yetchh Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Hi all.. have a question about upgrading from nicad to lipo/nimh. I have a big set of the dewalt xrp 18v nicad tools which is to big and costly to bother upgrading to a lithium set. The first lithium dewalts were the nano's which were back compatible with the nicad tools (basically both pole mount batteries) and the charger would charge both the nicads and lithiums. I'm now on my 4th/5th batteries and what I want to do is upgrade the nicad cells in my 5 batts to lithium cells, same size and weight but about 67billion times the run time. What's the deal with discharge controllers for lithium and they're compatibility with chargers/batteries/voltage/amperage etc etc.. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKtrips Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 @Ned is the man to ask, but I think he is busy roadtripping before Wagnats and won't be back until after Watangi weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kicker Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 @h4nd might be able to help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokin'joe Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 have you priced re-packing the battery cases from the guy in Blenhole that advertises on the Tard ?? i still run most of the 5-piece DeWalt kit i bought 15 years ago, still get good runtime out of the ni-cads that came with the replacement drill i got 5-6 years ago, adittedly, i havent thrashed them daily , all day for 2 years, but they still get a workout daily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hemi Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 LI blows all over NIcad man, Li has been the mainstay for like 5 years now, its good mate. join the revolution. Buy a new kit, they are usually around 1k for a 3 piece+ 1-2 bats and charger. The skins (tools) are the cheap part, its the battery that costs $$ . tbh id upgrade, it will be a world of difference. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8ball Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 And brushless... Lipo + brushless. So much better. Power, runtime and so much lighter. Up and down a ladder all day with a nicad drill etc and then go to a lipo... so much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetchh Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 I've done a bit of testing and the only thing that's beaten with lipo in my set is the driver, so for me it's not worth the money to upgrade a whole set, but batteries are still fucken spensive. I can get lipo cells cheap enough and a charger that will take my batteries with lipos just need some info on controllers/compatibility etc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I have seen someone 3d print a adapor from the old tombstone batteries to the slide in lithium type. Surely aliexpress or similar might have a adapter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Man I was hoping this thread was about DeWalt stuff... I have exactly the same issue. It turns out DeWalt sell a pole - slide battery converter I hear it's awesome, even AVE uses it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 New DCA1820 18V to 20V Battery Convertor Adapter for Dewalt Batteryhttp://s.aliexpress.com/3UBNnIbi (from AliExpress Android) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetchh Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 Yeah I've seen that one, I can buy the nano xrp's that will fill my nicad xrp but the batteries are square vs my not square ones and the same with the dewalt adaptor, that irks me slightly haha.. all I really want to do is pack my nicad cases with as much lithium as possible and use the nano xrp charger to charge them, I should be able to get a fair amount of juice/ah for the size of the case.. When you compare 4ah 18v lithiums to mine they're tiny.. I should be able to load up with 8 amps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingbrick Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I get what ur saying. I LOVE retrofitting lipos into shit and do it wherever possible (I had an RC controller that I pulled to bits and fitted a lipo into.. I think I charged it twice in a year, was brilliant, and a 12v floodlamp that I put a big lipo pack onto) You need to make sure things are completely foolproof and easy though. You don't want to accidently plug a lipo pack into a nicad charger With that said- I use a hobby type digital charger with my nicad DeWalt packs (because my charger didn't work on our 240v mains) and don't have any issues.. smash some alligator clips onto the terminals and just press go- the bonus is that I get to see exactly how much juice is going into the cell. You'd probably want to open each tool and wire in a low voltage alarm so you don't bugger the cells but they are cheap and easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h4nd Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Do be careful about the correct charger, lipo are basically small grenades in a plastic sheath, and can have appalling failure modes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yetchh Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 Yeah, what's the deal with chargers? The dewalt nano's only have a three pin lithium charger yet the new slide lithiums have 4/5 pins.. most aftermarket lipos have a separate balance plug to the main + - cables. I guess it's simply a matter of pulling apart a nano battery and having a look, they have an internal discharge controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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