Makita 18v Li-ion battery has just stopped! :(

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Hi

I bought a Makita cordless circ saw last Aug (2014). Have used it only sparingly. Just tried to cut some 12mm plywood. Managed to make one cut but halfway through my second cut, it's just stopped. Thought it needed recharging but when I place on the charger, it only has the red solid 'broken battery' light.

But when I attached it to the saw, the inspection light still lights even though the saw doesn't run.

Any ideas if I can salvage or go through some process to get it to work again?

Really don't want to buy another battery after such (very) little use.

Thanks..
 
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Did you fully charge it when you bought it? How many times have tyou charged it since? (it takes a number of charges before the battery reaches full charge) When did you use it and charge it previously? Where was it stored? Sorry, but tracking down the cause can take a few questions
 
Afternoon... I left it on the charger for a few hours and it revived itself. Not sure what's happened, but will monitor if it does again. I'll post details if so..

Thanks for the interest..!
 
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Can't be the heat as I only made a first cut from rest and then it stopped halfway through the second.

I need to complete the job over the coming days so will post back if anything happens again..
 
Can't be the heat as I only made a first cut from rest and then it stopped halfway through the second.

I need to complete the job over the coming days so will post back if anything happens again..
If this were a lithium battery (you haven't confirmed this BTW - if it's a Ni-MH what I'm about to say is irrelevant) leaving it overnight wouldn't cure anything UNLESS the battery was very hot and the charger was refusing to charge it before it cooled down, which they do. That said you'd have has a light indication that there was a fault (which you appear to have had). Beware with Makita batteries - overheat them 3 times and the charger will mark the battery as "bad" and refuse to charge it ever again. Also never let the cells run down to zero volts - the controller board in the battery takes its power off just one of the cells and if that cell gets discharged (through over-use or not being charged for extended periods) the battery will fail. Often irrevocably. I'm beginning to suspect that after your previous battery use you left the battery for 5 or 6 months without ever charging it, and that when you started to use it again you didn't recharge it first. Then when the saw stopped (because the voltage in the battery was too low) you may well have pushed it a bit more, trying to squeeze a bit of extra distance out of it. No Li-Ion battery works well like this. But as you didn't answer my original questions this is all conjecture - although you may find that the battery subsequebtly fails prematurely
 
A fully discharged li-ion cell is dead. There's no 'often' about it, it is a flat fact. The chemistry cannot survive being totally discharged.

No battery should allow this to occur. Makita ones which do are faulty by design.
 
A fully discharged li-ion cell is dead. There's no 'often' about it, it is a flat fact. The chemistry cannot survive being totally discharged.
No battery should allow this to occur. Makita ones which do are faulty by design.
If a battery is stored away part charged and not recharged for months on emd it will eventually discharge, regardless of manufacturer. It has naff all to do with faulty design
 
A fully discharged li-ion cell is dead. There's no 'often' about it, it is a flat fact. The chemistry cannot survive being totally discharged.
No battery should allow this to occur. Makita ones which do are faulty by design.
If a battery is stored away part charged and not recharged for months on emd it will eventually discharge, regardless of manufacturer. It has naff all to do with faulty design

Li-ion batteries should store for a very long time. Self-discharge is very slow, if the management circuit draws enough current to do harm to the balance, it is faulty.

I was, however, referring to total discharge by overuse. This is a strict no-no with li-ion cells and the pack should be protected against it at all costs. Anything which does not is faulty.
 
I suspect you just got muddled with the lights on the charger and it was simply a flat battery that needed charging.

All the Makita stuff with a star on the base and battery have protection circuits in both the tool and battery to stop the abuse and overheating that destroys the battery.
 
Since you only bought it last August it's still under warranty. If it does it again, take it back to the shop where you bought it and get a replacement. DON'T accept a repair. Hold out for a new one.

Bought one at an auction a year or so ago for £25 and the battery wouldn't hold a charge. Called Makita in Milton Keynes for a new battery and the girl there asked if I still had the warranty receipt, I told her no. So she asked me again. Then she asked me for a third time and said "you DO still have the warranty receipt don't you sir?". "Ah. yes I replied as the penny dropped, "in that case I'll post a new battery off to you sir. 'ave a niceday"
 
Contact makita direct you can send them the battery and if it's faulty they will replace it
 

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