Rebuild NiCad or Upgrade to Lithium Ion?

[Uncle Hook]

I have a Milwaukee cordless drill and impact driver set in excellent condition that uses 14.4 volt NiCad batteries which no longer take a charge.

I am try to figure out whether I should rebuild the 2 NiCads at a cost of $35.00 each plus $20.00 for two way shipping ($90 Total) or buy a 12V compact cordless drill driver set like the Porter Cable going on sale at Woodcraft for $129.00 (hopefully with free shipping) on Sat Dec 11.

http://www.woodcraft.com/

I like the Milwaukee Drill / Impact driver set but I don't use it very often. I suspect that is why the battery no longer takes a charge. Is the smart play for an infrequent user to upgrade to the Lithium Ion or is there a good argument to rebuild the NiCads?

I wonder what others are doing when the similar situations arises. For those of you who decide to upgrade, do the old NiCad tools go to the trash / junkman?

I have found the following links informative but I am undecided about the best course of action.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2816

http://primecell.com/qli-Ion.htm

If I rebuild I will probably buy from here as their prices are good and they are located relatively close me.

http://www.mtobattery.com/store/

I would appreciate input anyone might want to provide.

[herb fellows]

Based solely on the fact that you rarely use them, I would go with the new lithium ion. At least that way when you do go to use it, it will be working.
You'll end up spending more time charging the tool than using it if you stick with the nicads.
As for what to do with the old tools, if you're like me you'll leave them around the house until they turn into ashes by themselves. I'm really bad at throwing anything away!

[cwsmith]

I can't speak for every tool and I do know that there are differences. But I have a couple of Ridgid drill/drivers (9.6 NiCad Pivot Driver and a 14.4 NiCad Drill/Driver) and a couple of years ago I received the newer compact 12-Volt Li-Ion Drill/Driver.

The 12-V Li-Ion will NOT handle the loads that the NiCad units do. In practice, my little 9.6 NiCad does much better. Certainly the Li-Ion unit will hold a charge much longer and I often wonder when exactly am I ever going to wear them down. But under heavy load, the Li-Ion safety circuitry simply shuts them down, almost like I have a defective trigger switch. It just stops and then intermittantly starts and stops repeatedly. It won't handle the load and at that point it won't take a recharge either. I have to wait several hours.

But, the NiCads simple drain out slowly and you feel and hear it. When that happens, you know you have to switch batteries or do a recharge, which you can do immediately.

Of course I don't know it larger size units like the 18-Volt Li-Ions show this pattern, but certainly there does seem to be several posts regarding Li-Ion Ridgid units displaying a similar problem. I have yet to read this kind of failure on a NiCad.... although they do loose chargeability over three or four years with some users.

As I said though, I am not at all sure this would be the case with other brands and thier designed Li-Ion circuitry.

I hope this helps,

CWS

[aggrex]

The 12V power tools should be considered an addition to the 14.4/18V power tools. The 12V power tools are light, smaller and convenient for smaller jobs but lack the torque/power for bigger jobs. IMO if the Milwaukees are in great shape try to rebuild the Nicad batteries. I would not toss them out too quickly because they might be worth something to others. New 18V Li versions of the drill/impact combo are approximate 190 to 200+, i.e. Makita

[Uncle Hook]

Thanks for the replies. I decided to order the porter cable combo kit and give it a try.

[cwithboat]

Save up all your batteries and recycle them at your local center. They are quite poisonous.