Anyone used the Aldi cordless drills ?

[gromit]

Firstly, I don't use a cordless drill very often so can't justify spending hundreds of dollars.

About 20years ago I purchased a 14.4V Ryobi (made in Japan back then), fixed speeds one battery. It still works (just) even though it uses a NiCad battery.

About 15 years ago I got a 14.4V Black & Decker. About 5 or 6 years ago the battery life started to drop off so I purchased another B&D when Bunnings were taking them off the shelves, I did this just to score two battery packs (I have an unused drill in a box somewhere).
Discharging before re-charging has given a good battery life but they are now reaching the end of their lives.

I went to the B&D shop in Mooroolbark and they have replacement batteries but.....they are old stock because they are an old design plus they don't use NiCad's any longer.

Anyway, back to the question.....anyone had a good experience with Aldi cordless drills ?
They have a 20V, brushless, 2-speed for about $90 with charger & one battery. It was on special last week but some stores still seem to have them.

My other option is an aftermarket NiCad battery for the B&D. It's a good drill and does what I want so maybe that's a better option ??
I could also get the B&D battery packs 're-populated' but I think that's an expensive option.


Colin

[DiscoMick]

Can't comment on Aldi drills, but their other gear is fine. I would just buy new batteries for your old drill if it was me.

[Blknight.aus]

good stuff.

I bought the kit with the driver rattle gun and dtrill 3 years ago to deal with 6 bolts and one hole.

the drill died first but Im not complaining, I lent it to someone and they ran over it.

The rattle gun has been going for 3ish years and has been used at plant and heavy truck level repairs.

still running the first batteries.

(dont buy the bits or sockets from aldi)

[bsperka]

good stuff.

I bought the kit with the driver rattle gun and dtrill 3 years ago to deal with 6 bolts and one hole.

the drill died first but Im not complaining, I lent it to someone and they ran over it.

(dont buy the bits or sockets from aldi)

Died, or was killed!?

[ramblingboy42]

yep

I bought the 18v percussion model with 2 batteries

my B&D batteries had died and it would have cost a fortune to refit and they had changed the mount so couldnt just buy new batteries.

it was cheap and its proven itself.

I was given one of those garden augers and have used it a lot for that

has plenty of grunt and easily puts a 13mm drill through metal

[goingbush]

No, but I love Ozito brushless drills from Bunnings , Bags of torque with a metal gearbox . Ive got 4 now, I thought I'd stock up because good stuff like that is gone next time you want one. My stash should last forever. Make sure you pay a bit more for the brushless, the brushed version looks the same but is crap. The brushless kit inc fast charger and battery is $90 ish

[Blknight.aus]

Side thought at 9.6v it should be packed with sub C cell nicads.

hit the jaycar site and if a set of 8 is cheap enough for you and you want to catch up I can look at doing a repack for you. I've got a trade card with jaycar so if its over something like $50 for the batteries I get a discount on them too. If you'd like the sub C's are cheap as chips on ebay get a set from there and I'll still do the fit up for you.

[gromit]

Got an Aldi brushless today, also got a 4.0AH battery along with the 2.0AH & charger
We'll see how it goes....


Colin

[gromit]

Well I took the drill back today and got it replaced, then I found out it was the 4.0AH battery pack that was the 'problem' !!

There are two buttons on the drill, Forward & Reverse. If you don't use the drill for 5 minutes it 'goes to sleep', to wake it up press the Forward & Reverse buttons at the same time.
Seemed OK initially then rather than going to sleep it seemed to go into a coma !
The only way to turn it on was to unplug the battery, wait a few seconds then re-insert then press Forward & Reverse and all was well.

Replacement seemed to be OK (but I did only wait 6 or 7 minutes) tried later in the day and it was comatose again !

The 4.0AH battery has a digital readout to let you know the percentage of charge left. Pressed the button, display lit up and then pressing the Forward & Reverse buttons brought the drill back to life.......doesn't happen with the 2.0AH battery pack so it seems the 4.0AH pack also goes to sleep !

I'm seriously considering buying an aftermarket battery for the old Black & Decker....press the button and the drill operates, simples.


Colin

[Blknight.aus]

Well I took the drill back today and got it replaced, then I found out it was the 4.0AH battery pack that was the 'problem' !!

There are two buttons on the drill, Forward & Reverse. If you don't use the drill for 5 minutes it 'goes to sleep', to wake it up press the Forward & Reverse buttons at the same time.
Seemed OK initially then rather than going to sleep it seemed to go into a coma !
The only way to turn it on was to unplug the battery, wait a few seconds then re-insert then press Forward & Reverse and all was well.

