Drill batteries are very important as the power source of the drills. They are specially designed for specific drill brands. When it is used, lots of problems occur. Dead batteries are one of the biggest problems there. So let’s see why drill batteries die?
Drill battery dies due to use in high heat areas, not use in a proper tool, use wrong chargers, use with poor drill bits, use for over-perform task, longtime use per day, battery getting old, short current inside, and keep the battery empty long time are the main reasons for the drill battery death.
If you follow proper ways and methods, you can increase its life span considerably. So let’s see what are the reasons in detail. I will explain all in detail and mention here, what you should need to follow for the long-life drill battery. So let’s keep reading on!
Related Topics
- Are Drill Batteries Interchangeable? – How I Did It!
- Can I Use an 18V Battery in a 20V Drill? – Interchange Guide
- How I Revive Dead Drill Battery? – The Way of Jumpstart
Use in High Heat Areas
Battery current is the result of the chemical reaction. When it charges, the battery can store the electronics inside. The storage of the inside is called capacity. It is measured by Amh (ampere-hour). When the battery is used, it can provide stored electrons when terminals are connected together.
Battery charging is a heat-generating task. Because additional voltage is used to store the electronics inside. When it discharges, the battery temperature also increases due to resistance. According to this, we can realize the high temperature is badly affected for the drill batteries.
When a drill battery is used in high heat areas, its inside chemical rate has increased rapidly. This will cause to discharge of the tool quickly than its use in less area. While its inside temperature increases, inside decay occurs, and impedance can be reduced. As a result of this, it is unable to maintain full capacity and tends to death.
Best storage temprature – 65°F – 75°F (18°- 24°C)
Read More About – How I Revive Dead Drill Battery? – The Way of Jumpstart
Solution
- Do not use drill battery in high heat areas.
Not use a Proper Charger
Drill battery consists of small rechargeable cells. Those cells have 3.7 voltages. These batteries have connected serial or parallel according to having sufficient voltage and current. Batteries are made with Li-Ion batteries. Those batteries are charged with the charger. Normally charger is specially designed for a specific brand. That means you are not able to charge the Milwaukee battery using the Dewalt charger.
Chargers are designed with optimizing voltage and current according to the battery. If you use the wrong charge for the battery it will directly affect the battery performance. If you try it you can see some time batteries can be heated much. If you use a higher voltage charger, the inside impedance can be reduced. Due to the less impedance, it can discharge soon dead the battery. So do not use a higher voltage charger for the drill batteries. Always use the proper charger.
Higher voltage charges will reduce the lifetime of the battery.
Read More About – How Long Does It Take to Charge a Cordless Drill Battery?
Solution
- Do not use high voltage charger. Use recommended voltage and current for charging the battery.
Use in Wrong Tool
Drills are used for the workshops as well as DIYs. When a drill is used, it should be used in the proper tool. Drill too requires current and voltage to operate that. Drill batteries are power up the drills. So you should select a proper drill battery according to the drilling machine.
Drills are with different voltages. This voltage is recommended for the inside motor. If you use low voltage in high voltage tools, it will absorb more current and voltage to produce the power. As a result of this battery will overheat rapidly. When this happens continuously, its impedance has reduced, and inside decays occur.
As a result of this, it will not be able to hold the charge capacity. Finally, it will die. So when you select a drill battery, make sure it is compatible with the tool voltage.
(mostly, this is not happening. But using an adaptor can be done easily. So don’t use the wrong tools.)
Read More About – How Much Power Does a Drill Battery Have? -12V | 18V | 20V
Solution
- Battery voltage and tool voltage should be compatible.
Use with Poor Tools
Poor tools are meant by the less performance equipment. We can categorize improper drill bits, drill bits angles, lack of mechanisms, lack of resources,s and many more. If we have the drill machine and drill battery we are not able to continue the drill properly. We should have a proper drill bit.
Imagine we have a regular drill bit to drill the concrete. Can it be done? No, that isn’t easy. It will take a lot of time. When tools take much time, they will need more power. When the power is generated too much time, the battery can overheat. So it affects to the main for the performance.
