Older Craftsman cordless drills. Get new batteries, or throw them away?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Older Craftsman cordless drills. Get new batteries, or throw them away?

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:32:08 AM EDT

I've got a couple of Craftsman cordless drills that are 15-20 years old, and of course, the batteries are bad. Should I just chunk them and buy new stuff?

I've had a few posts on buy some cordless tools, and I'm thinking that the Craftsman stuff is probably not worth buying new batteries for.

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:38:49 AM EDT

[#1]

Last one I had die, it was easier to but a new Craftsman drill then to buy a battery.

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:44:32 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

Last one I had die, it was easier to but a new Craftsman drill then to buy a battery.

This mirrors my experience as well.

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:45:38 AM EDT

[#3]

Toss 'em.

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:46:10 AM EDT

[#4]

I had luck with finding batteries for some Makita tools, but they weren't near the age you're dealing with. As stated above, probably time to move on.

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:48:49 AM EDT

[#5]

Don't toss them. Look around at lowes and other places for trade in days. i took my old craftsman cordless tools and got $50 trade in credit on a new 20 volt dewalt.

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:49:33 AM EDT

[#6]

When I worked at Sears (2004/5) it was often cheaper to buy a new drill that came with a battery than to buy a new battery. It was usually something like $80 for a drill w/ battery or $70 for a battery. The batteries never went on sale but that drill might to down to 45-50 dollars quite often. Some of the drill sets came with 2 batteries and you could get them for less than the cost of a single battery purchased separately.

Even for the $10 difference you might as well get a brand new drill ...Craftsman drills were made by Ryobi at the time iirc

Posted: 2/20/2013 2:51:49 AM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Last one I had die, it was easier Cheaper to but a new Craftsman drill then to buy a battery.

FIFY... Luckly the new one used the same batteries as the old

Posted: 2/20/2013 3:09:43 AM EDT

[#8]

You guys have man cards? It would be more expensive to buy a new battery but there is a possibility you can REBUILD your old battery pack. This is what I did with a cordless Dremel tool whose battery died. Take the pack apart (What have you got to lose if you are going to toss it anyway?) Many battery packs are made up of smaller, linked cells. These cells can be purchased online, at Battery Joes etc....then you solder them together and you have a new battery pack. The tabbed cells are a few bucks apiece......

Posted: 2/20/2013 3:27:34 AM EDT

[#9]

The problem with Black and Decker, Craftsman, and really most cordless tools is that extra/replacement batteries cost as much as the tool itself. That being said, Toss 'em, Yard Sell them, get rid of them somehow, and get you some shiny new power tools.

I don't really care for cordless tools. I own them as some jobs just require them, but I've always felt like they are way underpowered, and unless you keep the batteries on charge 24/7 (which burns them up), they are always dead when you need them.

Posted: 2/20/2013 3:34:24 AM EDT

[#10]

Depending on the voltage after you buy a new one add as long of a power cord as you want with a couple of battery clamps and convert it into a corded drill that you throw in your vehicle.
There if you need it on the side of the road and no big deal if it gets lost or something else.

Posted: 2/20/2013 3:35:11 AM EDT

[#11]

Recently bought a chi-com Channel Lock 19.2v with batt & charger at Costco and it's GTG.

Posted: 2/20/2013 3:55:14 AM EDT

[#12]

Honestly for something that old why would you want to fix it. The new cordless tools are so much better then they used to make them. My FIL has the 18v Dewalt hammer drill from about that long ago and while it is an excellent tool it is huge, heavy, unweildy and has a battery that weighs about 5 pounds. I have the new 3A 18v hammerdrill that is small and light and the battery is about half the size and weight of the old one not to mention the battery charges in half the time and holds a much longer charge with no worries about memory if you happen to not totally discharge the old battery when you are done with it.

Posted: 2/20/2013 4:05:04 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Last one I had die, it was easier to but a new Craftsman drill then to buy a battery.

I just picked up a combo set with the drill and light, came with two batts...for 99.95....the single battery price is 39.95...
I now have two drills, three batts, two lights...

Posted: 2/20/2013 4:29:26 AM EDT

[#14]

This place has good deals on tools. Make sure you get ones with Lithium batteries

http://bigskytool.com/

Posted: 2/20/2013 4:35:18 AM EDT

[#15]

Just buy new.

I've got 300 dollars in Dewalt 20v tools.

Got the single drill set with 2 batteries and then bought just the reciprocating saw bare.

Two full tools $300

Also bought a spare 3.0 battery and I'm very happy with this setup.

Posted: 2/20/2013 4:53:07 AM EDT

[#16]

Toss that shit and buy Makita Lithium battery set, they run 100 x longer and the batteries last forever before needing to be replaced. Oh, they are also much lighter and the overall drills are way..... better.

Posted: 2/20/2013 4:59:33 AM EDT

[#17]

If you're handy with taking things apart, you can crack open the batteries, and replace the cells. Look on ebay for some Sub-C size cells with solder tabs. I'm going to do that in our dustbusters, go from some crappy nicds, to some nimhs. Usually nimh cells can be charged in a nicd charger, as they have similar charging capabilities (until you decide to quick charge them).

