Re: (ET) OT:Nicads and HiMH batteries help

[David C Robie <mycroftxx1 juno com>]

Re:   source for tabbed individual cells for repairing tool packs;  One
source is All Electronics, an electronic surplus specialist.   Assume
these as 'surplus inventory' from mfgrs, not removed from equipment as
pix shows long tabs, uncut. 
 AA       nicad      900 mah  - $2.50
Sub C nicad     1800 mah - $4.00
Shorter sub C 1200 mah -  $4.50

They also have tabbed AAA NIMH's at 600 mah for $2.50  but no other NIMH
sizes.   However,  I prefer not to buy batts as in previous commu on the
subject.

As to the 'time consuming'  of working on these packs;  It's a learning
experience, but quite renumerative rather than costly if you figure the
time spent in hours against the price of a new pack.  It might me an hour
to break down a couple of tool packs, one being the one from my drill,
find the baddie,  solder in a goodie while drinking coffee and maybe a
refill and changing the music tape etc - and after that the tool works. 
And the pack price is about 60 bucks plus ship.  $60 an hour ain't bad. 
Been doing this for bout 10 yrs. What happens finally to these drills is
the darned 'keyless' chucks will wear their threads out or the front
bearing, good ole Chinese steel and equivalent oilite, gets real sloppy. 
So chuck out the drill get a new one but keep the pack for spare parts.  
   Just found a nice looking batt portable hedge trimmer in the trash
that works on a test power supply  but no pack came with it so am
cruising the recyclers again looking for that type pack.  Might even
build up a wood plug for the empty hole with cord and contacts to make an
'Etrac powered' accessory trimmer out of it.  Did that several yrs ago
with a 'cordless'  packless reciprocating saw and it ran  great, but
finally wore it's bearings out doing light tree trimming.  These
homeowners type tools dont seem to stand up to real work.  

Dave
Weymouth MA


  

On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 14:02:28 -0700 (PDT) Eric Miller
<e-max sbcglobal net> writes:
>   When looking to purchase Nicads or NiMH batteries or
> cells be sure and read the info printed on the
> package. More importantly the ahr capacity. Compare
> the ahr capacity between different brands. Shopper
> beware. You will see cells cheaper in one store than
> another store but when you compare ahr capacity you
> find one store brand only has half the capacity of the
> other store. So compare and shop wisely. 
>   As for cordlees power toolss again you need to do
> your homework and match the batteries to your needs or
> application. For someone like me who uses their
> cordless tools constantly on a daily bases I use only
> NiMH in my Makita tools. The NiMH costs more they
> provide me with more capacity (run time) before I have
> to switch batteries. In the past with Nicads I had to
> stop work and wait for both of my Nicads to recharge.
> I use my NiMH daily so they never sit long enough to
> discharge. But like David Robin pointed out, if you
> are someone who only uses their cordless battery tools
> once a month or so, you would be better off with the
> less expensive Nicads that will not self dicharge as
> quickly and be ready for use when you need them.
>   I also played with opening my dead battery packs and
> replace just one bad cell using a cell from the
> another pack. But it wasn't long before a different
> cell would die and had to be replaced (daily use of
> course). For me and my application I found it too time
> consuming and a hassle to be swapping out cells on the
> weekends. I find it quicker now to search the web with
> the battery part number to find the best price. But
> again this all depends on your application and how
> much spare time you have for soldering and tinkering.
>   OT:Reading the labels also goes for the the Compact
> Fluorescent Bulbs. I have recommend these CFB to
> friends only to hear them complain the bulbs were too
> dim. Again, read the package and understand how bright
> a bulb is and how bright you need it. For light bulbs
> their brightness is measured in Lumens. The higher the
> Lumens number the brighter the light so don't buy
> bulbs that are too dim with a very low Lumen number
> like my friends did. Shop smart, shop wisely.
>   Eric Miller
> P.S.
>    I too bought some of the Harbor Freight "AA"
> 2000ahr cells for $3.99 for a four pack. 
> 
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