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I need an education how rechargable batteries should be charged.

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gary350

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I bought a rechargeable drill and used it to put up about 180 feet of 6 feet tall wood fence plus I use it for many other projects. Under heavy load battery is dead pretty quick. Under light load battery lasts a long time. Battery says 12V 1.3ah. Battery charger that comes with the battery says nothing. After experimenting several times I learned 2, 4, 6 hr charge is not enough, 8 hr charge seems to be perfect, charge longer than 8 hr is no better than 8 hrs. If I don't use the drill for 2 weeks battery is dead. If I don't use the drill for 1 week battery is very low. I have to remember to put battery on charge the day before I plan to use the drill. I get tired of the battery being dead every time I go to use the drill so I put battery on charge then get side tracked on other things while waiting for the battery it gets charged for 2 weeks sometimes. The battery is so irritating being dead all the time so now I leave it on charge all the time. After a year being on charge battery is getting so it only holds a small charge and goes dead quick. Soon the battery will be like the other 3 drills & 3 batteries, it will not hold a charge any more. These are Harbor Freight $15 drills sometimes the batteries last longer than the drills.
 
Cheap batteries do not last long. Name-brand Ni-MH batteries are guaranteed to hold a charge for one year.
Cheap chargers kill a battery soon. The charger should detect a full charge then turn off.
Products made properly are not cheap but they last for a long time and charge quickly.
 
These are Harbor Freight $15 drills

Well that's 90% of your problem right there. You bought the cheapest junk you could find so you're getting what you paid for. :facepalm:
 
I guess a good $400 drill should last 40 years, long after I am dead. I don't need a good working drill if I am dead.

**broken link removed**
 
About 25 years ago I bought an expensive Fluke multimeter. It nearly outlasted me but the doctors fixed me. The Fluke meter is used every day and still works perfectly.
 
I guess a good $400 drill should last 40 years, long after I am dead. I don't need a good working drill if I am dead.

There are good drills that are less than $400 and more than $15.

I use Craftsman 19.2 cordless tools because they are well built but easy and cheap to find due to their crappy stock batteries they have then rebuild the packs with the high capacity NiMh cells from here https://www.all-battery.com/index.aspx

$20 or less gets you a good used drill and another $30 gets you a battery that will take day in and day out abuse for years.

Or if you don't want to go the DIY pack rebuild route just get a full rebuild kit form here. https://gcbattery.com/
 
About 25 years ago I bought an expensive Fluke multimeter. It nearly outlasted me but the doctors fixed me. The Fluke meter is used every day and still works perfectly.

In the same timeline I bought a set of good cheap brand meters for ~$30 - $40 each that both likely have 3x the functions your overpriced fluke does and both have weathered far more abuse than yours likely ever has yet they are still going strong and pass calibration checks every time.
 
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