Converting Plug In Power Tools To Run On Batteries

[jonnymorgan]

It will run without the cap it is only there for noise suppression, most power tools(with universal motors) will run on DC appiled straight to the plug but the ones with triac speed controllers wont work it will be either full speed or off, hope this helps.

[NickGrumpy]

This can be very useful for certain requirements. One heads up I will give anyone experimenting with this is to be careful reusing original switches intended for AC as DC can be a bit brutal when it comes to switch contacts.

[james]

Does it have enough power to do anything

[bsdiceman]

You have good fun exploring these ideas, thanks for sharing

[BensWorkshop]

You might try connecting the armature in parallel rather than series as is usually the case with AC universal motors.

[JamesWilson-pqqp]

The first time I did that was back in the 1960's while camping, I needed to drill some holes. Nowadays the drill switches are SCR's and they don't work well ( if at all) with DC. So find a real off and on switch and use 4 or 5 batteries 60+ volts and it'll have plenty of power. Brought back at lot of good memories, thanks Rob.

[matthewslaton]

very cool, i was searching on how to make an electric scooter and looking up what motors i can salvage from other products, and it looks like people have had success turning a drill into a motor for an electric scooter which i thought was cool. wish this type of information was taught to me earlier on in life, thanks for sharing, it's always good to see the abundance in the world through understanding and application

[ericdudles]

Very helpful, I used this video multiple times while iv been working on my DIY weed trimmer and my DIY trolling motor for my canoe! Keep it up guy!

[allanwood]

Funny coincidence that you presented this today. I was using a 240v device (magnetising yoke for ndt) on a job last night at a local power station (ironically) that I had running off battery power through an inverter thus avoiding the hassle of finding outlets and running leads safely.

[ssgeek]

I tried this but found that when any resistance us applied to the chuck the current went up significantly had to increese volage but it got laborious

[stevetobias]

Very cool, I have done this to a few motors. They are universal motors after all

[scantrain]

Great Idea! Thanks for showing this. I never expect that it's possible to run an AC motor on DC.

[tinkmarshino]

Oh damn it Rob.. In all of my 68 years I would have never thought to try that! Brilliant..makes me feel a bit slow.. ;-)

[infinitelyuniversal]

You bet! In my experience you have to run it on slightly less DC voltage then original AC voltage, , so if it was 120v AC you need about 90V DC. My favorite conversion are AC lawnmowers to DC 🙂

[RiffRaffMama.]

I would argue that carrying around two car batteries and a set of jumper cables every time you want to drill something is significantly less convenient than just being plugged in to the wall.

[WyattHerbivore]

Great info and love watching you have a great time discovering it. I need to covert a portable led 150W, 365nm light for my business.

[johnselekta]

I was wondering about making a projector screen motor with slow enough turn speed and I think you just fixed that idea for me!

[hanslepoeter]

Nice.

A few comments :

There probably is not a negative and positive wire from electronics to motor. I suspect there is some phase cutting electronics in that bit of plastic with a triac as switching element. Much like any dimmer circuit. Out comes an AC voltage with reduced effective voltage.
The capacitor is there to reduce emission. Without it it might distort other devices on the mains voltage and radiated as well so it could be heard on a nearby radio. It will work without capacitor with mentioned consequences.
This kind of motor is not unlike the vacuum cleaner motor. When run from DC voltage it does not make much difference for the rotor windings as the commutator makes sure there is an AC voltage on those anyway with a higher frequency than the mains voltage. But current in the rotor windings will be way less due to lower voltage.
For the stator windings it's completely different. On AC voltage their impedance will be way higher than on DC. Meaning on DC current will be much higher with the same voltage applied. With 24V DC current still might be higher than on mains AC.
To recap, when working on 24V, stator current might be to high, rotor current will be way to low. Given this it might not be possible to find the optimal DC voltage where it will perform like on mains AC without the stator windings burning out.

Uh oh I read the other comments and learned brushes connections and stator windings might be placed in series. That's probably true in which case it would be possibe to find the optimal DC voltage where it will perform like on mains. However when the drill is blocked current will go through the roof and windings would probably burn where on AC mains that would not be the case.

[NorthernKitty]

LOL, Rob, you're making it absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to throw anything out, anymore!! Now whenever I look at something that's no longer working properly or that I've replaced or no longer need and I think, "well, MAYBE I can turn that into something else..." I need a bigger house, or a new storage shed!! 😋😋😋

[recyclebills]

I've converted my battery powered tools to wired tools. Saves tons of money.