Hi all,

I've just come across my old Bosch electric screwdriver and I remember
it being pretty good and torquy. It also has a neat auto locking
mechanism if you prefer to use it as an ordinary screwdriver.

Because the supplied charger didn't seem to do anything when
(supposedly) left on charge for a while, I've stripped the screwdriver
down and have the cells out and on my fancy new charger.

I believe they are Nicads but the (2) cells themselves are in an
unmarked cardboard tube, I can't see any mention of the chemistry on
the driver itself or anything on the net (the closest was a discussion
here a while back g) so I wondered if anyone happened to know
please?

I've got them on a gentle(500mA) x3 'cycle' as NiMh's so I'll see how
they fare and I don't think the charge profile is that much different
from NiMh's in any case ((Negative) Delta V full charge detection) but
I understand it's safer to assume NiMh even if they are Nicads when
charging.

Cheers, T i m

On Monday, 2 May 2016 17:06:54 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
Hi all,

I've just come across my old Bosch electric screwdriver and I remember
it being pretty good and torquy. It also has a neat auto locking
mechanism if you prefer to use it as an ordinary screwdriver.

Because the supplied charger didn't seem to do anything when
(supposedly) left on charge for a while, I've stripped the screwdriver
down and have the cells out and on my fancy new charger.

I believe they are Nicads but the (2) cells themselves are in an
unmarked cardboard tube, I can't see any mention of the chemistry on
the driver itself or anything on the net (the closest was a discussion
here a while back g) so I wondered if anyone happened to know
please?

I've got them on a gentle(500mA) x3 'cycle' as NiMh's so I'll see how
they fare and I don't think the charge profile is that much different
from NiMh's in any case ((Negative) Delta V full charge detection) but
I understand it's safer to assume NiMh even if they are Nicads when
charging.

Cheers, T i m

They're bound to be NiCd. By the time NiMH and lithium came along no-one was still buying 2.4v screwdrivers.


NT

On Mon, 2 May 2016 10:32:54 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Monday, 2 May 2016 17:06:54 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
Hi all,

I've just come across my old Bosch electric screwdriver and I remember
it being pretty good and torquy. It also has a neat auto locking
mechanism if you prefer to use it as an ordinary screwdriver.

Because the supplied charger didn't seem to do anything when
(supposedly) left on charge for a while, I've stripped the screwdriver
down and have the cells out and on my fancy new charger.

I believe they are Nicads but the (2) cells themselves are in an
unmarked cardboard tube, I can't see any mention of the chemistry on
the driver itself or anything on the net (the closest was a discussion
here a while back g) so I wondered if anyone happened to know
please?

I've got them on a gentle(500mA) x3 'cycle' as NiMh's so I'll see how
they fare and I don't think the charge profile is that much different
from NiMh's in any case ((Negative) Delta V full charge detection) but
I understand it's safer to assume NiMh even if they are Nicads when
charging.

Cheers, T i m

They're bound to be NiCd.

That was my thought as well.

By the time NiMH and lithium came along no-one was still buying 2.4v screwdrivers.

Were NiMh and Lithium that closely spaced? I thought there was quite a
gap where things were gradually going from Nicad to NiMh (with the
cheaper tools still coming in NiCad) and then a slow appearance of
Lithium with most the mainstream stuff still coming in NiMh (and still
with low voltage screwdrivers (in particular))?

Cheers, T i m

On 02/05/2016 17:06, T i m wrote:

I believe they are Nicads

If they are heavy they are nicads.

Bill

On Mon, 2 May 2016 20:47:44 +0100, Bill Wright
wrote:

On 02/05/2016 17:06, T i m wrote:

I believe they are Nicads

If they are heavy they are nicads.

That's a novel solution Bill. ;-)

When I get them off the cycle / charge I'll compare them with my other
(known chemistry) cells.

Cheers, T i m

On Monday, 2 May 2016 18:57:11 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
On Mon, 2 May 2016 10:32:54 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Monday, 2 May 2016 17:06:54 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
Hi all,

I've just come across my old Bosch electric screwdriver and I remember
it being pretty good and torquy. It also has a neat auto locking
mechanism if you prefer to use it as an ordinary screwdriver.

Because the supplied charger didn't seem to do anything when
(supposedly) left on charge for a while, I've stripped the screwdriver
down and have the cells out and on my fancy new charger.

I believe they are Nicads but the (2) cells themselves are in an
unmarked cardboard tube, I can't see any mention of the chemistry on
the driver itself or anything on the net (the closest was a discussion
here a while back g) so I wondered if anyone happened to know
please?

I've got them on a gentle(500mA) x3 'cycle' as NiMh's so I'll see how
they fare and I don't think the charge profile is that much different
from NiMh's in any case ((Negative) Delta V full charge detection) but
I understand it's safer to assume NiMh even if they are Nicads when
charging.

Cheers, T i m

They're bound to be NiCd.

That was my thought as well.

By the time NiMH and lithium came along no-one was still buying 2.4v screwdrivers.

Were NiMh and Lithium that closely spaced? I thought there was quite a
gap where things were gradually going from Nicad to NiMh (with the
cheaper tools still coming in NiCad) and then a slow appearance of
Lithium with most the mainstream stuff still coming in NiMh (and still
with low voltage screwdrivers (in particular))?

Cheers, T i m

Laptops were NiMH in the early 90s, power tools stayed NiCd only until more recently, even after most other things had gone NiMH.


NT

On Mon, 2 May 2016 15:38:11 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Monday, 2 May 2016 18:57:11 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
On Mon, 2 May 2016 10:32:54 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Monday, 2 May 2016 17:06:54 UTC+1, T i m wrote:
Hi all,

I've just come across my old Bosch electric screwdriver and I remember
it being pretty good and torquy. It also has a neat auto locking
mechanism if you prefer to use it as an ordinary screwdriver.

Because the supplied charger didn't seem to do anything when
(supposedly) left on charge for a while, I've stripped the screwdriver
down and have the cells out and on my fancy new charger.

I believe they are Nicads but the (2) cells themselves are in an
unmarked cardboard tube, I can't see any mention of the chemistry on
the driver itself or anything on the net (the closest was a discussion
here a while back g) so I wondered if anyone happened to know
please?

I've got them on a gentle(500mA) x3 'cycle' as NiMh's so I'll see how
they fare and I don't think the charge profile is that much different
from NiMh's in any case ((Negative) Delta V full charge detection) but
I understand it's safer to assume NiMh even if they are Nicads when
charging.

Cheers, T i m

They're bound to be NiCd.

That was my thought as well.

By the time NiMH and lithium came along no-one was still buying 2.4v screwdrivers.

Were NiMh and Lithium that closely spaced? I thought there was quite a
gap where things were gradually going from Nicad to NiMh (with the
cheaper tools still coming in NiCad) and then a slow appearance of
Lithium with most the mainstream stuff still coming in NiMh (and still
with low voltage screwdrivers (in particular))?

Cheers, T i m

Laptops were NiMH in the early 90s, power tools stayed NiCd only until more recently, even after most other things had gone NiMH.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Laptops and phones seemed to lead the way and it was possibly their
use that brought the price down for other uses.

Cheers, T i m