Battery Powered Drill

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

I would like to carry along a battery powered drill in my bus tool kit.

My bus has modified sine wave inverters.

Does anyone know, will it be acceptable to charge the drill batteries off the 120v output of the inverters?

JIM

[Kenneth Brewer]

I would like to carry along a battery powered drill in my bus tool kit.

My bus has modified sine wave inverters.

Does anyone know, will it be acceptable to charge the drill batteries off the 120v output of the inverters?

JIM

Yes .

[flyu2there]

Jim,

The charger for your drill doesn't much care where the 120V for the charger comes from and they do not draw too many amperes, so, as previously stated, yes you can. Just sounds kind of funny, using dc that has been changed to ac to power a transformer (charger) to make dc again. As an aside, the newer drills hold a charge for quite some time, so it is really a non event.

John

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

What inspires the question is, I have seen some electrical devices that instruct; do not use on an inverter power source.

JIM

[Petervs]

Jim you are correct. Many battery chargers for this type of device will fail if used on inverter power. I found this out on my boat, replaced the charger 3 times, under warranty, the last one actually had a label warning of this. Took a while to figure out the problem because of course everything works great on shore power.

My solution was a 12 volt DC powered charger which they also sell.

My drill also had a flashlight in a kit with a charger and 2 batteries, from Sears, a Craftsman. They work very well, I like them.

[Kenneth Brewer]

I gave bad advice. Peter is correct. So far as I can tell, most new battery powered tools will (or should) state whether or not they can be powered with modified sine wave (inverter) power. My apologies.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Too late Ken, It's gone now! Just kidding.

My favorite drill Black and Decker 18v from 1993 and still going strong, says nothing in its literature.

I just purchased a Craftsman kit 19.?v and it says do not use on inverter.

I will look for the 12v charger Peter, was that a Sears product?

Thanks to all,
JIM

[BrianE]

My DeWalt 14v chargers work very well on inverter power....so far

[Petervs]

Yes Sears sells the 12 volt charger.