EGO Chainsaw Battery

[Buckaroo5]

I have an 18"EGO Chainsaw with a 5 Amp Hour battery w/ Fuel Gauge (B2800T). Both are 5 years old. The chainsaw dies after a few minutes of use and the Fuel Gauge light flashes red. If I unplug the battery and plug it back in, it will run for another couple of minutes and the problem repeats.

I am thinking this is a battery problem but not sure if it is cell issue or an electronic Battery Management System (BMS) issue. I want a 5AH battery and am either going to buy a new battery ($300 + tax) or have the old one rebuilt by MTO Battery ($200 total). If it's a BMS issue, I don't think MTO can do anything with it. You get a 3 yr warranty with the new battery and no stated warranty with the MTO rebuild but I believe they have a good record and do provide some coverage for the small number of issues they have.

The EGO batteries are so expensive and don't seem to ever go on sale. You get a deal on the batteries if you buy them with a tool and I could get the 16" chainsaw with a 5.0 AH battery and charger for $400 plus tax. Don't need the chainsaw and haven't found another tool awith a 5AH battery.

Does this sound like a BMS or cell issue? Any suggestions on a kit with a 5AH battery? Very skeptical of aftermarket Chinesium EGO knock off batteries so haven't been lookin at those.

Thanks!

 

[Steve_P]

Do you have an Ace Hardware nearby? They may be able to substitute a good battery and see if that's the issue. My local Ace has a service department, with one full time guy, and they sell Ego and Stihl.

You can get a 4AH battery on Amazon, sold by Amazon, for $160 as I type this.

Yes, Ego price drops are rare, but there are occasionally some on Amazon, where they're also sold by Amazon. I caught the 18" saw and 4AH battery on a price drop on Amazon last year for $249, including a charger, which wasn't much more than the battery typically retailed for at that time.

 

[Buckaroo5]

Do you have an Ace Hardware nearby? They may be able to substitute a good battery and see if that's the issue. My local Ace has a service department, with one full time guy, and they sell Ego and Stihl.

You can get a 4AH battery on Amazon, sold by Amazon, for $160 as I type this.

Yes, Ego price drops are rare, but there are occasionally some on Amazon, where they're also sold by Amazon. I caught the 18" saw and 4AH battery on a price drop on Amazon last year for $249, including a charger, which wasn't much more than the battery typically retailed for at that time.

Thanks for the heads up on the Amazon 4AH battery - might just buy that and then decide whether to have the 5AH rebuilt. I just put price watches in camelcamelcamel for the 4 & 5 AH batteries sold/fulfilled by Amazon.

 

[Steve_P]

Thanks for the heads up on the Amazon 4AH battery - might just buy that and then decide whether to have the 5AH rebuilt. I just put price watches in camelcamelcamel for the 4 & 5 AH batteries sold/fulfilled by Amazon.

I'd definitely only buy if it's sold by Amazon as there are just too many counterfeit batteries sold online. Project Farm did a test of some of the aftermarket and counterfeit tool batteries, and they were surprisingly bad IMO; you are definitely paying for more than just the name with the real deal, so that's all I buy. IIRC, from his testing, it seemed that the reduced price vs genuine was met by about the same reduced performance; I probably need to watch it again

I'm sure you checked, but looking at CCC, $159 is the lowest the 4AH has been in a year. I checked and paid $167 for the 4AH battery in 5/23 on a price drop.

 

[dcg9381]

I have an 18"EGO Chainsaw with a 5 Amp Hour battery w/ Fuel Gauge (B2800T). Both are 5 years old. The chainsaw dies after a few minutes of use and the Fuel Gauge light flashes red. If I unplug the battery and plug it back in, it will run for another couple of minutes and the problem repeats.

I have ONE of those batteries. 5 years is probably End of Life. If it charges at all and has BMS, I'd assume that it's got weak cell(s) that are crapping out, but still are taking charge, otherwise the charger would say "nope".

I replaced it with an aftermarket China battery advertised at more than 5Ah. I knew it was BS when I got it because it was substantially physically lighter... That battery crapped out in about 6 months.

 

[Buckaroo5]

I'd definitely only buy if it's sold by Amazon as there are just too many counterfeit batteries sold online. Project Farm did a test of some of the aftermarket and counterfeit tool batteries, and they were surprisingly bad IMO; you are definitely paying for more than just the name with the real deal, so that's all I buy. IIRC, from his testing, it seemed that the reduced price vs genuine was met by about the same reduced performance; I probably need to watch it again

I'm sure you checked, but looking at CCC, $159 is the lowest the 4AH has been in a year. I checked and paid $167 for the 4AH battery in 5/23 on a price drop.

Agree with your assessment of buying from non-Amazon sellers on Amazon. I just pulled the trigger on the 4AH battery and will make sure the chainsaw (which is still under warranty) isn't the issue when I get it. If I confirm the chainsaw is good, I may send the old 5AH battery off to MTO to be rebuilt. Or maybe I should buy another 4AH....you get the 3yr warranty with the new battery.

 

[Buckaroo5]

I have ONE of those batteries. 5 years is probably End of Life. If it charges at all and has BMS, I'd assume that it's got weak cell(s) that are crapping out, but still are taking charge, otherwise the charger would say "nope".

I replaced it with an aftermarket China battery advertised at more than 5Ah. I knew it was BS when I got it because it was substantially physically lighter... That battery crapped out in about 6 months.

That is good to know on the China battery. I considered taking a flyer on one as they are so cheap but glad I didn't.

 

[Steve_P]

Agree with your assessment of buying from non-Amazon sellers on Amazon. I just pulled the trigger on the 4AH battery and will make sure the chainsaw (which is still under warranty) isn't the issue when I get it. If I confirm the chainsaw is good, I may send the old 5AH battery off to MTO to be rebuilt. Or maybe I should buy another 4AH....you get the 3yr warranty with the new battery.

For $160 for a new 4AH vs $200 for a rebuilt 5AH, I'd go new 100%.

Edit- there are several threads here on "bad" batteries that can be revived because one bank of cells is weaker than the rest of them. Basically, that bank can be recharged individually if you take it apart and have a charger that you can hook to it, and then the assembly can be charged as normal. Obviously, this would just be a life extender and not the same as new, but maybe worth a try since these are so expensive. I tried to search and couldn't find the thread that I recalled seeing. It wasn't on Ego batteries, probably Milwaukee, but the concept should be the same if you can find that thread.

 

[Buckaroo5]

As I previously indicated, I purchased the 4.0AH battery from Amazon for $159.99 +tax to be delivered tomorrow. Price drop today on the 5.0AH battery plus charger to $201.56 plus tax so I just ordered that one, too. Don't need the charger but it is actually cheaper than the battery alone. The 5.0AH rebuild from MTO would have been around $200 after shipping and insurance without a stated warranty so I figured the current price on Amazon for a new one was a good deal and the lowest price in the last year per CCC was $199.