Charging a portable drill battery from 12 vdc system

[Tom&Shelly]

If I wanted to take a cordless drill with me camping, and all I had to charge the drill's battery was the battery in my teardrop, I could bring an inverter and proprietary charger and charge the drill battery that way. But that's inefficient. Do they make DC-DC chargers for proprietary drill batteries? Anybody have a home brew solution? Especially for the newer lithium drill batteries?

I'm actually thinking about our garage 1/8th of a mile from the nearest AC power. Someday (not soon!) I want to add solar panels, batteries, and lights. I'll probably size it for an inverter that can run a relatively small shop vac for a half hour or so. So I could also plug the drill battery charger into that, but it seems like there should be a market for a DC-DC system.

So I'm curious, as much as anything at this point.

Interested in any comments...Thanks!

Tom

[twisted lines]

12 & 18 volt charger that plugs in cigarettes plug.
For sure if your using red.

Charger plugs into vehicle 12V or 24V DC outlet to charge M12 and M18 RedLithium li-ion batteries

[John61CT]

Yes I think now all of them do.

12V = car charger

do not trust ciggie port / plugs

[Pmullen503]

If your batteries are NiMh or NiCd you can use a simple RC battery charger and you'll have a sophisticated, safe charging profile. RC battery chargers are pretty much all DC-DC.

Lithium batteries probably need the charger they came with run off an inverter. They typically lack the balance connector the RC charger needs to balance charge a lipo. Some batteries have the BMS in the pack, some use protected cells. You don't often know.

I've rebuilt some old NiCd packs with lipos and added the proper balance leads so I can charge them with one of my RC chargers.

[Tom&Shelly]

12 & 18 volt charger that plugs in cigarettes plug.

Ah gee, of course! I'd been Googling all the wrong things not thinking about the obvious! (Guess I had it in mind that something would have to be modified, so I was looking for ideas like that.)

I see both Dewalt and Ryobi have them, which are likely to be the brands we'll use in our garage (just based on what we have--for some reason my in-laws gave us a few Dewalt drills).

Yes, I'm not sure I like the cigarette lighter plugs. Might rewire. But this solar system is at least a year or two away. Just thinking ahead.

Thanks all!

Tom

[bdosborn]

Lithium batteries probably need the charger they came with run off an inverter. They typically lack the balance connector the RC charger needs to balance charge a lipo. Some batteries have the BMS in the pack, some use protected cells. You don't often know.

That's a very good point, I'd be super careful about the charger you use. Unless the manufacturer offers a car charger for your tool, I'd use a small inverter (for lower losses) in your trailer with the charger that it came with.

Bruce

[twisted lines]

do not trust ciggie port / plugs

Good point to that

[Tom&Shelly]

Lithium batteries probably need the charger they came with run off an inverter. They typically lack the balance connector the RC charger needs to balance charge a lipo. Some batteries have the BMS in the pack, some use protected cells. You don't often know.

That's a very good point, I'd be super careful about the charger you use. Unless the manufacturer offers a car charger for your tool, I'd use a small inverter (for lower losses) in your trailer with the charger that it came with.

Bruce

That makes sense. We also have a few old drills with no-longer-functional Ni-Cads. I suppose I could relegate those to the garage after replacing the sub-C's that are bad and could build an RC charger for those (done that sort of thing since I was a teenager). But it appears at least both Ryobi and Dewalt have cigarette lighter style chargers for their lithium batteries. Cost on the other hand...

Might, indeed, be better to simply use one of several duplicate chargers off of an inverter, especially if I'll already have one to run a vacuum cleaner.

So, there are a few options. Right now I'm trying to install a propane system in our teardrop parked in the garage and cursing at the darkness. (I assume the biblical advice about lighting a single candle doesn't apply around propane!) Maybe next Winter I'll get serious about designing a solar system.

Tom

[twisted lines]

Don’t put sky lights in, only my experience

[Tom&Shelly]

Don’t put sky lights in, only my experience

Ugh! Only time I had skylights was in a place I rented, with roommates, in college. That's probably where I heard the old adage: "There are two types of skylights, those that leak and those that are gonna leak. We had the former, as, I gather, you do also?

No, this is a prefab sheet metal building with all sheet metal roof. We've been wondering whether we should get up there ourselves to install the solar panels and risk damaging it, or hire a contractor to do it!

Tom

[bobhenry]

Don’t put sky lights in, only my experience

Now you tell me

[twisted lines]

Fortunately the one I remember most was over my desk at work,
I cut my keyboard in half to fit it in a mailer, to send it to IT as I could not email; that’s where it dripped.
That stirred the pot.
Before that a new building had two, none ever were resolved after many attempt’s

[pchast]

Clear panels in the same style as the roofing done 17 years ago.
No leaks yet. Its as bright as outside without lighting.

[Tomterrific]

Just buy extra tool batteries and charge them at home? Sometimes the simplest, easiest solution is the best.

I have a wonderful 12v Makita drill that uses NiCad batteries. I got sick of buying new batteries every time I needed to use it and bought a new Dewalt. I have this idea of modifying an extention cord to clamp to a car battery and adapt an old battery so it fits the drill.

Tt

[bullchuck1]

Nothing wrong with a charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. I have been using them for about 3 years. Both milwauke and dewalt tools. I use the batteries to power my lights and roof fan , untill I can afford to get my battery set up in my cargo trailer.

Just saw this was an old thread. My bad