Charging a Cordless Drill on 12V?

Several yeas ago, power tool chargers were one of those things which did not enjoy being recharged on a MSW inverter.

I had one such 9.6v Nimh charger which released its magic smoke on a MSW inverter. I was in Baja at the time and hardwired it then and there with 12AGW.

Still have it.

I bought A makita drill/impact driver a few years back, and when I needed to charge without grid power, I did not risk attempting to use My MSW inverter on it.

I got a PSW 400 watt inverter basically just for this duty. ~250 watts is what the charger claimed, and I will seem y battery monitor register a pulsing 25 amp maximum. mostly about 4 amps, when it is charging.

As the battery or charger alone are 90% of the price of a new drill kit combo with 2 new batteries. I was unwilling to risk either charger or battery to MSW.

I find it criminal how expensive a replacement battery for a power tool is. My now corded drill whose charger failed on MSW inverter is still operational, but getting 12v to where needed is a PITA, and it likes to blow 35 amp fuses, which are not cheap.

I now almost never use my MSW inverteranymore, as ther 400 watts of PSW covers my needs, and has less than half the standby current consumption, and 1/1oth the noise

thats good and works well
IF it was originally 12 v or 9v

won't be worth shinola on a 20v drill

the PC device is a DC - DC power converter, a dedicated device for laptops
have never seen one for cordless drills

just use a small 12>120v inverter

This works for Me. I gutted a dead battery, and run some outdoor lighting cable to it. It used to have a trolling motor plug on the end and the camper had a receptacle on each side.

Many cordless tool systems have car chargers available that plug directly into the lighter socket. (After all, they're aimed at tradesmen who sometimes work at places where there isn't power available or installed yet.) That might be a reasonable option, too—probably more power efficient than using an inverter to power the 120VAC charger, and maybe less expensive, if you're lucky enough.

Well, I could hook up an inverter down in the storage unit where the battery disconnect is. If I did that I could build a little shelf to secure the charger on and let it charge while I am driving down the road. I would unhook/unplug the charger while we are parked so it doesn't drain the batteries. I was trying for the easy way out.

Vintage465 wrote:
So I have a new 20v cordless drill to drop the jacks on my trailer. Naturally it came with the 110v charger for plugging in at home. I don't intend on setting up an inverter in my rig. For my 18v computer I have an inverter that plugs into my cigarette lighter on my work truck. Is there such an inverter to plug into a cigarette lighter to charge a 20v drill?

The typical 12vdc cigaratte lighter type inverter outputs approx. 80-120w at 120vac. That's approx. .8 - 1 amps at 120vac.

Not sure what make 20v cordless charger you have.

I familiar with the DCB101 20v Dewalt charger. It draws 1.5a at 120v (it outputs 4a charge current at 20vdc). Odds are this unit will overload a "typical" cigarette lighter inverter.

However, Dewalt also makes some entry-level 20v chargers that only output 2a at 20vdc. These require a bit less 120vac input current than the DCB101---maybe .8 - 1a (@120vac). If you have one of these you *may* get by using a 12vdc cigarette lighter type inverter to power your 20v charger.

My inverter pulls about 10 amps (12v) charging my old sears 18v drill. Doubt the typical RV 12v connector will work. Check the charger input specs but 300 to 500 watt inverter should be fine to just clamp on the battery when needed.

An inverter is an inverter.. It depends on the watts of the inverter, and the watts that the charger needs to charge the battery.