Replacement seemed to be OK (but I did only wait 6 or 7 minutes) tried later in the day and it was comatose again !

The 4.0AH battery has a digital readout to let you know the percentage of charge left. Pressed the button, display lit up and then pressing the Forward & Reverse buttons brought the drill back to life.......doesn't happen with the 2.0AH battery pack so it seems the 4.0AH pack also goes to sleep !

I'm seriously considering buying an aftermarket battery for the old Black & Decker....press the button and the drill operates, simples.


Colin

thats a fault in the battery pack design which is intended to prevent the batteries from over discharging on the earlier dumb skins.

[trout1105]

No, but I love Ozito brushless drills from Bunnings , Bags of torque with a metal gearbox . Ive got 4 now, I thought I'd stock up because good stuff like that is gone next time you want one. My stash should last forever. Make sure you pay a bit more for the brushless, the brushed version looks the same but is crap. The brushless kit inc fast charger and battery is $90 ish

I bought a bunch of the Ozito 18v gear about 3 years ago and apart from a couple of batteries I stupidly left out in the rain and buggered up I haven't had any problems with either the brushless or the brushed stuff.
I use the rattle gun to change wheels and it has No problems cracking the wheelnuts on a D2 [thumbsupbig]

[DoubleChevron]

Well I needed a new drill.......

but rather than something decent ... I ended up with this kit cheap as **** Ozito kit


https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.c om/Product/c27df092-d612-449a-9980-8eda37fb5f47.jpg


$249 ... I only wanted the drill/driver combo which was $150 but I noticed this one had larger batteries (the batteries in it are $150 alone). Its absolutely brilliant. I can't believe how good it is given the price. The drill would be as powerful as my 18volt makita. I always thought impact drivers were a bit of **** .... but wow ... bloody brilliant. I didn't realise it doesn't readily strip the head out of the screw and try to break your wrists like using the drill on low speed with a driver bit. Its applies no load to your wrists but will drive enormous coach screws into wood. I tried to stall the grinder... but no, its very grunty. I'm not sure how long the batteries would last in a grinder. But it certainly negates the point of ever putting a padlock on anything again. There isn't a padlock made it would cut through in seconds with a 1mm blade in it.


I was so impressed, I went back and grabbed this (just to use in normal use around the shed, not as an actual rattle gun).


https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.c om/Product/4e1efc23-16b7-44b5-862b-568d435d2a14.jpg


it looks like a dinky little childs toy. So imagine my suprise when I tried it on the 27mm wheel nuts on my range rover (that were torqued down with a breaker bar) and found it unscrewed them :eek: :eek:


I have no qualms about buying any of this cheap ozito **** .... 'cos it seems to be quite good ... and has a 5year waranty.


seeya,
Shane L

[gromit]

Well 5 years down the track the Aldi brushless drill is going strong and so is the battery.....the problem is the charger !

First failed after a couple of years, nothing in Aldi so I had to wait until a drill came up on special. Now two drills & two batteries one charger.
Decided to buy another charger when they came on special as a backup.

I don't use it much (I prefer a corded drill) and therefore the charger is only used every few months.

The charger with the second drill has now karked it. A Google search throws up lots of charger failures.

It looks like Ozito when the last charger fails and I'll be throwing away a pair of perfectly usable drills & batteries !!

Colin

[BradC]

I have various drills and garden tools. For each I've gutted the chargers and hooked the terminals directly to a pair of 4mm banana plugs. Those plug into one of these : iMAX B6 V2 Charger - SkyRC (https://www.skyrc.com/b6v2)

https://www.skyrc.com/image/catalog/product/charger/b6v2/b6/3.png?20200420

NiCD, NiMH, LiPO, Li-ion. Doesn't matter. It charges them all. Better still, a Ciggy to 2.1mm barrel connector lead ensure it charges them all from wherever I may be in the car.

A bit of judicious poking with an additional 1K resistor and it'll charge Ryobi One+ batteries as well.

I gave up on having a box full of chargers years ago and moved onto a bench power supply. For charging this is just another level up, and because I'm not balance charging fragile LiPOs a cheap clone from Aliexpress does the job just fine.

[gromit]

The only battery tools I have are the Aldi drill and an old B&D drill.
I've been onto Aldi but of course they offer only 1 year warranty on the battery & charger.
Interestingly the chargers are on Ebay at over $100. I guess people taking advantage of the fact that the charger will fail !

A search throws up that it may just be a failed diode so that's an option, just replace the diode for a few dollars.

BradC thanks for the heads-up about the charger. I'll make a decision when (not if) the last charger fails.


