Fing Milwaukee

[ct_hvac_tech]

I have had my 18 volt Milwaukee drill now for quite some time. Well, it finally crapped out, so i wanna buy another Milwaukee drill.

well, they don't make the ni-cd battery style drill anymore, or at least they don't sell it in stores.

I wouldn't mind switching over to the new litium ion battery and drill....they are pretty cool. well, my problem is, i have a perfectly good working charger that is a DC charger that i plug into the power port of my truck. being I only do service, I'm never really anywhere long enough to plug my batteries in to charge them, so the car charger is how I charge my batteries.

The car charger, however, will not work with the new lithium ion batteries.

I played hell just trying to even get the stupid car charger - it took over 2 months to get it because it was out of manufacture and on back order. this was 7 years ago.

I look tonight to try to find out how much a lithium ion Milwaukee car charger would cost, and the stupid things are out of stock and out of manufacture.

I am so sick of hassles like this every time i want something. Was gonna say screw Milwaukee and go with another brand, but looks like every brand will be hard to get an automotive charger......plus DeWalt and others i looked at don't give you a nice plastic case anymore, they give you that stupid bag.

I guess I'm just going to buy an old 18 volt ni-cd drill off ebay....then i won't have 2 good batteries and a $150 car charger that is useless.

[spotts]

You got a drill to last 7 years??? Hooooooooley crap! Thats amazing. I would guess in 7 years, between 4 trucks, I have bought 50-60 cordless drills and dozens of sawzalls [bought 3 in the last 2 weeks] . Id be singin fiddley-I-O and dancin a jig if I ever had one last like that. I do the same thing with 36V dewalt stuff, when a sawzall breaks, yu can get just the tool, no charger and batts for big bux less. New 36v sawzall kit was $350, just the saw tool was $140.00. I bought 2 of the Milwaukee Hackzalls today! Very cool micro sawzall!

[dandyme]

use an inverter

[sirjames]

Charge em` at home.

[BigDog91]

I use my regular charger with a power converter. The power converter plugs into the vehicle and I plug the charger into it. It also nice to have 120v available if I need it (tailgating and such). You need to size the power convereter to your load. Mine cost about $100.00.

[ct_hvac_tech]

spotts - I've actually been through 2 or 3 cordless drills in the last, say 10 years or so. I always go back with Milwaukee though because I have the car charger but i guess now they are getting away from that type of battery. had the car charger about 7 years.


danyme - i thought about that but I've read before that an inverter will damage a drill charger because the inverter has a square wave that somehow damages them.

sirjames - that doesn't work for me. I'm always forgetting to take the batteries in at night, and if i did remember, I'd forget to take them back to work when I left in the morning. Most of the other techs charge them on a service call. If I did that I'd end up going back after hours to get the charger I forgot to pack up.

[spotts]

It's a cool tool Pat!

[wgrr]

I have used Dewalt for years. Recently I picked up a Makita hammer drill/impact driver combo. The Li Ion batteries are lighter and as powerful as the old NiCads. They last longer too. I am now a Makita fan. Also picked up their battery powered grinder.

I get years of service out of my battery power tools. I still have the 9V Makita drill I bought in the late eighties. Service work is not that hard on them. Install is a whole different story.

[Sarwiz]

I have a Ryobi 18 volt kit from 1999 with a 1/2" drill and circular saw , and have only replaced the batteries. Presently own 6 reciprocating saws, 8-1/4 inch chop saw, 7 circular saws, 7 drills (1/2" and 3/8") a 90 degree drill, 5 120 volt chargers, 1 12 volt charger and about a dozen batteries all Ryobi. The batteries last 2 to 3 1/2 years of medium to heavy use. Nowadays, it is cheaper to buy the tool kit than 2 batteries for them. I do a lot of woodworking and remodeling work (on the side now) and have dropped a couple of the drills from over 20 ft and they kept working. Got out of construction about 2 years ago, so they don't see as much use now, but still keep them around. I have also used the power inverter in the truck to charge batteries, until I got my car charger (about 4 years ago). Ryobi, dewalt, makita, sears, b&d and a few others are all made in china, probably in the same factory (?) I would have liked to have gotten Milwaukee at one time, but just could never replace everything I have and stay afloat. Now, as i replace items in the future, I'll probably buy Lithium powered, just have to watch the budget.

[craig1]

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danyme - i thought about that but I've read before that an inverter will damage a drill charger because the inverter has a square wave that somehow damages them.

The new chargers with the electronic power supplies work fine with inverters. The old ones with the magnetic transformers didn't work well (at least for me). I use the Husky 100 watt inverter from home depot that plugs right into the lighter outlet. I think it was $25 when I bought it 2 years ago.

[freerider]

Amazon has 18v car chargers http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2710.../dp/B002MUAGM8