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A few questions about cordless drills and batteries


Claudisimo

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Hello everyone. I'm confused about some things. I'm short on budget (and I will be for the rest of the year) and tools are kind of expensive in my country. I want to buy a makita cordless drill, for wood working mostly. I was hoping to get a 18v drill and I found a place where they sell the tools with no batteries. The thing is that I also need a jigsaw, and I found one (JV183DWE) that comes with 2 Li-ion 1,3Ah 18v batteries (the model of the batteries is BL1813G) and a charger (one hour charging time, the model is DC18WA). As I told before, they also sell drills with no batteries so...

1) Can I buy a 18v drill alone (BDF458Z is what I have in mind) that, if you buy it with the complete pack, comes with 3Ah batteries and use those 1.3Ah ones with it? Will it work? Will it have less power or the battery will only last for less time?

2) Can I use that charger (I know there's more than one model) that comes with those 1.3Ah batteries, buy chinesse 18v 3.0Ah batteries and charge them with it? Will they work? Will it damage the charger or the batteries, or they will just charge slower? Maybe another model of charger is needed?

3) I already have a Makita corded hammer drill. I don't use it very much and I'm fine with it when i need it so... is there any difference between a cordless drill (i will work on wood) and another one that comes with hammer function? Because I don't need that and it's more expensive, so I want to know if there is another difference between them besides the hammer function, for example, Makita bhp458 and bdf458.

Thank you guys, and my apologies for the bad english.

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You're English is a whole lot better than a bunch of us on here, and especially posts people make here from their phones!

 

In answer to your questions. On the Makita line (like most others), the batteries and chargers are interchangeable, so it doesn't matter which one you buy in a kit. I think 1.3Ah batteries are a bit small, but it will do the job if you don't use them for long periods. They MAY have slightly less power, but the runtime is the significant difference.

 

The hammer function (or lack thereof) makes no difference to your performance in timber, for either cordless or corded. The hammer function on regular drills is just a convenience option, and not a replacement for a true rotary hammer drill.

 

Have you checked local prices for Bosch, Dewalt, Milwaukee in your area? They are also good brands.

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Sorry to dissappoint you but that will not work.

 

Let me explain.

 

Makita has 1 very big 18V range of cordless tools called LXT. ( The mentioned BDF458 is part of the 18V LXT range )

 

Batteries, chargers and tools inbetween the LXT range are interchangeable.

 

Makita also has a very limited of Non LXT 18V tools.  These are cheaper cost down versions with cheaper batteries, no protection circuits in the batteries and a cheaper slower charger.

(The mentioned Jigsaw is part of this range )

But you only find these tools in some countries. I think they were designed for the cheaper non western markets. Most countries only have Makita's LXT range because that are the professional Makita's.

 

Batteries of the LXT and the cost down 18V range are NOT interchangeable.

 

I also have some questions for you:

 

The drill you have chosen ( BDF458 ) is a heavy duty powerhouse drill (92 newtons torque ).  Do you actually need such a heavy drill with all that power?

 

If so, these heavy duty drills will not take 1.3 amp batteries.   18V LXT 1.3 amp batteries will not fit on this drill.  These small capacity batteries cannot deliver enough amperage to feed the power hungry motor in that tool.   Any LXT battery of 1.5 Amp or more (  so 1.5 Ah,  2.0Ah, 3.0Ah, 4.0Ah, 5.0Ah ) will fit on the BDF458.

 

You should never buy 1.3 Amp batteries anymore in my opinion. These batteries do not have electronics and protection circuits. These are 'old' batteries.

If you buy cordless Makita --> Make sure you have atleast 1.5 Ah batteries IMHO.

 

Now, for a jigsaw in the LXT range there are different models:  DJV180 / DJV181 / DJV182.   These jigsaws will be compatible with all 18V Makita LXt batteries of 1.5 Amp or more.

 

 

On a practical note: Both the jigsaw and the BDF458 are heavy power users.  These tools were designed with the use of a 3, 4 or 5 amp battery in mind.  Although you can perfectly fit a 1.5 Amp battery on those tools they will loose a littlebit of their power ( Because smaller capacity batteries cant give enough amperage to the tool like a bigger battery can ) but the runtime on these heavy duty tools with a small battery will not be too fantastic.

 

I hope my english is good enough so you understand my meaning :D

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Do you actually need such a heavy duty drill? Will you be using hole saws etc?  Even a lighter drill ( DDF453 is a perfect homeowner drill ,  DDF480 is the most sold makita drill in all of belgium. That's their updated compact professional type) could be perfectly capable for what you want to do with it :)

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Wow, thanks you all guys for the answers. Well... about if I need that drill the answer is I don't think so (I'll do some cabinets and I'll expand the house making 2 rooms with metalcom), but buying it with no batteries wasn't  much more expensive than another one so, the way I see it, the expensive things are the batteries. I was also planing to use some big screws in 4x4 wood (or maybe I won't, not sure yet) so I like that it has so much torque. I also need to make a workbench so I can work with no problems. 

About another brand: I also like the ones that you mentioned dwain and they do sell them here, but I saw this place when I can buy tools with or without batteries and the other one alone, so I thought that I can buy only one with batteries (maybe get more in the future), the another one alone and save a lot of money.

The thing is guys, that all this drills and jigsaws that are cheaper come with 1.1 or 1.3Ah batteries, no LXT, the next option is a DF457 drill that comes with 1.3Ah and LXT technology, and the next option is 3.0Ah batteries with LXT technology with heavy dutty drills so, I either get a cheaper drill with low battery or a high-end drill with higher battery, because there's no much difference in price of first and second option, but thanks for the warning about the LXT technology. Maybe I only need a cheaper drill with 1.3Ah batteries?

 

By the way, buying charger, batteries and the tool separately it's way more expensive.

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You need to find a cool deal on a kit that has a tool you need. That is usually the cheapest option to get started in a cordless tool platform. Then you can just add on tools you want as a bare tool. Makita makes nice stuff but you might want to consider other brands. Most cordless drills can handle what you are doing. The Makita will just make the job a lot easier with all that torque.

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Yeah dwain. They are tools for emerging markets. But because of internet and webstores importing and selling them everywhere. That is the problem honestly.

If you go to your local decent dealer he can give you all the correct info.

If you buy online you need to gather info first from places like this :D

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Yeah dwain. They are tools for emerging markets. But because of internet and webstores importing and selling them everywhere. That is the problem honestly.

If you go to your local decent dealer he can give you all the correct info.

If you buy online you need to gather info first from places like this :D

 

That is if you have a local decent dealer, I don't. Seriously, the sellers here don't know much more than "yeah, Makita, Bosch, Milwaukee and Dewalt are great tools".

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