Using Lithium Ion Batteries in Woodworking Tools

Lithium-Ion batteries have really taken the codeless tool market by storm and there are a bunch of great reasons for that. First, lets just talk about bulk. I've got here an 18 volt Lithium-Ion drill, an 18 volt NiCd drill. If we take the batteries outta here you gonna see what I'm talking about, there's that lithium, there's the NiCd now I wish that I could find a way that you could just retry it in here and grab these and pick 'em up because you'd immediately feel the weight difference between the two. The Lithium is a lot lighter. Now its really important to understand that although we have physically less battery here, we still have 18 volts out. So when it comes to where the rubber meets the road in other words, do we get the power we need at the nose of this drill? We do. From the Lithium battery, its providing all the power we need to drive this thing. Lets have a look too at the 12 volt. There's the 12 volt Lithium, 12 volt NiCd so again significant bulk comparison between them, significant bulk difference between the two which when we go to the smaller battery it means I can hold that tool for a longer amount of time, I can handle it more easily, I can get it into tighter spots more easily. So lots of advantages we gain there just in the size and the weight of the battery itself. Now inside there there's some chemistry going on that means we can charge this Lithium batteries quiet a few times more than we can charge the NiCd batteries. In most cases its up to about 2 times more. That hits you in your pocket book. What it means is that, the batteries can last longer every time you put it in the charger that qualifies as a charge cycle. So if it takes twice as many charges as a NiCd does, that means it's gonna last for you twice as long as a NiCd that's gonna stretch your shop dollar out so you don't have to replace the batteries anywhere near as frequently. There's also a huge convenience factor. I can have a fully charged NiCd battery in my tool, put it away let it sit. Now if I am a long time between uses what's happening is that, that NiCd battery is slowly trickling away some of its juice. So a few months later I come back, I realize now I need to use it, when I go to run it maybe there's nobody home. With Lithium batteries they hold to that power for a significantly greater amount of time. If I put it away charged and it sits there in that drawer for even months and months and months, when I come to use it I'm still gonna have enough power there to use the drill. It doesn't trickle away that power the way NiCd battery does so, lots of advantages here we gain, weight and size meaning they're smaller and lighter easier to get in your hand, we gain on the number of charge cycles they can tolerate and we gain on the length of time those Lithium batteries are gonna hold on to their power which is a huge convenience factor for you so that you know that the tool's gonna be usable when you're ready to use it. Lots of great reasons for you to add tools that use Lithium-Ion batteries to your shop.