Cordless drill Batteries that discharge when sitting awhile.

[beast556]

You just need the lion batteries and charger your old dewalt tools should be able to use lion batteries as long as they are 18v. All of our tools at work are Milwaukee they are ok but I like my dewalt tools at home much better. Never had a battery drain issue.

[SideShow Bob]

Well,
Ordered up the 20V Li-Ion battery adapter & batteries and ordered a old style (Tower Ni-Cad) after market Chinese Li-Ion 18V battery. And they arrived.
The 20V adaptor fits tight in the drill and other tools, but is removable and the 20V batteries have a noticeable rpm increase from the Ni-Cads.
And the old style tower Li-Ion 18V has a slight rpm increase & lighter than the old Ni-Cads. And is a very tight fit for the old charger & a snug no rattle fit in the drill & tools.
Time will Tell if the run time, shelf time charge and performance improves, I finished a couple of projects before these new batteries arrived. (Of course).

[Grant H.]

We bought the name brand dewalt 20v adapters and batteries for all of our work kits.

Well worth the money.

The little 2AH lithium batteries have been lasting longer than the XRP 18V Nicads that we have.

[SideShow Bob]

We bought the name brand dewalt 20v adapters and batteries for all of our work kits.

Well worth the money.

The little 2AH lithium batteries have been lasting longer than the XRP 18V Nicads that we have.

That’s what I did also, name brand adaptor & 2 - 2 AH 20V, good to hear that the 2 AH Li-ions are lasting longer than the Ni-Cads did.
The old style 18V Chinese aftermarket battery was cheap enough to take a chance on, so I thought I would give it a try, it is supposed to be rated 5 AH. We will see how that one turns out.

[Grant H.]

That’s what I did also, name brand adaptor & 2 - 2 AH 20V, good to hear that the 2 AH Li-ions are lasting longer than the Ni-Cads did.
The old style 18V Chinese aftermarket battery was cheap enough to take a chance on, so I thought I would give it a try, it is supposed to be rated 5 AH. We will see how that one turns out.

We have a handful of the China Nicads, and they worked pretty well for a while (6 months???) but then started to fail pretty quick.

One note on the adapters and lithiums, don't leave the batteries in the adapters. The adapters actively "buck" the voltage down for the 18v tools, and will drain the batteries.

One of our Dewalt adapters had a few of the cast plastic fins near the terminals that were too thick. A little quick whittling of those with a razor knife, and it fits into/out of tools much better.