I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.

wrote in message
...
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.

The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and fry the
drill-- but then if it did, no real loss.

Patrick Cleburne wrote:

wrote in message
...

I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.


The voltage is right


but the amperage may be way too high and fry the

Huh?? How so?

drill-- but then if it did, no real loss.




--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

Yes but whatever you do make sure it's fused. A lighter outlet on your car
is of course at the car's fuse panel and you can also use a type of lighter
plug that contains a fuse but if you're doing anything involving direct
connection to a car or other similarly large battery use some kind of in-
line fuse holder. A car battery can put out a huge amount of current in a
short, enough to melt small gauge wire and there's always the possibility
of a hydrogen explosion at the battery.

The lighter outlet will probably be fused at somewhere between 10 and 20
amps in the car's fuse block, depending on if it's actually a lighter outlet
or an Aux. Power Outlet (same size, but the Aux. Power Outlets sometimes
have higher fuse ratings and heavier gage wiring to power external devices,
and also may not have the clips at the bottom to retain the lighter element
when it's pushed in). In any case, make sure you either use wires that are
large enough to support the maximum fuse rating of the outlet, or put in a
smaller fuse to prevent turning your "extension" wires into a heater
(especially if there is an internal short in the drill that destroyed the
original battery). There's not much danger of a hydrogen explosion of the
car battery, since the car's fuse will blow before you can draw that much
current from it.


"Steve Kraus" wrote in message
ink.net...
Yes but whatever you do make sure it's fused. A lighter outlet on your
car
is of course at the car's fuse panel and you can also use a type of
lighter
plug that contains a fuse but if you're doing anything involving direct
connection to a car or other similarly large battery use some kind of in-
line fuse holder. A car battery can put out a huge amount of current in a
short, enough to melt small gauge wire and there's always the possibility
of a hydrogen explosion at the battery.

wrote in message
...
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery?


Sure, many people have done it. Biggest problem is getting the car close
enough to the work, especially if you are putting up curtain rods in the
upstairs bedroom.

Skil tools are low end. They meet a price point for the infrequent user and
as in all battery drills, the battery is the first thing to go and can be
very expensive. On more expensive tools with better batteries, they can be
rebuilt and be more cost effective. Any of the "pro" models will cost from
$150 to $300. The Ridgid line is supposed to be good on the lower end.
Ryobi is cheap and batteries are about $25. If you want the best, look at
Panasonic, Bosch, Festool.

12 v is12 v you wont hurt anything , amperage is power used and
capacity. If it is 12v nicad . 12v nicads are dead at 12v, fully charged
at 13.5 per cell. So if it is a 10 cell 1.2v pack 12v is dead.and drill
will be slow at 12v. Fully charged car batteries are apx 13.4v, so keep
battry charged and it will work fine. The original battery operated
drill had a separate pack, A fuse wont be necessary except for shorted
wiring. You could probably run it at 16 v or more. and not hurt
anything.

The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and fry the
drill--

the person who wrote this needs to enroll in a basic electricity class

too much amperage capacity in the voltage source will not fry anything, a
device will only pull what it needs based on the resistance of the drill or
whatever

he could hook up his drill to an industrial battery that is the size of a
house, that is rated at 12V and 1 million amps, and it would not hurt the
drill

a shorted drill is a different matter, it should be thrown away, a fuse can
protect a short device from melting etc., but shorts are exceeding rare in
cordless drill anyway

On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 18:08:37 GMT, Steve Kraus
wrote:

Yes but whatever you do make sure it's fused. A lighter outlet on your car
is of course at the car's fuse panel and you can also use a type of lighter
plug that contains a fuse but if you're doing anything involving direct
connection to a car or other similarly large battery use some kind of in-
line fuse holder. A car battery can put out a huge amount of current in a
short, enough to melt small gauge wire and there's always the possibility
of a hydrogen explosion at the battery.

Thanks for all replies.
I agree on the fuse. I know the lighter socket is fused, but if I use
that gel-cell I will need a fuse. Does anyone have any idea of the
amperage draw on these drills?

