New Hitachi Cordless Impact Driver won't work!

[Milleniumaire]

When I got home from work today my new Hitachi WH10DL cordless impact driver had been delivered and I immediately opened the box and case, slotted the battery in and pressed the trigger. Nothing! Zilch! Nadda. Thought the battery must be dead, so tried the other battery. The same thing - nothing, not even a slight buzz as if it wanted to turn on!

Checked all over the tool to ensure there wasn't an on/off button, then decided both batteries must be dead, so plugged the charger into the mains and inserted one of the batteries. The battery charger light went on and then a few seconds later turned off and stayed off. Now according to the instructions, when the battery is fully charged the charger light turns off! Tried the other battery but got exactly the same result.

So, I can't get either battery to work the tool and it appears that neither battery will charge.

Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone have this impact driver and can confirm it appears to be dead and I should return it. I will of course phone the company I bought it from first thing in the morning, but this isn't what I expected from a company like Hitachi!

 

[joinerjohn]

If it has a forward/reverse switch on it, make sure it's in either F/R position and not in the middle. Sometimes if this switch is in the middle the driver won't turn.

 

[Milleniumaire]

Thanks John, I did check that and in fact tried pressing the trigger with the forward and reverse switch in different positions, but to no avail.

I though I might be missing something obvious/stupid, but I guess it is just DOA. It's extremely annoying as I need to use it this weekend!

 

[^woody^]

If this is Lithium battery powered, then the batteries come already charged, so the driver must be dead.

That is the problem with cheap Hitachi's.

 

[joinerjohn]

Agree with Woody. Lithium Ion batteries need a certain amount of charge in them, Thats why they just suddenly die in use. If the charger says their fully charged then it sounds like the driver is U/S. Could have been dropped in transit or something. As you have just bought it, then the supplier should either offer a refund or replacement.

 

[Milleniumaire]

Contacted the supplier and after a few questions to confirm it was dead, they arranged for Hitachi to drop off a replacement and collect the broken driver. This was done the day after making the call (Friday) and I now have a working impact driver, and can confirm I'm very pleased with it. It does the job I've failed to do with a manual screwdriver, a drill + screwdriver bit and a manual impact driver - remove screws holding panels into a 4 year old fence. Awesome

When the new driver was delivered, it also wouldn't work with either battery, however the batteries charged without any problem and all was okay, so it is possible the charger of the previous driver was the problem.

 

[dpsservices]

had my Hitachi impacts for 4 or 5 years now got 2 off them cant fault them still on original batts