Adapter to use Lithium batteries in Nicad tools

[Stwood_]

Here is the link to the ebay listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/252534321159

Thanks. I'll look it over

[Robert Adams]

Wow lots of correct and incorrect info on power tools and batteries. In simple terms it works like this. 


         Reputable brand tools with lithium batteries have battery protection in the battery itself. Why? It's cheaper than putting it in every tool and many tools like vacuums etc don't have any electronics in them. The battery will keep itself from overcharging, overheating and over discharging. 

        Cheap tools often have no protection at all. Some will opt for cells that have their own protection built in. These cells are a little longer than the typical 18650 and available in fewer styles and higher priced. 


         The tools don't care if power comes from a nicad,nimh,lithium,lead acid,zinc chloride etc type of battery. All they care is that the voltage is in its operable range so it doesn't burn up the motor. The tool will dictate how many amps go to the motor. 
         IE 18v is 18v no matter where it comes from. Now in the case of Dewalt their current 20v tools are actually 18v. The 20v thing is a marketing ploy used in the US to try and one up the others. Their batteries use the same number of lithium cells as the other brands. However in European markets they can't market them as 20v because it's seen as false advertising.


         So yes you can use an 18v lithium battery from pretty much anything on pretty much any 18v tool. The tool doesn't care and the battery doesn't care and will protect itself as it would if it was sitting on the shelf or plugged into any tool it was designed to fit originally. It's not all doom and gloom and special pixies from different batteries.
   
           The exception is there are some brands that do have some communication between the tool and battery and that is becoming more common with goofy bluetooth features but they will act as a normal battery on tools without that feature. I think bosch has some goofiness going on with some of their batteries but I don't remember for sure. They are more popular with hobbiests than construction. DW,Ridgid,Milwaukee and surprisingly enough ryobi are what you see on job sites and in that order.

[EvilTwin]

So I got the adapter a week or so ago along with some new lithium batteries.  As I mentioned previously I thought there would be some fiddling around and indeed there has been and it's not over yet.  Originally I had used one of the original battery tops as the upper part and I had difficulty with the clips that are supposed to hold the pack into the tool.  They were very stiff as if they were being jammed once the top of the battery is attached to the 3d part. Eventually I found a newer battery (from 2011, yeah, newer) and took that one apart tonight to see if I could fix the issue.

After cutting the wires from the old top (the connector is glued in and I'm glad I made the wires a bit long) I soldered them to the newer connector and glued that into the new top.  Putting it all together, the latch clips were now moving freely as they should.  I slapped it into drill and it worked.  But then I slapped it into an old reciprocating saw and while the saw worked, the adapter dropped right out of the tool.  It also dropped out of a hammer drill as well.  While the clips weren't binding anymore, they weren't sticking out far enough to engage the corresponding parts of the tool body.  So I opened up the adapter again and it looks like the plastic that holds the clips is leaning in a bit.  

   

I've emailed the guy that made the part and will see what he will do for me.  For what I paid, I shouldn't have to be making mods.

[EvilTwin]

This should be my last update to this thread unless anybody has some questions.  I did get a response back from the seller.  He said to try and use some heat to bend the pins out a bit and if that didn't work, he would send me a new part if I sent this one back.  He didn't offer to pay for the shipping back,  which was what I would expect if the part was defective, but luckily I was able to get it to work.  

What I did was to take a small scrap piece of plastic and cut it so that it sat between the two vertical pins to push them apart.  I cut a couple of notches in it as well to clear the wires from the two brass contacts in the base.  Once assembled, the locking tabs now stick out far enough to engage the parts on the tool.  I was able to snap it into the saw and the drill and it didn't fall out.  If anything it takes a bit of work to pop it out, but I'll settle for that.  Tools seem to work fine with the new battery.  I even modded the top of the 18v battery so it would fit in the 14.4 volt tools as well.  They run a bit faster, but no issues as far as I can tell.

Adapter mod so it fits 14.4

   

Since everybody loves pix, here are a few more:

   

   

In a 14.4 drill:

   

Why I bothered with all this, my Bosch collection:

   

[Stwood_]

Thanks for posting. I may try this later on. I don't know yet. I have 10 year old Bosch batteries starting to give up now.
Have about 15, and 2-3 are sidelined, wondering what to do. I too have too many good Bosch tools I don't want to discard as the all still work with the exception of one.

I have a bud that has a boatload of Dewalts that needs to do something. I'll pass on that link to the Ebay seller you posted.

Thanks.

[EricU]

with Dewalt, there are a lot of options for adapters on ebay and amazon that don't require any hacking to get them to work, just plug and play.  They go for about $25 on amazon.  This appears to be the same as the one I bought: link

[EvilTwin]

with Dewalt, there are a lot of options for adapters on ebay and amazon that don't require any hacking to get them to work, just plug and play.  They go for about $25 on amazon.  This appears to be the same as the one I bought: link

I wish it had been that easy, but I looked and didn't see that there were any ready made.  For somebody that owns Dewalt, by all means go with one of these.

[toolie]

Interesting discussion of work arounds for sometimes expensive tools rendered useless when the batteries wear out.  I had the same problem with several Ridgid hand held power tools.  I got just under $1,000 worth of batteries for free.  Of course, I registered my tools, and ultimately the replacement batteries, with their Lifetime Service Agreement, so the batteries were, and will be, replaced for free for as long as I own the tools and they are in business.

But kudos to the party that created the adapter.  Looks to be a really good idea.

[EdL]

Ed