Yes, I know Skil is crap. But I got the thing so I may as well use it
till its dead. Having a drill in the car is sort of handy actually.
One never knows when they might get a toothache while travelling.
---- Drill out tooth, fill with Bondo ---- LOL

"Patrick Cleburne" patrick@@rebnet wrote in message
. ..
: wrote in message
: ...
: I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery
charger
: died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by
the time I
: finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a
new
: drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than
toss the
: old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these
off a
: car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some
wires to
: the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery
is. At
: least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also
have a
: 12v gel cell so I can use it portable.
:
: The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and
fry the
: drill-- but then if it did, no real loss.
:
:

Uhhhh, NO! What school did you go to?
The current depends on the VOLTAGE, especially in the DC world.
A car battery, with the exception of a fault like putting an
accidental short on it across the drill wires somehow, would
99.999% sure work fine both with and without the engine running.
A 1 ton 12V battery would work, too.
You'd want to be certain there could be no way to put a short
across the car battery, but that's easy to do.

Please quit guessing and rationalizing; it doesn't become you.

Pop

"Jimi Hendrix" wrote in message
...

The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and fry the
drill--

the person who wrote this needs to enroll in a basic electricity class

too much amperage capacity in the voltage source will not fry anything, a
device will only pull what it needs based on the resistance of the drill
or
whatever

he could hook up his drill to an industrial battery that is the size of a
house, that is rated at 12V and 1 million amps, and it would not hurt the
drill


That was my first thought, but with motors, the motor will generate a back
EMF and if it is not turning fast enough, it will burn out. The
rechargables will not usually be able to put out enough current long enough
for this to hapen. Hooked to a car battery with a capacity of a few hundred
amps and the drill could burn out very quick in a stalled situation.

"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
k.net...

"Jimi Hendrix" wrote in message
...

The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and fry the
drill--

the person who wrote this needs to enroll in a basic electricity class

too much amperage capacity in the voltage source will not fry anything,
a
device will only pull what it needs based on the resistance of the drill
or
whatever

he could hook up his drill to an industrial battery that is the size of
a
house, that is rated at 12V and 1 million amps, and it would not hurt
the
drill


That was my first thought, but with motors, the motor will generate a back
EMF and if it is not turning fast enough, it will burn out. The
rechargables will not usually be able to put out enough current long
enough
for this to hapen. Hooked to a car battery with a capacity of a few
hundred
amps and the drill could burn out very quick in a stalled situation.


Coreect. I have an old one that I do it with all the time. Just be careful
not to stall. If it starts to slow down back off. I have approached stall
many times without any trouble.

I don't know if the cigarette plug is adequate. I clamp it to the battery
terminals.

wrote:
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.


The replys you are getting are nuts. Sure you can
use a 12 volt battery, will work perfect as long
as you use the right wire. That drill can draw a
lot of amperage so you need to connect directly to
the battery. You should not be using wire smaller
than #6. Battery cables may be big enough but you
still need to keep the length fairly short.
There is a reason the lugs on the drill batteries
are heavy and that the batteries are attached to
directly to the drill.

Try it with not less than battery cables and feel
the cables for a temperature rise.

m Ransley wrote:
12 v is12 v you wont hurt anything , amperage is power used and
capacity. If it is 12v nicad . 12v nicads are dead at 12v, fully charged
at 13.5 per cell. So if it is a 10 cell 1.2v pack 12v is dead.and drill
will be slow at 12v. Fully charged car batteries are apx 13.4v, so keep
battry charged and it will work fine. The original battery operated
drill had a separate pack, A fuse wont be necessary except for shorted
wiring. You could probably run it at 16 v or more. and not hurt
anything.

One correction. a fully charged battery is 12.6V
to 12.7V at 80 degrees. The charge voltage to
keep a battery fully charged is 13.4V

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
news
wrote:
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.


The replys you are getting are nuts. Sure you can
use a 12 volt battery, will work perfect as long
as you use the right wire. That drill can draw a
lot of amperage so you need to connect directly to
the battery. You should not be using wire smaller
than #6. Battery cables may be big enough but you
still need to keep the length fairly short.
There is a reason the lugs on the drill batteries
are heavy and that the batteries are attached to
directly to the drill.

