Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Broken battery charger- electrical help please

Bossnass · 12-17-2003, 12:13 AM

I have a Black and Decker Firestorm 14.4 cordless drill. About 4 or 5 years old. It was a comprimise at the time, but it had better battery life and comparable performace to a co-workers new 14.4 dewalt, back at the time I bought it. Bottom line, it is a good drill as far as I'm concerned. The drill works fine, always has, but the batteries are near dead.

The battery charger is broken. It stopped charging, period. I've made the phone calls and learned that it just isn't cost-effective to buy a new charger, it would be comparable to a whole new drill. I've talked to a guy at a B&w repair depot and he tells me not to bother for the cost and hassle, (although the next time he gets an unrepairable drill like mine, he'll hit the owner up for the charger).

I've snipped the cord and played with my multimeter. As far as I can tell, the transformer (black box that plugs into the wall... I call it a transformer) is the problem. No DC voltage coming out of it. I dug out an old discman DC adapter and got 4.5 Vdc from the same process.

So... is it possible, reasonable, and safe to replace the transformer? It's supposed to put out 17.4V DC at 210 mAmps. Is there anyway I can replicate this from parts from Radioshack?

12-17-2003, 12:13 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bossnass Détente Location: AWOL in Edmonton	Broken battery charger- electrical help please I have a Black and Decker Firestorm 14.4 cordless drill. About 4 or 5 years old. It was a comprimise at the time, but it had better battery life and comparable performace to a co-workers new 14.4 dewalt, back at the time I bought it. Bottom line, it is a good drill as far as I'm concerned. The drill works fine, always has, but the batteries are near dead. The battery charger is broken. It stopped charging, period. I've made the phone calls and learned that it just isn't cost-effective to buy a new charger, it would be comparable to a whole new drill. I've talked to a guy at a B&w repair depot and he tells me not to bother for the cost and hassle, (although the next time he gets an unrepairable drill like mine, he'll hit the owner up for the charger). I've snipped the cord and played with my multimeter. As far as I can tell, the transformer (black box that plugs into the wall... I call it a transformer) is the problem. No DC voltage coming out of it. I dug out an old discman DC adapter and got 4.5 Vdc from the same process. So... is it possible, reasonable, and safe to replace the transformer? It's supposed to put out 17.4V DC at 210 mAmps. Is there anyway I can replicate this from parts from Radioshack?