On Nov 7, 10:26*pm, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

I guess the whole point of this post is not to say the battery
technologies are bad, it's the charging systems. *

Some battery technologies ARE bad for tools. A battery that powers a
shaver that runs for 3 minutes, or a battery that takes pictures,
sits, takes more pictures, then sits some more isn't necessarily the
right battery for a constant, high drain device like a hard working
drill.

I don't mind nailing, but when you need a screw, or several of them
you need a screw. So running in a few pounds of screws into framing,
screwing off sheet goods, hanging underlay boards, and all the things
I use a drill for (sometimes I even drill holes!) isn't the same as
the intermittent drain of a once a day shaver, or a tourist style
camera that takes a 150 pictures a day.

To even draw the comparison more clearly, take out your cordless saw.
The same batteries that served you well in intermittent use like an
occasional small hole or running up a handful of screws in your drill
will fail miserably after just a few feet of T111 siding, or a few
2X4s.

I am not sure that we have the answer yet, but for toughness and
durability, I would think that NiCad would be my pick. My drill,
charger and batteries rode in the toolbox of my truck when was 100+
degrees for 7 summers before it died. Seven!

My NmHi only had a useful life of about a year, and they were
miserable. They discharged in the truck while riding around, they
were damn quick about it in hot weather, and they worked at peak for
about 90 days.

The jury for me is still out on the usefulness of the Li. I
considered a new bigger driver in Li as I had great luck with my
little 12V Li driver. Holds a charge very well, charges in a few
minutes (15 - 20?) and the little driver has a lot of power and useful
life.

But there is something going on with Li in the larger tools, and not
just the no smaller batteries. I have read some treatises on the
useful life of these batteries in machines over 12 volts, and it isn't
good. Why 12 volts as a limiter? I don't know and don't have the
expertise to understand it all anyway. But according to one of the
battery design web sites I went to, the Li tool batteries were
intended to be the battery for low drain tools such as small drivers
and the newer lines of impact drivers. Although in the end the larger
batteries may work out fine, the Li batteries weren't designed for
high drain devices of that order.

If we had more
universal batteries, I'd be willing to pay $200+ for a smart charger that
stopped charging when the battery was full, conditioned NiCds every so
often (might have to be a manual option), and generally took better care
of the batteries.

Now you have something. I couldn't agree more. And the proof is in
the putting.

The drill I have that has had the longest useful life, and the longest
battery life was a Sears "Professional" line drill. One of the things
they touted about the drill was the charger/battery system. If the
battery was discharged to a certain point, the charger would drain the
battery completely before charging. I usually use the batteries until
dead, but not always, so a neat feature. So the battery was drawn
down before charging no matter when you put it in the charger.

The other item they were proud of was that the battery wouldn't be
over charged. So one the battery was fully charged, the charger
clicked the power off. Now... if you raised up the battery out of the
charger and changed your mind and put it back in, then it would draw
it down and recharge. Not good. But with a little careful
management, I could use the batteries and leave them in the charger on
the job until I needed them.

NiMh and Li batteries don't need such devices as they are like filling
a bucket with water. You simply fill or top off the battery as needed
with no fear of memory or shortening battery life.

But how stupid is it that both NiMh and Li batteries can be damaged by
leaving them in the charger. What if you (or a helper) forget and
leave them on a job in the charger over a weekend. How about a
holiday weekend? At $100 a pop for the batteries you would think
(OK... maybe not) that they would be considerate enough to put an off
switch in the charger that would not continue to feed power to the
batteries after they are charged.

Seriously, after reading more and going to several open forums that
are discussing/cussing the Li batteried tools, I will probably go back
to NiCad. They work in the summer, stand the heat very well, they
work fine in the cold, they have a long life (if they are quality to
begin with) and they just work.

I seem Amazon has my old DeWalt 18v NiCad compact driver for $200
delivered to the door. I think it might be worth it to me to put this
issue to bed!

Robert