Try it with not less than battery cables and feel
the cables for a temperature rise.

I really don't see that a wire that heavy is not needed They don't draw
that much current. Nuber 10 should be more than adequate. Even a 20 foot
long wire (total of 40 feet) would have a resistance of 0.025 ohms. So it
would take almost 50 amps to get one volt of drop. I am using about a 14
gauge which works fine.

However, stalling is a problem with DC motors. When stalled the back emf
drops and it is possible to burn them out.

"Pop" wrote in message
...

"Patrick Cleburne" patrick@@rebnet wrote in message
. ..
: wrote in message
: ...
: I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery
charger
: died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by
the time I
: finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a
new
: drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than
toss the
: old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these
off a
: car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some
wires to
: the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery
is. At
: least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also
have a
: 12v gel cell so I can use it portable.
:
: The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and
fry the
: drill-- but then if it did, no real loss.
:
:

Uhhhh, NO! What school did you go to?
The current depends on the VOLTAGE, especially in the DC world.
A car battery, with the exception of a fault like putting an
accidental short on it across the drill wires somehow, would
99.999% sure work fine both with and without the engine running.
A 1 ton 12V battery would work, too.
You'd want to be certain there could be no way to put a short
across the car battery, but that's easy to do.

Please quit guessing and rationalizing; it doesn't become you.

Pop


That is correct, but some devices are designed to operate correctly and
safely by the power source's internal resitance. Since Ni-Cd batteries have
a low resistance, the car battery may be safe. The drill may not deliver max
torque due to the loss in the wires. Use a heavier cable if distance is
great.
John

wrote:
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.

Could, don't know why you'd want to do it, though. It would have the
worst features of a cordless and a corded drill. Probably time to shop
for a new one.

R

George do you mean lead acid is fully charged at 12.7 at 80f. I have one
rated for more but maybe 12.7 is the correct average, Nicads do peak at
1.32-1.35.

You dont need real heavy wire 14 ga works fine, you wont get voltage
drop that will matter or hurt anything. On high amp draw RC cars I have
a 30 amp fuse is used but not because of motor damage but speed control
damage, which the drill has in the trigger VS. Here stalling with high
amp could fry a cheap or old drill since high amp was not in its design.
Safe would likely be 10a for a 12v drill. My new makita has a curcuit
that shuts down the drill and resets on stall surge. My old Makita
doesnt, Use a fuse and dont stall it, But drilling metal is hard not to
stall the drill. Maybe wire in an inline auto type fuse, experiment,
start with 5a, New RC controlers can handle 100a, but cheap drill are
cheap and built to the packs limitations. A 7 cell 1200ma can blow a 30a
fuse stalled. A good motor will just get real hot, but a cheap drill who
knows, Fusing is the only way to protect it, Any RC shop will know the
proper amp fuse.

"m Ransley" wrote in message
...
George do you mean lead acid is fully charged at 12.7 at 80f. I have one
rated for more but maybe 12.7 is the correct average, Nicads do peak at
1.32-1.35.


12.65 volts is 100%

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq4.htm

Section 4.4

Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Jimi Hendrix" wrote in message
...

The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and fry the
drill--

the person who wrote this needs to enroll in a basic electricity class

too much amperage capacity in the voltage source will not fry anything, a
device will only pull what it needs based on the resistance of the drill

or

whatever

he could hook up his drill to an industrial battery that is the size of a
house, that is rated at 12V and 1 million amps, and it would not hurt the
drill



That was my first thought, but with motors, the motor will generate a back
EMF and if it is not turning fast enough, it will burn out. The
rechargables will not usually be able to put out enough current long enough
for this to hapen. Hooked to a car battery with a capacity of a few hundred
amps and the drill could burn out very quick in a stalled situation.


