# Cordless drill batteries. Who is using them?



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Amongst those of us who use cordless drill batteries for our power I want to know what brand your are using.

What brand ?

What type?

You will never guss who is having problems.

JJ


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

John,

I been using Milwaukee, 18 volt, I think they are 2.2 amh. With two USA engines I get about a hour
run time.

Don


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

18v Black and Decker.


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## barnmichael (Jan 2, 2008)

I use an 18 volt Rigid. I get about 12 hours operating with my Bachman Bumblebee pulling five cars. Gotta put it in a boxcar, though. It's big.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The cool thing about Rigid, is if you "Register" them, you get a lifetime warranty on the battery. Just don't modify them. 

Greg


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

I've got a slew of Ryobi One+ tools and batteries. I've not used them in any of my trains (yet) and likely won't. I've not justified the extra cost to jump to the newer cells and up until this year had plenty of batteries that were good. Suddenly this summer a good share of them will no longer take a charge. i tried the freezer trick and it let me charge a few of them again. I've thought of sending them in for new cells to CR but I can buy two new packs for the price of re-building one pack?!!??!! That's a tough pill to swallow. 

Chas


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## rmcintir (Apr 24, 2009)

I went el-cheapo and use a few Harbor Freight 18 volt batteries for $9 each. Each consistently lasts 2-3 hours pulling 3-4 cars on a variety of engines (USA diesels to Bachmann steam). Don't use their charger, buy a smart charger. http://www.batteryspace.com/multi-c...6v-18vnimhbatterypackstamiyaplugullisted.aspx 
Their charger will destroy the battery. I did buy their charger so I could make a quick connector for my smart charger. Never used it as a charger but the wall wart was fine for another application. 

Eventually I will get lithium ion batteries for a few of my locos as they will easily fit internally. No hurry yet, when I have more switching and multiple locos I will start down that path.


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## Biblegrove RR (Jan 4, 2008)

18Volt Black and Deckers, slide in type that fit in battery cars nicely. Paid $50 for a drill, 2 batteries and a charger. Drill works great too, when not running trains - MULTI PURPOSE! You watched the boy race around the main lines at Marty's all day on these things! I have purchased some Lion AA's that I need to solder together this winter and make packs for engines, this will rid the battery car for certain engines I guess, but will probably always use these drill batteries too.


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## Markhowe (Oct 3, 2010)

Hi Ho, I have been using the Mikita 18V Lithium Ion. So far I get about 4 to 5 hours with full volume sound and a four to five car consist. They are expensive but recharge in about 20 minutes. Actually, it is not my idea. I got the idea from a friend here in Seattle, Mr. Stuvland. Mark Howe


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## hap (Jan 3, 2008)

i use the Harbor freight ones also 4 hour run time with sound and smoke 18 volt ones with a TE trackside in freight car and use the charger for them about 4 hour charge time haave batteries sinece 2005


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By barnmichael on 16 Nov 2010 01:00 PM 
I use an 18 volt Rigid. I get about 12 hours operating with my Bachman Bumblebee pulling five cars. Gotta put it in a boxcar, though. It's big. 

I have the 18 volt Ridgid Ion type. Every two or three minutes the voltage drops form 18 volts to 12 or 13. If my track side is in p PWM The train stops with a jerk. All the cars abandon track. 

I press start on the remote and it starts back up again ....

If I have the Track Side in Linear the train jerks and continues on.

This is with a NW-2 and about 4 cars behind it.

I went to Milwaukee 18 NIMH. Problem solved.

That is why I started this thread to see what guys were doing.

JJ


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## flats (Jun 30, 2008)

I'm useing the black and decker batteries and I get around 2 hours run time 
but I have 2 units lashup running on them, usually 2 sd45 or 2 dash9s. 

Ken owner of K&K the road to nowhere


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

JJ, that is just plain strange... when the Rigid batteries do this, is it one or two batteries? Do you have more than one? Do they all do this? 

I wonder if it's not some protection circuitry, but I have a hard time believing that your train is "working" the battery harder than a drill... 

Curious. 

Greg


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## carlferg (Mar 18, 2009)

have been using black & decker 14.4 nicad battery packs with great success. just aquired a 20 volt lit/ion black & decker just to get the batts. for train. need help! lit/ion batt, has 4 contacts 3 of which connect to tool when installed. probed the batt with volt ohm meter and found output voltage terminals. will it work to use these terminals only to feed my aristo revo reciever or does that third terminal come into play to monitor batt voltage depleation? id on the batt is LB20. thanks, carl


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 15 Jan 2011 08:42 AM 
JJ, that is just plain strange... when the Rigid batteries do this, is it one or two batteries? Do you have more than one? Do they all do this? 

