Well, here is the deal... In spite of battery availability, can anyone verify its ability to bust stuff loose with the li-po batteries or is it still weak compared to other (newer) product lines? I'd search youtube for some info but I am not able to watch video right now (poor internet connection).
Craftsman C3 Batteries
- Thread starter Rich M.
- Start date
Josey Wales
Well-known member
I've always liked this video,
My question now is if I buy a generic high capacity battery, will it also have more power than the compacts.
My question now is if I buy a generic high capacity battery, will it also have more power than the compacts.
The 1/2" impact driver (with a 4AH Li-Ion C3) is only rated 300 ft-lb not the best for busting loose really stuck nuts... like lug nuts... but I do use a breaker bar to break loose when the tires are on the ground then use it to loosen it once it is on jack stand... but nothing spectacular... it is not as good as the HF one if you asked me... but ok for installing lugs.
Their 3/8 impact is rated 150 ft-lb... the impact driver is about 1500 inch-lb... good enough for normal stuff like drywall, flooring, or average bolts.... nothing spectacular... even with the 4AH battery... but nothing to cry foul about either...
Here2Learn
Well-known member
Your battery is old and weak. If you want to keep using the tool, buy a new battery.
Look on the tool and find the model number. Look up how many foot-pounds of torque the tool can put out. Compare to any other brand you want. Yes, a more expensive tool is going to put out more torque. If the C3 is not good enough for you, go buy something that is. There are people like me where it is fine for what we do. We are on craigslist waiting to buy some Craftsman tools for cheap.
Here2Learn
Well-known member
The first 1/2" impact is only 200 ft-lbs. I have it. The guy complaining about his old Ni-Cd might, too. The one with the 3 LED's is 300 ft-lbs. 3/8" is 130, 1/4" current and recent models are 125 (1500 as you mentioned) (first one was 900 inch-pounds, yikes!). The 3-speed 1/4" impact discontinued model is 133.75 (1,605).
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If you want a good NiCd sub C at a decent price, with without tabs, buy Tenergy They are a US company but the stuff is Chinese. I have used their cells and chargers with no problems. You will find them on ebay, Amazon or Battery Junction. I just checked. Battery junction is getting $1.95 without tabs. These are definitely not ebay generics. They are 2200mah which is the most you will get out of a NiCd. I do not reccomend using NiMh for this. They self discharge rather fast an have other issues. The memory issue with NiCds is highly overblown but people just keep repeating it.NiCad the black ones or the LiIon the red ones?
Both are not tough, I have 0 success
The Nicad is subC Cell batteries with tab...just be careful on buying from ebay..
The Li-ion are 18650 cells... and it's a 5 cell battery means they are 5 batteries stack in series... and if additional capacity like the 4AH 2x of the battery are parallel, then they are hook in series...in pairs
not sure if it is worth it, those batteries are not cheap to source individually..
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Here2Learn
Well-known member
Good info! I have seen them. With a 50 pack, it comes out to $30.08 shipped per quantity of 16.
I am trying to make a decision on all my weak NiCd's. I had five before buying a group of tools off craigslist last month. There were five in the lot. I started popping tops and checking internals this week. Four out of ten were leaking. One even held a charge and ran the flourescent lantern for 2.5 hours.
There is a guy with a variety of listings on eBay for the thermistor and fuses, even a T-10 security tool.
At 2.2 Ah, it seem a rebuilt NiCd is going to have more juice than the Li-Ion 1.3 Ah cheap batteries Sears sells or even the XCP 1.5 Ah.
After using the 4.0 Ah XCP on my 5.6" saw, 6.5" saw and recoprocating saw, I won't even try a NiCd on those. It is noticeably stronger and works longer. NiCd rebuilds should be fine for my various lights and radio, maybe even moderate drilling.
I am trying to make a decision on all my weak NiCd's. I had five before buying a group of tools off craigslist last month. There were five in the lot. I started popping tops and checking internals this week. Four out of ten were leaking. One even held a charge and ran the flourescent lantern for 2.5 hours.
There is a guy with a variety of listings on eBay for the thermistor and fuses, even a T-10 security tool.
At 2.2 Ah, it seem a rebuilt NiCd is going to have more juice than the Li-Ion 1.3 Ah cheap batteries Sears sells or even the XCP 1.5 Ah.
