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How many rechargeable batteries does a Self Builder need?


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At the outset, I should  admit  that I am abusing the word 'need'. Or put it another way, using the word 'need....' in the sense that all teenagers do. As in;  Dad I need (....insert appropriate fad topic here...)

 

Given a single battery system (in my case Hieronymus Bosch The Elder) and a good few tools that take batteries of varying capacity (lets say 10 tools)

 

How many batteries do I need?

 

  • 1 each (10)
  • 20
  • 5
  • 2
  • or just one?

I can make a case for any of the above except the 20 one.

You realise that your answers will be taken  as the excuse (reason)  to buy more.

As in :

 

Well on BH they say I should have [ n ]

 

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Absolute minimum of 2, otherwise what do you do when No 1 is on charge.

 

If you are only using 1 tool at a time that would suffice. But if you have a helper using another tool at the same time, then that need 2.

 

So simple answer is 2 per tool in use. Now determine how many tools are likely to be in use at any one time.

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Guest Alphonsox

I found 2 to be the minimum number required for my typical use cases. In particular having one in the drill and one in the impact driver is particularly useful.

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I think you need 5 minimum for some jobs. eg when I was recently fixing battens as part of internal drylining.

  1. Laser Level
  2. Impact Driver
  3. Drill for masonry holes
  4. Circular saw / jigsaw
  5. One charging

I have a radio which also uses the same DeWalt batteries but don't count this as critical. If a radio is critical or if the batteries don't charge that fast or you're very fast and go through batteries faster then you need 6 batteries. So I'd say 5 batteries or 6 if they're low capacity.

 

edit: My rechargeable lights have an inbuilt battery so didn't think of them.

Edited by Dudda
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If your at it 'hard n fast' then the biggest killer will be one charger. 

Id say 4 batteries. 2 chargers. Two in tools two charging / ready to switch out. 

 

Or, 3 batteries two out one on charge. Typical scenario is....one battery lives in the impact driver, one goes in the drill driver, occasionally used, swapping that one between other tools as you need them, and one ready to rock. 

For work / floodlights run an extension lead. Use LED so it's low load so you don't need a beast of a lead and you can plug your charger into it too. 

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1 minute ago, Nickfromwales said:

[...]

For work / floodlights run an extension lead. Use LED so it's low load so you don't need a beast of a lead and you can plug your charger into it too. 

 

I thought that running an extension lead - even 110- would be too dangerous (for me, others will disagree) And our local place was having a promo on the Blue Tooth version of their floodlight (Other types and makes are available) 

 

Once a battery is on or in a tool, I tend to forget about it, put the tool back in its storage box (specially if it's raining) : and then wonder where the batteries  have all gone.

 

I wish Bosch did a double charger like Makita or some other makes......

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I would say a minimum of 4, if you are willing to buy fake ones go for 6, 2 chargers would be ideal

also agree with running leads to most of the lights, Led are better just because the bulbs don't break anywhere as easily,

 

I dont really understand the safety thing about running leads, I run 240 everyday and touch wood i have never gone through a lead, i cant see why anyone would?

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I have two different sets of Makita tools.

 

One old 14.4 V drill/driver (that I keep mainly because it has a hammer drill mode, and I have four batteries that fit that, although two are the originals and are now on their last legs, so don't hold their charge for long.

 

The rest (drill, circular saw, lawn mower, impact driver) are all newer 18 V lithium tools and I now have seven battery packs for them, with one old one that is potentially iffy, in that it occasionally throws a charging fault, so needs to be bodge charged when this happens to avoid it doing the Makita self-destruct thing after three failed charging attempts (three failed charge attempts with any Makita 18 V pack permanently bricks the pack by blowing the chip inside, to stop it being used).

 

That's just about enough if I'm reasonably well disciplined about keeping them charged.  If I didn't have the lawn mower (which uses two packs in series) then I could probably get away with 5 packs.

 

The Makita packs charge pretty quickly, too, so it's not a major hassle if I don't have a spare charged pack, I usually just nick a pack from a tool I'm not using to get the job done whilst the flat pack gets charged.

 

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7 minutes ago, Construction Channel said:

[...]

I dont really understand the safety thing about running leads, I run 240 everyday and touch wood i have never gone through a lead, i cant see why anyone would?

 

Have you met anyone as cack-handed as I am? I've only got 8 fingers and two of those that remain are just for show. Plugging anything electrical in to any socket is a process on which I have to concentrate hard. The two useless fingers are curled in toward my palm. They hook onto random stuff - and  here's the thing - I can't feel that they do  so: if I'm lucky I feel stuff just a little bit.  Makes for some interesting interactions with people and things....:$

 

One day I caught one on a plug terminal as I connected up. 

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2 minutes ago, recoveringacademic said:

Have you met anyone as cack-handed as I am?

 

I suppose you have a point,

 

possibly get some of these, Might make things easier, you could even get Rolly to wire them up with his dexterous little fingers 

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/abb-straight-plug-16a-2p-e-250v-6h-ip44/3017F?tc=MA3&ds_rl=1248181&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1249481&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvrfSBRC2ARIsAFumcm_AiGYV2dgk8TM6rfIfL_yAXIMSuAMKYD1IeSH2CI-wp774sTY2z2waAiR-EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CKOu3ISwvtgCFUGuUQodMpwLLg

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Easy

Work out the time it takes to charge a battery

Take the tool with the largest power draw and work out how long it will last on one charge.

Divide that by the above, that will give you the number of batteries and chargers needed.

 

Example

Battery takes 1 hour to charge.

Drill last 1/2 hour on full chat

Therefore.

1 / 0.5 = 2

 

You can add in a bit of diversity.  Say the drill is only used at half power, or only half the time, that will reduce the amount of batteries needed.

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5.one for the light. Two to be used by you and Rollo and two being charged. Rarely will you both run out of juice at any one time. We operate as a pair and 4 was perfect (we had lecky for lights ages ago). 

 

You'll get into the habit of good battery discipline and never run out of charged batteries. We're running Bosch cordless and they are cracking, go for ages and charge quickly

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

Now that is a BRILLIANT, just BRILLIANT idea. I never knew they existed.

 

Thanks very much @Onoff 

 

Arthritic parents & in-laws!

 

There are a number of variations tbh:

 

Stick on to an existing plug. Tried these before - need to make sure the surface of the plug is dead clean with IPA etc. No good really on say a heavy duty rubber plug:

 

plug-pull1.jpg.2e1783bd3d0d38d3ebd0058d18ccc808.jpg

 

Flat bit of plastic, a variation on this is one shaped like a dog bone and wraps around:

 

1749-pack_of_5_new_improved_caraselle_plug_pulls-_the_easiest_plug_remover.59b25fba51d5e.jpg.bb7fd097dc5a4fd685ecde29576d25cd.jpg

 

Moulded - handle the other way:

 

4616012_R_Z005A.jpeg.7c0352e8d170d397f47973dece3a7ca2.jpeg

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