Run a 12V drill off boat batteries?

Ross D

Ross D

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I was thinking of buying a second hand 12V Dewalt drill without a battery on ebay they are pretty cheap, less than £20. Opening it up and connecting some high current wiring or jump lead cables to clips I can put on the boat batteries if I need to drill when I am at sea.

Any thoughts? :eek: or :D
 
Just a thought.

My 14/4 volt challenge drill takes a max of 18 amps when drilling steel at 12,5 volts, use it on a wandering lead aboard and boy does it prodce some torque. so be careful when using.
 
I did just that some years back and the drill is still going strong. It was a 12v drill and destined for the bin as the battery had died - new drill cheaper than battery!

Do use reasonably heavy cable to avoid voltage drop and overheating.
 
I did it with one of my old 12V Dewalts - battery was shagged so opened it, took out the batteries added a piece of lead for ballast (same weight as batteries) secured by hot melt glue, fixed some 12# cables to the battery holder terminals, fed cables through a hole drilled in the battery holder and fixed crocodile clips to the ends of the cables. - bought a replacement drill so now have one drill with 3 batteries and one with a "battery adaptor" handy also when in the shop and all three batteries are on charge - just drop in the "adaptor" and hook up to a 12v car battery. Not had a problem running the older drill on pukka 12V though it does not like it when the engine is running and the battery is being charged ~15V. ;)
I also put toghether a couple of 12V alarm batteries to make a little portable power supply - great for working around the boat away from the main batteries.
 
wouldnt be without mine

12 volt Makita. a damn good drill until the charger died and a new charger was more expensive than a whole kit.
Without doing any arithmetic i used a power lead off a dead vacuum cleaner that had a rewind cord on the basis that it is reasonable copper cross section long enough to reach around the boat and floppy. Being floppy makes it easier to use than if you had a stiff flex.
Gets a bit of use but never for sustained work like grinding or polishing.
So far so good.
 
I have an ancient cordless drill which was originally 4.8V.
I use it at 12V, from a big battery, with no problems, it's handy when you need several drill bits frequently.
If it blows up, so be it, it is not worth buy a new battery for it.
I think most of the cost was in the batteries, the motors can usually take more volts if you don't stall it too much.
 
I am glad this post came up because i was trying to think of a way of getting diesel from a 20 litre can into the tank when under way. Normally if there is any chop some of the fuel spills on the deck & gets into the cockpit. It is then really dangerous as it is like being on ice & inevitably gets below on ones boots
I had thought of using a couple of lengths of hose & one of those pumps that fit in a drill. I intended to bolt a drill in the locker with pump attached & powering it from the 12V system. When I want to fuel up i would stick 1 hose in the tank & one in the can. Using the switch on the drill I can control the flow of fuel & hopefully avoid the ice rink scenario
From what i read above it should work
 
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