Dewalt Nicad batteries

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Hi All

I wonder if you can give me some advice. I am a heavy DIY-er not trade. I have a full set (9 in total) of Dewalt cordless 18v tools all running the same 18v Nicad batteries. I have 7 (original Dewalt) batteries of which 1 by 1 they have dying over the years. I now have 1 that will hold charge for a bit and 1 that is good as new.

My options are to replace the entire set with a new Li-Ion one which will prob cost me £1,200 or buy new Nicad's (not sure if my old set is worth anything!). As I'm not trade they don't get used all the time so not keen on spending £1,200. I also don't want to keep buying new DC9096 batteries as they are not cheap and it's been going on for a while but 1.5 batteries is not enough.

I heard on the grapevine that you can by a Li-Ion adapter, is that right? Any other bright ideas?

This must be a common problem!

Many thanks
 
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Alternative might be to re-cell some of your existing batteries either yourself (by buying a welded tag battery cell set) or by putting the job out to a specialist such as Re-Cell Your Battery. I went the former way when I needed to refurbish the battery packs for a tool made by a now defunct German manufacturer a couple of years back. That meant trawling around the net a bit but I did eventually find a firm that sold what I was after. Personally I wasn't keen on going totally DIY and building my own induction welder to weld the tags onto the batteries last time around, but I might consider it on a future rebuild
 
I was talking to our Snap-on guy and he said NiCad batteries were banned in 2016?, they cannot sell a NiCad battery equipped tool.

All their gear is now on Lithium Ion pack.

You could have your NiCads recelled still, there are people who will repair your packs.

Personally I much prefer Lithium Ion, main point is the batteries don't self discharge so I know my drill will work straight out of the box when stood for months in between projects.
 
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I was talking to our Snap-on guy and he said NiCad batteries were banned in 2016?, they cannot sell a NiCad battery equipped tool.
He's right, but re-celling is still permitted. If the OP's charger will support NiMh that may be a better option. In fact looking at Amazon just now I found these really cheap after market NiMh batteries (£18.99 for 3Ah!)

Personally I much prefer Lithium Ion, main point is the batteries don't self discharge so I know my drill will work straight out of the box when stood for months in between projects.
Just be careful, though. Extremely cold weather can kill Li-Ion batteries. A few winters back when I was off ill for a while I made the mistake of leaving my Li-Ion batteries in the van for a couple of weeks. The temperature was well below freezing at night. It wrote-off three of my batteries (the ones which weren't fully charged when I parked the van up)
 
Thanks all, I've tried the cheap nicads and they're not great.

I can't see the li-ion adapters on the net bar ebay but might this be a slightly better long term option? I would need to buy a charger of course but re- calling is a bit pricey at £40-50 a battery.
 
I would definitely go Lithium Ion, much better than your old NiCad.

Do the adaptors stay with the batteries or on the tool?. Could you get away with 2 or 3 or Li-Ion batteries for your whole kit?.
 
if you do go for convertors either get genuine dewalt with the wings and in a large plastic blister or ones that people have used for ages as cheap knock offs can kill batteries first use then left unattended
 

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