Dewalt cordless drill 18 volt battery cheat

This video shows how to make an otherwise useless 18 volt Dewalt rechargeable battery into a useable power source for your cordless power tools. I have been working in areas where I do not have access to my Dewalt battery charger and/or a 110 volt power source to plug my 1-hour charger into. Normally, you are dead-in-the-water with cordless power tools - until now! Relatively simple cheat using readily available parts that you can get at any electronics store. When completed you can use a car battery or any other external DC power supply from 12 to 18 volts to run your tools. This video is for educational purposes only and is not meant to deprive Dewalt of a battery sale.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Dewalt
• 18
• volt
• battery
• cheat
• by-pass
• contingency
• power
• source

[joemiked]

freagin smart!

[aboonski]

@joemiked Thanks! I thought so too. I still have not been contacted by Dewalt about this and have no idea if anyone else has actually made one of my "battery cheaters" as yet. I am amazed at how many hits this video has had since I posted it! People either love it or hate it but the facts are, I am still using this to run my Dewalt cordless tools and no problems to date. I guess that speaks for itself,,,,,,

[curbman256]

I have a 18 volt grease gun and the charger got melted . Thay stoped making it and a new one is $200.00 . The guy that greases my equipment loves this in stead of his arm cramping. Thanks for the idea we have no power in the field.

[aboonski]

@curbman256 Definitely appreciate the positive comment after so many negative comments have been posted about this. Now that all of my Dewalt batteries no longer hold a charge I am using my "battery cheater" to power them instead of purchasing new batteries for $86.00 plus tax. Regardless of what people say about taking a cordless tool and going to a cord again it still eliminates the old 115 volt power tools that we were once limited to when I was growing up.

[doppydufus]

ya some igiots have to figure a need to do something stupid like this. really you are out mending fences with a drill? and since you modified a battery perhaps you would be smart enough to buy a car charger and an extra battery, then when your battery dies while you are mending fences with it you could swap batteries. nope some dumb igiot will pull their truck up close to the fence and pull out their specially modified battery and hook it up to their truck battery.

what a dumb ass

[aboonski]

@doppydufus You are just jealous because I thought of this idea and you didn't.....

[Fentanyl3]

@mastergx1 WRONG, when voltage drops current drops.

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them.

SOOO the only thing that can cause the current to go up is an increase in voltage, or a decrease in resistance, which would require this guy to rewind his little drill motor with either less turns of wire, or a heavier wire,

[bulletman100]

This is a great idea to still use the tool when you are out in the field and have no more good batteries left, but you still only get 2/3 of the power to finish the job. 18v tools run poorly on 12vdc. I use a generator in the field, and want to build an 18v dc power supply transformer that can plug into 110vac with a cord, so you can then use them as corded tools after your batts are all used up. I know why not use the gen. to charge batteries. warm batteries wont charge & it takes too long.

[rlwieneke]

@Lokivoid The same reason a car radio rated at 4 amps doesn't draw more amps if connected to a car battery with, for example: Die Hard Gold Group Size 59, 590 CCA (cold cranking amps).

Do you think every electrical device in a car is going to draw the maximum available amps?

A device draws amps it is designed to at a given voltage. A drill that draws 3 amps at 18 volts (54 watts)

(I (amps) x E (volts) = P (watts)) will draw 4.5 amps at 12 volts (I (amps) = P(watts) divide by E (volts)).

[pjharro]

Wow some serious issues people have with this, it's just as well you told everyone that they MUST use this mod on ALL their battery operated equipment (add heavy sarcasm). I guess some people don't want options, oh well they will be fine up until someone moves their dinner plate and they starve.

[bradjones06]

@tmastersat Absolutely correct! The drill draws current to supply torque. Under load, the motor will attempt to supply torque to the load by drawing the required current. If the line supply voltage is depressed, the current draw must increase. Under light loads, this 'cheat' may be fine. Under serious loads, this 'cheat' may damage your expensive equipment or worse. Viewers should be beware of YouTube engineering. A healthy sense of skepticism should be applied universally, even to this comment.

[bradjones06]

@tmastersat You cannot compare a discharged 18V Dewalt battery to a 12V car battery. You are correct in that by the time your Dewalt's battery is that low (assuming it can even reach 12V) it can not supply any consequential current. However, a car battery can supply hundreds of amperes. Under any serious load, your 18V drill can draw excessive current from a 12V car battery which can easily supply a damaging amperage to your tools. My intent is not personal attack but to inform viewers. Beware!

[tmastersat]

@bradjones06 You dont understand ohms law. That could only hapen if the current in the bat stayed the same and only the voltage dropped. Since the current will drop with voltage as the bat goes down you will would not have a problem. You see the total wattage of the battery goes down as it dies both v and I goes down making it impossible for your statement to be true.

[tmastersat]

@Lokivoid Impossible. The drill will only draw the current it needs

[jdmahe]

How do you get 18 volts from a 12 volts battery.