Makita 18volt Lithium Batteries

[Job and Knock]

This is more of a warning than a review. I'm a regular user of Makita's products and well pleased with what I have, but users need to be aware of one very important point. DON'T USE THE BATTERY UNTIL IT'S SO HOT THAT YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT! Yesterday I had a nitwit do this with my jigsaw and today the inevitable has happened. The battery charger is telling me that the battery is kaput! This isn't just a Makita problem, but on high draw battery tools it's always worth keeping an eye (or shoould that be a hand?) on battery temperature and swapping out to a fresh (or at least a cool) battery when yours starts getting a bit warm. That way your batteries last longer (in my case I reckon on getting 3 to 4 years out of a Li-Ion battery). I should point out that this won't happen on lower load tools, like drills. It only happens with the bigger tools; to date I'd say recipro saw, SDS+, jigsaw and circular saw are all worth watching.

[Razor]

Sounds like my mates apprentice, (ab)using an SDS then complaining that the gearbox oil was running down his arm and burning him.

[Job and Knock]

Just as an aside on the subject of makita 18 volt lithium batteries. I've now bought and tried non-OEM replacement battery packs from two different suppliers. The first is the Ax-Ion battery pack from Axminster Power Tool at £49.96 and the second is the slightly cheaper Tools Down battery pack ar £45.99. I've been using the Tools Down pack for several months now; the Axminster battery pack is about 1 week old. In use both fit the same as an original Makita battery pack, seem to deliver the same battery life and, unlike some replacement batteries, they charge on the Makita DC018A fast charger without incident (not all cheap batteries do that). Well worth taking a look if you want to save a bit of geld on extra battery packs

[big-all]

one comment i would make is the charging of li-ions is different to nicads and nmh batteries so iff you get replacement batteries that fit in a nicad/nmh charger it will not be charged like a lion battery as these chargers where built before li-ions where in use on power tools

now i would expect there to be a trade off between 1 less charger and cheaper batteries against a not properly looked after li-ion battery in use but what it will be only time will tell

[wadge]

Also remember to bring the batts upto near room temperature otherwise the charger will say the battery is faulty.

[Job and Knock]

one comment i would make is the charging of li-ions is different to nicads and nmh batteries so iff you get replacement batteries that fit in a nicad/nmh charger it will not be charged like a lion battery as these chargers where built before li-ions where in use on power tools

I believe that particular problem is peculiar to Ryobe One and deWalt XRP systems, Big-All. Makita, Bosch, Panasonic (those from experience) and many others have different mounting systems for their Li-Ions against their NiCds and NiMHs, so a Li-Ion battery can't be fitted onto a NiCd/NiMH charger and vice versa.

Also remember to bring the batts upto near room temperature otherwise the charger will say the battery is faulty.

My experience is that it is more a case of allowing the battery packs to cool first - although if you are running your battery packs so hard don't be surprised if they die young. Providing you haven't heated up the battery too much the Makita DC18RA charger (the current standard 22min charger) will run a fan only cooling programme to get the temperature down before starting to charge. If it refuses to do this ("battery broken" light) then you've overheated the battery - change it earlier and keep an eye on temperature in future! I've yet to manage that with any of the screwdrivers or drills; with the recip saws it's really easy to do, and it's something you need to watch if using the circular saw, too

[big-all]

my comments jk apply to re-cells as ryobi and dewalt have it covered as the batteries will only fit in compatible chargers
its the re-cell ones i am refering to as they put li-ion cells into a nmh or nicad battery case then get wrongly charged /cared for

[Job and Knock]

Just to keep this topic on the boil, I recently had a fright when my charger started telling me that one, then two, then ALL of my batteries were faulty!!! Turns out that the fan was not working properly (thanks to some cack handed sand blasters who got sh*t everywhere on one job) and that it needs replacing. In the meantime I've acquired a new charger so that I can keep working while the old one is fixed