Colin

[sharmy]

Remember the old Makita 7.2 volt drills where the battery slides into the handle? You can get them for about $2 from op shops, unscrew and separate the handle and cut the terminals so they take blade connectors and fit a length of dual core reasonably heavy cable, fit either an anderson plug or alligator clamps to the other end and run it off the 12 volt car battery. Heaps of grunt and does not hurt the drill.

[PerthDisco]

Remember the old Makita 7.2 volt drills where the battery slides into the handle? You can get them for about $2 from op shops, unscrew and separate the handle and cut the terminals so they take blade connectors and fit a length of dual core reasonably heavy cable, fit either an anderson plug or alligator clamps to the other end and run it off the 12 volt car battery. Heaps of grunt and does not hurt the drill.

Yes I still have mine purchased in about 1992. Have replaced the battery along the way but kaput again.

Excellent tool well balanced I was hoping there’d be an aftermarket battery to replace with.

Still with original carry case and charger surely worth $10!

Am now in the Ryobi 18V club

[sharmy]

2 bucks for the drill and 8 for the case. Get rid of the charger and the new length of cable may fit in the case with it

[gromit]

Remember the old Makita 7.2 volt drills where the battery slides into the handle? You can get them for about $2 from op shops, unscrew and separate the handle and cut the terminals so they take blade connectors and fit a length of dual core reasonably heavy cable, fit either an anderson plug or alligator clamps to the other end and run it off the 12 volt car battery. Heaps of grunt and does not hurt the drill.

Problem is I want a cordless drill rather than dragging around a corded drill & a 12V car battery :)
I frequent Op Shops regularly and have never seen a cordless drill. For years I looked at the local Trash & Treasure for an old 12V cordless to do exactly what you suggested with no luck.

I've provided Aldi with some negative feedback, it won't change anything but made me feel better.

I'm not expecting a refund just letting you know that a product you regularly sell isn't reliable.
As soon as this charger fails (it will be the third) I'll be forced to buy a replacement drill, battery & charger from Bunnings and throw away two perfectly good drills and batteries which isn't good for the environment.
I'd suggest your buying team get onto the supplier and get the problem resolved. It seems that the circuit boards have been modified several times and it's a diode that regularly fails.
Lesson learned, don't expect too much from a tool purchased from Aldi !

Thank you for your suggestion.
Your feedback has been documented and forwarded to the relevant team.
We appreciate you for bringing this to our attention.
Once again, I sincerely apologise for your experience.
Thanks again for contacting us, and I hope you continue to enjoy shopping at ALDI.



Looks like I'm taking the charger apart and seeing if it's the diode failed, cheap fix if it is.
Xfinity plus 20v charger failures - Gardening discussion (https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/94k6zp0y)


Colin

[PhilipA]

The danger with ALDI stuff is that the battery design will change over time and new batteries will not fit old tools and vice versa.
I have a 36V ALDI chain saw which I have had for several years. The battery will not charge to green although it still seems to work, but I don't know for how long.
The design of battery is not available as far as I can see through numerous and time consuming searches.

I have bought now for 20 years Ryobi stuff. The batteries have never changed although they did from Nicad to Lion. While the batteries are expensive there are copies of various qualities available on line. I have several copy batteries that have gone for years. Only one tool has ever failed and it was 10 plus years old.
So for me Ryobi is well worth the extra money for DIY tools. When and if the chain saw dies I will replace with Ryobi.
Regards PhilipA

[gromit]

So for me Ryobi is well worth the extra money for DIY tools. When and if the chain saw dies I will replace with Ryobi.


I'm thinking much the same.
At the moment the Aldi batteries are holding up fine and the 20V have been around for some time.
It's just painful that the chargers fail .......although if I can repair a charger I'll be OK.

I had B&D 14.4 NiCad drill, then they changed to 18V then NiMh now Lion.........

You can get most battery packs re-populated but probably cheaper to replace the tool !


Colin

[Tins]

I've had a Milwaukee 12/18 volt charger fail. They do. Ryobi will be no different, cos 'Waukee are way better than them and they fail. You can fix them. Usually a diode or a cap. Or you can adapt another brand charger. It just depends on whether the BMS stuff is on the battery or in the charger. I have a Makita 12V one here that a mate wants fixed. Something to do after surgery.

[PhilipA]

There are dozens of second hand Ryobi chargers on Facebook marketplace where I guess people have bought packages including chargers and then have no need for extra chargers.