This is the same for the drill bit angles and above all factors. Always we should use the recommended equipment in order to protect the tool and battery. If we apply additional force by mistake, that directly affects the drill battery. If you do not use cutting oil, it will increase the inside resistance, and it will need more power to operate the tool.
Read More about – 09 Most Drill Battery Problems and Solutions
Solution
- Use proper drill bit and drill bit angle (wood 118 degrees, Steel 135 degrees)
- Activate the drill mechanism according to the material ( concrete, brick, stone – hammer mechanism and driving screws activate the Impact mechanism)
- Use cutting oils if needed
Use For Over Load Tasks
When we use a tool, we must know how much load the can tool produce. According to produced power, we can continue the tasks. When we consider the drill, we can see two main things. Torque and RPM are them. Both are really important for the drilling task.
Let’s see how do they affect the battery performance. Power is the multiplication of torque and angular velocity (P = T ω). When torque is increased, RPM is reduced, and when RPM increases, torque has reduced due to constant power. But power is reduced due to discharge. So when we work on more load tasks battery can be discharged rapidly.
There is a recommended Torque and RPM. We should use tools to keep the durability of the drill battery and tool. As well as it affects badly to the tool. The tool can be overheated due to the high current requirement from the battery. Due to the high current producing battery can be overheated. Finally, these things affect badly for the inside capacity. It will lead to dying the drill battery.
Read More About – How to Use a Drill? Step by Step Guide!
Solution
- Use Under the recommended Torque and RPM.
Long Time Usage Per Day
When a drill is used the whole day continuously, it can be subject to overheating. It should be happening in the drill battery as well as the drilling machine. This can depend on the task you did. As for me, I use drills for DIYs. So I am not able to use it for a full day. If you are a constructor or related worker, you have to work with that full day.
Normally, a drill battery can be used for about 15-30 mins with loaded conditions. So you will need additional batteries and chargers. This will lead to charge and discharge several times per day. So it will reduce the charging cycles. When the charging cycles are reduced, the drill battery can die quickly.
Solution
- Use high capacity battery with the same voltage
Battery Getting Old
when a battery is used for a long time, it can be an old one. Old batteries are really low performance. There are things that can happen inside the battery. Inside can be decay, and impedance can be reduced. When the charging cycles are over. These things can be seen. Normally Li-Ion drill batteries have 1000 charge and discharge cycles. If you tend to use the battery until it becomes 0% and then charge for the 100% will finish the charge cycle.
What I do is I do not use the battery until it becomes 05%. I charge it at 10% and remove the chrger when it reaches 90%. So I can save something from my charge cycle. So I am able to use a drill battery without any problem for about 4-5 years. These tips can save the battery before it dies.
Read More About – Do Drill Batteries Go Bad If Not Used? – (Solved)
Solution
- Getting old is not the problem. The way of using is the real problem. So use the drill battery proper way.
Inside Current Short
The battery has two terminals. Positive (+) and Negative (-) are them. When these terminals are short, the current is flown. That is the way to use the battery. We have to use the drills in many environments. Some debris can be entered inside through ventilation holes.
This debris can be damaged inside wires, coils if you do not follow the proper service and maintenance. So it will be short inside the drill. This will discharge the battery soon. You can identify this when you use this.
Sometimes you may store the battery with pins, nails, paper clips, or any electric condition parts. When these are connected to the terminals, it will discharge the battery soon. So pay attention when you store the drill batteries. Do not short the terminals. It will cause the fire also. Before the battery dies, check the reasons. So you can protect it.
Read More About – Why is My Drill Battery Not Charging? Problems and Solutions
Solution
- Check and maintenance regularly.
Keep Empty Long Time
Drill batteries need to store when it not used. If you sell them, you should know how to store them properly. When a drill battery is self-discharging due to inside reactions, it is about 5% per month. So we must take action to prevent that. According to math, an 18V drill battery will discharge up to 3V in 3 years. But it is different with considering the real situation. It is really less than that. When it is completely discharged, the drill battery can die.
So follow the below steps to store the battery correctly.
Read More About – 06 Steps to Store Cordless Drill Battery – [Li-Ion, Ni-Cd]
Solution
- Store in room temperature
- Store in half of the full voltage
- Charge every 6 months up to half of its maximum voltage
- Do not store with condutions such as wires, nails, pins etc
