Putting Old Cordless Drills To Work

Putting Old Cordless Drills To Work FARM SHOP Miscellaneous Glenn Fisher Homer Ga had a lot of old cordless shop tools with worn out batteries and it wasn t worth the cost to buy new replacement batteries But he came up with a low-cost way to keep using the tools It lets me hook up the drills to any 12-volt battery says Fisher He removed the battery from each drill and soldered a pair of wires to the battery terminals inside the drill Then he attached a 2-wire trailer light connector to the pair of wires He attached the other side of the connector to about 10 ft of low voltage wire and a pair of alligator clips that connect to a battery The trailer light connector makes it easy to change tools says Fisher The connector I used is made by Hopkins Basic no 47965 and available at Tractor Supply Co for about $3 It s a really handy setup I keep an old 12-volt car battery on the workbench in my shop and use it to power several different drills I have a different-size bit in each drill or a screwdriver bit If I want I can also use the cigarette lighter socket in my car as a power source but all the tools work much better on the 12-volt car battery because it has more power A big advantage is that without batteries all the tools are very lightweight and easy to handle They also have much more power and are easier to maneuver in tight situations It doesn t seem to matter if the drill s original voltage was 6 8 12 or 18 volts If I want I can even use the 12-volt batteries in my tractors and off-road vehicles to operate these tools in the field When I do that I hook together two 10-ft wires in the field to provide a little more work room Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Glenn Fisher 751 Boling Road Homer Ga 30547 ph 423 364-0158

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.