After using the 4.0 Ah XCP on my 5.6" saw, 6.5" saw and recoprocating saw, I won't even try a NiCd on those. It is noticeably stronger and works longer. NiCd rebuilds should be fine for my various lights and radio, maybe even moderate drilling.
Yea like I said, it's not cheaper to rebuild, at least not for ones or twos.... Tenergy is a good brand, but there are a lot of fakes out there I think.... and reputable source ones are not cheap..
lets do the math, without the shipping cost...
for a 19.2 v battery pack, I would needed 19.2/1.2 = 16 sub C size batteries... @ $1.95 each... that comes to about $31.20 not including the shipping cost... I get that Li-Ion for less... I think there are only few situations where some one would actually go back to Ni-cad or Ni-Mh...
Here2Learn
Well-known member
Tenergy has an eBay store. Their user name is ... tenergy.
(sorted to NiCd sub C)
https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?has...position=NiCd&_nkw=sub+c&_ssn=tenergy&_sop=16
$31.33 shipped is one third of the $93.99 shipped cost for a lot of 50 (3 packs x 16 cells = 48). Throw in a new thermistor and fuse from some other guy on eBay, and a high quality rebuild turns out to be about $35.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tenergy-50...h=item4cf4c1a4dc:g:JIIAAOSwARZXmpQE:rk:3:pf:0
One thing I noticed the other night though was that my one year old 1.3 Ah Li-Ion from Sears did not have as much as torque to my drill as my old NiCd that is six or seven years old. The Sears NiCd's are 1.5 Ah, Tenergy has 2.2 Ah. Even my oldNiCd's ran the fluorescent lantern for 2.5 hours each in a recent test.
With the judge letting Lampert buy Sears today, maybe they will be around long enough to have a super sale on the Li-Ion batteries. I got a 4.0 Ah last May for about $47 with the sale and Fast Cash. I am just hoping for a big sale, then bye bye NiCd.
(sorted to NiCd sub C)
https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?has...position=NiCd&_nkw=sub+c&_ssn=tenergy&_sop=16
$31.33 shipped is one third of the $93.99 shipped cost for a lot of 50 (3 packs x 16 cells = 48). Throw in a new thermistor and fuse from some other guy on eBay, and a high quality rebuild turns out to be about $35.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tenergy-50...h=item4cf4c1a4dc:g:JIIAAOSwARZXmpQE:rk:3:pf:0
One thing I noticed the other night though was that my one year old 1.3 Ah Li-Ion from Sears did not have as much as torque to my drill as my old NiCd that is six or seven years old. The Sears NiCd's are 1.5 Ah, Tenergy has 2.2 Ah. Even my oldNiCd's ran the fluorescent lantern for 2.5 hours each in a recent test.
With the judge letting Lampert buy Sears today, maybe they will be around long enough to have a super sale on the Li-Ion batteries. I got a 4.0 Ah last May for about $47 with the sale and Fast Cash. I am just hoping for a big sale, then bye bye NiCd.
Here2Learn
Well-known member
Wow. You should be good to go for a while!
Someone in another thread said he saw 20V MAX circular saw and reciprocating saw in a Sears store. If that is correct, then they may be trying to still roll out some new stuff. It would be quite a surprise to me.
Someone in another thread said he saw 20V MAX circular saw and reciprocating saw in a Sears store. If that is correct, then they may be trying to still roll out some new stuff. It would be quite a surprise to me.
The only thing you’d have to do here is compare the design and match their terminals assuming there is room inside for the corresponding cells. I’d try it if I had a dead one to fool around with.
you can't rebuild nicad packs with Li-ion...
2 main things that doesn't fit...
old ni-cad casing doesn't fit that 16500 Li-ion cell...
there is a controller on the Li-Ion packs 5 cell charge controller... Nicad don't use them...
ptgarcia
Well-known member
I have a dead 19.2v NiCad if anyone wants it to tinker with. I've been hanging on to it hoping I'd find time to make an adapter to use M18 batteries in my C3 tools, but after several years just sitting on my bench I don't think that will ever happen.
well I have already pointed out to you the differences, I have about 8 of the nicad packs that are bad... old old style and old style ones... as well as the older diehard 2ah li-ions packs dead... just telling you the differences.... when I attempted...
