I have quite a nice 9.6v drill/driver that looks like it's headed for
landfill as the battery won't hold charge any more. Cost of a new battery is
way more than the cost of a replacement drill. Do these just use standard
rechargeable batteries, in series? Easy to replace?

"GB" wrote in message
...
I have quite a nice 9.6v drill/driver that looks like it's headed for
landfill as the battery won't hold charge any more. Cost of a new battery
is way more than the cost of a replacement drill. Do these just use
standard rechargeable batteries, in series? Easy to replace?


It depends, the biggest problem is getting the battery box apart.
On some drills this is fixed together with screws so it's easy. On others
the box is glued, sometimes the joints can be prised apart without too much
damage to the plastic, and sometimes they have been glued too well and
getting them apart is difficult.
I have found that many drills used Sub-C cells in series, and these are
available with solder tags. This is usefull if you don't have a spot welder
for batteries. Although many packs are made with NiCad cells I have
successfully replaced these with NiMh cells, although I believe that this is
frowned upon by "those who know". A source of Sub-C cells with tags is
VAPEXTECH, on ebay or on his website. (I have no connection with this
company other than getting very good service)
My guess is that for 9.6V you will need 8 cells at about £2 each, so it will
cost you about £16 to build a new battery pack. You will have to check the
exact price.
Good luck!
Ian.

On Jul 15, 12:53 pm, "GB" wrote:
I have quite a nice 9.6v drill/driver that looks like it's headed for
landfill as the battery won't hold charge any more. Cost of a new battery is
way more than the cost of a replacement drill. Do these just use standard
rechargeable batteries, in series? Easy to replace?

Often the best bet is to look for a tool which uses the same
batteries, and buy one that comes with 3 of them. You then have 2
tools and 3 batteries - you can either keep them, or ebay the spare
tool with one battery, leaving you with a functional drill at usually
fairly low cost.

A

Ian French wrote:

It depends, the biggest problem is getting the battery box apart.

Yup, when I rebuilt a B&D proline 9.6V pack it required clamping in a
vice and walloping with a lump hammer!

frowned upon by "those who know". A source of Sub-C cells with tags is
VAPEXTECH, on ebay or on his website. (I have no connection with this
company other than getting very good service)

I will second that. Bought a bunch of AAs from them and they have
performed very well.


--
Cheers,

John.

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| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 15, 12:53 pm, "GB" wrote:
I have quite a nice 9.6v drill/driver that looks like it's headed for
landfill as the battery won't hold charge any more. Cost of a new battery
is
way more than the cost of a replacement drill. Do these just use standard
rechargeable batteries, in series? Easy to replace?

Often the best bet is to look for a tool which uses the same
batteries, and buy one that comes with 3 of them. You then have 2
tools and 3 batteries - you can either keep them, or ebay the spare
tool with one battery, leaving you with a functional drill at usually
fairly low cost.

I think I'll try that. Although this is a nice tool, well balanced etc, I
don't recall paying all that much more than 20 or 30 Pounds for it new, and
that was 10 years ago. This sort of thing has come down in price since then.

"Ian French" wrote in message
...


It depends, the biggest problem is getting the battery box apart.
On some drills this is fixed together with screws so it's easy. On others
the box is glued, sometimes the joints can be prised apart without too
much damage to the plastic, and sometimes they have been glued too well
and getting them apart is difficult.

Curiously enough, this is screwed, and easy to get apart.

I have found that many drills used Sub-C cells in series, and these are
available with solder tags. This is usefull if you don't have a spot
welder for batteries.

Nope, don't have a spot welder, or any kind of welder! I'll have a look at
Vapextech. I'll also see if I can find another drill that takes the same
batteries, as it may be cheaper to buy that than a new set of batteries.
Crazy world we live in.

Although many packs are made with NiCad cells I have successfully replaced
these with NiMh cells, although I believe that this is frowned upon by
"those who know". A source of Sub-C cells with tags is VAPEXTECH, on ebay
or on his website. (I have no connection with this company other than
getting very good service)
My guess is that for 9.6V you will need 8 cells at about £2 each, so it
will cost you about £16 to build a new battery pack. You will have to
check the exact price.
Good luck!
Ian.

In article ,
GB wrote:
Nope, don't have a spot welder, or any kind of welder! I'll have a look
at Vapextech. I'll also see if I can find another drill that takes the
same batteries, as it may be cheaper to buy that than a new set of
batteries. Crazy world we live in.

You'd get the battery cells at the same price as the factory if you bought
them 100,000 at a time. ;-)

--
*Middle age is when work is a lot less fun - and fun a lot more work.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
GB wrote:
Nope, don't have a spot welder, or any kind of welder! I'll have a look
at Vapextech. I'll also see if I can find another drill that takes the
same batteries, as it may be cheaper to buy that than a new set of
batteries. Crazy world we live in.

You'd get the battery cells at the same price as the factory if you bought
them 100,000 at a time. ;-)

True, but I seem to be able to get them cheaper if I just buy one drill,
without having to buy 100,000 drills.

On Jul 15, 4:09 pm, "GB" wrote:
wrote in message

oups.com...

On Jul 15, 12:53 pm, "GB" wrote:
I have quite a nice 9.6v drill/driver that looks like it's headed for
landfill as the battery won't hold charge any more. Cost of a new battery
is
way more than the cost of a replacement drill. Do these just use standard
rechargeable batteries, in series? Easy to replace?

Often the best bet is to look for a tool which uses the same
batteries, and buy one that comes with 3 of them. You then have 2
tools and 3 batteries - you can either keep them, or ebay the spare
tool with one battery, leaving you with a functional drill at usually
fairly low cost.

I think I'll try that. Although this is a nice tool, well balanced etc, I
don't recall paying all that much more than 20 or 30 Pounds for it new, and
that was 10 years ago. This sort of thing has come down in price since then.

You won't find a battery on sale for a tool that old. They change the
fittings to them every year or less as an obsolescence design thing.

Anyone know how much Lithium-ion batteries would cost made up to fit
one's oldish drill? I wouldn't mind finding a local electickerer to do
a job like that on my MacAllisters.

Weatherlawyer wrote:

Anyone know how much Lithium-ion batteries would cost made up to fit
one's oldish drill? I wouldn't mind finding a local electickerer to do
a job like that on my MacAllisters.

You would need to budget for a new charger as well - the charging
technology is different.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Weatherlawyer" wrote in message
ps.com...


You won't find a battery on sale for a tool that old. They change the
fittings to them every year or less as an obsolescence design thing.

You need buy a cheap B&D, they still use the same fittings on my 5 yo one as
the new ones.


Anyone know how much Lithium-ion batteries would cost made up to fit
one's oldish drill? I wouldn't mind finding a local electickerer to do
a job like that on my MacAllisters.


Not quite that easy.. you need a charge controller too.

Thanks to both my repliers. So the best bet in buying a new drill is
to get one that is repairable to that standard as standard.

And how much are they anyone?