Cordless Drill Battery Charger
I have a HITACHI ordless drill and 2 cordless drill batteries. In the past 2 weeks, both batteries seemed to have quit with little warning. I suspect that the battery charger is faulty. Does anyone know how I can safely check the charger??n safely check the charger??
Wow, what a coincidence! One of my HITACHI 18V drill batteries just died about a week ago. I don't think the charger is at fault. It still charges up the other battery fine. When I put the dead battery in there, the LED indicator on the charger doesn't even light. Is yours a Quantum Pro by any chance? Mine is about 5 years old so I just chalk it up to old age. Also mine has taken a fall into a full sump pump hole and another time one of the batteries fell off down a flight of stairs. So it is kind of hard to say exactly what might have caused the problem.
I will say that for an 18 volt drill, they are somewhat lacking in torque. The B & D simply lacks the guts to turn a 3/4" auger bit that my 14.4v Ryobi will spin thru the hardest woods. elative ease. This might be a good opportunity for you to look into a new drill.
My Black and Decker 15.6 charger went dead, no light. Bought another charger, it did fine on one battery but tried to charge the other and it killed the the new charger. Had the batteries tested and had a bad battery. Bought another battery and charger and it has done fine. Dumped the bad battery
I've had similar problems with my Makita cordless drill, though the charger hasn't ever failed. The batteries themselves do go bad after a while and won't hold a charge. Rather than buy the Makita batteries (very expensive), I went to http://www.battery-replacement.com to get replacements.
I have a craftsman 18v. The set came with the driver and a flash light awesome flashlight btw) with 2 batteries. I always have one on the charger. But what I do when the battery is fading out, is I put it in the flashlight and turn it on and leave it on to totally drain the battery.
Im not sure how much truth there is to this, but I was told that a battery will develop a memory if you always put in on the charger when it doesn't really need to be. But im sure there some truth to it because my cell phone and camcorder both have it stated in the manuals that you can safely charge the batteries anytime. That they are "new and improved" so they won't develop a memory.Oh well, just my 2 cents worth.
Batteries don't last forever. For cell phones and laptops you are doing well to get two years out of them.
"Charge memory" was definitely an issue with the old NiCad (nickle cadmium) batteries, but in much less of a problem (if at all) with the newer lithium ion or NiMH batteries.
My Craftsman cordless drill is bit over two years old, the batteries seem slightly degraded (but so slightly that it could be my imagination). I suspect tha drill batteries have considerably lower energy density (amp-hours per cubic inch) than my laptop batteries or cell phone batteries and are therefore likely to last longer...
I know about the battery memory thing and that the batteries have a limited life. As an engineer with Scottish heritage, I intuitively need to check the system which includes the charger - I dont want to replace the expensive component if it isnt broken.but the spousal unit prefers that I wait until I "need" the drill - I NEED IT NOW! I'll look at the Ryobi if it provides more torque - perhaps the new Binford 2000 model. I live near a Dewalt Service Center and plan to call them about the charger.15.6 charger went dead, no light. Bought another charger, it did fine on one battery but tried to charge the other and it killed the the new charger. Had the batteries tested and had a bad battery. Bought another battery and charger and it has done fine. Dumped the bad battery
Hi, I believe I am having the same problem. Can you tell me where you had them tested?
I have a 14V B&D drill and had similar problem with it. A voltmeter check on the terminals in the charger showed 0 V. Checked the voltage at the output of the wall "brick" and had 0 volts. Tool the charger apart and saw a bridge rectifer. circuit. All 4 diodes checked ok. Bought a doorbell transformer, wired it in place of the brick and all is well. B&D wanted $50 for a new charger.
My favorite drill right now is the Makita impact hammer/drill--I have a 12v one and an 18v one and they're both great...I see they now have what they're calling their hybrid one, even looks better...anyway, about the batteries, a friend ran across thi(http://www.battery-replacement.org) and we tried it on some old batteries and it works! Might not work on all of your old ones but might save a few.
Thanks for all discussing the cordless drill battery issue.