trouble with milwaukee 18v batteries

[l_bilyk]

I am trying to charge a pack and the light on the charger is not coming on. I think the pack might have a dead cell. Does the charger have any sort of built in safety that would cause it not to charge a bad pack? Or is the charger junk?

 

[jordantii]

Sounds like the battery pack is bad. I had a similar problem. The light would not come on. I put in a known good battery and the charger worked fine.

Battery is dead. This is not uncommon with MW batteries.

 

[The Super]

Amazon.com Consumer Reviews for Milwaukee 18V Ni-Cad Battery

The comments in the reviews at Amazon.com often have great suggestions for problematic products.

The guys at Amazon have 2 fixes for the dead 18V Ni-Cads
1) Place a standard 9V battery against the leads on your dead Milwuakee battery for 30 seconds (single lead on your Milwaukee is positive, the double lead is negative). I had 2 batteries that would not charge. I did the 9V battery trick for 45 seconds and now able to recharge both of my batteries! Yeah!

2) The 48-59-0260 Multi-Bay Charger is reported to be able to charge batteries that the cheapo charger refuses.

 

[The Super]

Another path away from the junk Milwaukee 18V ni-cads is to upgrade to the new V18 Lithium-Ion batteries.

The V18 batteries come with a 5 year warranty!

I am looking at the Milwaukee 0824-24 V18 Lithium-Ion Hammer Drill Kit that is $300 less $50 coupon = $250 at amazon, free shipping, no tax. The drill kit comes with the hamer drill, 2 batteries, a new charger, and you get a free sawzall with mailin rebate.

The cheapest price I could find for the 48-11-1833 V18 2 Li-Ion Batteries + Charger kit was $220 at Tool King. For $30 more, I'll take the hammer drill and sawzall

 

[l_bilyk]

Oooh my old thread came up. The pack indeed had a dead cell, and the charger circuitry did not like it. Rebuilt the pack for less than 20 bux. Works like a charm now

 

[jordantii]

How did you rebuild the battery pack?????

 

[Itzkwik]

Quote:
Originally Posted by l_bilyk
Don't mean to be rude, but hold on to your receit... you get 3 years warranty. Those 18v sets have some dismal reviews.

Hope you kept your receipt. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[l_bilyk]

Only one year warranty on the batteries. There were about 3 years old.