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Lithium battery disappointment

I bought the Worx edger with the 18volt battery this past April. Each week i used the edger for about 15 minutes to do my chore and then i immediately put into the recharger and wait for the green light and then store it till the following week. All's well until the last 3 weeks where i ignored the chore cause of the hot weather. This morning I tried to use it and sense in about a minute or two the battery very weak. So i recharged it, the light turned red as it should and about

15 minutes later the green light came on, so i thought it was fully charged...it wasn't. This time it last less than a minute. So i recharged it again and again, it charged about 10 minutes or so, when the green light came on again. I called repair and told them the scenario and they said they would send me a new recharger. I called worx and the guy told me that i should recharge the battery the night before i intend to use it. The manual says nothing about that. It worked just fine the way i was using it for about a month and recharging it. Any ideas? is it the battery? the recharger? I am so confused on when i should recharge these things.
Reply to
novel8
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I would bet the battery is dead. When you finished running it and put it on the charger was the battery warm-hot, did it start charging immediatly or does the charger wait until it cools before starting its cycle. Nicad and LiIon are damaged by heat so most chargers or the batteries them selves have a circuit and a temp sensor and dont start the charge cycle till its cool. Charging at night would only let it cool off before usage, which isnt a bad idea if its been heated up, I bet you are not the first with that problem. Most likely cells are damaged and the battery is junk, cheap cells, bad battery electronics, or a bad charger could cause it. I would use the new charger and try it after its cool, it should take less than 1 hr to cool, then call for a new battery. Did you leave the battery on the charger, is it warm the next day because heat kill them, try it to see. I always let batteries cool down up to overnight and remove them after the charge. I think its cost cutting and the cheap electronics used that ruin batteries in the charger. Just my guess.

Reply to
ransley

Do you have a voltmeter?

That's pretty much the only way to tell what's really going on. From what you describe you have at least one dead cell so I would measure the voltage after a full charge (not likely to be 18V but it might) and when it shuts down after a few minutes. Battery packs usually fail in discrete steps. One cell bad - 16V, two cells bad 14V, etc.

Ransley's right. The chargers for many powertools are crap - it's important to read and follow the charging instructions, especially max time on the charger. Their readiness to ship a replacement charger could mean they know it's crap and likely to fail - or they could be just nice. (-:

If the battery never fully charges, and it sounds like that's what you are describing, it could be a bad charger. As long they are sending out a new one, that seems the logical place to start. First thing I would do it measure the output of both chargers with a voltmeter. Be advised that some fancy chargers have circuitry that inhibits current flow until properly connected to a battery. In other words, you may see nothing but phantom voltage, but it's still the best place to start.

The oppressive heat of the last few weeks could have fried your battery. They truly do like to live in "cool, dry places." I once wired up a tape recorder in the car to dictate memos on the drive to work. I used rechargeable batteries in the unit and charged it with the car cord whenever needed. I left it in the airport parking lot for a week and the batteries had all "outgassed" and coated the circuit board inside the tape recorder with green crust almost everywhere.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

Did you try charging it overnight before using it?

Reply to
LSMFT

No, I did not. I never did for a month or so and had no problem. Like I said, i immediately recharge it after finishing my chore till its fully charged and then when ready to use, I install the battery and all would go well until this last time.

Reply to
novel8

Your first mistake was buying a power tool off an infomercial.

They are always always always, without fail, without variation, overpriced poor quality cheap Chinese garbage. The tool is junk. The batteries are junk. The charger is junk.

That tool lasted about as long as they expected it to. They will now give you the runaround and the tool will never work properly again.

Reply to
mkirsch1

LOL...First, it is definitely not junk and it was not made in China...it was made with Italian parts and it was the best edger i ever used, better than some crappy american models...again, i am complaining about the edger, its the power source that is the problem...in this day and age of going to the moon and mars and etc...they cannot make a satiisfactory lithium battery? We'll see if it is the battery or the battery charger that is at fault...until i get that charger..i'm withholding judgement.

Reply to
novel8

On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 12:42:30 -0700 (PDT), novel8 wrote Re Re: Lithium battery disappointment:

Let us know how it turns out.

Reply to
Caesar Romano

Thanks for the link, but too confusing to this dude. How am I to know when it reach's 4.20/cell...? I went according to the manual and the tech support of the company on how and when to recharge.

Reply to
novel8

4.2v is probably for the big cells, Ive never opened a LiIon pack so I wonder if its aa size batteries. Measure your paks voltage just after you take it off the charger, measure it when it stops. maybe the cells circutry fried the pack by letting it go to low. Do you kep the charger outside in a garage, I would keep it where its cooler, in you home, LiIon s long term reliability isnt known, heat is supposed to be their enemy.
Reply to
ransley

LSMFT wrote in news:D0X6o.2860$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe14.iad:

you evidently don't know much about lithium battery charging. They don't use trickle charging. this model has a 30 minute fast charger.(smart charger)

It's also a "as Seen on TV" product.....

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Reply to
Robert Green

You need new battery

Reply to
Grumpy

Read the link harry posted to Batteryuniversity, LiIon doesnt do as well for longevity on fast chargers, all my cameras, phones have slow chargers, and the batteries last years, just because a company offers something doesnt mean its best. But their fast charger will get you through the warranty period, and maybe that all they care about.

Reply to
ransley

As I popped out a pair of leaky Duracell AAA's from a remote that is no longer being made, I asked myself the same question. We can put men on the moon, but we still can't quite conquer the leaky AAA battery.

Lithium batteries are really still in their commercial infancy. Considering that a really capable charger for just AA/AAA sized Nicad/NiMH batteries can cost 25 bucks and up, you know you're not getting a mil-spec "NASA quality" charger packed in with the tool. As companies like Sony are forced to recall thousands of battery packs because they can start fires,

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we can only hope that the technology is being improved as companies try not to end up behind the recall eight-ball.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

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