Hole drilling capacity DeWault 20V

I finally went to a battery system for early ice. Had trouble deciding between a Milwaukee and a DeWault. Since I had some other Dewault stuff I stayed with them. I got a 20 V 5 amp hr Dewault brushless drill on a 6″ lite flite. Ripped the ice in a hurry until i got to the 15th hole then it was over for the battery. Is 15 holes at 11″ about all I should expect (165″total)?? I didn’t drill enough hole on the second battery to see if it was different. What capacity are others getting?? Worse as blades dull and battery wears down? Glad I kept my Lazer Pro gas

What drill model do you have? Smaller ones can be overloaded.

You should be getting much better than that, especially with a 6″. I’d guess I get around three times that with a 7″ Lazer and 5ah.

Is your battery newer?

Was it left outside in the cold for awhile before using?

Was it fully charged in a heated room?

I have basically your same setup for this season. So far I’ve drilled 20-30 holes through average of 1 foot of ice with a 5ah battery and it still reads full charge. That’s with a 6” lazer hand auger bit on a clam plate. I have 3 of the 5ah 20v battery’s and they all get about the same amount of holes. Couple occasions I’ve left my batteries outside on the drill for a few hours and it still rips hole like mad. Sounds like either something with your battery or maybe drill. What’s your drill model so we can help trouble shoot further?

For reference I also have the 6″ lite flite and I picked up a new Ridgid drill with ~750lb of torque, mostly because I have a bunch of Ridgid batteries. I’ve been getting at least 250″ out of a new 3ah battery.

I did discover I had a bad 2ah battery and it went dead after 40″, picked up another 2ah battery and it was still going at 120″

I’d think you should get at least 400″ out of a 5ah battery so I’m wondering what your drill is rated for on torque.

Dumb question, but are you using the low speed setting? If you are using the high speed it will eat batterys. I have a DEwalt 20v with 5ah batteries and get about 600in of ice.

Should’ve gone Milwaukee Captain I kid, must be a bum battery. I run the 8 inch lite flight on a Milwaukee with 5ah batteries and cut 15 holes first outing and 10 the second battery still read full charge.

I have the dewalt on a Eskimo pistole bit 6” and last year I tested it on 26” of ice and got 42 holes with the 6ah flexvolt battery

I run the Milwaukee Fuel 5ah battery with a 7″ Eskimo hand auger. I drilled 15 holes in 15″ of ice this weekend and only lost one bar on the battery. I have yet to use more than one bar so far this winter drilling in ice up to 18″

I run a 7″ laser hand bit. 5ah battery drilled 16 holes thru 18″ the battery said 2 of three bars left. This is with a dewalt 20v.

Can you post the model number of the drill you bought?

I bought the 8″ Lite Flite this year and use a Milwaukee hammer drill and haven’t drilled a huge number of holes yet but actually have not killed a battery yet. Best test was on Red in December in cold temps of single digits and about 12 inches of ice. On day 2 I know I drilled over 20 holes and had a bar or 2 left on the battery.

I would suspect the drill is undersized for the task, the battery is weak, or the fast setting or hammer setting is being used.

Tucker

I’m with curly tail on this one.

Thanks for all the input. Id be thrilled with 300-400″ of ice. DeWault Model # DCD 991. 20V Brushless I used number 1 setting which seems fast but its the slowest I believe. How’d I know if battery bad??

What ah battery? A poor performing battery is hard to diagnose without having a known good battery to compare it to in the same situation.

5 amp hr

Brand new but cold (25 degrees) battery

captddh wrote:

Brand new but cold (25 degrees) battery

Keeping the battery warm will greatly improve performance. Put it in your pocket, warm tent, etc.

Did you drill these one after another? The batteries get hot and shut down if you overwork them. I would charge both batteries and drill some holes to test if you have a weak one. You should get more out of that setup.

Does the 991 have 3 speeds?

I have the same setup only with the regular lazer.I have 4ah batteries.I have drilled 25-30 holes in 18-24 inches of ice on 1 battery.Maybe a few more than that.I would try the other battery .

Brand new battery as in:

“Took it out of the package and slapped it on the drill”

or brand new battery as in:

“bought it, charged it to full capacity, and then took it out.”

Probably an obvious question, but I think they ship/package batteries partially charged, not fully, right?

philtickelson wrote:

Probably an obvious question, but I think they ship/package batteries partially charged, not fully, right?

You’re right, the last new m18 I got was showing 1 bar out of the package.

At 25 degrees the cold is not a factor at all. -25 would be a different story but 25 above would have zero influence on a well charged battery.