"Lew Hodgett" wrote:

The major drawbacks to the Harbor Freight cordless drill is the
recharge time (3-5 hours) and there is no indication that the
battery is finished recharging.

Below is an automatic shut off circuit using standard shelf
componets.

Enjoy.

Lew
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Hardwa

1, 6 circuit switched power outlet strip.
1, Manual 24 hour timer with two switched outlets.
2, LED night lights.

Directions:

Program the timer to be "ON" for 5 hours and
"OFF" for 19 hours.

I used "ON" at 00:00 (midnight) and "OFF" at 5:00 AM.

Plug timer into power outlet strip.

Plug an LED night light into power outlet strip.

Plug an LED night light into 24 hour timer outlet.

Plug the 24 VDC "WallWart" from the Harbor Freight
recharger module into a 24 hour timer outlet.

Plug 24 VDC plug from the "WallWart" into the
Harbor Freight recharger module and insert battery
to be recharged.

Plug power outlet strip into a source of power.

Rotate timer cam until it just touches the "ON" cam.

Turn the power outlet strip "ON".

The LED night light plugged into power outlet strip
should turn "ON".

When the cam turns "ON", the LED night light
plugged into a timer outlet will turn "ON" and the
RED and GREEN lights on the battery charger
will turn "ON".

After 5 hours, the timer will turn "OFF", the
LED night light plugged into timer outlet will
turn "OFF" and the RED and GREEN lights on
the battery charger will turn "OFF".

At this point, turn the power outlet strip "OFF".

The LED night light plugged into power outlet strip
should turn "OFF".

Remove the battery and allow to cool.

NOTES:

The timer only allows the recharger to be on for
5 hours and then turns "OFF" for 19 hours.

It will recycle if you haven't if you haven't turned
off the power during that 19 hour period.

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"Puckdropper" wrote:

Why do you need all the extra stuff? The LED night lights and power
strips? I just plug the timer in, set the off time to the charge
time,
and let it go. If you buy a timer that uses pins, all you have to
do to
disable the "on" function is remove the pin. (Others require a bit
of
cutting with a knife...)

You do need to remove the battery from the charger, though, as many
NiCD
chargers don't include any kind of discharge protection (a fancy way
of
saying an ultra cheap --less than $0.01/charger-- diode.) It's
usually
not too bad, though. Catch it the next day or something and you'll
still
have most of a full charge.
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Pilot lights, in this case LED night lights are always optional
in a control system.

They earn their keep by providing information in a fashion that
is easier to get and use than without them.

In this case, they provide information about the status of the
charging system from several feet away.

The timer is large enough that if you plug it directly into a wall
mounted duplex receptacle, you will block at least one receptacle,
maybe more from a 2 gang duplex receptacle configuration.

The only way to resolve this problem is to add an extension
cord to allow remote location connection of the timer.

These days, the cost of a 6 circuit switched power outlet strip
is just the lowest cost extension cord available.

SFWIW, the timer is not being used in a normal fashion.

You program a single 5 hour "ON" time cam once and forget it.

I used a toothpick to get around my fat fingers problem.

No attempt is made to calibrate the timer to the "Real World"
time. It's not relevant.

You are only interested in a 5 hour chunk of time.

The pilot lights provide this information in the blink of
the eye at a cost of about $5/pair for the LED night lights.

To each his own, but I'm willing to make that investment.

Lew