I need a couple of new power tools (drill and angle grinder). I recall seeing somewhere once a battery drill, but with an optional mains adapter which plugged into the battery slot, and had a curly flex to plug into the mains. It seemed a cool way to have a cordless drill with corded option for prolonged use, especially if said adapater could also plug into the grinder. Most of the work I do would be using the mains cable, but having the battery option would be really handy.

I can’t remember who it was made by, and google isn’t helping much. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?!

Cheers!

try http://www.dibranto.co.uk
But I don’t think what your after exists.
At least the chaps above are the cheapest for power tools I’ve found.

It does exist, I’ve used one! Thanks for the link, will check it out. I wonder if I could bodge a dead battery and a mains transformer… 😈

Hilti do a similar thing which allows the battery to be carried on a belt:

How long are you likely to be using these tools for in one go?

If you get a tool with a couple of batteries and a quick charger then as long as you get enough life out of a battery that the other one can recharge ready to be used then mains isn’t needed (you’ll get no more power from a mains adapter).

So if you can get, say, 40 minutes ‘working time’ (this is not 40 minutes of continuous drilling, it includes thinking, measuring, marking etc) from a single charge and have a 40 minute charger the next battery will be ready to use by the time the first is discharged (and so on).

That’s fine in theory. In the past I’ve struggled with two batteries, but to be fair they were not brand new, and the charger wasn’t particularly fast. I was looking at Milwaukee 18V which might perform a bit better than the old cheap Dewalt I had before.

Cheers,

Makita 18v 3.0amp batteries claim a 22min recharge time with their official charger. haven’t timed it but they are pretty rapid to recharge.

My Dewalt impact driver has 2 batteries that charge quickly enough to keep you going, even during a proper session of rattling in 100’s of decking screws.

No need fora corded drill with modern drivers and batteries. I suspect going for something gimmicky like you describe you’ll end up with a poor quality unit or spending more than buy 2 drills. Just get something like a makita lxt with the fast charger (which really is fast). You could get a bare grinder pretty cheaply too although I’ve not found the cord to be a problem on a grinder (might be handy if you are bike thief)

Greenlee do one in the US, is this what you saw?
As above, modern batteries and chargers are very good

Batteries may be good these days but you can get powerful mains tools dirt cheap. I think I paid 25 quid for mine and it’s so much more powerful than my older cordless.

Yes, the price difference for corded is massive. Hadn’t realised it till I started looking, but it certainly outweighs the benefit of batteries. I think for the grinder I may go with this one, and this drill.

Timba – that’s the one, thanks. No wonder I was struggling to find it! Price is a bit eye watering as well.

A big problem is battery units operate at low voltage, high current but a mains unit operates at high voltage, low current.

To run a battery drill off the mains you will need a fairly hefty step down adapter which won’t be cheap (for something reliable) nor particularly compact.