Charging an 18volt drill from 12volt batteries.

[tjbrace]

Is there a device to do this safely. The drill batteries are lithium ion and have 3 connections so not just + and -. The drills charger is for 240volts as is usual. We’re on a swinging mooring so no mains.
I think Winchrite have something for their machine.

 

[Old Harry]

Is there a device to do this safely. The drill batteries are lithium ion and have 3 connections so not just + and -. The drills charger is for 240volts as is usual. We’re on a swinging mooring so no mains.
I think Winchrite have something for their machine.

you need an inverter or a hand drill

 

[coopec]

How do I convert 12v to 240v?
If you want to use any mains power electrics or electronics in the car, then most likely you will need one of there inverters. It convert the 12V DC of the car battery into 240V AC. You can then plug your device into this inverter just like you would do with a normal UK wall socket.
Power Inverter 150W / 300W DC 12V to AC 240V With Car Plug Cable Caravan Camping | eBay

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Do you have an old drill where the battery is no good ?

I borrowed a drill from a neighbouring berth and it had been converted to
use from a cigar lighter plug. Worked very well.

I believe there are Youtube vids on how to convert.

 

[Norman_E]

Be careful when buying an inverter. It is possible that your 240 volt charger needs a pure sine wave supply and not a modified square wave that some sellers call "sine wave". I suspect that any 20 dollar inverter is actually square wave no matter what the sellers call it. The one pictured is called "modified sine wave". There is really no such thing, it will actually be modified square wave. Pure sine wave inverters are more expensive to produce, so there are many fakes and weasel worded adverts.

 

[Refueler]

Is there a device to do this safely. The drill batteries are lithium ion and have 3 connections so not just + and -. The drills charger is for 240volts as is usual. We’re on a swinging mooring so no mains.
I think Winchrite have something for their machine.

Absolutely YES.

The RC world - we use Lithium batterys up to 6S as common .... and these can all be charged from 12 batterys. Higher than 6S and it needs more power and we would usually have a generator ...

For about 20 quid - you could buy a programmable Lithium mains / 12v powered charger that you set to the battery format and voltage / amps ... will charge automatically and then shut off when full.

The only question is the connection.... and the balance lead (Balance lead ensures that each cell is same as the others ...)

But here are a few examples

lIpO CHARGERS | eBay

from major hobby supplier :

Batteries / Chargers

Most LiPo chargers have different settings to suit the type of battery you have ... NiCd .. NiMh ... LiIon .. LiFEPo ... LiPo ... and even the LiPoH (high voltage LiPo's) .....
They usually charge much better than factory chargers and have the ability to storage charge your batterys to avoid early failure ....

If you can show the drill / or give us make etc. - then we can maybe identify best solution....

 

[coopec]

Be careful when buying an inverter. It is possible that your 240 volt charger needs a pure sine wave supply and not a modified square wave that some sellers call "sine wave". I suspect that any 20 dollar inverter is actually square wave no matter what the sellers call it. The one pictured is called "modified sine wave". There is really no such thing, it will actually be modified square wave. Pure sine wave inverters are more expensive to produce, so there are many fakes and weasel worded adverts.

Good point.
I'm saving all my old 12V (and 18V) cordless tools as I plan to run then of my 24V battery bank. (As Long Keeler suggests above)

 

[Refueler]

Do you have an old drill where the battery is no good ?

I borrowed a drill from a neighbouring berth and it had been converted to
use from a cigar lighter plug. Worked very well.

I believe there are Youtube vids on how to convert.

The other way is to dump the original battery and upgrade to a decent LiPo or LiFe battery .....

Here's one of mine converted and is more powerful ... lasts longer .... charges faster and better of my LiPo charger ...

I later changed it to 3S (12.6V LiPo) as the LiPo can deliver far higher amps under load than a NiCd ...

 

[John the kiwi]

Absolutely YES.

The RC world - we use Lithium batterys up to 6S as common .... and these can all be charged from 12 batterys. Higher than 6S and it needs more power and we would usually have a generator ...

For about 20 quid - you could buy a programmable Lithium mains / 12v powered charger that you set to the battery format and voltage / amps ... will charge automatically and then shut off when full.

The only question is the connection.... and the balance lead (Balance lead ensures that each cell is same as the others ...)

