"Dave_s" wrote in message
...

stuff snipped

Did I read correctly that you attach external wires to the SKIL driver
and run the driver from an external battery pack which does not slide
into the housing?

I have done that with the B&D Firestorm drill power packs, not the Skil.
The drill is designed so that cutting the pack open and removing the
batteries gives you a good platform to attach a 12V gel cell and doesn't
change the balance of the drill much.

I suppose you could do the same with the Skil powerdriver, but it would make
it pretty awkward to use.

I rebuilt the NiCad pack *once* only to discover that the center battery
kept failing because it would overheat during charging. Instead of wasting
my time rebuilding it again, I cut away the batteries, saved the good ones
and attached the 12V gel cell to the remaining bottom plate of the old NiCad
pack. Cost a lot less than buying a new pack (about 25% of the cost of a
new pack) and have lasted way longer. I first used Velcro to attach the
battery to the battery pack plate until one fell off and hit my foot. Now I
strap them to the platform with large hose clamps. (-:

The design of the Firestorm battery pack (and many other drill packs that
bury a cell inside ring of cells) is faulty so there was no point in
continuing to try to rebuild packs that would only last through a few
chargings. The drills come with fast chargers that really heat up the pack.
I suspect a slow charger wouldn't kill the center cell as quickly because it
would be able to shed charging heat a little better.

It's a great way to use up what's left of a UPS battery that's not really
dead, but "rejected" by the UPS for being slightly too low in voltage. The
Firestorms run on 9.6V but have a variable power trigger so you can run them
from 12V without motor damage if you don't bear down all the way on the
trigger switch.

--
Bobby G.