Ran Out Of Juice...

[Jim Frye]

Today, I ran ouf of cordless battery power for the second time out on a project. I have been tearing down a 15 year old deck made of treated yellow pine and today was spent cutting up 2x8 joists and 4x8 beams. I was using my 18 volt cordless reciprocating saw nearly constantly and ran out of charged packs in the late afternoon. I had 6 battery packs and two chargers. It was in the mid 60's in temperature and I had the packs and chargers in the shade (I have a tote that holds the packs and chargers). The problem was not that the chargers could not charge the packs properly ( 1 hour chargers). The problem was that I could not get the packs to cool down from the intense usage soon enough to keep me supplied. I had the spent packs lying on the grass in the shade, but they still would not cool enough internally to allow the chargers to begin the charge cycle. This is the second time this has happened to me. The 6x2 setup has always been sufficient before. The temperature sensor in these packs is buired deep in the center of the pack, so the pack has to be really cooled down before the charger will kickin.
Does anyone have a tip or technique to cool spent battery packs quickly, without a cooler and ice?

[just4funsies]

I use the A/C in my car...

[crokett]

Hey Jim,

Haven't heard from you in a looong time. If you are working around someones house could you use their fridge or freezer?

[Andrew Benedetto]

I always have a small fan cooling the charger and battery. I nerer seem to get a really hot pack .
My Milwaulkee Hatchet w.18v packs do not overheat. I have a Ryobi 18v as backup ,but it is no contest compared to the speed /smoothness of the RED tool. I think the Ryobi is not really a tool for that type of use.
I opened mine up to lube it and it has a totally different build than the Milwaulkee,sleeve bearings and the saw end has a very small bronze bearing on the shaft. I would grease that shaft often if I were you , doing that kind of work. The factory had almost no grease inside my saw.

[onedash]

Wouldnt a corded tool work better?

[dwolsten]

Wouldnt a corded tool work better?

That's what I was about to say. I really don't understand this obsession with cordless tools; a 100 foot extension cord is really all you need 99% of the time.

Cordless tools cost more, have less power, run out of power at inconvenient times, and worst of all, the battery packs are a nightmare: they're proprietary and not interchangeable, they're expensive to replace, there are no generic equivalents, and since they use common battery technology (which isn't very good) the batteries have a very limited lifespan before they won't hold much charge.

I'll stick with my old-fashioned corded tools.

[cwsmith]

Not sure how heat conductive the case on those batteries are, but the best advice I can think of is to lay the battery on an aluminum sheet with the most conductive (probably flattest) side against the sheet. Basic idea is to provide a larger heatsink for cooling. Hopefully the case will transfer the heat to the aluminum where it will have a larger area for cooling. (Remember those "magic" plates that you could set your frozen steak or burgers on and it would thaw them in less then half the normal time?) If you have an old heatsink from a power supply, it might work better. Of course a fan would help, but I presume if you aren't using a corded tool, then you probably don't have power to run a fan either.

CWS

[steve-u]

I think cordless drills and especially impact drivers are great. For sawing any more than a little bit away from the shop I like my 11 amp Sawzall or circular saw. If there are no outlets around I bought a small generator from Sam's club years back that works great for those situations. --- Steve

[Jim Boyd]

Dunk them in a bucket of ice water. Remember that Firestorm drill I posted about a long time ago on the Ryobi forum? I used it for drilling some holes underwater on the bottom drain of a swimming pool and it is still going

[ted van halen]

If you're just tearing it down, why not use a chainsaw?

Ted

[onedash]

Wouldnt a corded tool work better?

I do have a cordless drill that I use for screws and the ocassional hole but most of the time to drill more than 2 or 3 holes I break out my dewalt. For screws my cordless is all I use.
My circular saw and recipricating saw are both corded. Love the dewalt recip saw my craftsman circ saw pretty much sucks. Gonna get a PC eventually.

[Hellrazor]

When I was still using my Crapsman 18v drill, the batteries were always in the refridge cooling off for a recharge. So called fast chargers are a joke when the packs have to cool off in order for the charger to work.

Ridgid chargers have a builtin fan to cool the charger and packs. I have yet to have a pack not charge. I have 6 batteries for my Ridgids and I have yet to run out of packs.

As far as corded, they are great... but they are not handy. If I have the choice of dealing with battery packs or a lot of extensions cords, I will always deal with the packs.

I'll second the chainsaws for demolition work, use a chain you don't care about and go.

[Jim Frye]

The cost of chains when you hit a nail or screw. (nt)

If you're just tearing it down, why not use a chainsaw?

Ted

blades are a lot cheaper and easier to change than the chain. I also had a bunch of cuts near concrete. I was using a cordless saw because I don't own a corded recip. saw. I agree for the intense use, a corded tool would have been better, but I gotta use what I got.