Calvinmiddle Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 I have an AEG nailer that I got in Australia - this one. And it has been great of the build - It's main job has been installing a 100m run of feather edge fencing and it's been great. I got this charger and a 4.0Ah battery (not the 5.0.Ah as in the pick). But something is wrong with the battery - I put it on to charge and it does a check on the battery, decides it's fine and then starts to charge it. But after a few minutes the lights that flash when it it flashing change to fade on and off - which is what they do when they are fully charges. I take the battery off and press the tester, all the indicator lights flash on momentarily, then it drops back to 1 light showing. When i put it on the nailer there isn't enough power to fire a single nail. So it's obviously that there is something wrong with the battery, but the charger doesn't tell me it is broken after it checks it. So wonder if some think what happens to the Makita batteries where an internal "fuse" goes after they have been put onto charge after being too dead. Explained better by Jeremy All Makita packs with a charge fault, bar none, have this fault because the first two cells in the pack have dropped below their cut-off voltage, usually because they've not been used for a while and the small drain from the internal circuit board has discharged them. If you then try and charge the pack three times with one of the Makita chargers it will flash a fault code and on the third attempt it will write of the battery. Over on the old sire Jeremy wrote this when I asked about how to look after my Makita batteries. Yes, Makita 18V packs need a charge every 6 months or so if you're not using them, or else cells one and two in the pack will shut off because of the constant current drain from the internal circuit board, If this happens, then when you plug the pack into the charger then the fault light will come on. DO NOT try and charge the pack again with the Makita charger, just connect it to a low current charger and charge it at around 19 to 20V maximum for a few hours, across the main power terminals. This isn't enough to cause harm, and anyway the Makita cells are brilliant, near-bomb proof. The low charge will revive cells one and two after a few hours and then magically the Makita charger will report that the pack is fine and charge it as normal.. No damage will have been done, and the pack will equalise and charge as normal from then on. But I forgot to ask if there is a way to charge the batteries if this "fuse" has gone - and maybe I can use that way to try and resurrect this AEG battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Sounds like the pack has a failed cell. It might be worth the hassle of replacing, but my guess is that it may well be cheaper, quicker and easier to get a replacement battery pack. What you're describing is a pack where one cell has developed a high internal resistance and is causing the charger to cut off early. That cell has no effective capacity either. The AEG packs don't have the same electronic disabling fuse that the Makita BL packs do, so sadly it's not the same easy fix. It's worth hunting around on Amazon and ebay, though. The chap that did our landscaping has all Makita tools, like me, and he'd bought four cheap Makita knock-off packs, at around £20 per pack. He had been using them for a year and reckoned they gave the same performance in practice as the genuine packs. I took a punt and bought two packs from Amazon for around £40 and they seem just as good as the originals. I couldn't have bought new 18650 cells and re-celled a failed Makita pack for what I paid for two replacements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Yup. Bite the bullet and get a new battery. Likelihood is you'll faff around getting the duff cell identified and changed out and then the next adjacent cell will snuff it. Ive just got used to listing my dead makita batteries on eBay ( and they sell instantly for around a tenner ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 14 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: Yup. Bite the bullet and get a new battery. Likelihood is you'll faff around getting the duff cell identified and changed out and then the next adjacent cell will snuff it. Ive just got used to listing my dead makita batteries on eBay ( and they sell instantly for around a tenner ) Have you tried the knock-off packs, Nick? I'm really impressed with the two I bought and they have been really hammered as I've been using the pair of them to run the Makita mower. I reckoned that at a bit under £20 each they were worth taking the risk on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Do you have the link / seller name please? I'll have a look. My 36v ( 2x18v ) sds drill sucks the batteries dry in no time at all when chiselling / drilling large holes, so may choose a couple of knock offs to dedicated to that perhaps. I've had a look before tbh, but nowt like a bit of real feedback, and the mower is a constant drain device