Title says it all. My OEM batteries are on their last legs and are no longer made. After market are all over the place but most get poor reviews. I know nicads are old tech but rather stick with what I have. Buying the 20v adapter, batteries and charger is more than I want to spend. Anyone know of a reputable supplier of knock offs?
Lithium batteries in power tools last so much longer than Nicads - as in their useful lifetime in years. As well as the runtime each charge.
It may cost a bit more now, but the battery is likely to outlast a couple of Nicad batteries. Plus you don’t need to worry about memory effect etc.
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The problem switching over is I would need a bunch of adapters or switch them around between tools. Do the adapters make the tool too large? Are they reliable? A kit with 2 batteries, 1 charger, and 2 adapters is $175 . I was hoping to keep the cost down since I am retired and don’t use my tools all that much anymore but do want them when I need them. After market 18 volts go for under $50 for a pair but it seems to be hit and miss as to quality. I wouldn’t mind spending a little more for a quality 18v.
There are many on ebay. Did you check, here is one example:
Do your self a favor, get some new cheaper brand but with lithium battery.
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Dewalt phased out nicad a few years ago, about 2022. Any OEM would have sat on a shelf for years. Do you think they would be a better bet than after market?
I have 2 hammer drills, a circular saw, a saws all, an impact driver, 2 chargers and a couple lights. I am too old to start over with a new format.
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I don’t like spending other peoples money but you should not really be throwing out good money with bad. Donate it to charity and get a new one. 4th of July is coming and with that comes mega deals. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I sold my XRP system over 10 years ago.
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My existing 18v nicads are 11 years old, mostly unused so I assume the shelf life of nicads is pretty good. I may take a chance on the ebay oems for $80. They are probably 3 years old already. At least with them the cells started out as first quality as opposed to the aftermarket sellers which could be anything.
How doable is it to recell the old packs? I know with lithium ion power tool packs they’re normally just a load of 18650s wired together, and people swap out the cells when they get tired. Can the same be done for NiMH?
It’s doable. I may have to go that route if the ebay batteries don’t pan out.
Its such as waste of time in this day and age. A replacement set is $100 to $150 on sale.
Hop on Amazon and check out what they have for li-ion tools from China. Some are good woth brushless motors, but some are junk. The good ones are actually worth the money. If you don’t need prosumer or contractor grade tools, they’re fine and will be great for around the home stuff. As was mentioned though Home Depot and Lowes and even WalMart have sales on their tool bundles from time to time. It’s not worth it to keep NiCad or even NiMH tool batteries around when li-ion rules the world for reliability, power, fast charging, etc.
You will not find 18v batteries that are any good, aftermarket for the most part is trash, good ones are not made in a decade almost, so if you find oem it will be old stock. I was in the same boat, have about dosen of tools that run on 18v nicd, i got adapters, and use 20v batteries, no point swapping tools, newer tools are not necessary better. My advice get adapters from dewalt, they make oem adapters, but they drain little power even when not running, so remove battery from adapter for storage. there are aftermarket adapters too, those can vary, some are ok others are trash,
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How do the tools feel with the added size? Why do the adapters draw current?
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If you want cheap and name brand try Ridgid. July 4 coming up. Big sales.
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I had Batteries+ rebuild a Craftsman cordless drill with NiMHs a number of years ago and it worked… charged weird, but worked. Then, a sale came up on the Black&Decker 20V series, 3 attachments, and I’ve been happy for years now that I let the old tech go. With the B&D stuff, there’s been a good selection of tools compatible with the existing Li-ion packs.
Just a tip. I, like you, hate to throw anything out. But I have had to get rid of everything that I owned with NiCad cells. Including single cells, 9volt batteries, and all of the tools that used NiCads. They love to self discharge themselves at a fast rate. Left sitting for any length of time they over discharge and just die. Good luck with the packs from Ebay, but I am skeptical as they have likely been sitting for a very long time. Probably time to upgrade. Just figure out the tools that you need and grab them, preferably in a kit with a couple of batteries and charger. Just add tools in the same system as you need them. If you are anything like me, you probably don’t use a bunch of the things that you mentioned very much. Heck the only ones I use much these days are the drill and little impact driver. All the rest of the stuff just takes up space. I hope the Ebay stuff works for you…
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The extra hammer drill came in a kit with the impact driver as a xmas present. Damn thing is brand new. Never got used because my old hammer drill is still kicking after 25 years, some of them pretty heavily used. I’ll convert them to 20v if I have to before chucking the whole bunch. I guess I’ll keep my eyes out for a deal on a kit. The hell of it is they sit in the basement 90% of the time anymore since my building days are behind me. Can’t bend over anymore. 
I see the price dropped to $130 30 days ago on amazon. That’s about what 2 18v batteries used to cost so that’s not too bad. $175 right now.
There was a Youtube video I came across where someone demonstrated how they’d fitted lithium cells into the old battery pack.
Getting a battery adapter may work out okay. Just get a decent one- some are pretty nasty.
Yes, their gear is decent. I’ve got power tools that are sold in Australia as AEG brand and they appear to be the same tools as the Ridgid brand. I bought them about 12 years ago and the lithium 3Ah battery is still usable, the 1.5Ah only good for lower demand tools.
I recently bought some Dewalt gear, because the AEG drill did some strange things (but it’s still going.) It was a good excuse to get new power tools! 
The newer Dewalt gear has batteries that can run as either 18V or 56V depending on the tools (note for some reason all the US gear rated as being 20V is sold here as 18V.)
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