I've got a Bosch 14.4 volt cordless that the batteries will no longer charge. Batteries are $37 each. My Porter Cable cordless needed batteries and those were $36 for two. I'm thinking it may be time to drop the Bosch at Goodwill.........so when do you guys dump the old cordless drills?
In reply to Tom1200 :
What are the Bosch tools ? If its an Impact wrench it might be worth buying a battery ,
will the never 18v Bosch batteries fit in your older Bosch ?
My Ryobi and Dewalts will take the newer 18v lithium batteries and work fine ,
In reply to californiamilleghia :
It is nothing more than a cordless screw gun. The other batteries won't fit.
If you disassemble the battery often times you can replace the cells.
If you like the tool, look into having the battery rebuilt. I had my Snap-on impact battery rebuilt at Dyna Battery in Toledo for under $40, and that included hot-rodding it by replacing the two "dummy-cells" in it with actual battery-type stuff.
Sometimes you can find adapters that can be 3D printed to adapt newer, more common batteries to older devices.
There are several here with 3D printers that would gladly help print things for others (myself included).
That said, I'd look at rebuilding the existing packs versus buying new or buying into an entire new ecosystem (unless you really just want to buy a set of tools that all use the same batteries and provides lots more options than you might currently have).
I wouldnt berkeley with trying to save old cordless tools. I've had makita lxt for over ten years. Just get new Milwaukee fuel or makita lxt and get on with it. All that money you'd save by trying to rig up some solution are wasted when you have modern brushless for reasonable prices.
I dunno if any of the tool companies do it in the states but occasionally here the big brands/sellers will do a trade in promo to get you into their ecosystem. Usually you give them an old cordless set or some old skins and they'll give you a few bonus skins or sell you skins at a heavily reduced cost
Teh E36 M3 said:I wouldnt berkeley with trying to save old cordless tools. I've had makita lxt for over ten years. Just get new Milwaukee fuel or makita lxt and get on with it. All that money you'd save by trying to rig up some solution are wasted when you have modern brushless for reasonable prices.
Man, I have two sets that I am going to get to some day. I think I may need a news years resolution on this....
I used my 18v dewalt drill for years, had a battery rebuilt and bought a no-name replacement battery.
The replacement batteries didn't hold up long and died as I was boarding up for a hurricane.
I found a 20v brushless driver and drill set, sold off the old stuff. I added an impact.
No comparison to the old tools. Wish I'd upgraded sooner.
Dump the old stuff. Buy into a whole system, Ryobi, Makita, Milwaukee, Dewalt. You're going to want a stack of batteries in addition to the tools. I have the Ryobi 18v+ system here, running a brushless impact and angle grinder and an older brushed drill and circular saw, and I have four batteries and two chargers and it's nice to not muck with cords or worry about the different batteries. Grab a battery, slap it in the tool, get to work.
RevolverRob said:Dump the old stuff. Buy into a whole system, Ryobi, Makita, Milwaukee, Dewalt. You're going to want a stack of batteries in addition to the tools. I have the Ryobi 18v+ system here, running a brushless impact and angle grinder and an older brushed drill and circular saw, and I have four batteries and two chargers and it's nice to not muck with cords or worry about the different batteries. Grab a battery, slap it in the tool, get to work.
This.
Watch for a sale and you can get a system (with the Lithium batteries) for a good deal. I invested in the Ryobi 18V+ and I've been very happy with them. check slickdeals.net periodically for when the best deals pop up.
Honestly.... nurse the old set until a new set is on sale at HD.
I'm in the Ridgid camp. I would love to be in the Milwaukee camp but I can't afford it. Plus Ridgid's lifetime warranty is hard to beat (also hard to register, but that's a different story)
When I took over at the shop, we had a set of Dewalt cordless stuff. Most of it was the 18v, but some was the old 14.4v. The 14.4v stuff got donated to a kid who was trying to start a handy-kid business. The 18v stuff I kept around as spares, but I bought a whole Ridgid kit. When I take a show on the road, I take the Ridgid kit and leave the Dewalt stuff at the shop for incidental work there. When the Dewalt finally dies I will probably get another set of Ridgid.... unless the theater suddenly gets rich and I'll replace it all with Milwaukee. 
If you can replace the NiCad batteries with lithium ion batteries it might be worth it if you were happy with the tools performance. NiCads start losing charge ability the very first time they need to be charged. Lithium batteries hold charge longer with better performance. You can have NiCad batteries rebuilt or they sell on Amazon for a fraction of what they cost from the factory replacements.
If you do upgrade to a new system, I've seen some good deals here compared to the big box stores, especially if you get the 6 month old models
Very happy upgrading my old 19.2v Craftsman to the new Dewalt 20/40v. I had 5 batteries finally give up in the past year and just called done on it all.
My dewalt sparks when I use it. It hasn't been the same since it injested plaster dust drilling overhead. Still works, but it should probably be retired.
Said already, but I'll say it again - ditch it and buy new.
I think you can get a new 18v Ryobi with lithium battery for under a hundred bucks (might actually be two batteries).
I went with Ryobi for a few reasons
a) Im just a homeowner and car/motorcycle guy, not a professional
b) they're not too expensive
c) their one+ system has a HUGE array of tools that you can get for it. It's awesome.
Just don't buy Makita, their lithium batteries have built in protections that will brick them long before they are actually worn out. I also got burned by being a somewhat early adopter into their 18v Lithium line when it came out. My hammer drill ate its all metal transmission under warranty and was replaced, unfortunately the next time it happened the warranty was done.
I've used Ridgid since then and have been overall happy with it, the lifetime warranty as Curtis mentioned is great aside from trying to actually register for it. I've had batteries replaced (only the kit batteries get the lifetime warranty) and a trigger on an impact and it went well. The line-up isn't nearly as complete as Milwaukee/dewalt so be aware of that , for auto stuff the main thing missing is a large impact. They do that on purpose though as Milwaukee/Ridgid (power tools)/Ryobi are all owned by the same parent company (TTI).
When I bought into Makita and Ridgid I was still using my power tools as an electrician and in some pretty heavy industrial plants (foundries, lots of grinder dust in the air, great for power tools). Now I hold down a desk for the most part so I just use the tools at home, if I were starting out from scratch I'd probably go with Ryobi. They have a pretty complete line up of tools (including home/garden stuff) to go with the batteries except for that big impact unfortunately. Ridgid almost seems lost in the middle in some ways, it's built heavier but doesn't have same selection of accessories as Ryobi or Milwaukee.
Lastly, don't think you are getting 2 more with Dewalt's bullE36 M3 20V nonsense. It's all lithium based with the same cell voltages, you'll enjoy that 20v just as long with Dewalt as you will with any other 18v lithium tool (basically when it comes off the charger and that's pretty much it).
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