so is a good measure Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 This is the seller I bought from: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-MAKITA-18V-3-0Ah-LITHIUM-ION-BATTERY-BL1830-LXT-UK-LATEST-PACK-NEW-/251543119079? There are a fair few around, but I've run the BL1830's from that seller hard and they are both holding up well. I can't tell the difference between them and the genuine Makita packs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Ok thanks. I've just noticed that with some oft the the copies the battery is significantly ( physically ) bigger. I'll get the bbq emptied into the kids and have a look when I get a chance later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 These seem to be pretty much exactly the same dimensions as the Makita packs and fit both the tools and the charger in the same way. It's hard to spot the difference. except these are blank on the sides, with no Makita logo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvinmiddle Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Got a Ridgid 4Ah for £75 after a bit of best offer haggling. Ridgid seems to be the name these are sold under in USA - not many of either AEG or Ridgid on eBay. Funny as in Australia AEG seem week regarded by the trades and the Bunnings (one for you Jack ?) had a massive section of AEG power tools. Will have to get some decent Makita batteries, I got a pack of a hammer drill, impact driver, charger and 2 batteries. Then got a circular saw and thought the batteries where on their way out as they didn't last long in the circular saw. Then noticed the batteries are only 1.5Ah!!!! I've been having to swap them over after a couple goes of ripping down 2.5m lengths of larch. Could prob do with a new blade as well to be honest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 The Makita cordless saw eats batteries I've found. Mind you, it's a damned good bit of kit, probably one of the best tools I've bought. I just wish I'd not been daft and chosen to replace my ancient, burned out, Black and Decker with a monster bit of heavy junk from Screwfix, before I realised it was impossible to use and went and bought the Makita. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Construction Channel Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 I bought these the best part of a year ago and they are still going strong. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-X-Makita-18V-4-0Ah-Li-Ion-LXT-Battery-BL1840-4AH-196399-0-NEW-/161819460061?hash=item25ad3101dd I don't know if they fixed the "fault" in the 4ah, but the 3's were dying on me a lot weather they were genuine or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 3 x 4.0's for change of £90 is a good deal imo. I'll get some when my next couple die. At the mo I've got 2 x 5's, 6 x 4's ( nearly new ) and one 3ah that is 2012 stamped and just refuses to die. Was running 3 single chargers but on the last kitchen job one decided to start showing red / green flash on every battery ( so buggered charger ) and another was very noisy ( fan ) so I decided to give it an 'encouragement' slap, where a flash and a bang quickly followed. Two chargers dead in the space of 5 mins . Bought one of these dual chargers last week and it has a handy USB socket to charge the phone too. . Id recommend these in a heartbeat, for the money, and haven't used my 3rd ( now spare ) single charger since tbh. I wanted to buy the new radio, Bluetooth and USB, but the loons at makita REMOVED the DAB receiver and sent it back to 1980 with AM/FM . Ass Hoooooooooooooooles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Construction Channel Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 I bought the twin charger a few months back and it is great. Luckily I had left it at home when the van got broken into so it's one of the few original bits I've got left. I still don't understand why they removed the DAB from the new ones. Something about DAB not being a big thing in Germany got mentioned but I just can't believe that if I'm honest. I'm still battling on with my old white one and will carry on doing so until they bring the DAB back. Edit: I've been beating my one with a noisy fan for ages now and it still won't die. Or shut up ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Might be because DAB is totally useless in many areas. Around here it's hopeless, we get a weak, but usable, FM signal, but not a hope of either DAB or terrestrial digital TV (or a mobile phone signal, come to that). Since the digital switch over anyone that wants TV has to either go for satellite or, if you're lucky enough to be in a cabled area, cable, as we all lost the TV service when analogue was turned off. When my car was written off a couple of years ago, the insurers gave me a hire car with a DAB radio. It worked within Salisbury and for maybe a couple of miles outside the city, but after that there wasn't even a hint of a signal. The problem we have here is that many the roads and villages are in fairly narrow valleys, and the transmitters are