Posted: 2/20/2013 5:14:09 AM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
You guys have man cards? It would be more expensive to buy a new battery but there is a possibility you can REBUILD your old battery pack. This is what I did with a cordless Dremel tool whose battery died. Take the pack apart (What have you got to lose if you are going to toss it anyway?) Many battery packs are made up of smaller, linked cells. These cells can be purchased online, at Battery Joes etc....then you solder them together and you have a new battery pack. The tabbed cells are a few bucks apiece......

If it says Ni Cad on the battery you can build it with Nimh and have twice the capacity.
Costco has eneloops 10 for 20 bucks if it happens to use the 14500 size cells.
These hold a charge the longest and the chemistry is very safe.

If it's Liion it would be better to buy matched capacity cells if at all possible.

Posted: 2/20/2013 5:30:29 AM EDT

[#19]

Funny you should ask.
I'm down to one battery for my 10-year-old Craftsman 12 volt drill. Tossed the other one two weeks ago after it wouldn't charge anymore.

Figured it's just a matter of time before the other one quits too.

Searched high and low for the battery all over the net; "no longer available" is what I kept getting INCLUDING from Sears!
Oh yeah, you can have them rebuilt for about 35-40 bucks.
No thanks.

Found a brand-new half-inch Milwaukee on Ebay. 18 volt, li-ion, charger and two batteries. Sniped it with 5 seconds to go and won it for 133.00.
Should be here in a couple of days.

Seems like they're all 18 volt now anyway.
Go for new. I know it kills me to trash a perfectly good tool, but that's planned-obsolecence for you.

Posted: 2/20/2013 5:33:38 AM EDT

[#20]

It's relatively cheap and easy to rebuild the battery; takes about 20 minutes if you can figure out which end of the soldering iron gets hot.

Posted: 2/20/2013 5:37:17 AM EDT

[#21]

I thought cordless drills were supposed to be thrown out from the start!

(corded fan here)

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:03:58 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
I thought cordless drills were supposed to be thrown out from the start!

(corded fan here)

I have the 3 amp 18v Dewalt cordless impact driver. I recently helped my FIL install a rubber roof with it and one of the days we worked probably 12 hours with my drill. Between driving lag bolts and 3"-4" self tapping screws with a pretty fine thread my Dewalt kept going all day w3ith one battery change at the end of the day. I have to ask if you can get that kind of performance out of a cordless tool of any kind why would you bother with a corded one. I will grant you some tools are better with a cord but a drill?? with as far as cordless tools have come in even the last 10 years there is no reason whatsoever to have a corded drill of any kind.

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:10:54 AM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:

I've got a couple of Craftsman cordless drills that are 15-20 years old, and of course, the batteries are bad. Should I just chunk them and buy new stuff?

I've had a few posts on buy some cordless tools, and I'm thinking that the Craftsman stuff is probably not worth buying new batteries for.

Better to just buy new.

You really can go buy a whole new setup with awesome battery technology, for less than what two replacement SHIT batteries will cost you.

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:13:09 AM EDT

[#24]

I've got an old 18.0 volt Craftsman cordless with bad batteries. A new replacement battery runs about $50.00. It's going in the scrap heap.

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:42:44 AM EDT

[#25]

I don't have, or need, any of the heavy duty drills with the big batteries. I just do light work around the house and had accumulated 4 drills/drivers that use the Versapak batteries. Stuff like this:

All my old batteries were bad and I could get 8 new gold batteries for a whole lot less than buying a single new drill like everyone uses these days. I also have a couple of Skil drivers like this that got new batteries, too:

I ended up scrapping an old B&D cordless drill that used a very odd internal battery that was no longer made.

I also have a couple of Dremels for barrel fluting and toenail trimming, etc. No shit, one of them is sold as a dog toenail trimmer tool.

I came up with a nice assortment of light- and medium-duty cordless drills and screwdrivers that fill all my needs, and for less money than buying one good quality heavy duty drill with an extra battery. All of the tools, batteries, chargers, drill bits, screwdriver & nut driver bits, extensions, Dremel bits, etc, etc, are now all in one big tool box instead of scattered all over the place.

Did the same thing with all the corded drills - took a while to find all the damn chuck keys that fit.

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:45:19 AM EDT

[#26]

I say buy a new drill. Home Depot had the 18V compact Dewalt drills for $99 in my area. Tough to beat IMHO.

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:50:26 AM EDT

[#27]

http://bigskytool.com/

Posted: 2/20/2013 6:55:10 AM EDT

[#28]

If you can find the batteries for a decent price, go for it. Otherwise, I'd wait for a trade-in promotion as others have mentioned.

FWIW, I really like my Rigid tool set I picked up from Home Depot. Li-ion batteries, quick charge, good power, and lifetime warrenty on the batteries and tools (just make sure you fill out the stuff online). I've been using them to around the house, and the battery life has been very good. Keep your eyes open on Woot.com too - they had a run on refurbished kits not too long ago, so I picked up an extra drill, charger, and two batteries for $70. The drill was a refurb, but the batteries were brand new.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Older Craftsman cordless drills. Get new batteries, or throw them away?

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