Li-ion battery died.

[George Marsh]

My dewalt Li-ion was made in march of 2009. The date is stamped on battery. In the circular saw, it can't cut the corner off a 2x4, or drive a dozen 3 inch deck screws with the 1/4 inch impact. After 2 minutes on the charger it stops charging, so if you can't put a charge in it, it can't take one out either.

I have a second Li-ion the same age, it's still works. It may require 15-20 minutes to recharge. In my opinion, the battery isn't close to a 2.4 amp-hr.

I know some of you love the ion battery, but I'll never buy another one. I noticed that after about 500 recharges, this battery was headed south. I estimate I recharge my batteries 250-300 times a year. I'm sure there are people with better luck, but how many times do you charge your batteries?

BTW, I use a dewalt charger for the Li battery.
george
 

[Zachary Hoyt]

I had NiMH and NiCad batteries in Makita and Dewalt drills and never was happy with battery longevity in any of them. I don't have any cordless tools anymore, I just use an extension cord when I am building wheelchair ramps or screwing down a tin roof. It is not always the handiest thing to be trailing a cord but it is cheaper than cordless tools and way faster than screwing them in by hand would be. Actually my corded screwdriver is faster than any cordless tool I ever had. I can drive a 2.5" deck screw in less than a second of actual run time.
Zach
 

[Dick2]

My Hitachi LI batteries are still going strong after 5 years.
 

[guido]

Hello Geoege Marsh,

Well? You got your $$$$$$ worth!
500 to 1000 Charges is about the extend of most rechargeble batteries. Don't have much time of the new ones, I'm still learning. Like my NiCads still. May change over someday.
Plenty old ones still around to keep my NiCads going for free.
Guido.
 

[George Marsh]

GUIDO,
I was lucky to get 2 years out of dewalt ni-cd. Hard to get dewalt to honor their warranty too. I still have one working Li and 2 older Ni-Mh. I think the Ni-Mh is the battery in the bunny that keeps going and going.

I tend to think those who have better luck may not use them like I do.

When the price of Ni-Mh is close to that of a Ni-cd, I'll buy the metals.

Have way too many 18v cordless dewalt tools to throw them away.
George
 

[buickanddeere]

Deep cycling, hot weather, too rapid of charging and over charging will rapidly ruin batteries.
The AC charger maybe the problem?
 

[guido]

Hello George Marsh,

You certainly put them to work!
Lithium-Ion are a different breed all together.
Single cel are cgarged in 2 stages, while series packs need to charged in 3 stages. Better get the right charger or you'll smoke'M .
I like the Mi-Mh much better, one way charging and go!
Guido.
 

[John D Smith]

Actually the factory charger sometimes heats up the battery with the fast charge feature and causes shortened battery life. 500 charges is a pretty good average.
John
 

[George Marsh]

John D Smith,

I want to think the Li battery was good for more than 500 charges. 500 is more like a Ni-cd.

Here is the deal, there is only one charger made by dewalt that will charge Ni-MH, Li-ion, and Ni-cd. There is no fast or slow setting. I have 3 other batteries, one Li and 2 Ni-Mh. So far, they seem to be OK. Only time will tell me which is the better battery.

When I run a battery down, it put in the truck to cool off for a few hours before I charge. I have a charger in the truck that runs off the truck's battery, 2 chargers that connect to 120v and two other chargers built in to the dewalt work radios. Don't think I can blame the chargers or temperature for the failure. BTW, if any battery is too cold, I have to warm it up with the truck's heater before it will take a charge. So many times, I'm driving and charging.

I think the problem is the Lithium battery. NEVER did like them. Compared to the Ni-Mh, they are wimps.

I think Boeing may share my opinion. They are saying thermal runaway may be the dreamliner's nightmare.

Is there a next generation Lithium battery? Saw a lithium battery on something at sears and it looked many times smaller.

George
 

[wilson ind]

old friend along the line of battery charging. I found that my 12 volt charger works well on the 2 8 volts in series. Voltmeter on cart showe 17.5 after a few hours. Sure is a rainey afternoon in southwest ind. Would you happen to be going to louisvillr ky this week.
 

[mkirsch]

Very odd as I have had the complete opposite experience with lithium batteries in my rechargeable power tools.

Lithiums give me more run time, more power, better reliability.

Of course I don't use my cordless tools every day. Sometimes it's weeks in between uses. With the old NiCd and NiMH batteries, they were ALWAYS dead when I needed them. Lithium is always ready to go.

Plus, I can keep a a Lithium on the charger 24/7/365, and it keeps the battery topped up. The old NiCd/NiMH charger charged the batteries and then stopped. The battery would be dead sitting in the charger.

My batteries are all >4 years old and still going strong. The NiCds were already getting weak after a year, and were totally useless when I bought the lithiums another year later.
 

[George Marsh]

Bill'
Do a hydrometer test and see if your cells are all the way up. My guess is they are not. My memory isn't as sharp as it once was. Something says a fully charged cell is around 2.2 volts. So, you have a total of 8 cells x 2.2 v = 19.6 volts.

FYI, my 18 v dewalt batteries measure around 20 volts. Wonder if we could modify an 18 v cordless charger to trickle charge your 2 8 volt batteries?

I found an old 18 v ni-cd trickle charger. I rigged it up tonight to charge my dead 18v Li-ion. Unlike my dewalt charger, this charger doesn't shut off, it's mechanical, no brain box. It's charging the ion battery at .25 amps and a tick over 20 volts. Can't see how this will hurt an already dead battery.
George