I've had a Black & Decker cordless power drill for 3-4
years - used maybe 10 times and always recharged when
finished. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that it didn't
seem to be charged, and when I tried to recharge it I don't
think it charged fully. Eventually I took it to a B&D
Service Store, and the employee said that although the
battery was old enough to be going bad, mine seemed to be OK
and accepting a charge just fine. I left puzzled. At home
I put a voltmeter on the B&D wall wart recharger that came
with the drill, and instead of 15 vac output as labeled and
specified in the manual, I was only getting about half a
volt.

I had a couple of other 15 vac wall warts left over from
phone answering machines, so I tested one of them, and it
was providing 15 vac, so I plugged it into the drill.
Battery seemed to recharge for about 30 minutes, with the
wall wart getting warm (as the manual said is normal). Then
it went cold, and when I applied the voltmeter I got about 1
volt.

Same thing with the second spare wall wart.

So, something in my power drill and/or the battery appears
to be ruining the wall wart transformers.

Has anyone here experienced this phenomena? Suggestions to
remedy the problem without tossing the drill and battery and
buying another?

Enlightenment appreciated.

--
----------
CWLee
Former slayer of dragons; practice now limited to sacred
cows. Believing we should hire for quality, not quotas, and
promote for performance, not preferences.

CWLee wrote:

I've had a Black & Decker cordless power drill for 3-4 years - used
maybe 10 times and always recharged when finished. A couple of weeks
ago I noticed that it didn't seem to be charged, and when I tried to
recharge it I don't think it charged fully. Eventually I took it to a
B&D Service Store, and the employee said that although the battery was
old enough to be going bad, mine seemed to be OK and accepting a charge
just fine. I left puzzled. At home I put a voltmeter on the B&D wall
wart recharger that came with the drill, and instead of 15 vac output as
labeled and specified in the manual, I was only getting about half a volt.

I had a couple of other 15 vac wall warts left over from phone answering
machines, so I tested one of them, and it was providing 15 vac, so I
plugged it into the drill. Battery seemed to recharge for about 30
minutes, with the wall wart getting warm (as the manual said is
normal). Then it went cold, and when I applied the voltmeter I got
about 1 volt.

Same thing with the second spare wall wart.

So, something in my power drill and/or the battery appears to be ruining
the wall wart transformers.

Has anyone here experienced this phenomena? Suggestions to remedy the
problem without tossing the drill and battery and buying another?

Enlightenment appreciated.


I would think the adaptors were too small in current output. Look at the
rated output current for the drill charger and check against the others.

Rheilly P

In article ,
"CWLee" wrote:

I had a couple of other 15 vac wall warts left over from
phone answering machines, so I tested one of them, and it
was providing 15 vac, so I plugged it into the drill.
Battery seemed to recharge for about 30 minutes, with the
wall wart getting warm (as the manual said is normal). Then
it went cold, and when I applied the voltmeter I got about 1
volt.

Your problem is likely dendrites shorting your cells. The charger
cannot fix that, it takes a high current burst to melt the dendrites and
then the battery should recharge normally. The charge won't last since
the dendrite crystals have poked holes in the dielectric, but can still
be usable.

A short burst of 24 vdc, like from 2 car batteries in series, should
revive the dead cells. Mine are so far gone I zap them with high
current 24vdc for 20 seconds until I get at least 14.4 volts out, then
recharge normally. They will then hold a useful charge for a couple of
hours before going dead again. A nuisance, but less than continually
buying new batteries at high prices.

Free men own guns - www(dot)geocities(dot)com/CapitolHill/5357/
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Tue, 3 Jun 2008 23:04:29 -0700, CWLee wrote:

I've had a Black & Decker cordless power drill for 3-4
years - used maybe 10 times and always recharged when
finished. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that it didn't
seem to be charged, and when I tried to recharge it I don't
think it charged fully. Eventually I took it to a B&D
Service Store, and the employee said that although the
battery was old enough to be going bad, mine seemed to be OK
and accepting a charge just fine. I left puzzled. At home
I put a voltmeter on the B&D wall wart recharger that came
with the drill, and instead of 15 vac output as labeled and
specified in the manual, I was only getting about half a
volt.

