Gloat - Cordless drill batteries with drill [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

View Full Version : Gloat - Cordless drill batteries with drill

Thomas Canfield

06-30-2006, 9:55 PM

My old DeWalt Model 953 12Volt cordless drill was on the last leg with batteries that would not hold a charge. I knew it was not practical to buy new batteries for the old drill, but it had serviced me well and much handier/lighter for the smaller work than the new larger higher voltage units. I noticed that Lowes had a "special value" price plus gift card on a 12Volt Model 927 compact drill/driver and found that the batteries are the same. Now I have an additional drill/driver, a new charger with additional capabilities, and 2 new batteries for about the price of one battery.

NO PICTURE, but it did happen.

John Kain

06-30-2006, 9:57 PM

Not hijacking per se, but.....

What happened to the guy who would offer recharged batteries for a faction of the cost of newer ones?

This situation is a perfect example for his work.................

Larry Cooke

06-30-2006, 11:25 PM

His name is Jason Abel, here's a link to his profile which has a link to his site:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/member.php?u=5819

Edit: Oops, forgot to say congrats on the new drill Thomas, congratulations!

Larry

Matt Meiser

07-01-2006, 10:24 AM

Hmmm. My PC 12V drill is just starting to show signs of battery age, and this one appears to have batteries compatible with my Dewalt impact driver. Might need to visit Lowes...

Randy Meijer

07-02-2006, 4:27 AM

Not hijacking per se, but.....

What happened to the guy who would offer rebuilt batteries for a faction of the cost of newer ones?

This situation is a perfect example for his work.................

Perhaps this is what you meant??

Chris Damm

07-02-2006, 10:35 AM

I had Jason rebuild my Milwaukee batteries and they are better than they were new! He does a great job..

Matt Meiser

07-02-2006, 11:48 AM

My wife picked one of these up yesterday. The batteries were significantly smaller than the "XR" batteries on my impact driver. Doing some digging on Dewalt's site, I found that this drill comes with 1.3AH batteries. That's a lot smaller most products are using :-( . Oddly, it is very difficult to find AH ratings on batteries on Dewalt's site, while Makita and Porter cable emblazon it on the side of their batteries. So mine will be headed back to Lowes for a refund and I'll probably just have mine rebuilt when the time comes.

Anyone know if the Nicad packs can be rebuit as Ni-HM packs and charged with the same chargers? That would be the ticket.

Ken Garlock

07-02-2006, 12:42 PM

I had Jason rebuild my Milwaukee batteries and they are better than they were new! He does a great job..

Ditto on my DeWalt 12V batteries.:cool:

Randy Meijer

07-03-2006, 2:42 AM

.....Anyone know if the Nicad packs can be rebuit as Ni-HM packs and charged with the same chargers? That would be the ticket.

I don't; but I bet Jason could answer that question if you email him!!

Thomas Canfield

07-03-2006, 2:05 PM

I checked again and the old DW 953 and the new DW 927 both use the same DW9072 battery. It sounds like there is a larger 12 volt battery available. I also checked the Batteryrebuilder.com site and that battery can be rebuilt, but I did not check the price. That may be an option for the old batteries in the future. It is handy to have the 2 drill/drivers - even faster than the quick change drill/bit system that I use sometimes.

Matt Meiser

07-03-2006, 4:22 PM

Thomas Canfield

07-03-2006, 8:12 PM

Matt - The life of the original batteries had been good up to the last few months, and then one would not do more than 5 minutes of drilling and driving. The other battery still has some life and can go about 30 minutes of drilling and driving. I am sure that the original are at least 4 years old, but did not see a lot of hard continuous use. It seems that batteries do have a memory and if not run down, the life goes down with frequent charging. The Dewalt 12 volt had been very productive for me even driving 3" and longer deck screews when building a fence.

I think I am happier getting replacement batteries and the new drill/driver that if I had gone to a larger unit, but the new combination units with saw does have some appeal. Most of my use is in the shop, but my corded drills get very little use.

Dick Strauss

07-03-2006, 9:27 PM

Unfortunately my 19.2V batteries are $80 (incl S&H) to have the pair rebuilt by Jason. I can buy them new at Sears for $60 for the pair.

Jason Abel

07-04-2006, 9:38 AM

Matt,

The cells that are in your battery pack are called 4/5 Sub-C. It is available in a NiMH cell but I highly discourage you from proceeding down that road. It took me over a year to find regular Sub-C batteries that have the charge/discharge ratings required to sustain the abuse inflicted on them by the chargers/tools. I have not yet found a "quality" 4/5SC in NiMH. Your batteries would be a typical rebuild service if you choose to go with the NiCad cells.

Dick,

I completely understand where your coming from with the $$ amount but there ae a few things to keep in mind as well. Craftsman typically uses 1800mAh cells in their batteries. I am using a 2100mAh cell that is under rated. It will actually produce almost 2200mAh when properly charged. That is roughly a 22% difference in the battery which explains the costing difference betwen my services and theirs. My battery assemblies also do not have the engineered failure inthem either. Some Craftsman batteries have a tab inside with a hole drilled in it. This is so heat distresses the tab and the tabs eventually breaks. Once this happes it normally still works but the current is arcing across the fracture and it causes extreme heatup of the cells and quick battery failure. Thought you might like to understand where the pricing is based off of.

Thanks,
Jason Abel
Battery Builders
http://www.batteryrebuilders.com