It’s been about a year since I used my Makita 12V impact driver. It’s running NI-MH batteries. I charged it for a couple of hours yesterday and the following day, I drilled five 3″ tapcons into brick and the battery was all out. I’m pretty sure the charger told me the battery was full when I took it off.
Any tips on why my battery went bad ? What do ya’ll do with your batteries to keep it good when you’re not using it for a particular long period of time
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Replies
I don't have any battery tips, but just for clarification...
"I used my Makita 12V impact driver...I drilled five 3" tapcons into brick and the battery was all out"
Do you mean you drove five tapcons into holes previously drilled (this is where my money is)??
Or do you mean you used the impact driver to drill the holes? If the latter, that might be the problem.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
Nope, I predrilled the holes with a Hilti Hammer. Even predrilled the holes in the wood stud. I don't have any other use for the drill now and can't think of any home projects for me to use it now but if I did, at least I would be able to see if it was just not a fully charged battery.
Alan, I am stretching my limited knowledge here. If I recall correctly NIMH batteries do not hold a charge in storage very well. Additionally I believe it is damaging to them to drop below a certain voltage ie. you never want to run them down til they are totally dead. Ideally you throw it on the charger as soon as the power drops below a useable level.
I am guessing that the battery was either run down when put in storage or it was in storage long enough for the fully charged battery to eventually discharge below the critical nimh voltage level.
There is a lot of info on rechargeable batteries (theory) on the internet. I don't have any links but in the past I found some good sites while trying to figure out what type of voltage and current to use to charge a nimh flashlight I had been given without the factory charger.
Karl
Try charging it up and running it down a few times to see if conditions improve. It's possible that the battery may recover.
I'm with Martha on this one. Run 'em down and recharge. They may have developed a short life from the lack of use and short charge. NiMH's are supposed to be much better at not developing a battery life, but....
Mike
I think the above charge-recharge is in line with what I remember from perusing the various battery websites. The NiMH batteries are noted for being "flat" the first time out after being stored and the recommendation is to do a charge-discharge or two the day before you want to have maximum longevity. However, do not short out the NiMH battery pack or deep discharge it. At least some of the manufacturers indicate that it shouldn't hurt the batteries to store them completely discharged. You can find some sites with recommendations by doing a search on "NiMH battery care" or something similar.
I have been told that batterys will lose 1-3 percent of their charge per week. 6 to 10 months it will be dead.
alan,
Here's a sure-fire fix.
Send me the tool & batteries. I'll "recondition" the batteries for a year and they'll be all ready to go for you the next time you need it! And at no charge (uh, expense) to you.
It's a shame to see a dog, horse, or cordless tool not exercised hard and regularly.
But seriously, what may well have happened is that a cell or cells in the battery pack went to zero charge and than reversed polarity. That's irreversible from what I understand, so it may be time to have the pack rebuilt or to replace it. Cycling the pack a dozen times wouldn't hurt to try.
I've heard of shock treatments for NiCads to address reversed polarity that involve much higher voltage and current than those used in normal charging. I've had NiCad batts go bad due to lack of use and not keeping them topped up, but I've never tried the shock treatment--the thought of a battery pack exploding in my garage just doesn't do it for me.
Cliff