Cordless Drill Battery Charger

Most cordless drill’s batteries are anywhere from 7.5V to 24V and the cordless drill charging can last from fifteen minutes to up to a few hours; but that alone is not as important as knowing how to properly charge your Ryobi cordless drill, Dewalt cordless drill or any other brand that you use. Doing it the right way will ensure that your battery is good for at least a few hundred charges and you won’t have to replace it for at least a year.

One of the first things you should know when charging cordless drill battery is to always use a high-quality charger that has been made for your specific tool: do not buy cheap chargers since they will not only shorten the life of your battery, but present a great safety hazard. In fact, the vast majority of the house fires in the US have been caused by chargers left on overnight.

When looking for a new charger, make sure that you get an original charger – if you use the Craftsman 19.2 volt DieHard Cordless Drill, then look for a Craftsman 19.2 volt cordless drill charger and don’t try to “adjust” any other chargers since this will only kill your battery really quick.

Keep in mind that the cordless drill charging time also depends on the type of the charger that you buy – the new “fast” chargers will fully charge your battery in a matter of minutes instead of hours, without damaging it any way. The intelligent chargers have a few built-in features like heat sensors that detect when the battery temperature is too high and delay the charging until it cools down; they also have indicators that display the charging progress and once the battery is fully charged, the charger automatically shuts off.

Depending on the brand and the model a cordless electric drill kit can come with two or more batteries, which is why you might consider buying a dual charger, which chargers two batteries simultaneously thus cutting your waiting time in half.

What safety rules should I follow when charging my cordless drill?

First of all, you should never insert a battery in your charger immediately after using your tool – in some cases the battery will be heated and if you use a low-quality charger this will cause a multitude of problems. Also, do not leave the battery in the charger overnight, but if you really have to simply make sure that the charger is placed on top of a non-flammable surface: in case of the charger casing melting or sparks, this will not cause a fire. You should also never try to repair your charger – simply buy a new one and save yourself a lot of troubles.

Why does the cordless drill charging heat up my charger?

In many cases the chargers get hot, but this is actually a safety feature – the chargers are intentionally made “lightweight”, so that they will stop functioning before causing fire. If your charger gets hot when there is no battery in it, then you might have to buy a new one, but in many cases the chargers get hot only when you place a shorted battery in.

Replacing your cordless drill battery pack, whether it is a Li-ion or NiCd, is quite expensive, which is why you should learn what you can do in order to prolong your battery’s life.

The cordless drill battery life depends on the type of the battery, the quality of the cordless drill battery charger and the way you use your tool and charge your battery. In order to ensure that the battery is good for at least few hundred recharges you need to follow a few simple rules.

Whether you have Craftsman cordless drill battery, Panasonic cordless drill, battery, Dewalt cordless drill battery, Ryobi cordless drill battery, or Milwaukee cordless drill battery you must use a charger that has been made for your brand. Avoid buying cheap chargers since they will shorten the life of your battery, they will heat and melt and in general carry a lot of safe hazards.

The more expensive chargers have a few built-in safety features, which ensure that even if you leave your charger on for a long time and unattended, you won’t set your house on fire. Some of the latest studies in the US show that vast majority of the house fires are indeed started by faulty battery chargers.

After using your cordless drill to drive all those screws and fasteners, you should wait for a few minutes for the battery to cool down before placing it in the cordless drill battery charger. And even though a cordless drill battery pack can cost almost as much as a new tool, you should never open it and try applying some of the “techniques” that are supposedly going to bring a dead battery back to live. Many of these tricks that can be found on different online forums not only do not work, but can lead to the premature dead of your cordless drill battery charger.

When buying a replacement battery cordless drill, make sure that you buy the right battery – when in doubt call your cordless tool manufacturer or visit the nearest power tools store and ask for help. The choice you might have to make is between three types of batteries: Nickel – Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) and Lithium Ion (Li-Ion).

Well, which one of these types is the best cordless drill battery?

Without a doubt the best cordless drill battery that you can buy is the Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) one – these batteries will not only give you more Amps per hour, which translates into longer run time, but they are also good for more recharges and weigh less than the two other types of batteries.

However, you should know that a Li-ion Dewalt cordless drill battery is likely to cost more than a In-Cd or In-MH Dewalt cordless drill battery and this is actually true for any brand. This is why even though purchasing a Li-on cordless drill battery pack is almost a must if you are a professional in the trade, if you use the cordless drill tools sparsely, the In-Cd or the In-MH batteries might work for you just as well.

