can power tool batteries freeze factory

When winter rolls around in cold climates, we rarely give much thought to the tools we"ve stored in the garage, barn, shop, or shed. This can be an expensive mistake because many tools can suffer damage of some type if they are kept in the cold all winter long. That"s especially true of power tools that you may use in sub-freezing temperatures.

Generally, most hand tools won"t suffer damage from being stored in a cold garage or shed. Freezing temperatures, however, can make many metal or plastic parts brittle and particularly susceptible to breakage if you use them at very cold temperatures. To avoid this, get into the habit of taking hand tools out of cold storage before use; let them sit inside the house for an hour or more before use.

Also, keep in mind that metal tools can rust. Big swings in temperature and humidity can accelerate that process. If you are worried about rust, try to find a good spot inside the house for tool storage. If you do store them indoors, make sure to clean them carefully before storing them, and perhaps apply a fine oil or rust protector to all metal surfaces.

In regions with very cold winter temperatures, the air is typically fairly dry and not likely to rust tools over the course of the winter. But if you bring them into the house, especially to store them in a basement, rust can then be a problem. And if you live in a coastal area where winter air is damp rather than bitterly cold, rust is more likely. If you are storing your tools in damp conditions, consider using a dehumidifier in the space where you are storing your tools.

Rinse off and dry your garden tools, and if you see spots of rust, remove them with a wire brush or steel wool. Rub a light oil, such as WD-40 over the metal parts. Wooden handles can crack and splinter in the dry conditions of a cold winter; now is the time to check them for splinters, sand handles smooth, and coat the wood with linseed oil. Shovels and other digging tools should be hung up on the wall above the floor. Thoroughly wash out and rinse garden sprayers and hoses.

Lawn mowers should be cleaned of all grass residue clinging to the underside of the deck, and power tillers should have their blades cleaned of dirt and polished clean of rust and corrosion.

Any power machinery will face some stress if it is used in very cold conditions, and your power tools are no different. As the motors heat up, the stress of metal parts going from very cold temperatures to very warm may cause some tools to suffer an early death if this pattern happens frequently. For this reason, it is better to store power tools indoors if they will be used over the winter.

Most tools with electrical motors contain oils and grease which should be allowed to warm up a bit before using the tool. So if you have stored a saw or other piece of power equipment in a cold space, bring it indoors for two hours or so before using it. Lubricants will be more effective if they are allowed to warm up to room temperature before using the tools. This applies even if the tools will be used outdoors—bring them indoors first to warm up before taking them back outdoors to cut or drill.

Try to keep cordless power tools and their chargers inside during cold weather. Freezing temperatures seem to accelerate battery discharge, and many cordless tools come with a warning that the chargers won"t work when cold.

Lawnmowers, chainsaws, and other tools powered by gas engines have their own set of guidelines for storage in the winter. If not properly winterized, gasoline left in an engine can gum up the carburetor or other parts, unlubricated engine parts can corrode, and moisture may affect the ignition systems. A standard winterizing procedure:

If you regularly work in a garage or outdoor workshop, equipping the space with a heater is a good idea. You can either heat up the space to a comfortable temperature just before work sessions, or you can keep the heaters running all winter at a low setting to keep the temperature just above freezing. Tools need not be at full indoor room temperature to operate well—a temperature just above freezing is all you need.

LiIon is a great battery, but a cordless drill isn"t really the place where their strengths are going to shine. The humble old Low tech NiCd is good. NiCd needs some control and protection in use. Sadly every NiCd powered device I ever owned completely lacked any protection for the battery to prevent it from going into cell reversal. No wonder we all killed our NiCd"s, and hence gave NiCd a bad reputation for "memory effect" total bs.

I have a few Milwaukee M12 LiIon tools, which now after one year are still fine, I will see in another five years how they are, my guess is that they are going to be dead.

#5 – Use the right batteries. Yes, there are loads of “knock-off” imitation lithium-ion batteries for each manufacturer. But it’s always a good idea to use original batteries with your cordless tools. And stock up! The more batteries you have, the less the cold weather will be an issue for you, just follow the steps above the make sure all your batteries are ready to use on a cold day.

I was reminded this week that cold weather can seriously sap the power from lithium-ion batteries. While trying to clear the driveway of leaves I found that my battery kept dying well before it usually does and when it was recharged, it did not take a good full charge.

If you are outside but only using the tool periodically, sources say that storing the battery close to your body — a convenient pocket, will slow down the loss of power.

