Brian Henderson wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:20:49 -0600, "Swingman" wrote:


"Brian Henderson" wrote in message


It's usually not worth the time or trouble to rebuild unless you're
using bottom-of-the-barrel replacement parts, and then why bother
doing it at all? Most batteries aren't that expensive and they last
quite a while, just dispose of the old ones and get new.

That depends. A new DeWalt 18v XRP is in the range of $75 - $85 ... for $48
you can rebuild/upgrade and increase the capacity considerably, and for $72
you can further upgrade the cells for twice the runtime, either option
giving you a stronger, longer lasting battery than any new one you can buy.


But you're not figuring in the cost of your time to do it. I don't
know about you, but my time is worth at least as much as the raw
materials.

Besides, how much do you have to use a battery before it completely
fails, especially on a new tool? Most of the time, by the time the
batteries are failing, the tool is out of date and you'd probably do
better to just buy a new tool.

sorry, Brian but I must disagree about it being time for a new tool when
the battery fails. I've got 4 cordless Makitas that are all in perfect
shape. I've had 2 batteries die over the past year and just replaced
one. 2 tools share that same type battery-18v. The cost of those 4
tools would be well in excess of $600. I'll be buying batteries every
now and then as they fail. Now if I had DeWalt cordless tools, I'd be
itching to move up to something better. Been there, done that already.

Dave