First Ryobi Fail

[mikester]

A little background first.
Many years ago when I started working on my house my wife bought me a 12V Dewalt drill. I have to say it served me well. Then after quite a few years the batteries wouldnt hold a charge. Off to HD to buy two new batteries for well over $100. My buddy came with me and on the way home he told me I was crazy for spending that much on two batteries when he just bought a Ryobi 14V set with a drill and trim saw for under $75 that came with two batteries, charger and in a nice blow mold case. He talked me into going back to HD and I bought a set that was now 18V.
I still have and use that trim saw but the drill died years ago along with the original batteries and charger. After all, nothing lasts forever.
Since buying that set Ive purchased quite a few Ryobi cordless tools and to be honest theyve all worked well for what I do.
Im having some major work done to my house right now. One of the things being done is a redo of the 16x20 deck I built back in '93 or '94. Not attached to the house, its on 3 sets of double 2x10 girders with 2x8 joists 12OC. When I built the deck I use Simpson L brackets on every joist to keep them in place on the girders. Lots of little brackets.
Cant get in there to pop the nails with a bar so I figured I'd cut them with a wizz wheel and an angle grinder. Went to the local HD and bought a Ryobi cordless.
Put in a fresh battery and after slicing 5 or 6 brackets the thing died. Switched batteries. Still nothing. I figured the trigger was bad. Went back and exchanged it.
Started using the second one and the same thing happened. Cut 5 or 6 brackets and it was dead. Switched the battery and it worked. Cut a few more and dead again. The last time the battery was pretty hot. I gave up using the cordless and used a regular electric angle grinder to finish the job. A pain in the **** since I had to use a long extension cord. The decking is off the joist so Im sliding a piece of plywood around to lie on. The cordless made it much easier when it was working.
First time I had one fail like this. Anyone on here own one ? Any problems ?

 

[The Cobbler]

I've had good luck with Ryobi . been years since I had a Ryobi cordless tool tho.
My most used Ryobi is a power planer ( corded) from the late 80's . it's been a real workhorse planing doors and various items. I have not been kind to it.
I replaced the cord a few times and a few years ago I pulled it right apart & put new bearings thru out as a few were rough. it doesn't get used like it used to but it serves me well

 

[BTL-A4]

You could be overheating the tool. I find Ryobi cordless are great for doing smaller jobs where you only need to cut a few items, but almost any corded tool will be better for the more heavy-duty work you're doing. I'm sure there are cordless tools that will do what you ask and I'm sure someone will chime in.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I have a ryobi cordless grinder and it is also very hard on batteries. I use a 6 amp/hour battery and that helps.

 

[Copymutt]

Same issue here. I appears to be normal for that angle grinder. I’ve just accepted it for what it is, a low powered easily stalled device that was free when buying a package deal. Just today I grabbed it to cut 4’ of 18 gauge rusted body steel. Constantly stalls, battery(1AH) dies before 4 ‘ is cut.
Even so there are times when no corded tool will reach the job & thats when It is handy.

 

[Beemer]

We have the portable 18volt fan. It came with 2 batteries on special.
Keeps the pups cooled down in the truck and has been problem free for a couple years.

 

[PugetDude]

Bought a Ryobi 18V cordless scrubber on EBay.
It was dead out of the box. Unfortunately I didn't try it out until after the return window had passed.
Only 18V Ryobi tool I have ever had an issue with.

 

[nadogail]

After more than one disapointment with Ryobi, I have continued to appreciate the durability of my Makita tools.
I wanted an inexpensive tool and learned that buying the lowest priced tool can lead to a greater dissapointment.

 

[uart]

Started using the second one and the same thing happened. Cut 5 or 6 brackets and it was dead. Switched the battery and it worked. Cut a few more and dead again. The last time the battery was pretty hot.

You've kind of missed the most important bit of information. Is it dead or did it just cut out due to overload/overheat?

So if you plug a freshly charged battery into it now, is it still dead or not?

 

[Lassen Forge]

I've had better luck with Dewalt batteries than Ryobi, but that's probably just luck of the draw. Then again asking any battery to live 20 years is asking for kind of a miracle...

 

[tak1313]

Is that with the HP (high performance) battery or the "regular" battery? I don't have the grinder, but have a few things (along with Milwaukee), and perhaps a tool like that, given what they are tasked to do might do better with the HP series battery.

 

[Dakotadadv8]

Don't have Ryobi tools grinder nor drill. If doing serious DIYer projects I used Dewalt and Makita cordless and corded tools. Angle grinder I used corded Makita, never failed me yet.

 

[tyyost]

Same issue here. I appears to be normal for that angle grinder. I’ve just accepted it for what it is, a low powered easily stalled device that was free when buying a package deal. Just today I grabbed it to cut 4’ of 18 gauge rusted body steel. Constantly stalls, battery(1AH) dies before 4 ‘ is cut.
Even so there are times when no corded tool will reach the job & thats when It is handy.

My first cordless Milwaukee grinder was similar, before the fuel came out. Would run out a battery almost as fast as a vacuum, stall using a cutoff wheel in heavy work. It was a tool of last resort as running a cord or generator was easier than dealing with its quirks.

Could you do the job with a corded grinder? Sawzall or OMT? The Ryobi cordless may be more headache than it’s worth. I’d try to get small bar in there and pop the nails enough for a blade to cut them off, but without pictures it’s just spitballing.

 

[Coach James]

I have the Ryobi cordless angle grinder, along with a lot of other Ryobi cordless stuff. I bought it to cut apart a deadbolt lock that would not unlock. No problems with it at all. I've used it to cut everything from scores of sections of PVC to cutting helium tanks in half. Even cutting the helium tanks, I did not have any issues.

Coach

 

[mikester]

You've kind of missed the most important bit of information. Is it dead or did it just cut out due to overload/overheat?

So if you plug a freshly charged battery into it now, is it still dead or not?

I kept changing batteries. The grinder seemed to have a pretty low RPM even with a fully charged battery. Its not like I was cutting anything thick. This is the bracket. I got through 5 or 6 before it would quit.

 

[mikester]

These brackets are pretty thin.

 

[jskicet]

I have many Ryobi 18V battery powered tools. For the casual homeowner they seem to work fine. Definitely not for everyday usage. I've never had any issues so far with any of their tools. The leaf blower goes through batteries pretty quick though, but I've accumulated about 5 of the big batteries over the years. I always check on batteries when I'm at HD. Sometimes they offer up the big 18V pretty cheap.

 

[PugetDude]

I've used it to cut everything from scores of sections of PVC....
Coach

Shop airlines?

 

[Dakotadadv8]

Why cut them pry bars will separate them need some elbow grease.

 

[mikester]

Why cut them pry bars will separate them need some elbow grease.

Joists are 12 on center. Reusing the joists for the new deck so I didnt want to beat them up too bad. Back when I built the deck I used a ton of those brackets. Cutting them was the fastest way.

 

[Two Pump Chump]

My Ryobis lasted an entire wood frame house build, 1,800 sf. The Impact drill got the most use and I would take a break to let it cool anytime the metal on it got hot. Their caulk gun died quickly, it seemed cheap and very light duty. Definately two different battery series, of differing quality. I dont have the specifics on that . . .. . but life begins at 4mAH