Replacing NiCads with NiMh

[dedee]

I have had a B&D 7.2v cordless drill driver for about 10 years now and it is one of my favourites. The batteries are held in the handle rather then in a pack and hence I find it balances well in my hand.
It also has a built in spirit level in the top/back corner which is very useful for holding the drill straight.
Are there any current drills with this feature?

I replaced the nicad batteries 5 years ago and a couple of week ago they gave up the ghost as well. After speaking with the chaps at strikalite.co.uk I decided to replace the nicads with ni-mh batteries as it seemed that my charger was compatible.

The Nimh batteries cost £38.00 (still cheaper then a new drill which I would find clumbersome to use) and although they require an overnight charge rather than the 6 hours on the nicads I have the added benefit of no memory loss and I can still use a favourite tool.

Might be worth others considering if their nicads need replacing.

Andy ( no association with strikalite just a satisfied customer)

edit,
if you do order replacement batteries you should note how they are configured in the tool and where the terminals are.
Eg in my drill there were 6 batteries 2 sitting on top of four with the terminals on two of the bottom four.

 

[Der_Goalie]

A couple of things to remember with NiMH batteries:


1. you only get around half the life of a NiCD (roughly 800 Charges vs. 1500 with NiCD.

2. They don't like the cold weather (below 0)

 

[dedee]

DG,
thanks I did not know that. I am hardly a prolific user. I would be surprised if I have charged this drill a dozen times a year - so 800 charges will comfortably see me out :lol:

It's is also normally kept indoors so no problems with the temperature.


Andy

 

[Losos]

As a point of interest what are the latest Lithion Ion batteries like :?: Are they available as replacements yet :?: Seems like most of the leading cordless manufacturers are changing over to Lithion Ion type. They seem to be expensive and so far I haven't seen any source of batteries for replacement or other uses.

 

[dedee]

Losos,
strikalite do have lithium ion batteries for sale listed as camera batteries. I've no idea if these are suitable for tool use but the guys there are very helpful. Suggest you drop them a line.

Andy