It should have a fuse that would preclude drawing hundreds of amps.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

yu could use a car battery charger provided it has enough amp capacity

to determine the amperage draw run the 12 volts in series thru an
ammeter while you drill a 3/8" hole in a 2"x4" piece of wood to load
its motor. size the fuse accordingly to be in series with the cigar
lighter male plug which is already protected to 10 to 30 amps by your
vehicle. there is probably a cigar male plug with fuse at radio shack
or pep boys. or read the technical information on the label. or simply
shop for less expensive replacement batteries but do the homework on
the battery type to match the charger type. we prefer the 12 volt
makita cordless drills and found a replacement battery with a built-in
led light on it that illuminates the drilling area. watch the weights
as the drill voltages go up you may find some 18 volt construction duty
cordless drills are excessive weight for minor occasional household
uses or at the top of an extension ladder playing with the gutters. use
a regular 110 v drill for major wood drilling jobs reduces wear and
tear on your battery drills.

to determine the amperage draw run the 12 volts in series thru an
ammeter while you drill a 3/8" hole in a 2"x4" piece of wood to load
its motor. size the fuse accordingly to be in series with the cigar
lighter male plug which is already protected to 10 to 30 amps by your
vehicle. there is probably a cigar male plug with fuse at radio shack
or pep boys. or read the technical information on the label. or simply
shop for less expensive replacement batteries but do the homework on
the battery type to match the charger type. we prefer the 12 volt
makita cordless drills and found a replacement battery with a built-in
led light on it that illuminates the drilling area. watch the weights
as the drill voltages go up you may find some 18 volt construction duty
cordless drills are excessive weight for minor occasional household
uses or at the top of an extension ladder playing with the gutters. use
a regular 110 v drill for major wood drilling jobs reduces wear and
tear on your battery drills.

Rich256 wrote:
"m Ransley" wrote in message
...

George do you mean lead acid is fully charged at 12.7 at 80f. I have one
rated for more but maybe 12.7 is the correct average, Nicads do peak at
1.32-1.35.



12.65 volts is 100%

http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq4.htm

Section 4.4


Yep, but it is easier to just say 12.6-12.7
because of temperature compensation and many volt
meters (maybe most) are less than 1 percent
accurate for the readout.

m Ransley wrote:
George do you mean lead acid is fully charged at 12.7 at 80f. I have one
rated for more but maybe 12.7 is the correct average, Nicads do peak at
1.32-1.35.


Yes, as Rich points out and provide a highly rated
link, the generally accepted figure is 12.65V for
a 12V lead acid battery, but not all sources use
that number and certainly most people can't
measure that accurately.

A new 1.5 alkaline dry cell usually reads 1.60V or
slightly. The NiMH and Nicads are considered to
be 1.2V cells, but a fully charged NiMH gets to
about 1.35V, and the common 7.4V Li-ion battery
reads 8.25V or so at full charge. OTOH, a NiMH
that reads 1.2V or a Li-ion battery that read 7.4V
is essentially depleted.

Using different kinds of batteries can be a bit of
a mess. Stuff made for alkaline cells, sometimes
just won't run on nicads or NiMH cells because the
appliance won't work when the voltage is below
1.25-1.3V. For example my GPS made for alkaline
indicates that freshly charged NiMH cells are half
discharged.

you can also use a hgh current AC adapter, 120 V in 13V out in whatever
current rating you want.advantage of this is having a handy 12 volt
source for other uses, even a car battery charger should do. if its
current capacity isnt enough the worst that can happen is a drill with
less power

have a friend who tears apart battery packs and replaces just the
cells, which he has found are always regular rechargeable batteries.
cheaper alternative if your handy and dont mind slodering wires.

Its sad so much is disposable today, battery pack could easily be made
to accept new rechargeable batteries

Your comment makes no sense.

What happens when you plug in a table radio (0.3 amps) into a 20 amp socket?

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Patrick Cleburne" patrick@@rebnet wrote in message
. ..

The voltage is right but the amperage may be way too high and fry the
drill-- but then if it did, no real loss.

I've got an old 12 volt Sears drill for just that reason. And then got a
couple Drill Master from Harbor Freight for about $15 each.

Should work just fine. I'm not sure what's the smallest gage of wire that
would work (don't know what the amp load is). I'd suggest 16 ga or larger
wire. Which would be smaller number. I think it's a really great idea.

