drill battery

[Mdkanz]

I have a drill that i'm using and i need more power so i was wondering if i could connect the 9.6v drill battery with 6 sub-c 1.2v cell in series. I just want to make sure that it is not going to damage the 9.6v drill battery

 

[crutschow]

It won't hurt the battery but it could burn out the drill motor or its electronics.

 

[Mdkanz]

Is there a way to tell how many volts the motor can handle???

 

[Hero999]

Yes, look at the motor's data sheet.

 

[crutschow]

A drill motor's maximum voltage rating is likely the voltage of the supplied battery (they want to use as cheap a motor as possible and thus allow little margin in its rating). Thus any higher voltage will probably burn it out.

 

[giftiger_wunsch]

Your best bet is just to purchase a more powerful drill. I believe I have one laying around which uses an 18V battery.

 

[marcbarker]

I have a drill that i'm using and i need more power so i was wondering if i could connect the 9.6v drill battery with 6 sub-c 1.2v cell in series. I just want to make sure that it is not going to damage the 9.6v drill battery

Let me get this straight... You want more power from a drill. OK. By bumping up the voltage by 7.2 V. Hmmm.

Well I know it'd spin a lot faster, and it could also go kaput, but it's probably worth the risk to you. To lessen chance of overvoltage, I think maybe you'd be better off using running the 9.6 V drill off a 12 V lead acid battery instead, it's not that much higher in voltage than 9.6, and it'd hold 12 V better under load.

 

[tcmtech]

I have boosted old cordless drills before just by taking out the old drill battery and wiring in a external belt pack that held much more amps hours and at a slightly higher voltage. It will give you more power and longer run time. But still a bigger purpose built drill is best.
I say boost it up to what ever you have.
If its already 9.6 Volt changing to a larger capacity 9.6 volt wont hurt anything and will give you a proportionally longer run time. More voltage will give you more power but there is a chance the motor or switch wont take the higher power nearly as well for extended run times.
It could give up right away or it could be still working well years from now.

Either way you either get a more power from what you have or at least a good excuse to buy a bigger one when this one gives up!!

 

[bountyhunter]

I'm not convinced it would spin faster, it may have a speed control in it's electronics for the motor. I definitely agree it will probably blow things up, starting with the electronic motor control circuits.

If the motor speed is "dragging down" under load, you may need a better battery with stronger cells that can deliver more current, not necessarily more voltage.

 

[giftiger_wunsch]

I'm not convinced it would spin faster, it may have a speed control in its electronics for the motor.

Would this not simply be in the form of voltage regulation? Or at least regulating 'average voltage' using PWM? Either way if it is regulated, raising the voltage will have no real beneficial effects, and whether it is or not, it will run the risk of damaging the electronics... really not worth it when you could simply buy a drill designed to operate at a higher voltage.

 

[ParkingLotLust]

Overpowering a motor does work, but Im sure its not good for the motor. For instance, my roommate has a cheap no-name drill that uses a 15v battery, and when we cracked it open, it had a 12v motor. Go figure.

 

[bountyhunter]

Would this not simply be in the form of voltage regulation? Or at least regulating 'average voltage' using PWM? Either way if it is regulated, raising the voltage will have no real beneficial effects, and whether it is or not, it will run the risk of damaging the electronics... really not worth it when you could simply buy a drill designed to operate at a higher voltage.

It's been a few years, but motor speed control IC's do not simply regulate the voltage they also look at other things, they also have current limiters. I know the DC cooling fans have them, not sure about drills. Better quality cassette decks have speed control IC's on their motors, but the best ones like my Sony use a magnetic sensor on the flywheel in a feedback loop to control the motor.

 

[marcbarker]

Don't take it too seriously, just try it, it's only a piece of plastic!

And recycle responsibly folks!

 

[audioguru]

Connecting six 1.2V cells in series makes only 7.2V.
If it is connected in parallel with the drill's 9.6V battery then one or both batteries will blow up.

 

[giftiger_wunsch]

Connecting six 1.2V cells in series makes only 7.2V.
If it is connected in parallel with the drill's 9.6V battery then one or both batteries will blow up.

I believe his plan was to connect the six 1.2V cells in series with the existing battery.

 

[tcmtech]

Cordless drills have very simple speed regulators. They have a basic unlimited current capacity PWM system that drives the motor up to about 90% PWM and then a mechanical contact inside the trigger closes and gives the motor 100% of what the battery has available.
Most only have a self reseting circuit breaker in them for over current protection. I have yet to repair one that was high or low end quality that was not set up that way.
Typically most are sized so that at full output the battery goes dead about the same time the motor is overheating. It partly why the old cordless drills had 2.8 - 3.4 AH battery packs and could burn out a motor and the new ones only have 1.8 - 2.3 AH battery packs but rarely burn out motors. The new drills run out of battery before the motor cooks it self.

Doubling the motors input voltage will give it more powr but at at lower duty cycle and that much over voltage will likely burn out the speed controler or strip out the gears!

 

[Ghosty_Ghoul]

I've seen a drill burn out before, nothing spectacular, the motor just got slow and emitted a cloud of smoke. We looked into replacing the armature but it cost nearly as much as the drill.

 

[Mdkanz]

Just to clear up some questions: i'm connecting the drill in series with the other cells, I took out the drill electronics and put in a switch so only the battery and motor are original.

 

[marcbarker]

Does the motor spin lot faster than before? Someone here said it wouldn't, but they probably didn't realise you removed the speed control. If you still haven't got enough torque, try a car battery!

 

[Mdkanz]

I don't know if it was faster but it had more torque. (it went faster even before i took out the speed control)