4/10/2024 0 Comments Dewalt dca1820 battery adapter![]() I don’t make decisions when the math says I am going to lose money by making them. I mean at 34 bucks for the adapter, if I bought a charger and a single extra battery I’d be behind in money spent to keep an old ass tool running. ![]() No tool owner ever said, gee I wish I had less batteries and chargers. I looked around and the current light duty equivalent is a 20V Drill, with a charger and two batteries (all be it low amp hour batteries) for only 99 bucks. Yet I thought about it, was I really going to pay 34 bucks just to plug a new battery into my 15 year old light duty drill. I have some heavy duty tools but like many I also have some lighter duty stuff, an extra drill or driver is just really convenient. I mean some of the lower end tools are only twice that as a “bare tool”, some less. That is when the 34 dollar a pop price tag sank in! So I figured I would get say 4 of them and be set. Then I realized swapping the adapter to each tool was annoying as crap and it made using two tools on one job a total pain in the ass. Still what to do with all my older tools, so when Dewalt came out with this adapter I got one, it worked, I was happy, real happy. It was more than enough to keep me loyal to big yellow and black. I was tempted to leave Dewalt but tried some of their new tools on the new 20V platform. Dewalt as this point has little incentive to invest in 30 year old technology. I get it, it has now been over 5 years since the line shifted to the new technology. As I have purchased new ones something is very clear, the new 18V batteries are total crap, the live on average about as long as a goldfish you win at a school carnival. Over the years though all my old 18V batteries finally gave up the ghost. When the first 20V Max tools came out I thought, “well that is nice, but my old tools are so solid I just don’t care”. I have however have stayed loyal to the Dewalt brand. I left that life of contracting many years ago now. Most guys doing this work are paid by the job, not the hour, a dead tool is something you just can’t afford. Dewalt became the brand of choice because flatly it survived where many other brands died. Drilling into telephone poles, bouncing around in trucks, being dropped into muddy holes while splicing in ground cable, etc. This work is hard on tools, we are talking be dropped and abused a lot. At that time, almost every tech I knew used one brand and one brand only, yep Dewalt. I am talking in 1995 I was using Dewalt drills and tools for CATV cable splicing and head end building. As many of you know I am a Dewalt fan from way, way back. ![]() Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the generic DCA1820 Dewalt Battery Adapter for 18V To 20V. Those electronics exist for a reason.Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend. Manufacturers don’t like when you bypass the safety communication protocols built into either their batteries and/or tools. Using a tool with third-party battery adapters can have a similar effect. Bounce that drill off a roof onto concrete and you’re unlikely to get it serviced under the warranty. 3 – Potentially Voiding the Manufacturer’s Warrantyīelieve it or not, manufacturers actually care about how you use their tools and batteries. Nobody enjoys either a dead battery or a burned-up tool. Now you’ve created a potential “brick” pack that can no longer take a charge. What’s more-if a lithium-ion battery is “dumb” because the tool is smart, then putting it on a “dumb” tool means you can now drain the pack down below its nominal level. In both cases, all of the built-in protection that keeps both the tool and the battery from going so far that it damages itself is gone. ![]() Unfortunately, when you bypassed it with a battery adapter or voltage converter, you likely took away its ability to protect itself. Your car is most likely going to shut itself down before permanent damage occurs, and your cordless tool does the same. Just like the battery adapter, you’ve bypassed the electronic communications to do so. You’re just telling the tool to push the gas pedal farther. The same thing goes for these voltage boosters. ![]() See how long it takes for your temperature gauge to rise and idiot lights to illuminate. Tool battery adapters largely ignore the lines that govern safe use of a tool. Yes, we can push the tool and battery beyond what they’re rated for, but not for long and not without consequences. Just like the car, there’s an optimal operating range. This comes from extreme heat production in the motor and/or pack. Driving the motor beyond what it is designed to maintain will most likely result in failure. ![]()
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