up on the plain above, so the higher the frequency of the transmission the less chance it has of getting down into the valleys. It's the same reason we don't have mobile phone coverage, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvinmiddle Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 19 hours ago, Nickfromwales said: 3 x 4.0's for change of £90 is a good See quick a few 4.0's and £25 at the moment, I just won and action for a 3.0 for 99p - postage was £18.99 but it ends up still under £20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 3 hours ago, JSHarris said: Might be because DAB is totally useless in many areas. Around here it's hopeless, we get a weak, but usable, FM signal, but not a hope of either DAB or terrestrial digital TV (or a mobile phone signal, come to that). Since the digital switch over anyone that wants TV has to either go for satellite or, if you're lucky enough to be in a cabled area, cable, as we all lost the TV service when analogue was turned off. When my car was written off a couple of years ago, the insurers gave me a hire car with a DAB radio. It worked within Salisbury and for maybe a couple of miles outside the city, but after that there wasn't even a hint of a signal. The problem we have here is that many the roads and villages are in fairly narrow valleys, and the transmitters are up on the plain above, so the higher the frequency of the transmission the less chance it has of getting down into the valleys. It's the same reason we don't have mobile phone coverage, either. Yes, but the DAB radio I have now has the option of AM/FM AND DAB . I can choose whichever works best where ever I am but the new radios have dropped the DAB element which is barking mad. DAB down here is awesome, and I'd never go back. Hence, I won't be buying makitas latest shitty offering. I've a mind to fly to Japan, learn karate, and kick their arses for being so bloody stupid. Makita..........GET WITH THE PROGRAM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 (edited) Can you get 80's AM Rock, W.O.L.D on it, and don't you find you are always 4 or 5 seconds late for everything with DABs Edited June 27, 2016 by SteamyTea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 23 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said: Yes, but the DAB radio I have now has the option of AM/FM AND DAB . I can choose whichever works best where ever I am but the new radios have dropped the DAB element which is barking mad. DAB down here is awesome, and I'd never go back. Hence, I won't be buying makitas latest shitty offering. I've a mind to fly to Japan, learn karate, and kick their arses for being so bloody stupid. Makita..........GET WITH THE PROGRAM I suspect it's down to demand, cost and market needs. You may have a great DAB signal, but it seems that this is far from universal, as I know of lots of other places where DAB is poor to non-existent. One issue may well be that Makita make this stuff for a large market, bigger by far than just the UK, and DAB demand is not that great in other countries where they sell this stuff, so they've probably dropped it as it was costing more than it was worth, to them. DAB receivers cost more than FM receivers, too, so that may well be another reason for them dropping it. They aren't alone, Toyota offered DAB with my last car, but it's missing from my current one, there isn't even an option to add it as they've removed the DAB button altogether. Instead Toyota have upgraded the FM receiver with a diversity system and two antennas, one on the roof, one printed on to the rear quarter light (much better FM reception in poor signal areas, too). I gather other car manufacturers are similarly pulling back from fitting DAB radios as standard, because reception is so poor away from metropolitan areas. The government has walked back from the original plan to close down FM, primarily because DAB has turned out to have major coverage issues, I believe, and that the investment to try and achieve the same level of coverage as FM is just too great. The problem with DAB is primarily the very high frequency, which makes it virtually a line-of-sight only service from the transmitter to the radio. It's very like mobile phones in that respect, so needs thousands of small transmitters, like the mobile phone network, to get good coverage. No one seems prepared to invest in those, so we have lots and lots of reception black spots, particularly at this time of the year when the leaves are on the trees (FM reception here in the summer is far worse than winter - around 1/3rd of my drive over to the new house is plagued with even FM dropping out in summer, yet it's pretty much OK in winter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Doesn't most the world now you DAB+ https://media.info/radio/opinion/dab-and-dab-the-differences-and-its-use-in-the-uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Yes, that's probably another reason to drop the UK's non-standard (in global terms) DAB implementation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now