I learned that manufacturerscan have different directions on whether to leave batteries in the charger (some automatically stop when the batteries are fully charged). How far down you should let the power go before a recharge — almost universal agreement on not totally discharging the battery, but some list 25 percent, others lower or higher. So my advice is to find the instructions that came with the tool, or download new ones if you already lost them, and read about battery maintenance for your particular tool.

Lithium ion batteries, also called as li ion batteries are the gadgets to store electrical energy for longer periods of time and help mechanical devices to work without attaching to an outside power source. These batteries are made by using ions of lithium in combination with other chemicals and have amazing properties to get charge faster. These batteries have longer life and remain great at work till two to three years. After that, you will require replacing batteries. Old lithium batteries are replaceable because these are removable batteries and new batteries can be put inside old devices too easily.You can check How to Dispose of a Lithium-ion Battery？ for proper disposal.

Moreover, li ion batteries are also not recommended to charge for too long. Experts and scientists suggest that li ion batteries should be charged for a limited period of time and must separate from the power source immediately before it reaches to its maximum level. We have seen cases in which li ion batteries were blasted, started leaking, or bloated because of being charged for too long. This thing also lessens the overall working life of batteries.

Now, if you have put the batteries on charge for too long and forgot to disconnect it from the power source, now it is time to cool it down immediately. By cooling I mean, the speed of the movement of ions should be decreased due to which temperature of the battery has increased. There are many ways suggested to cool down the batteries and one of the most famous one is freezing the batteries for some time.

Tools you need to restore the battery are: voltmeter, crocodile clippers, healthy battery, genuine charger, a device with heavy load, freezer, and of course the damaged battery.

Let’s examine the inner workings of the cell more closely. A mild short will only cause elevated self-discharge and the heat buildup is minimal because the discharging power is very low. If enough microscopic metallic particles converge on one spot, a sizable current begins to flow between the electrodes of the cell, and the spot heats up and weakens. As a small water leak in a faulty hydro dam can develop into a torrent and take a structure down, so too can heat buildup damage the insulation layer in a cell and cause an electrical short. The temperature can quickly reach 500C (932F), at which point the cell catches fire or it explodes. This thermal runaway that occurs is known as “venting with flame.” “Rapid disassembly” is the preferred term by the battery industry.

Industrial batteries, such as those used for power tools, are generally more rugged than those in consumer products. Besides solid construction, power tool batteries are maximized for power delivery and less on energy for long runtimes. Power Cells have a lower Ah rating than Energy Cells and are in general more tolerant and safer if abused.

There are also safety concerns with the electric vehicle. However, statistics show that EVs produce fewer fires compared to vehicles with the internal combustion engine (ICE) per billion kilometers driven. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), over 400,000 ICE-powered cars burned down in the 1980s. Today, 90 fires per one billion with ICE vehicles are considered normal; reports say that Tesla had only two fires per one billion driven kilometers.

You probably know batteries last longer in the freezer, but freezing could also make car batteries safer to transport, scientists say. Shipping damaged batteries like those that power electric vehicles is really dangerous, requiring a wildly costly explosion-proof box to contain any volatility caused by stress or temperature. But by dousing batteries in liquid nitrogen, scientists found they reduced volatility to zero and had inert batteries that could be shipped in batches in refrigerated trucks instead of in individual $11,000 explosion boxes.

Lithium-ion batteries power everything from Teslas to smartphones, and historically these batteries have turned explosive under duress. That could be manufacturer oversight, as in the case of knockoff smartphone or Apple batteries sold on Amazon and elsewhere, or just a natural result if a good battery is damaged in a crash or some other kind of incident. Every lithium-ion battery is a Hindenburg in waiting because its insides are packed with flammable stuff. Like the leaky, damaged dynamite on Lost, a damaged lithium-ion battery must be handled with extreme care and can still, uh, halt and catch fire.

No. Each brand of cordless power tools have designated battery platforms specific to their line of tools with different voltages. Now, it may be possible to interchange batteries between the same brand and voltage even with different ampere-hours. Before you run the risk of burning up your favorite cordless drill or screwdriver by swapping batteries across brands, give us a call. We are happy to confirm which battery will work for your tool!

Don your Tim Allen “tool guy” persona and imagine a cordless tool that lasts up to twice as long between charges and has the power of corded tools. How about a cordless tool that performs like a corded and has consistent, fade-free power throughout the discharge cycle, ensuring the last hole or cut is as powerful as the first?

