Thread: Cordless recovery-repair kit

Originally Posted by newhue

Am I missing it,

I make of your post, I will end up with an empty battery box, with 10mm cables soldered to the terminals. This will be just a storage box to carry the leads but they will be per attached to the terminals.

is that all you are saying.

I then power it with something else.

Hi Jason, What I'm saying is that for larger cordless tool jobs where playing battery changeover is neccessary to get the job done, it is easier and cheaper to get a stuffed cordless battery, rip it's guts out and solder wires to its terminals and have about 10 metres or so of reasonably heavy cable that you then connect to your car battery, also 12 volts, and use this to power your tools.

This is one of the big benefits of having a 12 volt cordless system over a system with higher voltages. Using the above method you can run your tools from a large battery (car battery) when needed without having to worry about wearing out your very expensive cordless batterys, you have full voltage/power all the time and don't have to worry about recharge time of the cordless batterys. In short it makes life a hell of a lot easier for bigger jobs.

I used this method for many years as a field service technician and had a cordless drill permanently wired in this manner. It saved a lot of hassle.

I missed the connection/mental jump from using cordless tools to in field welding using car batterys, sorry. I think this is where a bit of confusion may have arisen. Saw a bloke weld the rear axle ball joint fitting back on to a Defender axle housing a few years ago using this method and it worked well.


Deano

In an effort to reduce weight and bringing useless junk....

My solution is a bit different, and probably because I'm towing a van.
I already have a 2000w pure sine inverter, and I have a 240 v extension cord.

I dont carry any cordless tools.

I have a small 240v drill and grinder,
each of these are more powerful than a similare sized & more expensive cordless tool.

and a few other specific tools. eg appropriate helicoil , ezyouts etc.

Was not a big decision to sacrifice a very small space & weight for welding gear.
I use the 2 AGM batteries from the car & the one from the Van,
all are the same 105A batteries

appropriate cables to link them up, and my heavy duty ( telstra exchange battery cable) jumper leads as welding leads, 2 pairs of vice grips, one as an earth clamp & one as electrode holder.

so really the only extra thing I have to carry is some short link cables, half a box of 2mm rods and a welding glass.

recharge starting battery with Van solar panel if need be.

oh and a big old fashioned copper soldering iron, that I can heat up on a camp fire or gas flame, for silver soldering or electrical repairs.