Ridgid Brand Tools

[ultrarunner]

I'm all old school with NiCd

 

[3930dave]

I'm all old school with NiCd

That chemistry has been an industrial workhorse longer than I've been around, for good reason(s).

Memory you know about.

Cd is a heavy metal, so I'm sure that you are careful about disposal - in Cali you probably have to have a special license to carry Cd batteries around (only partly joking).

Some people don't like the weight of NiCd...... just less trips to the gym, IMO.

All joking aside.... about the only real limitation (for me) w. NiCd or NiMh is when the pack makes the tool physically large enough that you can't get the tool into a tight spot.

I think it's out of production now, but I liked the Black&Decker little driver that ran on their VPX lithium battery. Very compact, but decent torque, as it had a 2 speed gearbox. Sad to see it gone now..... I'll have to see if I can find some NOS somewhere.

Rgds, D.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We do not use our NiCd batteries regularly so they self discharge on us but it is good technology for regular usage. Little self discharging is the main reason we have moved to Lithium Ion technology plus their fast charge rate. In fact it seems all the new stuff from any major tool company is Lithium Ion based power.

 

[tman1020]

My son has the new riged drill/driver set and I the new dewalt 20volt max set. I was very impressed with his riged set but lack of tool options and price of batteries turned me to dewalt. It replaced a Bosch 18volt ni cad set. I thought the Bosch 18 V set was great through its entire lifespan however when they quit making batteries for it when they converted over to lithium-ion kind of upset me. So I converted over to Dewalt they still sell original batteries in for their old stuff at a very reasonable price. I'm hoping that the new 20 V to Walt will have a very large variety of tools I already purchased the new 20 V framing nailer and it's proving to be quite a nice tool. Saving a ton of money on propane and not having to drag out the air compressor will be very nice.

 

[3930dave]

We do not use our NiCd batteries regularly so they self discharge on us but it is good technology for regular usage. Little self discharging is the main reason we have moved to Lithium Ion technology plus their fast charge rate. In fact it seems all the new stuff from any major tool company is Lithium Ion based power.

One of the reasons that NiCd got a bad rap, was that low cost tools had really basic chargers bundled with them. Those chargers worked, but some would fry the NiCd packs (as tough as they are), if left On too long, and were relatively slow.

Once you got into better NiCd chargers (like Dewalt), charge time dropped, and you couldn't overcharge the NiCd pack.

For a consumer level product, once you got into a better Black&Decker NiCd charger, it did perform very well for personal use.

BLACK+DECKER Tools | 9.6V to 24V Fast Charger BDFC240

That NiCd charger was quick(er), did multiple voltages, and was properly designed to downshift into a long term maintenance trickle charge. Great for home use, as the pack was safely held at 100% capacity, and always ready to go.

Rgds, D.

 

[ultrarunner]

My only Bosch complaint is they dropped the batteries.

I have a couple of sets and some have the fast charger which really works great keeping production on schedule.

Makita 7.2 was my first cordless purchase back in 1982... last I checked, the battery was still available...

In my country we pay a property tax surcharge and then the city adds a fee to the mandatory garbage bill that covers battery disposal... there are 3 collection stations with varying hours...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Good point on the cheap chargers where you have to removed the battery with it gets charged.

 

[Coyote machine]

Good point on the cheap chargers where you have to removed the battery with it gets charged.

What?!:confused2:

 

[3930dave]

I believe Gale is talking about the low cost simple NiCd analog chargers I was talking about in post #55.

Most of those would not terminate charging, once the NiCd pack was full. Of that type, the ones that gave a reasonable (for the day) re-charge time, would usually end up frying the NiCd pack if left connected for days/weeks. The work-around for those was to use a lamp timer on the charger, only programmed for one charge cycle of 8-14 hours, or whatever was needed.

For safety reasons, no sane manufacturer will release a Lithium product without a really sophisticated charger supplied - hence, you can't overcharge a lithium pack. NiCd batteries can take quite a bit of overcharge abuse, so their low end chargers were cost reduced accordingly.

Rgds, D.

 

[thayerp81]

I own lots of Ridgid tools and have no gripes with any of them. they are all well made and have performed as well as my milwaukee and dewalt stuff, and in some cases better. they have an excellent warranty (usually better than the other big brands) and their cordless stuff has a lifetime warranty on batteries, that is a clincher for me.