In regards to fly fishing in BC, our northern winters allow us time to take stock of what we have, replenish supplies, re-organize tackle boxes and plan for this year's fishing trips. If you are like me, you took your fishing gear out of your vehicle after your final trip and put it into hiding for next season. Let me tell you, next season is almost here!
The basic rule of getting a replacement battery is that it should have the same voltage as the original. An 18V drill cannot run on a 12V battery. It can only run on a 18V battery. The other thing is that the physical packaging of a battery can be different from company to company. A 12V Ryobi battery may not fit into a 12V Makita cordless drill unless the battery has the right physical dimensions. So make sure the replacement battery looks the same as the old one before you order it. Also, if you are looking for a replacement battery of the same voltage rating and by the same company, know that battery technology is changing rapidly. An 18V lithium-ion battery has a different physical packaging than a NiCad 18V battery.
Why lithium ion stocks-ion battery? Because it provides high energy density, runtime, and is light in weight. To run a power-sucking laptop, a battery with high energy density is required. The runtime of a laptop battery is based on what sort of applications you run. If you run basic applications for writing, reading, copying, chatting, etc, then your laptop battery runtime will be high compared to running a complex application that has a huge number crunching requirement.
The first thing to know is that simple battery care can enhance the performance and useful life of your cell phone battery. Did you know that a cell phone battery should last for up to 400 charge/discharge cycles? That's quite a bit. How does that break down? If you charge your phone each night, your battery will last 12-15 months. If you are only charging twice a week, your battery should last 2-3 years. So, if you can get away with charging less, then that's a sure fire way to getting longer life.
The Makita BDF452HW cordless drill comes with an 18-V Lithium battery stocks-ion battery and it charges in only 15 minutes. That's a much quicker charge time than almost any other drill you can find. Along with the quick-charge, the battery life is also very good so you don't really have to worry too much about it dying on you.
What are you going to be using the drill for? Let's say that you are planning on building some light furniture and maybe will use the drill on weekends mostly. You probably don't need a super powerful drill with the most expensive battery technology. You could probably get by with a 12 volt drill, no need for hammering action, and you could probably do fine with a NiCad battery as opposed to Lithium Ion. Sure, a Lithium mines Ontario Ion battery would be really nice, and would charge faster, but if you aren't planning on using the drill for continuous hours at a time you could save a few bucks in this department.
I could easily have spent a fortune replacing the motherboard, the memory, the processor etc when it all came down to 2 dollar battery. What's more is these batteries are easy to get. What you need is a CR2032 available at most hardware stores like home depot and I've even seen them sold in Safeways. Of course every reputable computer store should stock them. Just check to make sure that your PC uses a CR2032 before you go to the shops!
Using these easy tips to keep the battery in the best condition won't do wonders, but will let you use it to the maximum number of recharges. Ever wondered why some laptops keep their maximum capacity for 3-4 years, while others dive under an hour of runtime in one? This is why.