Shopsmith Forums

I have several battery powered tools, for the most part I've been pretty happy with them, well except of things like having batteries die and needing to replace them.

My 18V drill had it's last battery die a short while ago. Pricing new and rebuilt batteries and the condition of the drill I have decided it was time to get a new one.

I was picking up a few items at the Menards store and there on sale was an 18V drill/driver for about what I wanted to spend. The display model felt good in my hand (no battery present) and it had the features I was looking for.

Got it home and decided I have a look see and charge the batteries (2 included) as well as checking out the charger and light. Both batteries are dead. They will not charge. Or the charger is defective, no way to tell which.

No idea if the drill or the light work as I can not check them out. I do that I will be packing it back up and returning.

I had read some on-line comments about other buying drills and having issues like this but only from ebay/warehouse closeouts where they were unloading items with expired batteries. I never expected this to be the case of a new item from the store.

Of course I have no idea what happened here, was this one very old stock? New but defective? I sure have no way of knowing. Do I want to buy someplace else? Another brand?

Well that is the story for tonight.

Ed

It makes more sense for the charger to be defective than 2 new batteries. Do you know anyone with the same brand? (what brand was it).
Smartest thing is probably to take the whole kit and kabootle back and exchange for a different brand.

Ed,
That is a sad tale. Frustrating too, I'm sure. On the bright side, you were dealing with a reputable retailer and could return them.
Over the years, nearly every battery operated drill manufactured, has found it's way into my hands. Haven't owned them all, but used a bunch.
At my place today, there are 1 18v and 1 12v Makita, a 12v DeWalt and a 12v B&D. Of the group, the Makitas seem to hold their charge the best and sound the smoothest. The other two have been relegated to light duty like twisting the router lift crank, or use in the house. The batteries in the oldest Makita (11 years old) have been rebuilt once. And, I swear they are better than new, now.
Many a sheet of steel roofing has been screwed down with that older 12v makita. It's slid off the roof a few times, too. Still going strong in the shop today.
There may be better drills made, but the Makitas are fairly priced and have given me great service. I'd recommend them.

I agree that I'd suspect the charger, as it seems unusual that both batteries would be failed out of the box. Have you checked the output of the charger to see if it is indeed providing juice to the batteries? I guess given it's new, I wouldn't bother troubleshooting and would just return for a replacement/refund.

I have an 18v DeWalt impact drill and an older Makita 12v drill - I haven't used the Makita in ages as it's not as ergonomic a design and hurts my wrist after any continued use...this is just an artifact of it being an old design that has been upgraded by virtually all manufacturers to drills that are more ergonomic and better balanced. I should go out and charge the Makita batteries and see if it's still working. Meanwhile, the DeWalt (I bought it at Costco about 4-5 years ago) has been a total work horse and the batteries have both served me well. I always keep th second battery charged so there's nop downtime when the first one dies, and it seems to charge a dead battery pretty quickly (i.e. faster then I could wear out the replacement battery I've moved on to).

Part 2 of the story.

When out to a couple of stores to see what other models are out there. It is the old 3 bear story but with a forth and deciding factor of price.

I saw and felt several models that would have been nice, all a lot more expensive. Heck one was $219 on sale, batteries not included, they were also on sale for $100 and I'd still have to get a charger. That is way out of my price range no matter how nice it was.

So I still like the one I picked out and decided to give it another go. Exchanged it and so far so good with this one. Both batteries had a change to start with, one I have on the charge right now and it is "charging" according to the light on the charger. Still have to make sure the other battery charges.

The charger has 7 contacts that match the 7 contacts on the battery. They seem to have the following labeling
C+
+
T
V
LS
-
LD

The drill has only 3 contacts
+
-
LD

As I'm writing this the first battery finished charging so I started #2. Light is indicating it too is charging.

Feeling better right along now....

Ed

I have a 12 volt 3/8ths DeWalt that I was pretty disappointed with the battery life considering how #$%& expensive they are. I have kept the drill hoping that the price would "eventually" come down but it still hasn't happened yet. I may put a long cord on it with alligator clips to hook it to a truck or tractor battery. I could even hook it to a lawn tractor battery.
After that disappointment I bought a 1/2" 18 volt Ryobi with a case and a large flashlight that uses the same batteries. I have been very pleased with it and the batteries have lasted very well. I like it so well that I went back and bought another one while I could still get the same package deal. I can buy new OEM batteries for it for $20 each... I have bought a couple over maybe 6 or 7 years and I use a Sharpie marker and write the purchase date on the battery so I always know which ones I am using and how long they last.
I have even used those flashlights as temporary headlights both on tractors and our golf cart putting lots of hours on them.


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Sorry to read about your troubles, Ed! I've been there too and it's no fun.

Finally took the advice of Ed in Tampa and bought a Ridgid with lithium-ion batteries. It came in a kit (nice carrying bag) having a charger, two batteries and the brightest flashlight I've ever seen. Same battery runs both.

Bought it from Home Depot The best thing is the batteries are guaranteed for life of the purchaser. No more worrying about the voltage -

charlese wrote:Sorry to rad about your troubles, Ed! I've been there too and it's no fun.

Finally took the advice of Ed in Tampa and bought a Ridgid with lithium-ion batteries. It came in a kit (nice carrying bag) having a charger, two batteries and the brightest flashlight I've ever seen. Same battery runs both.

Bought it from Home Depot The best thing is the batteries are guaranteed for life of the purchaser. No more worrying about the voltage -

Be sure to register your tools with Ridgid or the Life Time service agreement is not valid.

charlese wrote:Sorry to rad about your troubles, Ed! I've been there too and it's no fun.

Finally took the advice of Ed in Tampa and bought a Ridgid with lithium-ion batteries. It came in a kit (nice carrying bag) having a charger, two batteries and the brightest flashlight I've ever seen. Same battery runs both.

Bought it from Home Depot The best thing is the batteries are guaranteed for life of the purchaser. No more worrying about the voltage -

That is really a nice feature of Ridgid and I had remembered the sage advice but some months ago I checked out them out and they just didn't feel comfortable in my hand.

Being right handed one would think that would be my better grip but it is not as good as it use to be. Had some tendon issues which were further complicated by RSI. As a result I still need to use my right hand for control but have to make sure the grip isn't too small or too large... that is another reason for not getting new batteries for my other 18V drill, it doesn't fit well anymore. I have a corded dewalt that sees very limited use as my wrist/lower arm starts hurting after only a few operations.

I really wish I could have gone ridgid on the battery issue only but other factors really made it impractical. I would say that for other, especially the younger set this brand is certainly something to check out.

Thanks for bring this to the for front again.

Ed

Ed what brand did you buy?