Not your father's vaccuum

[Andre Germain]

Count on mini vac manufacturers to put lousy NiCads in their hand vacs to save a few dollars - no exception with my 100$ Dirt Devil Kone. Less than 2 years old, it wouldn't hold much of a charge, and when I opened her up, tons of C cells, $$$ to fix.

Enter center stage, Lipo! I had lots of Lipos that had passed their prime for my EDFs - wired one up into the Kone and voila, WOW! sucks better than ever, lasts so much longer. The blown air keeps the Lipo cool and I also diverted the air so it doesn't blow the dust about. So don't destroy those Lipos, they still have their full watts, they just can't deliver them at the rated current. Of course you have to be very careful using them.

Cheers

[Sunfly]

In hope it really sucks ! :D

[dhamultun]

I adapted our weedeater with a 4S LiPo for a fraction of the cost of the replacement battery. I even taught my wife how to charge it on my Accucell 6! Don't be scared to hack your power tools!http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/04/e9yqumy3.jpg

[Kevin Rochon]

All this is giving me some ideas, my Roybi drill is dying slowly so I will crack open that batt pack, come to think of it I kept my old Roybi which I liked better because it had more RPM.:)

[Andre Germain]

Dave, nice!

Honest, these end of useful life for R/C Lipos are a solution looking for a problem, it's just the potential to burn your house down you have to watch for; I already had two fires in the house because of them - the first I was alerted by the security fire alarm setting off the horn outside, the other I was present when I was running the F14 upside down in the basement. Of course you should only use them on devices that you are in full attendance with, so weed eaters and vacuums fit the bill.

Live and learn.

[dhamultun]

Andre, wow that's scary! I charge in an old corningware just in case. Have yet to have a LiPo fire. Even after using the weedeater for 10-15 minutes the battery is only warm to the touch. I also told my wife never to charge unattended. Smoke alarm and fire extinguisher are nearby. Thanks for the heads up!

[dhamultun]

Also, my LiPo was not used...brand new. Not sure if that makes any difference?