DC to AC power inverter to run electic tools?

JRP · Oct 30, 2004

Another option to consider is to buy some good quality used 12V cordless tools like Milwaukee with bad batteries, or your old ones with bad batteries, and install cords. A 12' piece of 10 gauge SO cord might work, with some economy jumper cable clipson the end. You should be able to open up the old battery, clip the batteries out (dispose of properly), and wire in the cord. Now just clip the jumper cable ends to the battery, plug the now "quick disconnect" cord into your 12V drill, and drill away. You can drill until the job is done or the drill melts.

I owned one of the original 12V Milwaukee drills. It was built exactly like a regular 120 VAC corded drill, but had bigger cord and plugged into a lunchbox sized steel box with lead acid battery and a twist lock receptical. Paid $5 at a garage sale in 1976. Tossed the battery and installed the twist lock receptical under the hood of my '64 C10 pickup.

markct · Nov 1, 2004

thats what i did with an old makita 7.2 volt cordless drill, i keep it in my kawasaki mule and when i need to drill a hole somewheres i just plug it into the cigarette lighter plug and drill away, never needs charging!

Bob_Skurka · Nov 1, 2004

<font color="red"> Other options: Dewalt sells a battery charger for their saws and drills that can run off of a car cigarette lighter. This would be easy to add to the tractor. I have used their 18 volt saw to cut 2 X4. I think they claim 72 or so cuts per charge.
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Well I was pretty much talked out of the 1000 watt inverter to directly run power tools by the way this thread went. It is not that it is not possible, but it just did not seem practical. So what I did was simply use a small inverter that we used to power a TV set in the car and stole that for my tractor. I use it to power the Ryobi batter charger for my battery power tools. I have 4 batteries and start projects with 4 fully charged batteries, as one goes down, I pop it into the charger, which is plugged into the inverter, which in turn is plugged into the cigarette lighter plug on either of the tractors.

I'd prefer to have access to the greater power of the electric tools sometimes, but the battery power tools are pretty good as long as you work within their limits.

TBAR · Nov 1, 2004

When I got my RediLine 1600 I used it on the tractor. Worked great for my power tool needs around the property.

Specs

TBAR

slowrev · Nov 5, 2004

Tbar,
Had not seen those, look like a Dynamotor type of setup with a DC motor driving an AC gen head. How do they compare on cost per watt vs the inverter types ?
Ben

KiotiMutt · Nov 5, 2004

Here's a site with inverters at a reasonable price.
Invertersrus

KiotoMutt

horseman1 · Nov 7, 2004

Bob,

I fix quite a bit of broken 2x6 and 2x4 fence boards thanks to the horses. I have a 800 watt inverter I use off of a lawn tractor to run my sawsall to cut them to size out in the pastures. However, I never run the inverter with the LT running. I am afraid that I might hurt the little charging circuit if I did (3 amps maybe?). I didnt like the looks of the ammeter when I did. It doesnt take long for the sawsall to get through a 2x4 and I start it up and drive on over to the next victim. Seems to work great, but the duty cycle I require is very short and there is quite a bit of time for the little battery to recover. I sometimes let the engine run for a bit to make sure the charger keeps up so I dont become stranded. I've also been known to put a car battery in the trailer in case of an emergency /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Hasnt happened yet /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

A lot of good information in the thread.

Kurt