After nearly a decade of research and development, Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation recently unveiled a breakthrough technology that allowed it to introduce 28-volt versions of many of its products. The V28 system is based on a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery developed by Milwaukee. Gary Meyer, the company’s manager of research and development, has been with the nine-year project since its inception and believes this approach to battery technology will cut the cord on many more tools in the future.

“About the only thing the new lithium-ion technology has in common with the old nickel-cadmium (NiCd) or nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) technology is that they are used to power cordless tools,” he says.

The Li-ion technology uses a special molecule structure that allows current to flow three-dimensionally instead of through two-dimensional layers in the cell. The results are large increases in power and run time and the ability to run power-hungry tools, such as a hammer-drill, reciprocating saw, circular saw, impact wrench and band saw. These tools can now run at faster speeds, with more power and for a longer time between charges.

Weight: While the new system provides heavy-duty power, “heavy” isn’t a major tool concern. The weight of a 3.0 amp-hour, 28-volt Li-ion battery is slightly less than a conventional 18-volt NiCd battery pack.

Run time: Take your average run time found with NiCd-powered tools and just about double it to see the Li-ion difference. In many applications, one battery charge per day is all that’s required.

Fade-free power: Instead of the gradual but noticeable power decline you expect as a NiCd or NiMH battery pack discharges, the lithium-ion cells maintain consistent power. Power doesn’t drop off drastically until the last hole or cut.

Battery fuel gauge: V28 offers a neat feature here. With its on-board fuel gauge, you don’t have to guess how much power is left in the battery. Before you climb a ladder to the top of a machine or get down into a tight space, you can check to be sure you’ll have the battery power to finish the job.

Corded tool power: The higher 3.0 amp-hour output and 28 volts of muscle mean you can use V28-powered tools that in the past were only available as corded. For example, the newly formatted hammer-drill puts out 600 inch-pounds of torque, and the circular saw cuts at 4,200 rpm, which is much closer to corded saw speeds than the 3,200 rpm found on NiCd models.

Environmental plus: The composition of the lithium-ion battery contains no cadmium, making it more eco-friendly than other high-powered, rechargeable batteries currently used in power tools and, therefore, does not have to be recycled in many states.

Realized thermal management is entirely dependent upon the size and cost of the battery pack and performance objectives, design criteria of the BMS, and product unit, which may include consideration of targeted geographic region (e.g. Alaska versus Hawaii). Regardless of the heater type, it is generally more effective to draw energy from an external AC power source, or an alternative resident battery purposed to operate the heater when needed. However, if the electric heater has a modest current draw, energy from the primary battery pack can be siphoned to heat itself. If a thermal hydraulic system is implemented, then an electric heater is used to heat the coolant which is pumped and distributed throughout the pack assembly.

BMS design engineers undoubtedly have tricks of their design trade to trickle heat energy into the pack. For example, various power electronics inside the BMS dedicated to capacity management can be turned on. While not as efficient as direct heating, it can be leveraged regardless. Cooling is particularly vital to minimize the performance loss of a lithium-ion battery pack. For example, perhaps a given battery operates optimally at 20°C; if the pack temperature increases to 30°C, its performance efficiency could be reduced by as much as 20%. If the pack is continuously charged and recharged at 45°C (113°F), the performance loss can rise to a hefty 50%. Battery life can also suffer from premature aging and degradation if continually exposed to excessive heat generation, particularly during fast charging and discharging cycles. Cooling is usually achieved by two methods, passive or active, and both techniques may be employed. Passive cooling relies on movement of air flow to cool the battery. In the case of an electric vehicle, this implies that it is simply moving down the road. However, it may be more sophisticated than it appears, as air speed sensors could be integrated to strategically auto-adjust deflective air dams to maximize air flow. Implementation of an active temperature-controlled fan can help at low speeds or when the vehicle has stopped, but all this can do is merely equalize the pack with the surrounding ambient temperature. In the event of a scorching hot day, this could increase the initial pack temperature. Thermal hydraulic active cooling can be designed as a complementary system, and typically utilizes ethylene-glycol coolant with a specified mixture ratio, circulated via an electric motor-driven pump through pipes/hoses, distribution manifolds, a cross-flow heat exchanger (radiator), and cooling plate resident against the battery pack assembly. A BMS monitors the temperatures across the pack, and open and closes various valves to maintain the temperature of the overall battery within a narrow temperature range to ensure optimal battery performance.