]

As NiCds start to wear out, I've noticed that the packs will show full voltage at first, but as load is applied, the voltage will level off fairly low, and the rebound to peak voltage after the load is released is rather slow. New 1400mA packs will hardly notice a 500mA load when fully charged, and what little needle movement there is will snap back to peak immediately after the load is released.

Have I sorta tied things back together now?



[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 06-16-2002).]

Milwaukee wins for me!
When I was in the market for a cordless hammer-drill/driver, I looked at both DeWalt and Milwaukee. One of the selling points on Milwaukee is that they use all metal gears where DeWalt has plastic.
I bought the Contractor bag with a 18v Hammer-drill/driver, sawzall with charger and bag. Later on I added the light. Just the other week I bought the new Milwaukee radio (great!).
True, the milwaukee drill is heavy, but the thing goes on almost all day, even on hammerdrill. I don't personally carry my drills in a holster anymore so the weight isn't as much of an issue. But overall, I'm very impressed with the quality and rugggedness of milwaukee, I won't buy anything else now.
Drill on!

Bill A.—

There is some info on usenet. If you are serious about studying up on the matter, start by searching Google Groups for "sci.chem.electrochem Frequently Asked Questions" but—fair warning—you won't get 6-word answers to your questions.

You may want to also search “sci.chem.electrochem.battery”… {Caution—If the term ‘usenet’ has no meaning, you may be entering intense [and vast!] territory. It’s far older than the WWWeb stuff.} Good luck.

About a year ago there was an article in one of my home magazines about rechargeable batteries. Until I can locate it I will tell you the points I remember. All the tool companies recommended recharging Ni-Cads at the first sign of weakness. None suggested totally draining them and in fact the author stated that this could cause cell reversal in one or more cells and ruin the battery(which is exactly what I did to a Milwaukee 12 volt one week before I read the article. The author also explained that the batteries worst enemy is heat, heat while using, heat while charging and heat while storing. The higher voltage batteries will not last as long because of the additional heat they generate while in use. I keep my batteries in a small canvas work bag and take them out to the truck every morning and back in the house when I return where they are recharged whether they have been used or not.
As far as brand preference no opinion was given.