Be careful… IIRC, DeWalt batteries actually rely on circuitry in the tools, and it’s possible for an old tool to over-discharge them and reduce their capacity pretty drastically. Specifically, it seems the “low voltage cutoff” lives in the tool for DeWalt (and Makita and Milwaukee I think), while Ridgid, Ryobi, and B&D have it in the battery. The two former are for backwards compatibility, and I think the latter because god knows what stupid garbage tools they’ll throw at the line next (though my B&D sander is… fine).
@wjrii Thanks for the good information. I knew that PC NiCad tools had no communication to the battery, not sure about their newer LI ones. Regardless I find that the DW batt last so long on the PC tools that I always end up charging them when I think I should rather than when they actually need it. Rarely do they get down to 1 light, let alone full discharge As the PC tools die (which is taking a very long time, only 1 of 9 so far) going with DW brushless which have even better batt life.
@Mwallerby Let the mutants rise! I My entire suite of old ni-cad PC tools run like a charm on DW batteries.
Be careful… IIRC, DeWalt batteries actually rely on circuitry in the tools, and it’s possible for an old tool to over-discharge them and reduce their capacity pretty drastically. Specifically, it seems the “low voltage cutoff” lives in the tool for DeWalt (and Makita and Milwaukee I think), while Ridgid, Ryobi, and B&D have it in the battery. The two former are for backwards compatibility, and I think the latter because god knows what stupid garbage tools they’ll throw at the line next (though my B&D sander is… fine).
Yes, that’s the point. With an adapter the user must perform the low-volt-detection manually.
@wjrii Thanks for the good information. I knew that PC NiCad tools had no communication to the battery, not sure about their newer LI ones. Regardless I find that the DW batt last so long on the PC tools that I always end up charging them when I think I should rather than when they actually need it. Rarely do they get down to 1 light, let alone full discharge As the PC tools die (which is taking a very long time, only 1 of 9 so far) going with DW brushless which have even better batt life.