If you are a fan of anything cordless and have at least one cordless screwdriver, hammer drill, impact driver or any other similar tool, you are most likely concerned about your cordless drill battery life.

However, why should you be? Isn’t buying a new cordless drill battery a pretty simple task?

The problem is that depending on your cordless drill battery type that battery might cost you as much as buying a new tool. The good quality batteries are quite pricey, which is why you should do your best to prolong your cordless drill battery life and that means following a few simple rules.

One of the most important things that you should keep in mind is to always use a quality cordless drill battery charger! Whether you need a charger for Craftsman cordless drill battery, Black and Decker cordless drill battery, Makita cordless drill battery, or Dewalt cordless drill battery, you should always purchase a good quality charger that has been made specifically for your tool. If you don’t mind spending a bit of money, you can get a dual charger that can charge, as you have already guessed, two batteries at the same time, which will inevitably save you a lot of time.

The fast cordless drill battery charger is a really special breed that will reduce the charging time from anywhere from a few hours down to half an hour and even less; the so-called “intelligent” and computerized chargers will have indicators that will show you how much the battery has charged, they also automatically shut off when the charging has finished and will not charge a battery if it is heated.

All this, together with buying the best cordless drill battery, will ensure that you can charge your battery at least a few hundred times before needing a new one. The average cordless drill battery life is anywhere from a year to a few years, but if you use your tool daily, you might need to replace it in six months or even less.

Makita cordless drill battery, Dewalt cordless drill battery, Craftsman cordless drill battery and other brands, in most cases, are from 7.2V for the smaller tools like cordless drill angle driver to 24V for the more powerful cordless saws, impact drivers and the like.

In order to prolong the life of such a battery, you need to avoid placing a battery in the battery charger as soon as you are done drilling since in most instances that means that the battery is heated and if you are using a cheaper cordless drill battery charger, this might kill the battery or at least shorten its life; you should also avoid leaving the battery in the charger overnight, unless you are using a high-quality charger. If you need a cordless drill battery replacement, make sure that you buy batteries that have been made for the specific tool – do not look for cheaper alternatives as they might cost you more in the long run.

Whether you are a professional woodworker and handyman or just need to put up a new shelf, you will most probably use a cordless drill tool for the task. The cordless drill tool that you have at home might be from the most lightweight like a cordless screwdriver to the heavier and more powerful hammer drills, but they all have one thing in common – in order to work, you must have a good cordless drill ac adapter. Depending on the tool type, brand and the rechargeable battery that it uses, you can use the tool to drive a few hundred screws in before you need to recharge.

And in order to make sure that your battery lasts long, you need the proper cordless drill ac adapter; the right ac adapter cordless tools actually depends on the type of the battery that your tool uses. The oldest type are the NiCd (Nickel – Cadmium) batteries and they are the ones that are likely to give you most problems – they suffer from the so-called “memory” problems, which means that in order to keep working they need to be fully discharged every month or every couple of months.

Much better cordless drill power supply will give you the newer Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries, but the Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) so far are the best. None of the In-MH or Li-ion batteries suffer from “memory” problems and a cordless power drill with Li-ion battery will not only be lighter, but will work longer before you need to recharge, and the battery itself will have a longer life.

If you are professional woodworker that uses say a Dewalt cordless drill almost non-stop, then you most probably have at least two (but more likely more than two) batteries, which is why you should also consider buying a dual cordless drill ac adapter, which can charger two batteries simultaneously.

In order to prevent accidents from happening, your cordless drill ac adapter need to be of high quality: the latest “intelligent” and fast chargers will fully recharge your cordless drill battery pack in a matter of minutes instead of hours and will also have a built-in heat sensor, which will detect if your battery is heated and will postpone the recharging process until it cools down. This ensures that your battery, which can be quite expensive, is good for at least a few hundred hours of recharging.

Of course, before purchasing a new cordless drill ac adapter, you should know the voltage and the Ah of your battery – ac adapter 18v cordless drill should only be used to recharge an 18v battery, 24V cordless drill battery charger should be used for 24V batteries, and so on. Avoid repairing the cordless drill ac adapter or opening the battery pack itself – this carries a lot of safety hazards and you are likely to damage your battery, your charger or both. If you need to replace your battery or your cordless drill ac adapter, please remember that quality goes a long way – buying cheaper brands will always cost you more in the long run!