Dewalt 18 volt Battery Interchange

[frozen_bohemian]

Somebody school me on Dewalt 18 volt NICAD batteries.
I wanted to buy a spare battery for my cordless drill but.... the options are ridiculous as are the price differences.

My original battery is a DC9098 which I believe to be a 1.2 Ah battery.
I have found 1.8Ah and 2.0 Ah battery packs cheaper than the original. I assume the 1.8 and the 2.0 batteries are better.

Are all 18 volt Dewalt batteries interchangeable???
Will they work with my original charger (DW9116 One hour charger)?
What are the difference between the Dc9096, De9039, De9095, De9096, Dw9095, Dw9096, ????

 

[kctyphoon]

think of the amp hour rating as the size of the battery's fuel tank. 2.0 will last 25% longer than a 1.5. all 18v stick pack will work with 18v stick tools, but you will need a different charger for lithium batteries, unless your charger specifically does both nicad and lithium packs. this will clearly be stated on the charger..

also - the 18v compact, the packs are physically smaller (shorter) then the regular ones.. regadless they will all work with the same tools.. will just be smaller and carry slightly less weight.

 

[mrvm]

Sometimes it just cheaper to buy a new 18V drill kit that includes the proper charger and batteries rather than buying single batteries or rebuilding them. The 18V Dewalt batteries are backwards compatible and moving to lithium batteries will give you better performance and endurance but you have to use the lithium charger that comes with the kit which can also charge NiCad. Since Dewalt has moved on to 20V you can find the "older" 18V sets much cheaper. If you get lithium batteries, put away the NiCad charger.