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DeWalt Batteries
Who here is using a Dewalt Cordless Sawzall with the 24v batteries. It is not very old but we are experiencing battery life of 90 seconds under no load. Anyone else seeing this? What is the cure?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by M.J. 6821 on
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Dont use Dewalt period. Their batteries do not have a very long life and they are too expensive to replace. Also what are you using the Sawzall for that can make a difference on how long the battery will last. The cordless sawzalls arent really meant for serious cutting they were designed for lighter duty applications such as cutting conduit and pipe. You could try to teach the battery like how you teach radios wear it down till its completely dead then recharge it for 24hrs.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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M.J. I understand your point about workload verse battery life. The battery life concern is holding the trigger on with no blade in the saw and they are dead in 90 seconds. I work in two different fire departments, we have a heavy rescue in one and have always had one of these. We are using them in a multitude of applications to include extrication well off into the woods, confined space or collapse rescue. My other department is ARFF specific. We have many different applications from this scope of practice to include lightweight metals, plastics, composites and advanced aerospace composites.
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When we were looking at getting a saw for our fire dept. we did a lot of comparing between the corded and the cordless saws. One of our members was a salesman at a tool store that sold Dewalt tools and he told us right off the bat I will tell you that it will not work for us. The reason being is if its not used enough with the batteries developing a long term memory the batteries will be shot in no time.
I have to ask if your doing extrication way off into the woods are you doing it without a charged hose line? because if you have a hose line stretched that far you should be able to stretch extension cords that far as well.
And as far as the ARFF scenario, plastics and composite material they are sometimes harder to cut then what metals are. Companies that deal with plastics are often replacing regular saws at a very high rate or use very expensive blades.
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Sometimes a charged hoseline is a luxury M.J. We are not that busy of a department, we run a little over 4000 calls a year, and sometimes fire extinguishers are the next best thing than a stretched hoseline. Ie: Aircraft crash in a tree top for example.
Corded sawzalls are great, and I could argue using an 110V corded sawzall in water/foam or a gasoline spill with non-shielded extension cords like FirePower.
I get it, you dislike the cordless sawzall. We love them. Not to mention the same battery that runs our three $15,000 ambulance power-lift stretchers, which lift 700 lbs of dead weight. So DeWalt is here to stay and they are all over the fire service.
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Im not saying I dislike them completely what I am saying is that they are not meant for the fire service I use them a lot in my everyday job in cutting drain tile and lightweight things like that, but they arent designed for the things that the fire service is using them for. They are meant for small jobs and short uses. If they were meant for long term use DEWALT wouldn't have made a converter for them.
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Permalink Reply by big o on
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to get better use out of your batteries toss the old ones get new ones, charge them for 24 hours the take them off the charger and use them until they are dead before recharging, if that means taping the trigger down and just letting them run so be, i had to do this with my personal use de walts after replacing batteries every time i went to use them i talk to a friend who used them i his contracting job and he told me leaving them on the charger all the time was what was killing them so after they are charged take them off the vehicle charger put the protective caps on them and leave them in the compartment just make sure they get checked once a month, also make sure to discharge and recharge the batteries about every three months or they go dead for good
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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From reading the prior responses, and to be honest, not being familiar with power stretchers and the batteries, it stands to reason that you regularly exercise the ambulance stretcher batteries quite often compared to a tool that does not get used much. Regardless of the battery, memory plays a part. Use it or loose it... and maybe have some corded tools just in case.
NiCad Battery Life Internet Research: I found a link that discusses battery life problems. Is this for real?
The link claims that you need this repair guide if your battery:
Before:
After:
Is dead and won't take a charge
If its weak even after a full charge
If it works ok for a minute and then loses power
If your charger light comes on and says to replace your battery
If its been stored for 2, 5, or even 10 years and won't charge, or has no power
What you can expect in you send them $4.95 for an online ebook:
To get a Detailed Repair guide that will teach the Safe, Proper way to bring your battery back to life!
To not get a 1 or 2 page postcard, but a 12 page Book with a picture for every step of the process!
To NiCad Battery Fix ™ all NiCad batteries from all manufactures
To NiCad Battery Fix ™ NiCd batteries in Cordless Power Tool brands like - Dewalt, Ridgid, Ryobi, Makita, Skil, Bosch, Craftsman, Hitachi, Black and Decker Firestorm and others
To use this on any volt battery including - 7.2v, 9.6v, 12v, 14.4v, 16.8v, 18v, 19.2v, and even 24v
To need a volt meter
To Spend about 5 minutes to perform the NiCad Battery Fix ™ - no need to open the battery in most cases
To require No Special Tools, and Nothing more to Buy!
*Considering we are discussing battery life, and coming across these claims, I was wondering if we are all missing something here?
CBz
FETC Note: Would enjoy reading more about the plane in a tree incident. Access? Souls on board? Yikes!!!
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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If you have a battery conditioner for your portables, see if they have a universal two wire attachement like a power tester. We have one that has two gator clips and have been able to somewhat condition them in the past. Another option is http://www.bulldogbattery.net/, these guys can rebuild any battery pack you have.
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Permalink Reply by Gordon Kuhn on
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Go for HILTI period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Bill Carlisle on
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buy porter cable , with the cord generator never goes dead unless you run out of gas
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Permalink Reply by Richard Armstrong on
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Cordless tools are funny all together.I've had dewalt,Rigid,craftsmen,Hitachi and they all are about the same.I will admit my dewalt drills are pretty decent but my sawzall sucked.It would eat a battery in about 2-3 min just cutting aluminum facia.I think that sawzalls just use more power that drills.This manual that you can order for 5 bucks sounds like it may be worth your while and also a bag of extra batteries.But the batteries need to be used to keep working so if it looses it's memory your screwed but maybe you can google it and find that manual on line.
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