ISUZU POWERED DRILL

[gomulletgo]

Hi guys,

I guess this would be a special mod, if the club isuzu mods think this is in the wrong section feel free to move it.

A guy came out to my place a while ago to get an engine out of a 4x4, he had a drill (cordless I think he said 6volt) which he had added wires to and croc clips, he simply clipped it onto the battery of his 4x4 and started undoing things super fast compared with spinning spanners.

I would like a drill the same for my Isuzu, I can see the benefits of it. Does anyone know what is involved in doing this? Plenty of cordless drill sets 12V 14.4V 18V have batteries that don't last very long, then the tool is useless because new batteries are expensive or no longer available, how good would it be to be able to put that old drill to work again with a couple of mods.

Has anyone here done this? What voltage drill did you use? How did you wire it up? What are the pitfalls?

I quickly tried to wire up a 14.4V cordless drill today to my isuzu bighorn battery, when I pulled the trigger the drill rotated a small amount, then nothing. The wires got hot, I disconnected them and left it at that! Maybe the wires were to thin and long to carry the power/amperage?

Thanks in advance

[gomulletgo]

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f27/trai ... up-213796/ I just found this link, looks pretty straight forward.

[slightlydodgy]

That would have been cheaper than the inverter I bought

[geeves]

Some cordless drill batteries are set up funny so you would have to open the drill to see how its wired but other than that it should be simple enough. They have no voltage regulation so use a 12v drill only with the engine off and a 14.4 only with the engine running

[kcsoft]

if the wires got hot you may need to reverse the polarity. i have used said drill battery hookup on many a drill with stuffed battery pack

[geeves]

The wires might not of been big enough. I dont have any ratings for my cordless 18v but my power drill is rated at 400w. The cordless is almost as powerful. If your 12v was the same it would draw 33 amps and more at start up. You need 4mm wires minimum

[gomulletgo]

The wires might not of been big enough. I dont have any ratings for my cordless 18v but my power drill is rated at 400w. The cordless is almost as powerful. If your 12v was the same it would draw 33 amps and more at start up. You need 4mm wires minimum

Thanks guys. Geeves is that 4mm core (copper) diameter?

[geeves]

copper yes, cross section area not diameter. It will say 4mm on the pack

[gomulletgo]

copper yes, cross section area not diameter. It will say 4mm on the pack

OK. I don't know what you mean by area. I wasn't planning on using a pack, i have heaps of wire around home. Would extension cord wires be good enough? What sort of diameter of copper wire should i be looking for not including plastic? Cheers mate

[geeves]

By pack I meant whatever way you buy your wire. Its also imprinted on the sheaf of most wire but can be hard to read.
Standard household extension cord is 1.5mm
House power point wire is 2.5mm as is heavy duty extension cord
The wire to your stove should be 6mm
Your headlight wire will be 4mm or 6mm
Winch cable should be at least 25mm
4mm wire has a diameter of 1.3mm according to my calculator

[gomulletgo]

Thank you geeves, the most helpful member as always I have wired up a 12V ryobi cordless drill as directed with some chunky cable (about 2mm copper wire diameter) It seems to work fine, the real test will be when I start using it a bit. I also tried the 14.4V one again, I had the polarity correct, with jumper cables (massive core) and same again, it hissed and spat and no drive, I think the wiring setup must be fried as when i disconnected the wiring setup and just ran the jumper cables to the 14.4V drill motor directly it ran fine. Obviously I need a FWD/REV control unit. So I think the 14.4V is toast and I won't bother with it for now.

[kcsoft]

Thank you geeves, the most helpful member as always I have wired up a 12V ryobi cordless drill as directed with some chunky cable (about 2mm copper wire diameter) It seems to work fine, the real test will be when I start using it a bit. I also tried the 14.4V one again, I had the polarity correct, with jumper cables (massive core) and same again, it hissed and spat and no drive, I think the wiring setup must be fried as when i disconnected the wiring setup and just ran the jumper cables to the 14.4V drill motor directly it ran fine. Obviously I need a FWD/REV control unit. So I think the 14.4V is toast and I won't bother with it for now.

you probably killed the switch when you hooked up it reverse polarity, if you can find a similar trigger from another drill and wire it up (soldering) you'd be good to go.

[gomulletgo]

I never hooked it up reverse polarity, others assumed i had. It's all good I'm not stressed about it. I was given it in a possibly already stuffed state before it went in the bin. So if the 12V stands the test of time then it's all good

[geeves]

cordless drills run either way so unless there is some electronics in there all that would happen is the switch would work in reverse

[kcsoft]

cordless drills run either way so unless there is some electronics in there all that would happen is the switch would work in reverse

mine has a polarity, if I hook it up reverse it's like a dead short, i haven't pulled it apart to work out why.

[gomulletgo]

UPDATE: The 12V drill has been working just fine with plenty of use, drilling, screws, removing and installing vehicle bolts, wheel nuts etc. I even used it with a small grinder cut off blade to cut a mount off of a chassis, slow rotation compared to an angle grinder but I got there in the end. A very very handy tool. I suggest anyone with a 12V cordless drill with stuffed battery do the same, chunky wires 5-7m long with croc clips to your vehicle battery. Also my drill works with vehicle off and if a little extra grunt is needed it works just fine with the vehicle running. Thanks to all for their help

[gomulletgo]

UPDATE: The 12V Drill is still working just fine, it's had a ton of use now. I highly recommend this quick easy project to anyone that it appeals to.

The next 12V drills that the batteries die on around here will not be going in the bin but getting the same wiring treatment

[liamhanigan]

Did this and I keep the drill in the back of the MU, awesome never having to charge my drill.
I run it off a small lead acid battery when it's away from the car too, lasts for weeks instead of hours

[geeves]

The ideal adition to this would be a cordless hammer or even better impact drill. That should even handle wheel nuts

[gomulletgo]

Did this and I keep the drill in the back of the MU, awesome never having to charge my drill.
I run it off a small lead acid battery when it's away from the car too, lasts for weeks instead of hours

Good man I'm glad someone tried this good thought on the small battery for when you need to be more mobile than 7 metres from your truck.

The ideal adition to this would be a cordless hammer or even better impact drill. That should even handle wheel nuts

Yeh if the impact had the balls to do wheel nuts, I don't know of any 12v impact drills. Not that I've looked. For me the ultimate would be a 12v angle grinder that runs off the truck in the same way.