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Bob F

wrote:
I picked up a Toolshop brand cordless drill at a garage sale. It was
only $1.00 so I took a chance, and the tips and drill bits that came
with it are worth a buck.

The drill is clean, and the battery appears fairly new, since it's
cleaner than the drill. (Of course appearance really dont matter). The
charger on the other hand is dirty and was filled with crud in the
battery hole.

This charger is a 2 piece type. The stand where the battery goes, and
a wall wart which plugs into the stand. However, the red LED dont
light with or without the battery, so I measured it with a meter and
it's not putting out any voltage. (should be 18V DC)

I know Toolshop is a Menards brand. I actually have several of their
corded tools and have been very satisfied with them. Anyhow, I'm sure
a replacement charger is probably costly, and since I dont know if the
drill and battery work, I'm not going to spend money on it, unless I
find one cheap on ebay.

But I often see Wall Warts at Goodwill and other similar stores. I'm
wondering if I was to find an 18VDC one with enough amperage, if I
could just plug that into the base? Anyone ever tried such a thing?

Actually I'm wondering what would happen if I hooked a 12V auto
battery charger to that base. I know it wont get a full charge, but
if I can just get some charge into the battery, I'll know if the
drill works.

If you have a wall wart with the proper voltage, connector, polarity, and
somewhat similar current, try charging with it for a few hours and see if the
battery charges up to and holds a voltage slightly higher that it's advertised
voltage. If it charges, and the voltage will not get high enough, or drops
fairly quickly, then the battery may not be useful, making the whole things
usefulness questionable. If the battery is good, then tracking down the correct
wallwart might be desired to not damage it in the future. You dont want to
overcharge the battery to much.