jason41987
New Member
i was wondering if anyones ever created their own battery pack using AA NiMh cells for cordless power tools?.... an NIMH AA battery is i believe 2.9Ah, 1.2v, meaning 15 of these would give 18v neccessary to power the tool and an Ah rating higher than the standard battery..
i figure if i create a project box capable of holding 15 AA batteries, three rows of 5 stacked on top of eachother wired in series, id get the voltage and the capacity i need... then i could plastic-weld the top half of an old battery pack on top of this so itll fit in the tool... then when the batteries all die from being too old, i can open up the compartment, empty the batteries, and buy a new pack of rechargables
question is... how would this work with the orginal charger...if i use the top off the old battery pack, it should fit the standard charger too
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another thing ive thought of doing is building a power supply.. like a power strip i can plug into my wall or a heavy duty extension cord thatll convert 110v AC to 18v DC...perhaps at a 1500w maximum output.. heck a 1000w maximum should be plenty to run multiple tools.. then i can just wire a socket to the tool itself and run a removable cord between the tool and the power supply
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so... what do you guys think of these ideas of lowering the total cost over the life of these tools, extend their usage long after they change the form factor for the batteries, and also give me the option to go corded when im at a work-bench and dont need portability?
i figure if i create a project box capable of holding 15 AA batteries, three rows of 5 stacked on top of eachother wired in series, id get the voltage and the capacity i need... then i could plastic-weld the top half of an old battery pack on top of this so itll fit in the tool... then when the batteries all die from being too old, i can open up the compartment, empty the batteries, and buy a new pack of rechargables
question is... how would this work with the orginal charger...if i use the top off the old battery pack, it should fit the standard charger too
---
another thing ive thought of doing is building a power supply.. like a power strip i can plug into my wall or a heavy duty extension cord thatll convert 110v AC to 18v DC...perhaps at a 1500w maximum output.. heck a 1000w maximum should be plenty to run multiple tools.. then i can just wire a socket to the tool itself and run a removable cord between the tool and the power supply
---
so... what do you guys think of these ideas of lowering the total cost over the life of these tools, extend their usage long after they change the form factor for the batteries, and also give me the option to go corded when im at a work-bench and dont need portability?