Makita clone 18v 3AH batteries

[Dickie]

I guess if you overheat any battery it's not good for it.

[Job and Knock]

Works well? Could you give more information about this, why so many people give 1 star on amazon?

I really couldn't say. Personally I reckon to kill a Li-Ion battery in 2 to 2-1/2 years and regardless of whether or not they are Makitas or clones that pretty much holds true for most of my dead batteries to date. I do take precautions, though: I always charge new batteries a couple of times before use; I often take batteries off a tool at the end of day and pop it onto the charger to "freshen it up" for the next day (Li-Ion batteries seem to work better that way); I don't put batteries into store for months and then expect them to work without recharging them FIRST; I let warm batteries cool down before recharging them because the Mak chargers can mark a battery as "bad" if it is too hot (three "strikes" and the charger refuses to play ball - possibly over-cautious on Makitas part); and I never get to the point where the tool stops and keep pushing it, and pushing it, and pushing it... (a very common and very stupid mistake made by lot of folk in my experience). I can honestly say that when I've killed batteries prematurely it has been for THREE reasons: I've overheated the battery (try drilling a 150mm hole in an insulated plywood roof and you'll know what I mean), I've left them out in the van over a cold spell (-5 degrees and colder overnight) for a week or more (bring them in at night in winter, Li-Ions don't like being frozen) and I've pushed them too hard after they've been unused for a while WITHOUT recharging them first. All the batteries I've killed to date (excepyt by freezing) were at the 18 month old or older mark (I engrave the purchase date on all my batts). In other words I've abused them and I suspect that many of the one star comments may well be the result of (unwitting) abuse.

It may be worth mentioning that the two duds (out of the box) I've had to date over about a seven year span came from Axminster and refused to charge out of the box. The reason (admitted by Ax) was that the manufacturer had shelf stored the items in a semi-discharged state for too long - and they lived up to their reputation by replacing the dud items overnight in each case. Li-Ion batteries (not just Mak ones) all seem to have a chip which draws power off (generally) one cell and so that cell is constantly discharging. If the cell goes to zero volts then the chip dies and the Makita charger will downright refuse to charge the battery (red-green flashing lights). That's why I keep on top of charging my batts (monthly at least, and always when discharged). Reading the one star responses I have to wonder how at least some of those people have treated their batteries because there are hints of (inadvertant) misuse in a number of the posts

Sorry for the long post, but I personally think that there may be other factors at play here......

[Dickie]

Thanks J&K. I can only agree, it's easy to write a bad review on a competitors product & there's an even bigger incentive to do it when their product is a 1/5 of the price yours!!

[Job and Knock]

Well, this is the latest update - I currently have NO Lenoge batteries. My original pair did more than 30 charges without incident, but one of them went sour at the 32nd charge and now makes a suspicious "loose metal inside" sort of sound when shaken. I will admiot that i was caning it trying to get the last drop of cutting power out of it on the saw, though, so basically I reckon I cooked it. That one I'm going to have to dismantle to ascertain what is wrong. The second of my original batteries was still going strong at 38 charges when it went to a new home along with my now-replaced SDS drill

As to the other pair, they died with 5 and 7 charges respectively and have been returned to the suppliers under warranty. We'll see what transpires, but as it looks, I'm not hopeful. Neither were cooked or thrashed, so I'm miffed at this premature failure. All charging was undertaken on a Makita DC18RA fast charger

More to follow, I'm sure.....

[Dickie]

The Toolsdown clones are now just over £20 on Amazon. A worthwhile purchase for a 3Ahr battery in my view.

The Makita range of bare tools are good quality & combined with the cheap clones you can amass a good range of cordless tools.

[Job and Knock]

In the meantime, Dickie, I'm using my cordless kit a heck of a lot more than I was in the past - in fact most of the work I'm doing on the current (long-term) project is done with cordless so with 3Ah batteries I was making far too regular trips to the charger station...... I've therefore bitten the bullet and decided to go down the path of "D" series tools, brushless wherever possible and 5.0Ah Makita "star" batteries to maximise the battery protection. At currently £80 a pop I hope they'll prove reliable. I understand that Makita have already started production of 6.0Ah batteries in Japan and that in the near future Makita's own brand batteries in 2, 4, 5 and 6Ah capacities will feature LED charge state displays (there are already 6Ah clones with this feature on sale on eBay).

This means that if the two returned items do come back they'll be retained for use at home only