Maikta Li-ion Charger Noise

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I've just bought my first Maikta Li-ion tools which comes with a DC18RC charger. The batteries were flat on arrival so I plugged one in to charge and the fan noise on the charger sounds like a hover mower.

After 22mins of that it's driving me up the wall :eek: - should it be this noisy?
 
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I've just bought my first Maikta Li-ion tools which comes with a DC18RC charger. The batteries were flat on arrival so I plugged one in to charge and the fan noise on the charger sounds like a hover mower.

After 22mins of that it's driving me up the wall :eek: - should it be this noisy?

Yeah, they are a bit noisy. Normal.. if a bit irritating.
 
Do the new Makita chargers still play different tunes if you put the battery on and off the charger a couple times ? Oh, and yes they have got noisy fans.
 
Without the fan your battery would fry when you tried to charge it.....
 
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They make a model without the fan, I think it's the DC18SD but the charge time is almost doubled.

The Makitas were (if not still) the fastest chargers on the market so are warranted.

A model DC18RF has just been released in Japan to allow a 6ah battery to be charged in 40 minutes and that one is louder still!

I don't think they're designed with comfort in mind. More so for the tradesman on the go.

 
Mines relatively loud too. The fan is there to cool the battery down rather than the charger, hence the fast charge time as Sammy says.
 
Open it up (PZ2), clean the mesh over the fan with compressed air (poundland tin) and the blade with cotton swabs (pack of compostable paper-stemmed swabs less than £1 at supermarket). While it's open dust off the whole board and connections with a soft brush.
The fan is adaptive to battery temperature, so if it's not a blocked fan the pack may have had enough abuse from having 9A pumped through them (4.5A each serial chain)
The DC18SD (black)charger is far better for your battery packs as it's 3A (1.5A each serial chain)
The newer batteries suffixed B I think might be balance charged so the cells end up at the same voltage. I've never had to open one up.

The legacy batteries eb 1830 are not balance charged and the protection PCB take its supply rails off the first cells meaning they get discharged marginally more, which adds up over time causing those to fail. I used to have to open the packs and level out the cells with a hobby charger IMAX B6AC V2 and a JST-XH balance charger extension lead with the ends cut off and croc clips soldered in their place.
CAUTION: There is a tremendous amount of chemical energy in Lithium battery packs, a short can have catastrophic consequences. Having worked with commercial batteries for many years battery explosion still scares the heck out of me so I still wear a visor

Despite the official line on compatibility one can fit the 18*0Bs in a non-starred drill eg BHP451 by chiseling off the sprue on the drill which inhibits the new style batteries being inserted. That the sprue is there suggests they had already planned new battery configurations at the time of design of that series of drills (planned obsolescence).
 
The newer batteries suffixed B I think might be balance charged so the cells end up at the same voltage. I've never had to open one up.

Batteries with the star-protection marker are balance charged. The B suffix is on models with battery indicators and sync-lock compatibility. The snow flake marker (won't be on any of our batteries yet) indicate rapid charger compa tibility with the DC18RF.
502897737.1.jpg
 
They make a model without the fan, I think it's the DC18SD but the charge time is almost doubled.

The Makitas were (if not still) the fastest chargers on the market so are warranted.

A model DC18RF has just been released in Japan to allow a 6ah battery to be charged in 40 minutes and that one is louder still!

I don't think they're designed with comfort in mind. More so for the tradesman on the go.


Some might say more for continued stream of battery pack sales in mind.

I didn't look when I was in there at modding the DC18RA Fast Charger (blue) to deliver a more conservative charge curren as it's more hassle than just buying a DC18SD at £30 delivered.

Just because they release a charger aimed at people who put speed of charging before conservation of battery life doesn't make it a good idea to use one.
 
Some might say more for continued stream of battery pack sales in mind.

I didn't look when I was in there at modding the DC18RA Fast Charger (blue) to deliver a more conservative charge curren as it's more hassle than just buying a DC18SD at £30 delivered.

Just because they release a charger aimed at people who put speed of charging before conservation of battery life doesn't make it a good idea to use one.

I don't dispute that higher continuous current is worse for battery life. However in terms of using them in a professional setting, down time can in the bigger picture cost more than a new battery.

That said, my oldest BL1830s were purchased almost 10 years ago and I've only ever had chargers based on the DC18RC fast charger. I'm yet to have a Makita lithium battery fail out of my 13 LXT batteries and 6 CXT batteries.
 
Yeah unbelievingly noisy, given my cooker hood shifts 100+ litres a second you'd think they could make a tiny cooling fan shifting almost nothing quieter than that
 
Just because they release a charger aimed at people who put speed of charging before conservation of battery life doesn't make it a good idea to use one.
The problem is that something like 95% of LXT batteries and tools will be sold to tradesmen who really do require that fast charge much of the time - and saying to a customer "oh, we'll just have to wait an hour while the batteries recharge" just doesn't cut the mustard.

My own experience of Makita batteries is that they last me 3 to 5 years, but then I'm a heavy cordless user and these days I'll often flatten 2 or 3 5Ah batteries in the course of a day (combination of cordless brushless circular saw, brushless SDS and brushed jigsaw). When I start using the cordless plunge saw instead of my beloved Fessy it is only going to get worse
 

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