I had a couple of other 15 vac wall warts left over from
phone answering machines, so I tested one of them, and it
was providing 15 vac, so I plugged it into the drill.
Battery seemed to recharge for about 30 minutes, with the
wall wart getting warm (as the manual said is normal). Then
it went cold, and when I applied the voltmeter I got about 1
volt.

There are two things you have to consider.

1) the voltage: must match. Too high and the connected device will fry.
Too low and the connected device won't function.

2) the current: must be enough. Too low and the supplying device may fry as
you've discovered. Too high and the supplying device will simply be larger
than necessary. Otherwise, having a supplying device that can deliver more
current than needed is OK.

And of course the billion kinds of connectors available. It is high time
all this nonsense was standardized. Douglas Adams did an excellent piece call
"war on little dongly things" talking about this insanity.
http://www.parttimepimp.net/ptpBB3/v...0&hilit=locked

AZ Nomad wrote:

On Tue, 3 Jun 2008 23:04:29 -0700, CWLee wrote:


I've had a Black & Decker cordless power drill for 3-4
years - used maybe 10 times and always recharged when
finished. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that it didn't
seem to be charged, and when I tried to recharge it I don't
think it charged fully. Eventually I took it to a B&D
Service Store, and the employee said that although the
battery was old enough to be going bad, mine seemed to be OK
and accepting a charge just fine. I left puzzled. At home
I put a voltmeter on the B&D wall wart recharger that came
with the drill, and instead of 15 vac output as labeled and
specified in the manual, I was only getting about half a
volt.


I had a couple of other 15 vac wall warts left over from
phone answering machines, so I tested one of them, and it
was providing 15 vac, so I plugged it into the drill.
Battery seemed to recharge for about 30 minutes, with the
wall wart getting warm (as the manual said is normal). Then
it went cold, and when I applied the voltmeter I got about 1
volt.


There are two things you have to consider.

1) the voltage: must match. Too high and the connected device will fry.
Too low and the connected device won't function.

2) the current: must be enough. Too low and the supplying device may fry as
you've discovered. Too high and the supplying device will simply be larger
than necessary. Otherwise, having a supplying device that can deliver more
current than needed is OK.

And of course the billion kinds of connectors available. It is high time
all this nonsense was standardized. Douglas Adams did an excellent piece call
"war on little dongly things" talking about this insanity.
http://www.parttimepimp.net/ptpBB3/v...0&hilit=locked
Hmmm,
Depending on what kinda battery(Ni-Cad, Lithium, etc.) method of care is
different. Ni-Cad has to be deep cycled. If you keep chrging it, it will
hold charge less and less developing memory. Newer batteries don't do this.

"CWLee" wrote in message
...

I've had a Black & Decker cordless power drill for 3-4 years - used maybe
10 times and always recharged when finished. A couple of weeks ago I
noticed that it didn't seem to be charged, and when I tried to recharge it
I don't think it charged fully. Eventually I took it to a B&D Service
Store, and the employee said that although the battery was old enough to
be going bad, mine seemed to be OK and accepting a charge just fine. I
left puzzled. At home I put a voltmeter on the B&D wall wart recharger
that came with the drill, and instead of 15 vac output as labeled and
specified in the manual, I was only getting about half a volt.

Your first problem is its a B&D and if it lasted 4 years then you got your
moneys worth. Mine lasted 5 minutes. B&D won't use high quality batteries at
those price points.

Your second problem is your charger's output is in vac, that won't charge a
dc battery. Are you sure you've measured vac and not vdc?

After 4 years, I don't care what the pimple-faced stoner at the B&D
service center says. The battery is shot, especially if it hasn't been
used much.

Most power tool manufacturers use crap cells in their battery packs. I
don't know of one that uses decent cells. You can buy a $20 B&D or a
$400 Makita or Milwaukee. Same cells. All crap.

NiCd memory is a myth. It used to be true, 20 years ago. Technology
has a way of progressing, but old wives' tales have a way of living on
forever.

The charger base has a rectifier bridge in it that changes the AC to
DC. 15VAC is the correct wall wart, but it needs to be big enough to
supply the current. This doesn't preclude a short circuit in the
charger base or battery ruining your wall warts, though.

All in all, for the time and money you're spending, you'd be money
ahead just chucking the old drill and getting a new one. I personally
like the Ryobi OnePlus from Home Depot. Good midrange price point,
good value for the money.