This compact battery assembly provides excellent contact reliability in the tool and in the charger. The retention clips are easy to use and the battery capacity is also excellent. I have used all the others and this one beats the pack. Skil 92940 FlexCharge 3.6-Volt 1.0-Amp Hour NiCad Battery
The Battery is fine, but the charger is not well designed. It keeps charging the battery even after it is full and the battery gets very hot. One has to monitor the temp on the battery to make sure it doesn't overheat or overcharge. I hope that doesn't ruin the battery short-term.
I have remodeled a three bedroom house, using this battery pack long after my buddy's cordless gives out. While I may not have a much firepower (7.2v max draw) as others, this battery outlasts everything else I've run into. I have only worn this pack down in a single day of work once, installing 3-inch screws into studs.
A truely international battery, widely used in Europe and the Middle-East. Good for quite a few appliances besides the Skil portable drill I own. The Europeans use the battery for power screwdrivers, toys, radios, boom-boxes and etc. Only trouble is that the Ni-Cad battery has a charge memory if you don't properly discharge/use until it's flat. The old battery I had lasted for about eight [8] years.
Update: 4 AUG 2011. Did not follow my own advice. Bought a used driver and battery at a Charity resell type store. Put the battery in my newly wired / repaired charger (With out a fuse, as I intended to do) and promply blew out my charger again.
Your problems like mine,(re: Comments: "that on first use the charger failed") was that you were trying to charge defective , old, or shorted out batteries.
The unit does not have a fuse and the shorted batteries cause excessive current flow that blows out (melts) the primary side of the power transformer. I blew up two units this way. I do fault Skil for not putting a fuse in the unit to stop it from overheating and destroying the power supply. I am going to fix mine by buying a new transformer, that puts out 5 volts AC like the old one on this unit that burned up, by cuting out the old one, and splicing in the new one. But the new one I buy will be of higher capacity (Current rating) and I will put a fuse on it somewhere.
So my advice to all is: if you blew out one of these chargers already, (and that's probably why you are looking to buy one now as a replaecement)and are looking for a new charger, then throw out the old batteries that probably caused the problem in the first place and buy new ones, or take the chance of overheating and destroying this charger in less than hour.
Test your battries somehow, before you use this charger. If they are currently holding any charge they are probably ok. If you put a volt meter to them and they show absolutly no DC voltage reading, then do not put them in this charger. Or try charging them for a few minites and test again, if they show no signs of charging, then do not leave them in the charger for more than a few minutes or you will blow out (even melt) the small AC power transformer in an hour or so. Also do not leave the batteries in your new charger longer than needed to charge them. (3 hours or so).
Perry King. Arvada Colorado.
Exactly what I was looking for. Works great! I was happy to find it on Amazon because the local stores no longer carry it and the skil screwdriver/drill it goes to has been my favorite for years and years. I would've hated to part with it!'
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