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Can my inverter charge this? - expert advice required?

Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:00

Member - Mick O (VIC)

Article Overview - Inverters
This article discusses how Inverters work and why they are so desirable to many travellers. View Full Article...
I have been looking at some 18V cordless power tools as part of the tool collection for future outback trips. The charger is a “1 Hour” type or so it says on the box. On the bottom of the charger for said tools are the input and output figures/ratio?. What I need to know is if my current inverters will power this charger based on the information at hand.

INPUT: 240V (Squiggle) 50 HZ 75W
OUTPUT: 18.0V -.- 1.9A/34VA

I have a 300 watt Pure Sine Wave inverter as well as a 150 Watt modified Sine Wave. The 150 Watt unit is a cig plug type for small appliance charging (Laptop, video camera). The 300W unit is connected direct to the battery with short, H/D cables.

From my limited understanding I think the 300W should power the charger. Could those more knowledgeable in the confusing world of electrical current give me a yay or nay on the above.

Many thanks.

Mick

P.S. "Squiggle"is a techo term for a symbol I have no hope of replicating on this humble computer but it looked like a flattened and horizontal 's'.
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AnswerID: 364340   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:25

Wayne (NSW) replied:

Mick,

I have in the past charged the battery for an cordless drill using a 150w inverter.

It will take some time and will generate heat just like charging on 240v at home.

I have charged the battery while travelling and have set it up in the morning when planning to travel most of the day.

Just make sure that the battery charger is not covered as it can get too hot.

The reason that I bought a 18v cordless drill is if the battery on the drill should ever fail I would then hard wire the drill to the vehicles battery.

Wayne

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FollowupID: 632027   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:35

Mrbrush posted:

18volt drill running on 12volts ?
I did`nt know that was possible ?
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FollowupID: 632031   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:52

Member - Andrew (QLD) posted:

yeh, i would think that the variable speed control and other electronics would hate it.

Andrew

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FollowupID: 632033   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:19

Robin Miller posted:

I'd expect it to work with with less go of course.
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FollowupID: 632046   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:49

Member - Josh (VIC) posted:

I bought a 12 vlot drill for reason above, worst case hard wire to vwchile battery. Thankfully have not had to use it for any major repairs, just fitting new toys to the car.

Josh
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FollowupID: 632052   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:02

Chev-Patrol 6.5 V8 D posted:

I've got an old Makita 7.2v cordless drill from about 1988. Obviously the battery died ages ago and I pulled it apart and hooked up a 12v cigi cord to it. It is a 2 speed drill and the 12volts gets it up and boogying nicely!!!!!

I've also done the same with a 12 volt Black and Dekka; same result, but doesn't rev as hard.

I don't use either of these regularly, but they're there in the shed.
FollowUp 5 of 6
FollowupID: 632068   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:32

Patrol22 posted:

I run an old 14.4volt drill of my 12volt system and it works a treat - plenty of grunt and plenty of revs.
FollowUp 6 of 6
AnswerID: 364341   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:27

Member - Barnray (NSW) replied:

75W against 300W leaves 225W. B
Reply 2 of 11
FollowupID: 632037   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:25

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

I didn't believe it could be that easy. It's not is it?
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AnswerID: 364343   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:36

Shaz & Col replied:

Mick,
both will work ok but the charger prefers pure sine wave , I charge my drill twice a week off my modified sine wave inverter
and the batteries are not quite as good as when I use the wall, so every 3 weeks or so I plug them in at home and they always last longer. anything hard wired is better than a cig plug.
cig plugs are good for cig lighters and phone chargers and thats about it.
I do this for a job and am constantly replacing cig sockets and hard wiring the accessory . I`m still amazed at some of the accessories that come with a cig plug.

Col.
Reply 3 of 11
FollowupID: 632035   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:22

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

Thanx Col. I am to. I hope I don't have to use them but you never know. Better to have and never need than......you know.

Cheers Mick
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AnswerID: 364348   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 18:58

Member - Andrew (QLD) replied:

