LiIon battery in a NiCad Charger?

[motormonkey]

I read on here that almost all the Dewalt power tools that used the 18v NiCad batteries can be made to accept and use a LiIon battery, such as the DC9180 battery. I'm guessing that the normal way to do this is to replace the battery socket on the tool with one that has the additional tab cutout to accept the LiIon battery. If so, you could get the same result by simply cutting the needed slot in the existing battery socket on the tool.

So if I cut the required slot in the battery socket on a DW9116 charger, so that a DC9180 LiIon battery would fit in the charger, would it properly charge the battery?

[kjones]

No, do not alter the dw9116 to fit lithium batteries; it will ruin your battery.  All the 18v tools will already accept the lithium batteries without modification.  There are a couple of exceptions on older more obscure tools, so if the lithium batteries will not already fit, have them altered for free at your nearest service center.

[jevink]

Is there any documentation stating they will alter them for free?  last time I went they tried to charge me!

[kjones]

Are you in the US?

Also, what tools do you have that aren't allowing the lithium batteries? They should fit everything except some of the older lights and vacuums.  Everything else will fit already.

[Charlie B]

KJones, are there alternatives for charging a DC9180 pack? I'm in the same shape as above - have several DW9116 chargers and a DC9180 needing a charge.....

[electromage]

I don't know the details of this, but NiCad and LiIon have very different charging requirements. If you are not familiar with the requirements and able to verify that the charger is safe don't attempt this yourself. You could fry the battery and possibly cause a fire or explosion. Those warnings aren't jokes. I've seen both NiMH and LiIon fires and they're not pretty.