Cordless drill batteries, why so expensive ???

[langy]

Had a battery go down on my DeWalt drill the other day and a replacement is £50 odd quid, I can get a new drill with 2 batterys for £150 !!!
Its really annoying as I have 8 cordless drills, Makita, DeWalt & Bosch which are all expensive drills that have dead batterys and everytime its cheaper to buy a new drill, anyone know why they are so expensive ???

 

[rtbcomp]

I guess they're priced at such a level to make you buy a new drill, but if you buy the batteries instead they still make a good profit.

Have you thought about buying individual cells and fitting them in the drills' battery holders?

I have fitted long leads on an old 14v drill so I can run it off a car battery, include a blocking diode though if you do this.

 

[mike os]

I have had pattern batteries from these guys & they are as good as the originals both in terms of life and power.( had makita and bosch batts)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/all-battery-shop

and

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/batteryproinc

sorry about the evil links.....

OEM batteries are a rip off, I can see no justification in the prices.

EDIT:-

had my first battery from one of them in 2005 & binned last year, nearly 12 months after the original batteries went in the skip.

JME, yours may vary

 

[chunkolini]

Well spotted have added this to my favourites.

Chunko'.

 

[Mikey D]

Got both a milwaukee 18 volt drill and 18 volt impact driver , good tools rubbish original batteries tho , 3 out of the 4 batteries expired within about 18 months .
the impact driver came with lithium ion batteries great batteies nice and light , shame they didnt last !
Gave up looking for oe batteries until i came across "frog power tools " stumped up about £150 for two nimh malwaukee batteries . Two weeks later no batteies , so email them only to be told ..."we dont sell them anymore" heres your money back tho Great thanks! i thinks

Anyway ill give these pattern ones a try , will stick a date on them see how longs they larst .

cheers mike

 

[mike os]

At least you got your money back without the "lost in the post" crap.....

 

[langy]

Thanks for that, its good to get a reccommendation as pattern batts i've had before never seem to hold a charge for as long as the originals.

I have had pattern batteries from these guys & they are as good as the originals both in terms of life and power.( had makita and bosch batts)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/all-battery-shop

and

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/batteryproinc

sorry about the evil links.....

OEM batteries are a rip off, I can see no justification in the prices.

EDIT:-

had my first battery from one of them in 2005 & binned last year, nearly 12 months after the original batteries went in the skip.

JME, yours may vary

 

[mike os]

Dont know how they hold charge if left in the box... never an issue for me, biggest problem is having enough charged batteries

the Lion batts are better ( given shorter charge time & better capacity) but still an issue some days.

 

[Pete.]

You can buy cells for re-building battery packs from here too:

http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_product_catalogue.htm

I read somewhere that the easiest way to kill off a drill battery is to keep using it when it's nearly flat. Something about the weakest cell gets depleted then reverse-charged by the other cells.

I also saw an article complete with youtube link about fixing dead packs by shorting them with a mig welder, but do that at your own risk

 

[Rick]

I've just got an 18volt dewat Li ion drill. The batteries are £150 each!

 

[mike os]

at £30ish a pop I dont think it worthwhile to rebuild

 

[McFarmer]

I've gone back to corded tools. Get a good one and you're done. Save the cordless for when absolutely necessary.