The cordless drills make our lives much easier and with the introduction of the lithium-ion batteries, they are becoming more and more popular by the day. And after you are done driving all those screws and fasteners and you get a warning that the battery is low, all you have to do is stick that battery in your cordless drill battery charger and your tool will be ready for use in a few minutes time.
When you buy a cordless drill there are a few things that you should consider: it is better to buy a kit that has two batteries, which will enable you to continue working instead of sitting idle and waiting for the cordless drill battery charger to do its job. The lithium-ion batteries are in general better than the nickel-cadmium ones, but they are pricier and some of the nickel-cadmium batteries are actually still quite good.
Keep in mind that a cordless tool battery charger can charge a battery anywhere between 15 minutes to 10 hours, depending on the make and the model of the cordless drill and the battery itself. In general, the more powerful the tool is, the bigger the cordless drill battery pack is and you can expect it to be somewhat heavier, although this is not always the case.
How do you use your cordless drill battery charger properly?
This might seem like a silly question, but let's face it – a cordless drill battery pack is quite expensive and can cost almost as much as the tool itself, which is why if you need a new one you will quite often hear people telling you to: "just buy a new cordless drill". This is why it is important to prolong the cordless drill battery life for as long as possible. The most common cordless drills work with 9.6V, 12V, 14.4V, 18V and 24V power and some of the top drills batteries like the Makita cordless drill battery, Dewalt cordless drill battery and the Bosch cordless drill battery are meant to last for years, as long as the proper charger is used.
If you have purchased your tool with a cheap cordless tool battery charger, keep in mind that these chargers don’t charge the cells properly and you will have to buy a new cordless drill battery pack pretty soon. A smart, also known as intelligent, cordless tool battery charger has a built-in temperature sensor which detects if the battery is heated and will delay the charging process until it has properly cooled down.
However, how long is a cordless drill battery pack good for?
Well, most cordless drills batteries are good for a few hundred hours of recharging, but if you use your tool heavily and recharge the battery every night, then it might only last for six months or even less. It is important to remember that you have to replace the battery as soon as it starts going bad – if you keep trying to recharge bad battery, there is a good chance that your cordless drill battery charger circuit will blow a fuse and you will have to buy a new charger. Most chargers have thermal fuse or fusible wire link, but you should never try to repair them yourself due to the safety hazards involved.
If you are about to purchase a new battery charger, you need to know what you are actually looking for – in general, the cordless drill battery pack can be either a stem or the sliding type, but that alone is not enough to determine the right charger. It is best to contact your cordless drill manufacturer and give them the exact model of your tool; if you have money to spend, you can go for the more expensive smart dual cordless drill battery charger or a multi voltage smart charger with computerized charging and "maintenance mode" feature. The latter type can reduce the charging time from a few hours to just half an hour and also shut off as soon as your battery is fully charged, thus prolonging the cordless drill battery life.
As we have already mentioned, the time to fully recharge your cordless drill battery can vary from 15m minutes to up to ten hours; this depends not only on the manufacturer and the type of the battery, but the type of your cordless drill too. Even though the trend is for more and more compact tools, the most popular drills like drill driver, hammer drill, impact driver, cordless screwdriver, right angle drill and screw gun all serve their purposes and the more powerful tools batteries usually require more time to charge.
How much does a cordless drill battery charger cost?
This of course, totally depends on the type and brand of the cordless drill battery charger, but you should always go for quality – the really cheap brands, especially when purchased second-hand, might not only shorten the life of your battery, but carry a lot of safety hazards. Sometimes the plastic casing of the charger can melt, which is why it is always best to buy the charger that has been made for your specific cordless drill and always purchase your charger from a reputable store.
Cordless drill battery charger – safety precautions: charging your cordless drill battery might look like a simple task and it actually is, but you need to make sure that it is safe. It is generally a good practice to have your charger placed on a non-flammable surface when leaving it unattended. Even though the cases of the plastic melting or sparks causing fire are not too common, some of the cheap chargers might cause problems.
Also, it is best to remove your battery as soon as it has been charged; avoid placing a battery in the cordless drill battery charger after a heavy use – in most cases the battery will be heated and even though some of the smart chargers have sensors that will detect the heat and postpone the charging, the cheaper chargers will attempt to charge the battery right away and in the long run this will reduce its life.