I hate battery powered drills!

[R5GTT]

Your machine didn't break 1 day after the warranty ran out (366 days) - it broke down 364 days before the warranty runs out. Bosch DIY (Green) have a 2 year warranty, so get it back to where you got it from and problem solved

 

[Big Tone]

Bosch DIY (Green) have a 2 year warranty, so get it back to where you got it from and problem solved

Er, that must have been in the small print. Too late now. (No good being stupid if I don't prove it occasionally).

Oddly enough, after talking here I have been charging it with my trusty ole Farnell variable power supply, via a couple of croc clips, which bypasses the other two contacts, (presumably for overheating protection & sensing etc.), and managed to get enough oomph into it as new. It became too hot at a constant 1 amp but 400mA was just right to keep it charged but not overly hot. It doesn't last long but it's enough to put a few holes in the wall for raw plugs.

Maybe it's possible to re-vitalise them a little with clever external boosting? Using the original charger doesn't do a thing anymore.

I wonder if anyone else has tried, and succeeded, with this improper regime?

 

[Monkeh]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicad#Dendritic_shorting

 

[gregers]

my old dewalt 14 v cordless suffered from dendritic.itis and was nursed by throwing 50 volts through them over the course of about a year.finnaly they died after a short time after charging.
then had a makita mtx load of crap repalced 1 battery after about 14 mths then about 6 mths after that the other battery went.

now have a bosch lithium cordless with seperate inpact driver 'DOGS WOTSISTS'
must admit since obtaining the impact driver,i havnt used the drill for screwdriving at all.

have a bosch mains drill which i use for major stuff,also have a ferm 24 v cordless that comes out every now and then for a recharge and use.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

 

[muggles]

Please won't someone agree with me?

Nope, because you're wrong. Battery is king, mains is old hat unless it's a really high-draw application. The vast majority of my stuff is battery powered, all Bosch because it's reliable well-made kit with good backup. I run 36 volt and 10.8 volt, my 36v SDS is more powerful than the best 2kg-class SDS drill. I do own a mains 4kg drill which comes out less than five times a year I should think, and a mains circular saw which will be run until it dies then probably replaced with a 36v battery one.

I'd have battery over mains any day for most things

 

[Farzooks]

I don't have all that many cordless, but have acquired some over the years.
Years ago I was given a present of a Makita 7.2V small drill. I put it aside, thinking it was more of a toy than anything else. A long time later I found it under the bench and brought it out for a play. Imagine my surprise at the battery still holding a charge after some fifteen years of neglect and when I charged it up fully, I was even more surprised at how much torque the little thing had on L ratio gearing. Hmmm... I thought, this will do nicely for screwdriving, so I went on ebum and bought another identical model - for 99pence !
I've still got the pair of them and they're used in tandem for drilling pilot holes and screwing floors down. A pair of replacement nicads was dirt cheap from A1Battery.co.uk.
Another one I've had for years is an ex-BT 12V SDS Bosch cordless - gawd nose how many holes it had drilled before I bought it but it's been solid gold and in regular use with me over the past decade and more. I grudge paying for OEM batteries, so I molished a way of using a Makita 12V battery in it. Result - another decade of use looms.

So, overall, I'm quite happy with the cordless tools I use - they're just enough, they do the job and they're dead cheap to keep running. I use mains drills regularly and especially when I've got a lot of holes to SDS my way through - it's horses for courses, but there have been many times I've been out of reach of mains supplies and the cordless have been a real benefit.