Gotta love Ni-Cd ackumulators

[MBfreak]

I am the happy owner of a Hitachi 2 channel 20 MHz scope from around 1988.
It has a built in 12 V 1,8 Ah NiCd pack including charging system.
Great when working on AC mains circuits, scope is floating.
I bought the scope 2021 and opened it . ORIGINAL NiCd pack, marked March 1987.
Full charge in 15 h, runs the scope on battery for around 1,5 h.
Lately not so much.
Opened the scope, one NiCd was dead and had a resistance of 0,4 Ohms.
Applied 24 V from a high power supply. After 3 short pulses, back at 1,35 V!
Run like that for some hours over a month.
Then, again , problems.
Now another cell was dead. Fixed it with 24 V hi current pulses.
Operated for 2 cycles.
Next cell dead.
If nothing else, wonderful reliability, appears that all will die over a short period.
Dumped the battery pack.
Pulled out the wires for the battery.
( Sorry, do not have the leadset for external DC supply)
Now runs on a 12 volt LiOn battery pack .

Ola

 

[mm08822]

Lucky you being able to convert to a LiOn battery pack. The Ni-cad batteries for my portable 18v tools are going extinct and I'm starting to rebuild them as I have too much $$ comitted to throw away perfectly good tools and chargers.

Planned obsolescense is great when you're on the right side of the business model!

 

[jmdirk]

Lucky you being able to convert to a LiOn battery pack. The Ni-cad batteries for my portable 18v tools are going extinct and I'm starting to rebuild them as I have too much $$ comitted to throw away perfectly good tools and chargers.

Planned obsolescense is great when you're on the right side of the business model!

I'm not going to argue that planned obsolescence isn't a thing. But I think comparing older NiCad batteries to current LiOn isn't really a good example of that. The energy density and power delivery of LiOn is way better than NiCad. Combined with current brushless motors is just a way better solution. The only reason we have battery powered everything is because the tech actually works for higher current devices. Older NiCad things like circ saws were nearly useless. You'd get maybe a dozen cuts out of them before you'd have to swap the battery.

I did rebuild a couple of my old NiCad batteries back in the day. Still have an old 18V Dewalt drill and impact driver kicking around. Haven't been used in years. But I feel bad tossing them. I'm not even sure I could give them away at this point.

 

[dave*99]

I did rebuild a couple of my old NiCad batteries back in the day. Still have an old 18V Dewalt drill and impact driver kicking around. Haven't been used in years. But I feel bad tossing them. I'm not even sure I could give them away at this point.

I held onto that stuff way too long. Then I bought new Milwaukee stuff and gave the 18V DeWalt stuff to my son. One day he used my new stuff and commented the old stuff I gave him was best used to pound in the screws with the back of the impact gun.
He got new stuff for Christmas.....

 

[pbon]

I have a whole bin of ridgid 18v tools, nicad batteries and chargers in southern NH that I will be tossing if anyone is interested. They all work, or did work years ago.

 

[mm08822]

Point missed. I wasn't comparing one battery chemistry against another. I was commenting on MBfreaks situation where he could leave the old style behind and make a new battery unconstrained by battery form factor, both connecting to a tool and fitting into a charger.
An oscope doesn't have the same portability needs as a drill that is continuously on the move. A connector hanging off the end of a couple of wires from a battery pack is no big deal for an oscope.

My 18v XRP does just fine with auger bits and hammer drilling for anchors. No complaints about battery life from a single charge.
I personally wouldn't bother with a battery powered circ saw.

If I had nothing today and was in the market, sure I would be buying the latest LiOn based tools.

 

[dave*99]

I have a friend who is a full time hands on contractor/carpenter. I stopped by one of his jobs recently. His truck was on the street. He had a generator running next to the van. Ten feet away he was cutting plywood sheathing for a huge addition. He was the cut man and working from a full stack of plywood sheets.

He was using a cordless circular saw. I thought for sure with the generator running he would be using corded. So I asked. He said no way, dragging a cord through the mud etc. was a PITA. He'll never do it again.... So I asked about cutting framing lumber instead of ply. Same answer....

 

[dscheidt]

I'm not going to argue that planned obsolescence isn't a thing. But I think comparing older NiCad batteries to current LiOn isn't really a good example of that. The energy density and power delivery of LiOn is way better than NiCad. Combined with current brushless motors is just a way better solution. The only reason we have battery powered everything is because the tech actually works for higher current devices. Older NiCad things like circ saws were nearly useless. You'd get maybe a dozen cuts out of them before you'd have to swap the battery.

The existence of NiCd tools are a testament to how much cords ****, because NiCd is so bad.

Current mid range 12V Li-ion cordless drills (and impact drivers) from many makes have more power than any NiCd powered drill had. Any brand, any model, any voltage. They have more torque, higher speed, longer battery life, faster charging, lighter weight, the batteries will last for more charge cycles. And they're cheaper. IN the 18V lines, some things are exceeding the power available at the end of an extension cord.

 

[SlappyWhite]

For anyone with a bunch of old Ni-Cd era cordless tools you can usually source (or even make) an adapter to run modern batteries in the old tools. No need to toss them or worse yet rebuild the old batteries. This is pretty much what the OP did with the scope BTW.

The newer tools will likely be better, beyond just the battery (brushless, lighter etc.) but if the old ones are still serviceable just toss the old batteries and run the old tools on modern ones, even run them on batteries from different brands if that is what you are using now.

Also, 18v is loaded and 20v is no load. The rest is marketing.

 

[dave*99]

Yeah it’s best not to operate tools loaded.

 

[Metal-Marc]

For anyone with a bunch of old Ni-Cd era cordless tools you can usually source (or even make) an adapter to run modern batteries in the old tools. No need to toss them or worse yet rebuild the old batteries. This is pretty much what the OP did with the scope BTW.

The newer tools will likely be better, beyond just the battery (brushless, lighter etc.) but if the old ones are still serviceable just toss the old batteries and run the old tools on modern ones, even run them on batteries from different brands if that is what you are using now.

Also, 18v is loaded and 20v is no load. The rest is marketing.

 

[dave*99]

My neighbor has this piece on his cordless drill and impact. Yes it works but the ergonomics are not good. His are large old tools and this adapter just makes them larger. Less balanced etc.

 

[Metal-Marc]

My neighbor has this piece on his cordless drill and impact. Yes it works but the ergonomics are not good. His are large old tools and this adapter just makes them larger. Less balanced etc.

Meh, who cares your grumpy neighbor.