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One big tip I suggest is to keep your batteries in a place with consistent and cool temperature. I've had mine now for a few years and they lasted almost a year and a half before they died on me. Amazon carries this battery and charger pack for a whopping hundred and twenty. I particularly like my Skil hand drill and Skil reciprocating saw so having those back is a great thing plus I get all the benefit of Lithium Ion.These new Lithium Ion batteries require a new charger so you'll have to buy the battery and charger pack which runs about ninety bucks at Lowe's. This isn't really a review of the battery because, if you have a Skil tool that requires this type of battery then you didn't have much choice but to buy this batter. I used to leave my batteries in the garage or shed and I'm pretty sure that contributed to their short life.The second point I wanted to make is that you can now buy a Lithium Ion replacement battery instead of this old Ni-Cad battery. http://www.amazon.com/Skil-SC118B-LI-18-Volt-Charger-Battery/dp/B00213L52G/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_img_b I just got my new Lithium Ion battery yesterday so I can't comment on it in any meaningful way except to say that it has brought my tools back to life.
Picture shows charge range at bottom side,product itself doesn't have it.Original Skil Powerpack has it also.Otherwise working fine.
work great , i think better then the origanial ones that came with the tools, lots of power and a great price
It was exactly what I needed and the price was right. Works great with the other products that I use it with.
But if you leave the battery sitting there for a day, it'll be dead when you go to use it. Lithium batteries are the way to go. Basically if you don't completely discharge the battery every time, you will shorten the life of the battery fairly quickly. For one, they're Nickel Cadmium, which is an older, cheaper battery technology that has memory issues. That battery is on it's way out too. There is very little logic for preserving battery life. I say, take that [.].
20-80% is their sweet spot. Then next month, buy a completely new drill that uses better batteries like one of those lithium drivers that run around [.]. So if you have a charger that understands that, you'll get a nice long life out of lithium batteries. But the main feature to me is the long shelf life. Their high energy density makes them lighter and smaller, and their long shelf life helps them out perform larger, higher voltage batteries.So, stay away from this battery.
They have excellent energy density and they can handle quite a bit of charging cycles. You can't "refresh" the battery. One of them doesn't hold a charge at all so I'm forced to leave the other on the charger so that it's ready when I need it. So it looks like skil addressed that issue with their new batteries, but if you own an older drill, you're SOL.The charger that Skil provides for these batteries is a generic piece of junk charger. Also, if you leave it on the charger for extended periods of time, you'll find that it won't be able to hold a charge when you want to use it. And it takes something around 3-6 hours to charge.With my 3 year old skil drill, I have 2 of these batteries. and put it away. batteries.
Buy a new tool if you have one that uses this battery. I have the Skil 2887 18v cordless drill that uses these batteries. on a different drill that used lithium batteries. More on that later.First off, if you buy the Skil 2887 drill for around [.]., you get 2 of these [.]. That seems to be the case with these batteries.So why lithum then.
It uses a single release switch to unclip 2 locks. It's just a straight up charger, which is to be expected. If you charge it fully and use it, you'll get an hour or 3 of continuous use. They also have poor shelf life -- meaning they don't hold a charge for very long once they've been charged. This is not only awkward to use, but it loosens over time and the single switch becomes inadequate for moving the 2 locks. Well despite being a more expensive (and more prone to explosion) technology, lithium batteries have excellent shelf life. I'm not a contractor for a living, so I don't use my drill every day, which makes leaving the batteries on the charger a bad idea. The only drawback with lithium is that they don't like to be discharged fully or charged fully.
I notice that the new Skil 18v drills use 2 buttons like most other drill manufacturers. If they gave you a good charger, you wouldn't have to spend $45 on a new battery every year. I want to be able to leave my drill sitting there for a while and when I need it, I want it to be ready to go. If I knew then what I know now after having owned this drill for going on 3 years, I would have spent the [.]. (It's only 3/8", but it gets the job done most of the time). The batteries will serve you much better.So, why does this battery suck so bad. The drill is fine.
These batteries in particular have terrible shelf life. I'm saving up for a high torque lithium driver.On top of being an under-performing battery, the clip these batteries use to lock into the drill is such a bad design. So, essentially you get a free drill and battery charger, which makes paying [.]. As many people are aware, inferior products and designed obsolescence seem to be part of the business plan of many consumer product manufacturers these days. for one of these batteries a bad idea. I absolutely refuse to buy a new battery because it's such a bad value. Essentially it becomes a wrestling match to get the battery loose from the drill.
It binds inside the battery shell.
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