But here are a few examples

lIpO CHARGERS | eBay

from major hobby supplier :

Batteries / Chargers

Most LiPo chargers have different settings to suit the type of battery you have ... NiCd .. NiMh ... LiIon .. LiFEPo ... LiPo ... and even the LiPoH (high voltage LiPo's) .....
They usually charge much better than factory chargers and have the ability to storage charge your batterys to avoid early failure ....

If you can show the drill / or give us make etc. - then we can maybe identify best solution....

I ditched a beloved makita drill because the charger died and makita wanted stupid money to replace it. Are you saying i could have bought a reasonably priced replacement Lithium Ion charger? What should i have looked for?
Thanks

 

[Refueler]

Good point.
I'm saving all my old 12V (and 18V) cordless tools as I plan to run then of my 24V battery bank. (As Long Keeler suggests above)

Or stick a battery in as I did ... but of course I'm lucky as I have a box full of ex flight LiPo's !! and charger of course.

 

[Refueler]

I ditched a beloved makita drill because the charger died and makita wanted stupid money to replace it. Are you saying i could have bought a reasonably priced replacement Lithium Ion charger? What should i have looked for?
Thanks

You are not the only one to do that ..... sad but true.

Look at the links and my video above ............. then next time - you'l know what to do !!

 

[lw395]

If I'm doing enough drilling in one day to flatten my Li-Ion drill, I take my 500W inverter and a mains drill.

It ought to be easy to charge 18V from solar?

 

[duncan99210]

I’ve got a cheap Maplin 1000w inverter which has been on the boat for years: it powers drill battery chargers, laptops, phones etc. Whilst some chargers may be sensitive to the quality of the ac current delivered to them, I’ve yet to find one.

 

[coopec]

 

[prv]

Without doubt the simplest way if you have a decent brand tool, if perhaps not the cheapest, is just to buy the manufacturer's 12v charger aimed at tradesmen's vans. That's what I did when I replaced my main Makita and relegated the old one to the boat toolkit. I don't remember what it cost, but it can't have been outrageous or I'd just have kept the hand drill I previously had on board.

Pete

 

[PetiteFleur]

I've an Aldi 16v drill on board which I can charge with a 150w inverter which I've had for many years and seems to work fine. I've 2 batteries so usually used when ashore and can plug in.

 

[tjbrace]

May I explain further.
Not planning to drill but to hoist my fb main which has Ronstan Ballslide cars. It’s quite heavy for me now and the combination of cabin top winches and sprayhood means you can’t fully rotate the winch handle.
The bit in the drill overcomes this and gets the main up to within half a metre of full hoist. The last part I can do manually.
The drill I am sacrificing is a very cheap Guild and is 18 volts, it came with 2 battery packs. So a 12v charger is a tempoary solution until either the drill, battery packs, or I expire.

 

[jwilson]

Problem with Lithium batteries is if you get the charging regime wrong (usually by not using the proper manufacturers charger) you can get a fire and/or a substantial explosion from the batteries. Ypou can't just safely connect them to something else providing 18 volts or whatever the voltage is - it has to be a proper programmed charger that gives them enough and not too much or too long.

 

[Refueler]

Problem with Lithium batteries is if you get the charging regime wrong (usually by not using the proper manufacturers charger) you can get a fire and/or a substantial explosion from the batteries. Ypou can't just safely connect them to something else providing 18 volts or whatever the voltage is - it has to be a proper programmed charger that gives them enough and not too much or too long.

Which is why I linked to two sites selling Lithium programmable chargers ...

 

[lw395]

Which is why I linked to two sites selling Lithium programmable chargers ...

But you'd have to open the battery packs to get to the cells if you went this route.
As the OP has two battery packs and one charger, then it's imperative not to blow up the charger, so I'm reluctant to suggest using a cheap inverter to get 230V, to run the charger.
It really shouldn't be hard for charger manufacturers to design their products to work with the kind of power that comes out of a cheap inverter, but there are stories of such damage happening.
I don't know that drill charger to know if one can get between the mains and the control part of it to drive it with a DC/DC convertor.
So there is no easy answer.
I have a nice little Li Ion drill which charges from 12V, but it probably lacks the power.

If a car charger is available for that drill, that would be the way to go for someone who doesn't want to take risks and isn't going to reverse-engineer the charger.

How about a 2:1 halyard?
Or a 'war against friction', look at every part of the system. Try thinner halyard etc etc.