Former Cordless Drill Is Now Powered by Emergency Generator

Versión en español

I had this nice Craftsman® cordless drill for years. It was a gift from one of my brothers and it served me well for a long time. After repeated use and abuse, the battery stopped holding a charge. I decided not to buy a new battery and convert the drill to be powered using a plug meant for a cigarette lighter socket. I was inspired by Bikeframe's instructable Run a Drill of a Car Battery.

Step 1: Removing the Battery Cells

The first thing that I did was to remove the cells from inside the battery case. I unscrewed the top of the battery to get inside. I found that the battery terminals were held by a cell. I measured the thickness of the cell with a caliper and the cell was 0.88 inches thick (22.3 mm). Since I am also an environmentally conscious person, I made sure that the cells are recycled with my town’s recycling program.
Carefully I pried the positive terminal off the top of the cell. I soldered a wire to it and put it back on the plastic part that held both terminals. To replace the cell that originally held both terminals, I cut a piece of plastic conduit. I cut the plastic conduit with a hacksaw and smoothed the ends with sanding paper. I also drilled a hole to pull the red wire from inside the plastic conduit. Using crimping connectors, I connected the plug wires to the red and preexisting black wire of the battery. I also tied a ty-wrap around the cable and tightened it to make sure that nobody would pull the wires from inside the battery by accident.

Step 2: Working on the Plug

Originally the plug was meant to charge a cell phone but the cell phone does not work anymore. I removed the circuitry from inside the male plug and connected the matching wires together with solderless connectors. I covered both connections with heatshrink to avoid any short circuits. I also removed the fuse that was inside the plug, that was meant to protect the cell phone from a power surge. I replaced it with a screw, to make sure that the drill will work.
I invite you to watch the drill in action when connected with the plug to my emergency generator. Now if the power goes out I can still use my drill.