Another use for Bruce's nicads

[dnix71]

I went to vote early today at the Tamarac library and on the way in passed a one day community garage sale next door at the senior center. At first I thought the crowd at the garage sale were people in line to vote, since that's where the line ended up in the last election. After doing my civic duty to vote the bums out I wandered through the sale on the way back to my van with the $10 bill I had saved for paying my electric bill. There is a bank next to the check cashing store where I pay FP&L so I figured I would just make one more stop if I saw something worth buying.

I got a Vector 2/4/6 amp battery charger for $5 and then the drill pictured below for $5 more. The prevaricator* that sold me the drill said it worked but the battery only needed charging.



That wasn't exactly true. The charger had a blown fuse and the 12v nicad pack was stone cold dead and leaking. To be fair to Panasonic I don't think they intended a nicad pack made in August, 1995 to still be in service. Those cells were so old they were made in Japan not China like the drill. I still had some nicad takeouts Bruce sent me, so I got to work.

The battery charger and pack were only secured with phillips screws, no glue or heat seal. In fact the 12v pack actually was 12v. It had 10 cells. Not like the "18v" tool packs they sell now that only have 14 cells instead of the proper 15. I changed the fuse holder from 1/2 size and internal to full size and side mounted so if I blow a fuse again I don't have to open the case. It turns out soldering nicads isn't hard if you have the right paste flux and low melt solder. The drill works fine now with a rebuilt battery. It's variable speed/reversible and even has a hammer setting on the clutch for masonry bits.

I paid FPL later.



I'm going to have trouble going any lower. I'm already doing laundry off grid, but the rainy season is over and the irrigation pump used about 3 kwh last month. It's going to run again tonight.






*http://encarta.msn.com/thesaurus_561596425/liar.html

[Norm]

I run my old cordless 6volt with any NiCad 12 volt pal I have handy 2.6 amp/hr or 3.9 amp/hr that
I have charged up with my PedGen. the used to be cordless, isn't quite cordless has a 9 ft. 14 guage
extension cord from it to the battery last a long time.....and no  danger of it burning out ....voltage
drop.....seems to cut it down a little bit only problem it is a Jacobs chuck and lost the key quite a
few years ago.

Norm.

[Bruce S]

Those things just keep popping up all over the place .

I do the same, Even our 18V weed wacker and cultivator. I didn't even rebuild anything on the 18V'er, just found the Pos and Neg pints and fashioned some quick connects.


Handy little buggers aren't they 

Bruce S

[Bruce S]

I run my old cordless 6volt with any NiCad 12 volt pal I have handy 2.6 amp/hr or 3.9 amp/hr that
I have charged up with my PedGen. the used to be cordless, isn't quite cordless has a 9 ft. 14 guage
extension cord from it to the battery last a long time.....and no  danger of it burning out ....voltage
drop.....seems to cut it down a little bit only problem it is a Jacobs chuck and lost the key quite a
few years ago.

Norm.

Norm; that's a pretty cool way of getting the voltage drop down .

Have fun!
Bruce S

[ghurd]

A lot of those 9.6/12/14.4/18V drills use the Exact same motor.
Even a few of the big names with easily recognizable yellow or blue colors do it.

Not sure about the speed control, and if it voltage specific or picky.

Some of the Craftsman chargers smoke on MSW.

Make sure to properly recycle those leaky nicads!
G-

[dnix71]

The charger has a big transformer up front, so it's probably safe on a mod sine inverter, but both of mine are true sine anyway. The fuse and holder I replaced is on the secondary side of the transformer. It's a smart charger. It has a soft start and a battery check. Once I replaced the fuse it refused to charge the dead pack. I can hear the speed controller inside the drill whine when I squeeze the trigger. I don't really like battery powered drills, but there are times when it isn't safe or practical to be plugged in. My parents used to live on a boat. Extension cords and salt water don't play nice together.

Radio Shack takes nicads for recycle for free. That's where the old ones are going.

Many years ago I put a cord with battery clips on a Makita 9.6v drill bought from a thrift shop. It used 2/3 sub C's with solder tabs and the battery pack was internal. It wasn't worth a proper fix, that's why it was donated to charity. It ran fine on a car battery. It also had a side mounted circuit breaker so it was idiot proof as far as voltage went. If I went too hard on it, the breaker would pop out.

It looked just like this one except mine didn't have a clutch.

[willib]

I run my old cordless 6volt with any NiCad 12 volt pal I have handy 2.6 amp/hr or 3.9 amp/hr that
I have charged up with my PedGen. the used to be cordless, isn't quite cordless has a 9 ft. 14 guage
extension cord from it to the battery last a long time.....and no  danger of it burning out ....voltage
drop.....seems to cut it down a little bit only problem it is a Jacobs chuck and lost the key quite a
few years ago.

Norm.

Hey Norm , if you have a agri supply store nearby they have chuck keys .
http://www.agrisupply.com/store/4700018.htm

they would surely have one for a Jacobs chuck