I wonder if it's not some protection circuitry, but I have a hard time believing that your train is "working" the battery harder than a drill... 

Curious. 

Greg 

Sorry I forgot about this post.

All my Ridgid Litho Ion batteries do it.

The Unloaded drill draws around 6 amps

My train with two SD-45 and about 25 cars draw 3.5 amps.

I have since converted to Milwaukey NMH. 

I still use the Ridgid for  work around the house.

Also I had some ridgid batters on the shelf sincd I had 4 of them Two have gone south.

I am real disapointed. 

JJ


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I'd guess it's some protection circuitry, although you would think that the voltage would drop out entirely. 

It would almost seem like a limiter that "Warms up" only on continuous duty, but you would think that would show up using a drill, but do you run the drill for 1/2 hour solid? Maybe this is the key. 

Well, there's some real world experience of a brand that would most likely to "pass" on. 

Thanks JJ, I'm sure you have helped someone else not make a mistake. 

Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 20 Feb 2011 06:26 PM 
I'd guess it's some protection circuitry, although you would think that the voltage would drop out entirely. 

It would almost seem like a limiter that "Warms up" only on continuous duty, but you would think that would show up using a drill, but do you run the drill for 1/2 hour solid? Maybe this is the key. 

Well, there's some real world experience of a brand that would most likely to "pass" on. 

Thanks JJ, I'm sure you have helped someone else not make a mistake. 

Greg The occurrence of the jerks in the train were about 2 minutes apart. I tied down the trigger on the cordless drill for much longer than that and it had no problem. No jerks or stopping.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I gotcha, but how long after you started the train did it take before this happened? That is, did it run fine for 15 minutes, and then start this behavior? 

Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 20 Feb 2011 10:06 PM 
I gotcha, but how long after you started the train did it take before this happened? That is, did it run fine for 15 minutes, and then start this behavior? 

Greg 

Al most immediately Train would travel about 20 ft or 25 feet and it would happen


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Strange, it would seem that somehow the load of the loco was triggering something in the pack, but it's not as simple as amps of load, which is about the only thing the pack can sense. 

Are there only 3 contacts on the battery itself too? 

I'm stumped. 

Greg


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## barnmichael (Jan 2, 2008)

I run a train for 5-8 hours continuously at a train show with a Rigid battery. I've never had a problem yet. I ran it at Marty's for an hour or two at a time. It lasted the whole weekend on one charge. I just use the + and - pins on the battery. I ran a critter controller then upgraded to a Revolution. No problems with either. 

Michael


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## TonyWalsham (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ. 
Are the two SD-45's being run back to back? 
If so I understand that not all SD-45's were isolated on both[/b] sides by the TRACK - BATTERY switch. They will be OK line astern, but, when back to back I believe it is possible to have the ESC short out on the track, no matter whether the switch was set to BATTERY or not.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

There are 4 contacts on the battery. The two middle contacts have something to do with charging. 

This problem happens with a NW-2 running with only the battery car.

It happens with two SD-45s and a 25 cars only with more disastrous results.









I ran on my work bench using a 27 Track side mounted in a battery car.

I had a current meter and a volt meter in the circuit.

Running at full power the volt meter read 18 volts.

At the time of the anomaly the voltage dropped to 12.5 to 13 volts.

I wonder if it could be some kind of feed back from the Trackside? 

It does this in both PWM and Linear.

In PWM the engine stops. in Linear it jerks and sometimes stops 

There are fellow train freaks out there using the Milwaukee Litho Ion battery with no problem.

I may try to open one of the Ridgid batteries to see what is inside.

The car goes in the shop tomorrow so I will be stuck at home. 

JJ


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm wondering if the batteries don't have some "feedback" connection from the drill, that is not connected in the way you are using them. 

Most batteries have only 2 connectors (old style) or 3 (where one apparently helps assist in determining charging state)... 4 connectors gives rise to the possibility that there are more "smarts" involved, and feedback from the drill could be involved. 

Greg


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## mgilger (Feb 22, 2008)

The 3rd connection, and maybe 4th in some cases, is a thermistor feedback to the charger. As the battery heats up during a fast charge, the battery can easily overheat. The charger will then reduce the charge current accordingly, and in some cases shut down the charger once that particular point is reached. If your going to slow charge all the time,


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By barnmichael on 16 Nov 2010 01:00 PM 
I use an 18 volt Rigid. I get about 12 hours operating with my Bachman Bumblebee pulling five cars. Gotta put it in a boxcar, though. It's big. 

Michael

Are you using the Lithium Ion type?

I am very interested in what you are doing. You seem to have done what I started out to do

I really like my Ridgid tools. 

JJ


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