Power Tool Battery Replacements

NeverEnough

My cordless drill battery has breathed its last, I fear. The drill served me well even though it was an inexpensive one and as the body is still in good order, I wondered if replacement batteries were available anywhere. The drill is 10 years old already so no longer has any spares available via manufacturer. Its a NuTool 24v drill. I have a number of other cordless NuTool power tools so I guess they are all destined for the tip if I cannot replace the batteries, not very Money Saving really........:eek:

Is it worth having batteries rebuilt for any of these tools? Or just consign them to the tip and buy new ones? Consumerism........

Myser

Most older cordless power tool battery packs consist of an array of sub-C cells.

You can replace these by opening up the battery pack.

Have a look on auction sites - you should be able to pick up a set of sub-C cells with tags.

Note, you may need to do a little soldering to connect them together.

phill99

Screwfix do some replacement batteries, and a web search may herald something. But if you do manage to track one down, expect to be shocked at the price.

I'm guessing if its 10+yrs old, it's a 3 +hour charge. It maybe worth getting a a new drill altogether. Screwfix are doing a Hitachi 18v with 2 batteries (1hour charge) for £99.00.

Myser

tony6403 wrote: »

I don't know the price but I will be surprised if the cells are less than a fiver each.

A set of 20 can be had for around £20 shipped from Hong Kong though!

Plus it can be tricky disassembling the old pack and building a new one with the cells.

You'll also need to check what type of charger you have and whether it can charge the higher capacity cells. The existing cells will most likely be Ni-Cds.

mehera

Makita and other good brands you can get 3rd party batterys on the web -its an expensive proposition!

Best advise is by a corded drill next time!

Seriously you are lucky it lasted 10 years if you ask me . . . .

NeverEnough

Thanks for the input everyone, my first impression was I would need a new drill, but its a shame when the body and mechanics of the drill are perfectly fit for the DIY jobs I have used it for.

Looked into having it repacked and its about £75! Crazy stuff.
Am also able to do the soldering and repacking myself, but local sources of the cells are around £8 each and a set from Hong Kong might be dodgy due to safety standards, not keen on unexpected fires or worse. It is an old NI Cd charger so not sure if it would charge new cells any way.

Local repackers said to get the price of a battery repack, divide voltage by 1.2 then multiply by 3.75 - for a 24v drill thats £75, without the p&p to get it there and back! NuTool tools are just not worth it, I agree,although mine have certainly served me well, no complaints, given that they were cheap.

Not worth it, I agree, but its a shame that our consumerist society means we chuck away items becuase the battery costs too much. I have a corded drill, its not a problem, but some jobs are a lot easier with a cordless particularly outdoors. Thinking of looking at a system I saw in B &Q where several power tools use the same charger and batteries, have separate chargers and sizes of batteries is a bit of a nightmare, one would be much easier to find and keep track of!

NeverEnough

phill99 wrote: »

Screwfix do some replacement batteries, and a web search may herald something. But if you do manage to track one down, expect to be shocked at the price.

I'm guessing if its 10+yrs old, it's a 3 +hour charge. It maybe worth getting a a new drill altogether. Screwfix are doing a Hitachi 18v with 2 batteries (1hour charge) for £99.00.

Will look at Toolstation and Screwfix on my quest for a new drill. Will raid my cluttered workshop first and hunt out all the other old NuTool tools whose batteries are on their last legs and try to get a bit of use out of them before tossing them on the scrap heap too! It was a 24v model with two batteries and a nice alu carry case with bits etc. and the charger. Oh well, at least the bits and case will still come in handy!

And yes, 10 years is ok for a battery powered cheap drill, like I said my NuTool power tools have been ok over the years, all acquired approx 10 years ago, the drill is the oldest. I know they would not have lasted long for tradesperson use, but for DIY the drill was perfect and I used it frequently.

Myser

NeverEnough wrote: »

Am also able to do the soldering and repacking myself, but local sources of the cells are around £8 each and a set from Hong Kong might be dodgy due to safety standards, not keen on unexpected fires or worse. It is an old NI Cd charger so not sure if it would charge new cells any way.

Most cordless battery packs are built in China/Hong Kong anyway. Sub C cells have been sold for a number of years now so if there were any issues, it would have been reported. I'm sure the local repackers use the same cells.

Your pack should also contain a thermal fuse which will break should the cells overheat. You would need to incorporate this into the pack when rebuilding it.

Incidentally, I posted this offer from Costco on another thread recently:

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/cos_8,cos_8.1,cos_8.1.1/154054

If you aren't going to be replacing the battery packs, it may be worth considering the Hitachi cordless combi drill with three battery packs.

al69

There are some good ebay sellers who specialise in replacement batteries.Worth contacting them as ive had copy dewalt batteries in the past and they performed better than the originals

Nilrem

Myser wrote: »

Incidentally, I posted this offer from Costco on another thread recently:

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/cos_8,cos_8.1,cos_8.1.1/154054

If you aren't going to be replacing the battery packs, it may be worth considering the Hitachi cordless combi drill with three battery packs.

Or try and get a cheapish semi professional brand replacement tool.
IIRC the likes of Makita do replacement battery packs that are readily available, and I think you can upgrade the battery that comes with a lot of their tools (IIRC the double drill set I got for about £100 a couple of years back came with nicads, but the charger and drills could take Makita's Nimh and I think Li-ion replacement batteries as straight replacements).

markly_2

I have the same Nutool drill and had the same problem. When looking around for a similar drill I realised that the Silverline Combi Hammer Drill 24V looked exactly the same and that it comes with two batteries. I ordered one from Amazon for under £50 (June 2014) including shipping. I was right. The Silverline and Nutool drills are identical and so the batteries fit the Nutool and I now have two working drills!
Don't buy the slightly more expensive Silverstorm model. It has a completely different battery. The one you need is the Silverline!