Cordless tool battery woes

[junkyardjeff]

Is it me or have the batteries been made of inferior materials,last year I bought a new Makita 9.6 drill and if the batteries would sit a week after being charged they would need to be recharged. Had the batteries replaced under warranty but now I cant use the drill a day with out changing the battery and I dont use it that hard,the batteries in question are not the longer stick style like I used in the past that could get a week worth of use from before charging. A couple years ago I bought a 14.4 3/8 Snap on cordless impact and the batteries did not last as long as the 1/2 cordless impact I bought a few years before,the 1/2 drive impact batteries are getting very week but since they are getting close to 10 years old I under stand. Anybody else having weak battery issues and the batteries in question are ni-cads.

 

[GSteg]

Have yet used the Snap On 14.4v batteries, but I had their 18V for the 1/2" impact. No problems whatsoever. Since then, I made the jump to lithium and wouldn't go back to Nicad.

I don't know what cells are in the makita and 14.4v battery, but the ones in my 18v were Sanyo. They're highly regarded batteries and have little problems retaining power for more than a week. It could be that many companies are switching to cheaper cells because most owners aren't going to open up their battery case to inspect. I suppose they figured the cheaper cells will last just 'long enough'.

 

[ChrisF250]

If those are ni cd go to lithium and be done with it. I have left my lithium batteries for months and they still will work a full day of driving screws

 

[Monte]

go Li-Ion

 

[junkyardjeff]

I will be going to a Batteries plus store soon and seeing if they can get me some better batteries,the batteries I got 10 to 15 years ago seem to be much better then what I have gotten lately

 

[Ign]

Hmm, my experience has been the opposite. I'm impressed w how long most Li-ion stuff holds a charge vs ni-cad days of old.

I will say tho that some of my V28 stuff is finicky and it appears the tool pulls the battery down if left installed. Only some V28 tools do it - fortunately my drill does not and that has a battery on it at all times.

 

[junkyardjeff]

I had to install new seats on my picnic table today so to drill the holes through the 2x10s I used my old Makita 7.2 volt drill and it drilled the 8 holes with a not so sharp bit with plenty of power left,I am not impressed with the stubby batteries and will look for used cordless tools that use the older stick style battery since they seem to last longer between charges. I doubt the new makita 9.6 drill I have could of gotten through 2 holes before needing another battery.

 

[RV8guy]

My cordless batteries are fine but my charger bought the farm last week.

 

[smothers33]

I have the Makita 18 v lxt series tools and the batteries are amazing. I got my impact driver and hammerdrill with 2 litium ion batteries about 3 months ago and have only charged the batteries 4 times. I don't use them all the time but use the impact driver almost daily albeit only for a couple mins at a time to take off dashes and the like. The only time I really tested them was using the hammerdrill to drill a bout a dozen holes in concrete . That was last week and I did have to charge both batteries but used them for about a month before that without charging them so they were due anyways.