BTW, the "swiggle" would be the "tilde" symbol, found on the top left of most keyboards...found by using SHIFT-`

~~~~~ some spare ones for later....lol

Andrew

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FollowupID: 632032   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:15

Gone Bush (WA) posted:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
some from me too.

Let's go waltzing m'tilde....

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FollowupID: 632034   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:20

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

Yep that's the one. Thanks you blokes. Your generosity is only exceeded by your good looks lol.

Mick
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FollowupID: 632053   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:03

Member - Andrew (QLD) posted:

Oh great, another blind fella commenting on our looks. :-)

Andrew

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FollowupID: 632055   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:10

equinox posted:

The symbol means AC, or alternating current.

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AnswerID: 364353   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:17

Inkbandit79 replied:

Mick, check out the dewalt range of cordless tool I use them because im a tradie as well as a bush nut, but when i bought my latest kit they threw in a car charger that wont charge the batterie's in an hour but it dose charge them to there full capacity, the tools are pretty tough to i backed over my last set with a two tonne trailer and only sqaushed the box they came in they went on for another 4 years.
Reply 5 of 11
FollowupID: 632036   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:24

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

Looked at the Dewalt today. I have a Dewalt Nail gun already. A bit pricey for me. Understand the quality but not being a tradie makes them an expensive sundry. Looking more at the cheaper end of the market, Ryobi or Makita. Mick
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FollowupID: 632067   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:30

Best Off Road posted:

DeWalt....Pfft.

Overpriced and overrated.

We belt the living daylights out of rechargeable stuff. Ryobi works well for us. GMC was very good too before they went arse up.

Jim.

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AnswerID: 364354   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:21

Robin Miller replied:

It will charge & work Mick
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FollowupID: 632039   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:26

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

Thanks Robin, and all, I'll buy them then.

Cheers Mick
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AnswerID: 364357   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:25

Serendipity of Mandurah (WA) replied:

Hi Mick

I have a lot of 18v makita cordless gear. I have been told to only ever run the battery charger with a pure sine wave inverter. At $200 plus for the charger and $150 for each battery, these are too expensive to run on a square inverter. I recently purchased a 300w - 600w peak inverter only to find it won't run the makita charger. The charger is only rated at 240w. I posted here for advice and received some good answers. Upshot is my (cheap chinese) inverter probably has a really short peak (.5 sec maybe) and the battery charger will pull a longer peak. It starts but shuts down with an overload light. I need to reinvest in a more expensive inverter - and probably go higher on the nominal watts.

Hope that helps.

David


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FollowupID: 632040   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:33

Serendipity of Mandurah (WA) posted:

I should add the inverter was a pure sine wave and costs $80 plus freight. All my makita gear is the XLT lithium Ion battery. These new type of batteries last for ages and have so much grunt. Only ones I buy now. You can purchase a 12v makita charger for these for around $150 or about.


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FollowupID: 632044   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:44

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

Thanks David,

My inverter is a good quality one I got at DSE. It was about $300. Here is a link to the unit.

Cheers Mick
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FollowupID: 632049   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 19:51

Gone Bush (WA) posted:

I've got the same one Mick. It is a good choice.


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FollowupID: 632059   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:18

Member - Andrew (QLD) posted:

David, does the charging system for the XLT's perform as good as they claim...i've been researching cordless combo kits today and the makita charging seems a tad better than the De Walt.

Boy, the cordless gear is expensive if you seperate the kits!

Andrew

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FollowupID: 632071   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 20:34

Serendipity of Mandurah (WA) posted:

Hi Andrew

Yes - the XLT do perform as good as they claim - I have purchased cordless tools in the past (nickle cad) and have never been impressed. Put in a 1/2 inch drill bit and drill into concrete and they didn't last. These new ones will just go and go. I have tek guns that go all day with punching metal teks into metal roof sheets and metal purlins. The batteries recharge very quick. I run two battery chargers with multiple tools and multiple batteries. Most of the other tradies I meet on site use either the makita gear or hitachi. Other brands are occasionally seen but don't seem to last. When De Walt came out lots of guys purchased the gear but I see very few guys running De Walt now.

I purchased one of the makita kits from the USA on ebay - hammer drill, tek gun, reciprocating saw, charger & 2x batteries for $600 delivered to my door. That was last year - the dollar has gone down a bit now. I knew the overseas warranty would be of no use but felt confident enough in Makita gear to take the chance. Other makita gear I have purchased mail order within Australia.

David


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AnswerID: 364386   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 21:16

Member - Tony F (NSW) replied:

Hi Mick,From my unqualified research I would never run anything like a computer or any other expensive thing on a modified sine inverter. It cost one person I know two Tv's and they are cheap.
Pure Sine is what you get out of the wall at different power levels depending on the size of the unit you have. I have a 12Volt De Walt as I do trade type work. Unstopable powerful and expensive.
I can run it off my battery as I have already gutted an old battery and hard wired it. If you are thinking of hard wire option your alternater puts out over 14 Volts so why not look at 12 or 14.4 Volt drills. 18 volt drills, in most cases are to heavy for regular repeticious use. A quality 12 or 14.4 will strain your rist if you are not consentrating. Why bother with 18 V.
If i suddenly have to go to a job and my battery is low I can hook it up to the 300 Pure Sine and it will be charged when I get there. It works for me.
Good Luck.
Tony F
Reply 8 of 11
AnswerID: 364396   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 21:53

Richard Kovac replied:

Mick

I no this is not the answer but ..

I had an old 12 volt DC drill that the battery craped itself, so I pulled it apart, riped the battery out of it, crimped some terminal's onto the wires and then made up a 12 v dc extension lead for it.

Works a treat. So it's now a cord 12 v dc drill.

Cheers

Richard
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Reply 9 of 11
FollowupID: 632098   Submitted: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 00:00

Gone Bush (WA) posted:

And if you want the drill to run in reverse you just put the red clip onto the -ve terminal.... lol



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FollowupID: 632101   Submitted: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 00:23

Richard Kovac posted:

No but, if I want to use it as a cord screwdriver I just flick the Little button over .. :-))
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AnswerID: 364407   Submitted: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 23:14

Benbro replied:

Mick,
Either of your existing inverters will work with plenty of margin, if they are capable of producing 300 Watts and 150 Watts as they claim. The charger only requires 75 Watts.

The charger will not care if the inverter produces a Pure sine wave or a modified sine wave because the charger almost certainly rectifies it anyway to produce DC. (some appliances do care)
Incidentally the tilde ~ represents a sine wave and is the symbol for ac (alternating current)

By the way the charger only delivers 34.2 Watts (18Vx1.9A) so the rest is converted to heat (around 40 Watts) so it will most likely run reasonably warm (it will be dissipating about the same as a 40 Watt light bulb when you are charging a completely flat battery).

Regards
John
(self confessed electronics expert)

Reply 10 of 11
FollowupID: 632108   Submitted: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 06:59

Member - Mick O (VIC) posted:

Thanks John,

That's explained it concisely & clearly. Cheers Mick
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FollowupID: 632137   Submitted: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 14:39

Member -Dodger posted:

What John said is correct.
I use a 300watt pure sine wave inverter to charge my makita 18 volt drill for winding down the van legs and many other uses.
Have done so for 8 years without problems.
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AnswerID: 364484   Submitted: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 15:50

TerraFirma replied:

Yes it will work. The 12v refers to the drill not the 240Vac charger.
Reply 11 of 11