Thread: Maintaining 'infrequent use' power tool batteries?

Hmmm, that may say something... I've never had a Makita battery go bad... but both of my RYOBI and BOSCH cordless toys have had a shrt life....

- never owned a HITACHI. - Yet...

Originally Posted by superquag

Hmmm, that may say something... I've never had a Makita battery go bad... but both of my RYOBI and BOSCH cordless toys have had a shrt life....

- never owned a HITACHI. - Yet...

I've got a Makita cordless drill. Maybe 3 years old. Both of it's batteries have dead cells and not much capacity for charging.

It's a fact of life, buy cordless... buy batteries

I try to buy everything with a cord, but damn that cordless drill is a brilliant thing. the power and ease of use is way beyond most corded drills.

seeya,
Shane L.

I bought a Makita cordless drill a while back. Great drill, but their batteries are crap. Both batteries died after only a relatively short time, and the cost of replacement batteries was ridiculous. Will never buy Makita again.

These days, I stick with Ryobi. Great range of tools, all using the same batteries, and additional / replacement batteries are comparatively cheap. So far though (touch wood) - I have never had to replace a Ryobi battery - the original 4 I bought are still going strong. Not as much "grunt" in the Ryobi drill as the Makita, but good enough for what I need. Have to say though, that the Ryobi battery powered angle grinder is positively gutless.

At work (when I was working full time) - we buy Hitachi cordless tools. Have had a brilliant run with them.

Need to buy a new power drill though. I've had a Bosch hammer drill for years for the bigger jobs. Still goes OK, but the trigger / switch mechanism is knackered, and the only way to stop the drill rotating is to pull the power plug out. Have stripped it down and tried to clean / fix, but it's still erratic and past its use by date.

I was using my Makita stuff today and it got me thinking as to how long I have had it.

I reckon it must be about six years. I started with two batteries and In this time I have had one fail.
When I replaced it about 18 months I purchased another two as I often found that I was using three tools at once,
as was the case today and constantly changing battery from one tool to another is a pain in the arse.

I rarely use corded tools anymore. The only time I do is for heavy duty grinding and planning and an 18 volt planner is on the want list

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

I've got a Makita cordless drill. Maybe 3 years old. Both of it's batteries have dead cells and not much capacity for charging.

seeya,
Shane L.

If you have a dead cell in an 18 volt lithium in a Makita it will not charge at all.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbpbGWEZrSI[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-XDpGdLKSk[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSdGFVi0Pds[/ame]

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

I've got a Makita cordless drill. Maybe 3 years old. Both of it's batteries have dead cells and not much capacity for charging.

It's a fact of life, buy cordless... buy batteries

I try to buy everything with a cord, but damn that cordless drill is a brilliant thing. the power and ease of use is way beyond most corded drills.

seeya,
Shane L.

Just bought a new battery for my Snapon cordless drill - it's over 10 years old and has copped a beating and hard use. Good old nickel metal hydride batteries, not the new fangled lithium stuff - I still haven't seen one of those last as long as the older style batteries.

I'll live with buying batteries for it, it is brilliant, and can't be matched by anything with a lead.

How long is a new lithium battery expected to last from new? Any stats based on X usage etc? (Yes, I prob should just google it)