Can I Donate This?
April 18, 2019 4:10 PM   Subscribe

I have a 14.4v Ryobi cordless drill for which the battery just gave up. I have replaced the drill because I really need a hammer drill and not just a driver, but what do I do with the old drill now?

I dropped off the now-dead battery for recycling when I went to Home Depot to pick up my new hammer drill, but I'm curious if the old drill has a possible second life.

This was the second battery I've had fail over the life of this drill (* third if you count how this drill was a better deal than just a replacement battery for the previous drill), and from my perspective getting a new battery for it would be good money after bad. Ryobi's new lithium batteries are a different voltage and don't fit older tools not designed for them. And I need a hammer drill for half the things I do around the house anyway, so I opted for an upgrade. I don't know if any charities would want a working tool with no battery, or if they'd also think a new battery was good money after bad, and send it out to be recycled themselves. Anybody know if this is a good donation or a bad one?
posted by fedward to Grab Bag (12 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
What I know about this is that I have two such tools in my house now. This is planned obsolescence in action.

It seems like it's a "bad" donate to me, just, they aren't going to have a battery for it, either.

Are you a gearhead at all? Maybe it would be fun to tear it down and reuse the motor or other parts...there's probably nothing wrong with any of it. Maybe put it on Craigslist on the "free" page?

Good question!
posted by bird internet at 4:21 PM on April 18, 2019 [2 favorites]


Do you have freecycle for your area? You could list it and see if anyone wants it, rather than just dropping off to a second hand place.
posted by greermahoney at 4:36 PM on April 18, 2019 [4 favorites]


Yeah, this is not donate-able, but it might find a home if you go to the effort of posting it on Freecycle, Craigslist, NextDoor, Facebook marketplace, etc.
posted by metasarah at 5:06 PM on April 18, 2019 [2 favorites]


Get a new battery designed for it, off of ebay. You still need a light driver for little stuff. Hammer drills are heavy. I have three drills, the wuss drill a battery operated Black and Decker, I use the mosr. I have a beefy, corded, Bosch for heavy, that will take a 1/2 inch bit, then a smaller Black and Decker corded drill for.the middle. I will regret forever getting rid of my router. There have to be aftermarket batteries for a Ryobi.
posted by Oyéah at 5:10 PM on April 18, 2019 [2 favorites]


Too late for you as you already recycled the battery but I had a Ryobi battery go bad and found a YouTube video that showed how to revive it. Second the suggestion to get another battery. It is often handy to have two drills at once, such as drilling a hole then driving a screw without having to change bits every 30 seconds.
posted by leaper at 5:16 PM on April 18, 2019 [1 favorite]


I bought a replacement battery pack on Amazon that fit my discontinued drill and was a larger capacity battery.
posted by noloveforned at 5:42 PM on April 18, 2019


Goodwill can probably sell it. Give it to them.
posted by Slinga at 6:39 PM on April 18, 2019


Response by poster: Too late for you as you already recycled the battery but I had a Ryobi battery go bad and found a YouTube video that showed how to revive it.

Yeah, I did that with the first drill. It bought a couple months. With the second drill’s first battery I didn’t bother. Once the cells are compromised they can’t really be restored. You can rebuild the pack, but meh. I’m not in any particular hurry to get rid of the Ryobi but I’m also not really sure I want to throw any more money at it.
posted by fedward at 6:45 PM on April 18, 2019


I think it's probably destined for landfill now.
(Don't blame yourself, blame the system).
posted by ovvl at 8:27 PM on April 18, 2019


I just rebuilt the battery on an old Porter Cable 19.2v toolset. Based on YouTube videos, it looks like refurbing at home is pretty straightforward if you're comfortable cold soldering, but I paid Batteries + Bulbs, a (local?) chain to do it because I know it would've taken me a year to get around to it. It was $76 plus tax, which is a little less than twice the cost of a DIY job.
posted by tapir-whorf at 10:44 PM on April 18, 2019


If you have one nearby, it might be a good donation to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
posted by box at 7:13 AM on April 19, 2019 [2 favorites]


Is there any sort of tool library in your area? They'd probably have other tools with the same battery system and might be delighted with a donation like that.
posted by peppermind at 7:49 PM on April 19, 2019 [1 favorite]


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