Cordless drills

[Terry]

I hope that block of wood wasn't on top of that nice wooden unit when you drilled those holes ...

[pwdrive]

It wasn't, I put it there for the photo as it was starting to get dark in the wood shed where I drilled those holes.

So far as cordless batteries and stuff goes I've usually found that performance is linked to price, I bought a small portable LED work light from Screwfix earlier this year so as to extend my working time down the woods building the new replacement cabin, supposedly a lithium type battery with 3 hrs run time for the LED...not so with this one, about an hour and a half if I'm lucky, the battery takes a long long time to charge up fully from a fully discharged state, should have bought a Makita or other decent make...I probably still will.

Lawrence.

[ppppenguin]

Brushless with 2x 2Ah 18V lithium batteries. Don't forget the price is ex VAT. In practice anyone can buy at Selco, even though they want a trade registration. I've bought stuff for cash without an trade ID though I'm registered now. I suspect these offers will only get better as the technology improves.

https://www.selcobw.com/dewalt-18v-combi...+Customers&utm_campaign=840c305ebe-Real_Deals_Click_Collect_12_10_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d293dfd493-840c305ebe-54204225&mc_cid=840c305ebe&mc_eid=666209bc37

[AlanBeckett]

How much? You have to Register to find out, unless I'm going blind

Alan

[ppppenguin]

Sorry, didn't realise that prices aren't visible to non-subscribers. £99.99+VAT. While stocks last.

[AlanBeckett]

Thanks Jeffrey.
My similar Hitachi kit was £150 from Screwfix a few years ago. The Batteries are 'only' 1.5Ah.
They work beautifully and the Batteries are readily available if they should fail, even 2Ah ones - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/18V-2-0AH-Batt...SwgQ9V0EUN

Alan

[pwdrive]

The ones that came with the cordless I bought a while back are 3Ah, they work very well so far.

Lawrence.

[ex 2 Base]

Yester day a friend call round with 5 Makita lithium Ion 18 volt 6A batteries packs, two brand new, non of which will charge using the Makita charger. My question is, when new, should these packs be charged before use and how does one know when they require recharging, other than the drill slows down, I gather that it is important not to discharge these batteries beyond a prescribed level. Apparently he used two Battery packs once, when new, and said they were £90 each, I suggested he contact the supplier and ask for an exchange or refund. I bought an Aldi lithium Ion battery powered hedge clipper and on the instruction it said to charge the battery before use, which I did and no problems. Relevant comments will be much appreciated.

[ppppenguin]

In theory the electronics should look after the battery. In practice, who knows. I would always charge a new battery before use.

[Nick]

Genuine Makita Lxt 18v batteries only go to 5Ah, so these are "after market".

Many such batteries have nowhere near the stated capacity and often lack many of the standard safety features, e.g. thermal cutouts and proper cell balancing.

There are many bad stories about these cheap 3rd party batteries, some very bad indeed (fires).

The originals are expensive for a reason. Wait until a special offer comes up and get the originals.