But it takes the same battery. The old NiCd cells are completely epleted and will not hold a charge any longer. Instead of chucking it, or spending $100 for a set of new batteries, I thought I might try replacing the cells myself. Problem is, I don’t know what kind they are. The cells are kind of old and it is hard to get any legible writing off of them. I suspect they are sub-c battteries, but it appears there are at least a couple sizes of subc to choose from.
Anyone know?
Also, I checked into a couple of those palces that rebuild the batteries, and they are almost as much as a brand new battery…if you have better links, let me know, but at 44 bucks each I’m still almost better off buying a brand new drill with brand new DeWalt-warranted cells. I can get a new 14.4v compact for 99 at Lowe’s right now.
I’d go for the new drill - preferably with lithium ion batteries. They hold a charge much longer, are smaller and lighter. I think they also last longer per charge.
Using “DC9071 battery” in ebay yields batteries that sold for (least) $23.00 shipped to around 45.00 shipped. If you can get (say) a 29.00 deal shipped it really does no make sense to try and rebuild the battery pack.
A 23.00 battery sound nice, but I have been burned before by replacement batteries sold through e-bay, even by vendors with high feedback ratings. The problem is that batteries that are just on the edge of death can be made to work for a few charge cycles (enough to get positive feedback) and then fall off rapidly. This is why I would like to just buy the cells myself.
Unless you know of a reputable vendor on e-bay that you’d like to recommend?