Ni-Cad does not have any circuit boards inside... it's just 16 sub-c cells arranged in series along with some temp safety fuse and a charging thermistor of sort...
Ni-MH is the same way, does not have circuit board inside, and arranged in series just like Ni-Cad... if you are going to point out it's using different charging method... then it at the charger, not at the batter pack like the li-ion...
Now can you accomplish it and converted it, sure probably... get a 5 cell li-ion controller (they do sell them generic just making sure it will fit in the casing is questionable), get 5 cells of 16500 or what not cells...
Other nick knacks needed other than the thermistor and thermofuse is those nickle taps/strips...
BTW... that 16500 cell does not fit the old ni-cad casing without you routing out something...
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bds1984
Well-known member
I have seen them at two separate Sears now along with a reciprocating saw and a 5 pc set with a work light. I just got the new hammer drill (mainly out of curiosity, plus I had a TON of points to use), drill, and 1/4" impact driver which I had when they first hit the website (also had a lot of points to use). I like the 1/4 impact as it is much lighter than my C3 version but lacks the bit holders in the handles which I do not like. Power and battery life is decent out of all with the hammer drill having a 90-in/pounds more than the ten-year old version it replaces. I teach high school wood shop and the new 20v seem to be holding up as well as the C3 units so far.
driftpin
Well-known member
Necro-post, or whatever it's called... I did a search on Craftsman C3 tools and found this thread about Craftsman batteries. I just got in two days from amazon prime, two Li-ion batteries and two Ni-cad batteries for my collection of Craftsman cordless tools, most of which are C3, but I have a few older ones that are only Ni-cad. I ordered off amazon prime, from sellers who had about 1,000 buys, and a majority of + reviews. The Ni-cads are 3.7 A/h and the Li-ions are 5 A/h. They came charged, the Li-ions have a switch to display power level via 4 LED's.
I tested the batteries briefly in two C3 tools, a 3/8" right-angle drill, and a 1/2" drill. The Li-ion batteries seemed to 'torque' a bit more than the Ni-cad's did, but I was pleasantly surprised to have all-four report for work. No additional charging required. I will throw them in their respective chargers and top 'em-off. I'll give them a workout on some upcoming around the houses work and see how-long they last on charges.
I was moved to try the amazon prime route as I had tried at two different Ace Hardware stores to find the Li-ion Craftsman XCP batteries. The one Sears store in town still open in Miami had nothing on the floor or in the online tool catalog. At the Ace Hardware, I could only find one battery, it was something like 2 A/h for $87 out-the-door. No-thanks!
I had previously searched online and found really only import stuff at a reasonable price, and very-little XCP Craftsman batteries inventory. I went to amazon prime, made my order and in two days, I had 'em. The price was four batteries for the same price as one XCP battery of minimal size from Ace Hardware.
I've opened both types of cases to see what would be involved in a swap-out, but for the price, I decided that it wasn't worth it. I've read stories of the Li-ion counterfeit batteries for the Sanyo 18650 batteries, and then there's removing the spot welds, and (I guess) soldering new strips on, which intimidates me a bit, as I don't know the particulars, and I would hate to have a battery explode on me because I overheated it trying to save a few bucks, attempting a solder job.
I'll try to give 'em a workout soon and come-back to report. I hope they last a couple of years. I don't want to have to switch to a new platform.
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you are better off finding an adapter on one of those 3D printing verse... or buy one off ebay/Amazon and converter the battery to say Kobalt or something.
I was lucky and bought 8 xcp when they go on sales.. so I should be set for a while... but really the Kobalt line is not bad.. the new line , if these ever failed, I would have no issue replacing it the Kobalt XP line I think...
as far as rebuilding... they are just 18650 batteries... not the pouched ones LiPO4 or something. and it's a nickle strip they also sell.. there was a thread about the battery tab welder few months back... very good info if it is something for you to do.
I was lucky and bought 8 xcp when they go on sales.. so I should be set for a while... but really the Kobalt line is not bad.. the new line , if these ever failed, I would have no issue replacing it the Kobalt XP line I think...
as far as rebuilding... they are just 18650 batteries... not the pouched ones LiPO4 or something. and it's a nickle strip they also sell.. there was a thread about the battery tab welder few months back... very good info if it is something for you to do.