Better idea...

One advantage that the old gravel drive had was I never notice all the debris that fell on it. Sure from time to time a tree limb would come down and I have to toss it to the side, but I never notice the sweet gum balls, acorns, or leaves. I just drove over them. The new paved driveway really shows the debris, so I bought a blower to keep it clean. It's a cord less blower that uses a 18v nicad battery pack. Worked pretty well doing the drive or the parking area, but not both. The 18v battery pack just doesn't have the capacity to handle both areas on one charge. Most people would just get a 2nd battery pack. However, it takes 24 hours to charge a battery, so I could still only do one area or the other each day. What good is that? I had a better idea...

It just so happens I have two 18v Lithium ion batteries that powers the drill, saws, and flash light that JB left here. It also has a quick charger to recharge the lit-ion packs in a couple hours. So my idea was to use a lit-ion pack to power the blower. Since both are 18v it was just a matter of connecting them somehow. Well with a bit of tinkering I was able to connect the flashlight to the blower and use the flashlight's connector to the lit-ion battery to power the blower. A Velcro strap

holds the two devices together, and a polarized quick disconnect connector keep the two devices safety connected.

I'm happy to say that one lit-ion pack has the capacity to do both the parking area and drive on a single charge. An added bonus is the lit-ion battery pack regulates its output so that the blower motor runs full speed right up to the point the pack shuts down. No more weakening blowing action as the battery discharged.

Since I didn't modify the battery in any way and I used a connector instead of hard wiring them together the blower can still use it's nicad battery if needed and the flashlight still works.

Hey! Another idea just came to me! If I were to spin the flash light around I could have a blower with a work light! SWEET!