cordless drill chargers

[Mike Evertsen]

I 'm having to replace my cordless drills my 5 year ago 12v. and my 7 year old 16.8 both have bad chargers and the 16.8 the batterys won't charge with a new charger I bought,,,I geuss I got my use out of them,,
what my question is how do you shut off the charger when it's done charger?
what I've done in the past is when I remember to unplug it sometimes hours sometimes days,,,what I'm trying now is using a timer with two movable trips I took out the one that turns it on and move the other one to shut off the charger after 5 hours or 1 hour depending which cordless drill I'm charging,,,
this seems to work ok but I thought maybe someone might have another way,,,,

[Jason Roehl]

Mike, any good charger today should be microprocessor-controlled, and leaving it plugged in for long periods of time should not be an issue, as it will automatically cycle to maintain a full charge on the battery. That being said, I'm not a big fan of leaving things like that plugged in for very long when I'm not around (the ol' fire hazard thingy), so if it needs to be fully charged, I usually won't leave mine plugged in longer than overnight.

[Tony Falotico]

I 'm having to replace my cordless drills my 5 year ago 12v. and my 7 year old 16.8 both have bad chargers and the 16.8 the batterys won't charge with a new charger I bought,,,I geuss I got my use out of them,,[/font]

Mike, if the drills are still good and you like them, check out http://www.primecell.com/ to have your batteries rebuilt. I sent four off to them earlier this month (two of mine, two of my buddy's) and they seem to be doing very well with new cells in them.

[David Rose]

Mike, I just picked up a rechargable Milwaukee Sawzall. (stealth gloat... I hope/think ) The charger instructions with it recommend leaving it plugged in and a battery in it all the time. It is suppose to have a low trickle charge that will best maintain the battery. I won't do on purpose, but if I do it by accident now I won't worry. My Makita drill charger is also the "new breed" and it doesn't say to do that.

Maybe the manufacturer can tell you about their specific unit.

David