Odd Worx Combi drill behaviour

[CBW]

I’ve never got into the workings etc of power tools, so I’m after some assistance. I have a Worx brushless combi drill, model WX367. The battery charger states the battery is full, I’ve since measured it today, and it measures 20.35Vdc.

The behaviour is this: the drill works without a load, but very few times when load is applied, then it just dies and the led just flashes. I’ve contacted Worx customer service and they’ve suggested purchasing a new battery as it’s a 2016 model, but I’ve only had it 4 years, but it hasn’t seen much use and I think the fault has always been there.

Is it worth trying to fix if fixable, or just put it on eBay? I’ve been no intention of purchasing a battery nor other tools to find out if they work.

Any help appreciated.

 

[conny]

Batteries don't last forever, even if you hardly/never use them. Over time they degenerate and fail to hold a charge.
You say it hasn't been used much and this is probably the reason it is now failing. Batteries last much longer with regular charging. They need to be totally drained every so often, (through use, not shorting out), and then given a full re-charge.

 

[CBW]

Thanks, is this the same for li-ion? I forgot to mention they were this type.

 

[Mike13]

After 4 years of not being used it may have lost capacity. If you try to use it and get the flashing, take out the battery and measure its terminal voltage again, if it has dropped a lot, its the battery, if it hasnt lost volts, then its the drill. 20.35 says its a li battery.

 

[big-all]

is it a say 2ah/3h charge as 20.36v is very low if its an actual 20v battery or just an18v called a 20v??
usually its5x3.6v=18v then charged 20%ish overvolt to 21,6v
whilst lions last better and keep charge better as said no use on any battery is you enemy
i have 3x old 2.4ah lion ryobies from 08 14 years old and at best one will hold perhaps 5% charge and the other 2 perhaps 10% off no use for drills but 5 hours worth on 4w camping light
a 6 year old battery is on its last legs

 

[CBW]

Afaik it’s a 20v battery, not an 18 in disguise. It charges in 1 hour. I have Lidl stuff, that sees more use than the Worx, but not everyday, or sometimes weeks tbh, these have no problem holding charges or recharging. I guess I’ll have to resign the fact that it’s infrequent use I say the enemy. I’ll put it on eBay then.

Thanks for all the contributions.

 

[big-all]

lidle stuff can be good and worth a follow up as you already have the kit
not always to hand but perhaps 2 times a year it will be in stock ??

 

[CBW]

lidle stuff can be good and worth a follow up as you already have the kit
not always to hand but perhaps 2 times a year it will be in stock ??

Has been more frequently recently, perhaps because of shortages of other items?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Afaik it’s a 20v battery, not an 18 in disguise.

AFAIK "20 volts" is a marketing ploy. LI-ion cells are normally 3.6 volts nominal, 4.2 volts fully charged and "18 volt" or "20 volt" batteries normally have 5 cells - making 18 volts nominal, 21 volts maximum. The original 18 volt tools had 15 x 1.2 volt NiCad cells (or 18 volt). It was deWaly who started all this 20 volt stuff in the USA - mainly to differentiate between the original "stick" type 18 volt batteries and the newer slide-on batteries. Apparently the average Yank can't be trusted to buy the right type of batteries for his power tools...

This voltage palaver is more noticeable with 12 volt tools where a number of ranges were originally sold as 10.8 volt (e.g. Bosch blue) but are now sold as 12 volt simply because deWalt and Milwaukee, both of whom branded their small tools "12 volts" when appeared (Bosch were early in the market). These tools all have 3 x 3.6 / 4.2 cells = 10.8 / 12.6 volts. Bosch had to rebrand because people in the USA thought that their tools were lower powered...

Battery life is always an issue - even in trade use, getting more than 5 years out of a battery is considered good (at which point a 5Ah battery is acting more like a 3Ah). As others have said, though, infrequent use doesn't do them much good, either

 

[Diver Fred]

lack of use will damage a Li-Ion battery especially if stored fully charged (or fully discharged), best way to store a Li-Ion battery pack is about 50% charged and out of the tool/device it powers,
Try not to discharge below 20% before recharging. For tools with infrequent use try not to charge above 80%.
A battery or cell allowed to discharge fully with load on it will 'crystallise' the electrolyte and short-out. if that occurs it 'look' as if the cell (battery) is charging to a 'full' state but it won't supply power for very long. Normally it will not be possible to recover the use of the cell in that state.

 

[Mike13]

I have a laptop that is left plugged in all the time, it has a 7 year old battery still on 95% capacity because I dialled in that charging stops at 65% and charges again at 40%, but I only changed it to that after a few years at stopping at 80%, so Lithiums can be made to last. That last bit of fill kills the lifetime and that last bit of emptying also kills the lifetime. At full volts there is a 50mV margin between full and fire because Lithium plates out as pure metal. Ditto at the bottom end, let them get too low and they cannot be safely recharged, so manufacturers prevent current getting into the cell if you leave them too long and self discharge takes the volts too low.
If it is well below freezing and you try to charge them it gets warm and much too exiting quite quickly as well.