OK so can anyone recommend where to get a replacement battery for a Bosch cordless drill?

Seems like there are plenty online (ebay, amazon et al) but unsure of the quality as most seem to be no name brands.

I was going to post about this myself for my Makita; would be interested in the responses...

I have a smaller Matika which came with 2 batteries as well but the Bocsh is larger and more powerfull so would be good to get it up and running again.

I found this place which looks pretty legit but no idea if their batteries are any good.
http://www.drill-battery.co.uk/

Do you want the original branded version?

Doesnt have to be - I just want to get something that will last. The orginal lasted 10 years or so. also depends on price.

There will be Bosch or Makita service centres and parts suppliers

Yes - I have check on the Bosch website and they list a replacement for £85+. Aftermarket ones vary from £45 up to £120 depending on the spec.

Hence the question - looking for somewhere thats sells genuine batteries cheaper or somewhere recommended that sells decent aftermarket.

Otherwise I might just ditch it and possibly get an impact driver instead.

I bought my Makita drill about 10 years ago and it came with a free impact driver body and 3 batteries; it is the best bit of kit I've ever bought, but the batteries now only last about 15 minutes a charge. I can get new genuine Makita ones for about £40, but it still seems a lot.

The electrician who came to sort out our heinous electrics on Tuesday had this:

http://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/gdr-10-8-li-33306-ocs-p/

I was really impressed with the performance; it's so light and the battery lasted all day.

If it's that old, Jim, you're probably better to invest in something with modern battery technology.

I liked Makita but my Makita Palm sander is back at the dealer because it failed before I got through 3 packs of sanding pads

You're right, MRS, but back then I was renovating a house and could justify the cost; these days it would just be a toy.

Sorry for hijacking, Hyperlink!

£40 sound alright to me to be fair. Mine seem to be much more expensive but that could be because its a 24v drill.

I think you're right, Hyperlink, it is fair (it's a 14.4V), but I just can't afford it at the moment when the 15-minute charge retention is enough for most of the jobs I do!
Blimey, a 24V drill must pack a punch! Is it SDS? I found my impact driver would shatter even decent Pozi bits, so god knows what 24V could do!

I rate the Erbauer brand by Screwfix. I've had this kit for a while and it's great. Best used with cordless-specific masonry drill bits - I haven't had to break out the corded drill very often. The only problem is they've stopped selling the batteries separately.

This tool, however, is a lot more fun to use.

No its not an SDS just a plain cordless hammer drill. It is/was good but fairly heavy. I am loathed to get rid of it as its fine apart from the battery bur cost wise it may not make much sense to keep it.

funnily enough I was just looking at this which looks good value

I bought an Erbauer impact screwdriver the other week from Screwfix. Marvelous bit of kit. Went through 2 packs of 400 screws and the battery didn't run out (sorry for yet another highjack!)

I replaced the cells in my cordless drill. It was good in some ways as I was able to uprate them to higher capacity cells very cheaply, but getting the new cells to fit neatly in the enclosure was a bit of a job that was never done perfectly.
They use something like gaffer tape inside to get them to all hold together and then flat metal strips to link positive to negative.
Some batteries can get a bit dangerous with the heat of a soldering iron - the ones I did were Nickel Cadmium.

10 years out of a battery drill, you would certainly appreciate a new one.
The technology has moved on especially with charging time, battery life/power, and weight.

I bought a Ryobi 18v twin drill and twin battery set quite a while ago and the old, heavy NiCd batteries eventually became just about useless. I bought another Ryobi drill that came with 2 new Li-ion batteries that are much smaller/lighter, plus a charger. The drill was almost free compared to the cost of a pair of batteries on their own. I quite agree about the battery technology having moved on, don't bother with non-name NiCd's...

have you considered taking the battery apart... usually they are full of c size recharable cells soldered together, it's possible to replace them like for like and possible save a few quid this way... it's somthing i had to do one before

just my tuppence worth

Pesonnally i would be wary of using this method, ni cad batteries are a different beast to normal batteries as the internal resistance is so low it can pass a high current which will melt wires if you short them out, having mentioned that, lithium polymer (lipo) are probably even more dodgy, when they go they really do and have been responsible for a few fires. I have some for my grandsons RC cars which I charge in a fireproof (asbestos type ) pouch.

the lipo batteries are also very sensitive to heat and can explode if over heated... so if you did new batteries and sodered wire to them , strongly suggest a face visor to protect you a bit.