Of course, for $25 or so you could get a 110 volt plug in drill. I like
saving old equipment like that, too. Some time this winter I've got a
couple rechargable shavers that I'm going to externalize a battery for them.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

wrote in message
...
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
I've got an old 12 volt Sears drill for just that reason. And then got a
couple Drill Master from Harbor Freight for about $15 each.

Should work just fine. I'm not sure what's the smallest gage of wire that
would work (don't know what the amp load is). I'd suggest 16 ga or larger
wire. Which would be smaller number. I think it's a really great idea.

Of course, for $25 or so you could get a 110 volt plug in drill. I like
saving old equipment like that, too. Some time this winter I've got a
couple rechargable shavers that I'm going to externalize a battery for
them.

--

I use mine when out in my 5th wheel. Rarely have electric hookups but I
have a couple golf cart batteries for power.

On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 07:51:41 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

You dont need real heavy wire 14 ga works fine, you wont get voltage
drop that will matter or hurt anything. On high amp draw RC cars I have

RC ??

a 30 amp fuse is used but not because of motor damage but speed control
damage, which the drill has in the trigger VS. Here stalling with high
amp could fry a cheap or old drill since high amp was not in its design.
Safe would likely be 10a for a 12v drill. My new makita has a curcuit
that shuts down the drill and resets on stall surge. My old Makita
doesnt, Use a fuse and dont stall it, But drilling metal is hard not to
stall the drill. Maybe wire in an inline auto type fuse, experiment,
start with 5a, New RC controlers can handle 100a, but cheap drill are
cheap and built to the packs limitations. A 7 cell 1200ma can blow a 30a
fuse stalled. A good motor will just get real hot, but a cheap drill who
knows, Fusing is the only way to protect it, Any RC shop will know the
proper amp fuse.


Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

On Sat, 7 Jan 2006 13:28:28 -0500, "D Duddles"
wrote:

The lighter outlet will probably be fused at somewhere between 10 and 20
amps in the car's fuse block, depending on if it's actually a lighter outlet
or an Aux. Power Outlet (same size, but the Aux. Power Outlets sometimes
have higher fuse ratings and heavier gage wiring to power external devices,
and also may not have the clips at the bottom to retain the lighter element
when it's pushed in). In any case, make sure you either use wires that are
large enough to support the maximum fuse rating of the outlet, or put in a
smaller fuse to prevent turning your "extension" wires into a heater
(especially if there is an internal short in the drill that destroyed the
original battery). There's not much danger of a hydrogen explosion of the
car battery, since the car's fuse will blow before you can draw that much
current from it.

The risk of explosion is low, but not for that reason, It doesn't
take a large amount of current to cause a hydrogen explosion, and if
there is a 10 amp fuse, 9 amps is a plenty large current if it isn't
in the wire.

If the current is in the wire, a far larger current is not sufficient
to cause an explosion. Consider the hundreds of amps used by the
starter motor when the car is started.

Any tiny spark can cause a hydrogen explosion, far less than one amp.

Why you don't see many is that hydrogen is only generated when the
battery is charging, not when it is being drained** and in this case
the guy using the drill probably won't need to run the engine to run
the drill. And a hydrogen molecule is the lightest of all molecules,
and they float away as soon as they escape from the battery. Since
they are generated under the battery caps, and I think, not sure,
that maybe only escape rather slowly, that they tend to build up
under the battery caps, and if a spark, from a loosely connected
drill, for example, ignites the small amount of hydrogen outside the
battery, the burning can spread to the larger amount inside, and that
is the explosion.


**Although since one would drive the car to where the drill was going
to be used, it would have been charging recently.

The draining, the discharging of the battery, requires hydrogen, but
it takes it out of the sulfuric acid in the battery, because the acid
is the electrolyte,, and I don't think will normally take it from the
gas above the acid.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.

On Sat, 7 Jan 2006 13:07:07 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

12 v is12 v you wont hurt anything , amperage is power used and

One measure of power is watts, and watts is amps x volts. So amperage
is only current. It's not a measure of power until the voltage is
factored in.

capacity. If it is 12v nicad . 12v nicads are dead at 12v, fully charged
at 13.5 per cell. So if it is a 10 cell 1.2v pack 12v is dead.and drill
will be slow at 12v. Fully charged car batteries are apx 13.4v, so keep

I agree with George. The charging voltage when the engine is running
is I think 13.4, but the fully charged battery I've always figured at
12.6v. That's, 2.1 volts for each cell.

battry charged and it will work fine. The original battery operated
drill had a separate pack, A fuse wont be necessary except for shorted
wiring. You could probably run it at 16 v or more. and not hurt
anything.


