Makita Lithium Ion 18V Battery Failures Anyone?

[RedNeckGeek]

I tried to search for an existing thread here for this topic but came up empty. Am I the only one having problems with Makita 18 volt batteries for their line of portable power tools? The original one lasted almost ten years, but the replacement is refusing to take a charge after just two. Or should I say the charger refuses to charge it, instead just beeping and flashing its lights. I'm very leery of buying another one, especially after reading the reviews at Amazon where people are having the same trouble. I even found where someone in another state had filed a lawsuit. With half a dozen of their tools already in my toolbox, I'm hesitant to throw good money after bad on another Makita battery. And if I started over with a different manufacturer, what brand is any better?

 

[RPW]

Can't say. I'm still on my original batteries. Bought mine in 2009.

 

[Midniteoyl]

A few years back Sony quit making certain li-ion cells.. I bet the old batts had the Sony's and now they have Chinese.

 

[sixdogs]

I bought another 18V battery and no problem with it. My experience with Makita has always been excellent in that they made a good product and 100% stood behind it if it failed. I would contact them and see what they have to say before I bought something different.

 

[DFB]

If its truly only 2 years old it should still be warranted. Makita extended their warranty to 3 years and is retroactive from 10/01/2015 according to this article...be worth a call to a warranty center.

Makita Battery Warranty Extended | Pro Tool Reviews


I had a couple of issues before with 2 different Milwaukee chargers at two different times not recognizing the battery. (New batteries too, seems things like this also happen with red too from what I read). One time changing the sequence by unplugging the charger and replugging it in with the battery already inserted it started charging again but wouldn't before think that was a 12v and the second time it wouldn't recognize the battery it was flashing on a new 4.0 18v battery pack and only by swapping out batteries in the charger second battery started charging fine and then going back to the first one all was good again...go figure! :confused2:

 

[oosik]

I've had Makita batteries for at least a dozen years and no problems. I currently have three of their 18V batteries. I would certainly contact them regarding your problem. It could be a problem with the charger also.

 

[EddieWalker]

I spoke to a Makita rep when they where at Home Depot doing a big demonstration of their tools about their batteries and he said that they are guaranteed to give you 3,000 charges on each battery. There is a chip built into them that they can read how many times it was charged before honoring the warrantee. I have 3 chargers and usually 6 batteries all the time. The 5.0 are my new favorites. I buy a double pack of batteries off of Amazon about every other year. I don't know how long they last, but guess I'm getting 4 to 5 years out of them.

2 years is a manufacturer failure and Makita should be made aware of it and given the chance to replace it.

Just to make sure, we're talking about Makita OEM replacement batteries and not a knock off other brand cheaper version?

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Just to make sure, we're talking about Makita OEM replacement batteries and not a knock off other brand cheaper version?

Yep, both gen-u-wine Makita OEM.

I figured from the reviews on Amazon that my chances of getting a bad Makita battery were about one in five, but for 1/3 the cost I can get a Chinese knock-off that uses Samsung batteries and has half again the capacity (5 AHr vs 3). So that's what I did. Supposedly they ship from a US warehouse, so I'm hoping for quicker delivery than I've gotten from other Chinese/ebay purchases. And if they turn out to be duds, I'm only out $35 instead of a hundred.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Apparently the problem is so widespread that there are repair tutorials available on the web. The problem centers around a control board that Makita incorporated into the battery to manage charging. It monitors the type and number of charge cycles the battery has seen, and bricks the battery if it counts too many cycles or out of bounds behavior. And since the early versions of the batteries (like I have, with no star symbol) only monitor the condition of one of the cells, if that cell goes bad, the control board prevents the Makita charger from working. All of this is supposedly done to prevent battery fires, but it also has the effect of letting Makita sell a lot more batteries.

If the reviews on Amazon are to be believed, it is possible to use a "dumb" charger and continue using the bricked batteries. Others have dissected the star and non-star batteries and discovered that the star battery control board has been revised to monitor multiple cells, decreasing the chances that losing just one cell will brick the battery. Some of these folks have brought this change to the attention of Makita's warranty department as evidence of a systemic problem that should be address via extend service replacement or recall, but so far these requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Had I been aware of these issues I wouldn't have purchased my last few Makita tools, but it was only after my "newest" battery failed that I became aware of the problems. Other manufacturers warranty their batteries for the life of the original purchaser, and with so many issues in the news about this battery technology, and the high cost of replacing bad ones, that's something I'll look for should the need for another battery powered tool arise. Until Makita makes good on the bad batteries, their products won't be on my shopping list.:2cents:

 

[Midniteoyl]

Yep.. whats in there is cells and a charging/discharge/monitoring board, which you do need to prevent overcharging and, much more importantly, over discharging the cell. Going below a certain voltage (about 50% discharge) in a Li-Ion cell will kill it quickly. Pulling a lot of current will cause it to vent and may explode.