I have a fake charger which I have had for several years now with no problems.
There are also many fake chargers on ebay. Mine from ebay has worked well for several years.
Regards PhilipA

[loanrangie]

I've had a Milwaukee 12/18 volt charger fail. They do. Ryobi will be no different, cos 'Waukee are way better than them and they fail. You can fix them. Usually a diode or a cap. Or you can adapt another brand charger. It just depends on whether the BMS stuff is on the battery or in the charger. I have a Makita 12V one here that a mate wants fixed. Something to do after surgery.

Milwaukee ,Ryobi and AEG come out of the same factory in China although some are now made in Vietnam.

[gavinwibrow]

I have various drills and garden tools. For each I've gutted the chargers and hooked the terminals directly to a pair of 4mm banana plugs. Those plug into one of these : iMAX B6 V2 Charger - SkyRC (https://www.skyrc.com/b6v2)

https://www.skyrc.com/image/catalog/product/charger/b6v2/b6/3.png?20200420

NiCD, NiMH, LiPO, Li-ion. Doesn't matter. It charges them all. Better still, a Ciggy to 2.1mm barrel connector lead ensure it charges them all from wherever I may be in the car.

A bit of judicious poking with an additional 1K resistor and it'll charge Ryobi One+ batteries as well.

I gave up on having a box full of chargers years ago and moved onto a bench power supply. For charging this is just another level up, and because I'm not balance charging fragile LiPOs a cheap clone from Aliexpress does the job just fine.


Like it.

Without pestering dealers, what sort of coin are we talking here?

[Tins]

Like it.

Without pestering dealers, what sort of coin are we talking here?

$90 from the jungle company, from Deutschland. Free shipping if you're prime. Caveat emptor, plenty of lookalikes on there.

[BradC]

$90 from the jungle company, from Deutschland. Free shipping if you're prime. Caveat emptor, plenty of lookalikes on there.

Yeah, I bought a cheap clone for about $40. The difference between the cheap and expensive ones is in the voltage dividers for measuring voltage (particularly the individual cell inputs) and the calibration associated with that. Neither are things that are important to me for charging these packs, so I went with the cheap one.

*All* of the lithium packs and tools with in-built batteries I charge (Ryobi, Makita, Ozito... and so on) have the protection in the tool/pack itself, so the charger just supplies a current limited voltage and lets the battery do the termination cut off. For NiCD, NiMH and Lead Acid, the charger is "accurate enough" to do the job. Cheap and cheerful wins the day.

[Tins]

Yeah, I bought a cheap clone for about $40. The difference between the cheap and expensive ones is in the voltage dividers for measuring voltage (particularly the individual cell inputs) and the calibration associated with that. Neither are things that are important to me for charging these packs, so I went with the cheap one.

*All* of the lithium packs and tools with in-built batteries I charge (Ryobi, Makita, Ozito... and so on) have the protection in the tool/pack itself, so the charger just supplies a current limited voltage and lets the battery do the termination cut off. For NiCD, NiMH and Lead Acid, the charger is "accurate enough" to do the job. Cheap and cheerful wins the day.

The Mak batts I have here that are my mate's are 12V, with the circuitry in the batt. They're old though, pretty early lithium. My own 'Waukee have no circuitry on the 12V batts, but they do on the 18V. The 'Waukee multi volt charger has protection in the charger, possibly for both. However, I'm sure that blue box will charge all of 'em. I'm keen to give it a go. Have you tried it with a "dead" pack? I have a dead 18V here I was going to pull down to replace whichever cell has gone bad. it's from 2015 so maybe asking a charger to revive it might be a stretch.

[BradC]

I always manually charge and balance a “Dead pack”. Open it up and check each cell individually, then charge it to ~3.2v with a current limited bench psu. I do each cell separately so I know when it put it on the charger they start out balanced, then see how they finish up. Unmatched cells were ok with nickel based chemistry, but with lithium if one needs replacing I replace them all. I used to strip cells, check and match them to rebuild packs, but now I just do the lot with new.

Having turned a Samsung 18650 into a blowtorch, I don’t tend to take chances anymore.

[Tins]

I always manually charge and balance a “Dead pack”. Open it up and check each cell individually, then charge it to ~3.2v with a current limited bench psu. I do each cell separately so I know when it put it on the charger they start out balanced, then see how they finish up. Unmatched cells were ok with nickel based chemistry, but with lithium if one needs replacing I replace them all. I used to strip cells, check and match them to rebuild packs, but now I just do the lot with new.

Yes, balancing them is vital. I'm a bit cheap and will harvest good cells from failed packs, but I am strict with rejection.


Having turned a Samsung 18650 into a blowtorch, I don’t tend to take chances anymore.

Indeed. Bloody nearly incinerated my house. Something else not to do when drunk. No chance of that these days, but still. I'm still astonished at the amount of energy in the things.