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On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:01:05 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


Skil tools are low end. They meet a price point for the infrequent user and
as in all battery drills, the battery is the first thing to go and can be
very expensive. On more expensive tools with better batteries, they can be
rebuilt and be more cost effective. Any of the "pro" models will cost from
$150 to $300. The Ridgid line is supposed to be good on the lower end.
Ryobi is cheap and batteries are about $25. If you want the best, look at
Panasonic, Bosch, Festool.

I think what all this amounts to is that unless one has a lot to spend
on tools, it's better to invest in extension cords. They have many
uses.

Once I wanted to drill a hole in the top cap of a chain link fence, in
the woods. I thought Cool, I'll use my converter. But the little
converter wasn't big enough to run the drill. I hadn't noticed how
much current drills use. The same reason it takes money to make a
cordless drill. (I ended up taking off the top cap and taking it home
to drill it. Still haven't used the converter for anything.)

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mm wrote in
:

On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 07:51:41 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

You dont need real heavy wire 14 ga works fine, you wont get voltage
drop that will matter or hurt anything. On high amp draw RC cars I have

RC ??

Radio Controlled=RC

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 07:51:41 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

You dont need real heavy wire 14 ga works fine, you wont get voltage
drop that will matter or hurt anything. On high amp draw RC cars I have

RC ??

Radio Controlled. I used to fly RC planes and race cars as well, We used a
hand held electric motor with a rubber cup on the end for starting them.
Save a lot of aggrevation. Powerful little motors.

On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 07:51:41 -0600, (m Ransley)
wrote:

You dont need real heavy wire 14 ga works fine, you wont get voltage
drop that will matter or hurt anything. On high amp draw RC cars I have

I thought of radio-controlled as a meaning here, but I couldn't
understand how it could apply, and I still don't.

a 30 amp fuse is used but not because of motor damage but speed control

How can any model car use 30 amps? The batteries would run down right
away.

damage, which the drill has in the trigger VS. Here stalling with high
amp could fry a cheap or old drill since high amp was not in its design.
Safe would likely be 10a for a 12v drill. My new makita has a curcuit
that shuts down the drill and resets on stall surge. My old Makita
doesnt, Use a fuse and dont stall it, But drilling metal is hard not to
stall the drill. Maybe wire in an inline auto type fuse, experiment,
start with 5a, New RC controlers can handle 100a, but cheap drill are

By controllers, do you mean the part you hold in your hand or
something on the car that controls it?

cheap and built to the packs limitations. A 7 cell 1200ma can blow a 30a

What makes it 1200 ma if it can put out more than 30 amps. Do you
mean mahour?

fuse stalled. A good motor will just get real hot, but a cheap drill who
knows, Fusing is the only way to protect it, Any RC shop will know the
proper amp fuse.


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wrote in message
...
I got one of those Skil 12 volt battery drills. The battery charger
died. Skil told me the battery probably shorted. Well, by the time I
finish getting a new charger and battery, I may as well get a new
drill. I am not fond of Skil anyhow. However, rather than toss the
old drill, I am wondering if anyone has ever run one of these off a
car battery? I can easily rig a lighter plug and hook some wires to
the drill. It needs 12 volts and thats what the car battery is. At
least this way I can still use it around the car, and I also have a
12v gel cell so I can use it portable.


Lots of good posts....this will work but forget the fuse theory...
You need a circuit breaker! that will limit a cranking style of battery
(automotive) from frying the drill on stall....On top of that you probably
want to use proper connectors as opposed to battery clips that might get
pulled off and fry your vehicle's electical system..someone here said 30
amps...that might work...not sure what your model of skil drill is but I am
guessing it is about 1.5 amp/hour...so that should do it....good
luck....Ross