I plugged in my Makita battery and the charger started beeping at me and the battery would not charge. While the unit is only a few years old i have only charged the battery about 30 times. is it normal for these things to die after so few charges?
Makita Drill Battery Won't Charge
- Thread starter MDSPHOTO
- Start date
DeliveryGuy
Well-known member
There is a chip inside each battery that controls how the battery cells charge, and records charge cycles, etc. This chip is powered off of one single cell inside each pack. In your case, where your batteries sit a lot of the time, this chip drains one cell continuously, and will over-drain this cell over time. Once one cell within the pack fails, the chip locks out the pack, and the charger will no longer charge it.
Makita has an unadvertised minimum cycleage warranty on the batteries. The replaced mine even though they were two years old because they failed before 200 cycles. Try to find a Makita service center, you might get lucky.
Makita has an unadvertised minimum cycleage warranty on the batteries. The replaced mine even though they were two years old because they failed before 200 cycles. Try to find a Makita service center, you might get lucky.
Thanks for the advice!
I got rid of Makita years ago, as I was having batteries go dead quickly and/or would hold charge more than a few days. Don't know if it was due to PCB chip or just declining quality.
I have not used the following services, but, they might be something of interest to you.
People rebuild Makita battery packs, or have learned how to "hack" past the computer chip.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WE-REBUILD-YOUR-18-VOLT-MAKITA-BATTERY-1834-1835-1822-/390126329960
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/12/makita-battery-pack-repair/
I have not used the following services, but, they might be something of interest to you.
People rebuild Makita battery packs, or have learned how to "hack" past the computer chip.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WE-REBUILD-YOUR-18-VOLT-MAKITA-BATTERY-1834-1835-1822-/390126329960
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/12/makita-battery-pack-repair/
I called Makita today and they said they will warranty the battery if it is less than a year old, if not too bad. Even though I only purchased the drill about 2-years ago the battery is from 2007. I got it at HD when they were clearing out a bunch of tools, so in actuality it is a lot older than I thought.
Advan
Well-known member
I've never had a serious problem with an LXT battery. Often they won't charge when its less than -10C, but then I just take everything inside the house and they charge fine! If it were me, I'd just follow one of the simple hacks on the web to trick the charger into giving it some juice!
FMC1959
Well-known member
Holy ****, did you look at that YouTube video !!! To me a simple hack is 2 toothpicks and a piece of chewing and it works!
The guy on this video could have made a suitcase bomb in less time.
To the OP, if you have a Makita service center nearby, stop in and have them check the battery. They hook it up to a charger that is hooked up to a PC running software that can fully diagnose the battery. If they see it is less than a certain amount of charge cycles, they usually replace it.
FYI, the Turnigy charger shown in this video is the house-brand of Hobbyking (www.hobbyking.com). They carry a lot of LiPoly chargers and batteries. Their stuff is imported and inexpensive but at least some of it seems to be of reasonable quality.
Advan
Well-known member
Lol, I agree. I was thinking something more like this:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nynrxJ5H-ws" allowfullscreen="" height="315" frameborder="0" width="560"></iframe>
