Ryobi Charger Clicking noise, normal?

[joseywales]

I went full Ryobi about a year ago. The water pump alone has bailed me out a few times and I'm happy with the set. I had bought several new chargers with it, so I have this P117 that I've used maybe 5 times. Today I recharged some nearly full batteries. It charged the first one fine. When I put the second battery in, it started clicking, like almost 1 second intervals. The battery and the charger were both bought about a year ago, but neither has been used much at all. I unplugged it and tried again, but same thing. It might actually be charging, but I can't believe the clicking is normal.

Thought before I call Ryobi?

 

[dogdog]

Call them... I don't think that is normal... and might be damaging to batteries .... those batteries that got damaged by it will not be covered under that royabi warranty of the charger..

 

[joseywales]

Ugh...I just tried entering a ticket on their site, twice, and it didn't work. Guess I have to call them tomorrow. I have $1,000 in receipts, and that's a lot of Ryobi tools!

 

[American Locomotive]

A defined clicking, or a "ticking" sound? Modern battery charger power supplies use special high frequency "switch mode" power supplies. When switch mode power supplies fail, it's pretty common to hear a "ticking" sound as the circuit tries to start, but fails.

Have you tried a different battery?

 

[joseywales]

Yeah. I tried the battery I first charged and it kept clicking. Keep in mind, neither battery was totally dead, so it's hard to say when the charger is working. However, I don't want to put a new/dead battery in, then find the charger is ruining the batteries.

I had the means to buy more expensive tool sets and I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake here. I felt like Ryobi was the perfect balance of value/DIY use/and tools - i like the air pump and especially the hydro pump, both of which I've gotten use from. I never was able to kill my B&D Firestorm and still use it, but wanted top upgrade all my tools a year ago. I know every company has a failure now and again. The timing is just horrible. I have half my house in disorder and just didn't need to be dealing with this right now.

 

[manwithtools]

Ugh...I just tried entering a ticket on their site, twice, and it didn't work. Guess I have to call them tomorrow. I have $1,000 in receipts, and that's a lot of Ryobi tools!

You have that much invested in Ryobi tools and only have one charger? Heck if it was Milwaukee, I have about five chargers I would send you.

You seriously need at least two chargers if you have multiple cordless tools. Keep the batteries rotated across chargers so you don't have to wait on one charger to finish charging.

 

[joseywales]

You have that much invested in Ryobi tools and only have one charger? Heck if it was Milwaukee, I have about five chargers I would send you.

You seriously need at least two chargers if you have multiple cordless tools. Keep the batteries rotated across chargers so you don't have to wait on one charger to finish charging.

No worries here. How do you thin I got up to $1000! In my world, "two is one, one is none." Off the top of my head, I have at least three P117 chargers, two of the smaller chargers, and a couple of the older + chargers. Whenever a contractor has to come to my house, they typically borrow tools from me. Yep, I'm covered

My concern with the P117s is that I bought them all at the same time and if there's a chance they might damage any of the 15 batteries I have, I want to know about that sooner than later.

 

[joseywales]

Ryobi is sending me another one. No questions asked. She said she hasn't been receiving complaints on the P117s. I sent her a copy of my receipt (6/2017) and she'll send me a new unit. I checked the unit today and it works fine.

American Locomotive sounds close - When I plugged it in today, it clicked, but that was when it switched from Testing to Maintenance - the battery was already fully charged when i plugged it in. Perhaps yesterday it got hung up in the changeover. That's exactly what it sounded like. I tapped on it, but perhaps I should have whacked it!