Just purchased a Lithium Powered Lawnmower

The lights on batteries indicating battery state of charge are neither accurate, or precise.

Even if it were accurate, 76% would still be 4 bars.range on.my Ridgid batteries is 20.5 warm off charger to 16v cutoff. Ive not yet put the DMM on makita batteries, but they seem to hold 4 bars for half the time and then start quickly dropping to one, and 1 bar lasts a long time before the LVD kicks in

The heat of the battery after use, adds an extra monkey wrench into the state of charge gears.

A properly recharged deep cycle lead acid battery will gain some capacity the first few dozen cycles, but I do not believe lithium batteries exhibit this same behavior, but could be wrong.
 
My neighbor has one. He drags it out every now and then, then remembers it doesn't work worth a darn and borrows my Honda gas mower.....

We have Southern Bermuda grass.
 
ARB1977 said:
Took back my piece of crap Ryobi AWD. Would die without finishing. Both batteries. Bought a toro 163 instead.
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Our old neighbors (at our townhouse - very small yard) had issues with their Ryobi batteries failing altogether and usually they would have to recharge to finish the tiny lawn. My father in law also had issues with his last one.
 
Ryobi has always been “consumer-grade” in my experience, while Makita, Dewalt and Milwaukee have always been professional grade.

The Ego, and other dedicated electric mowers, are brands with which I have no experience. I don’t trust the battery tech because the brand isn’t proven.

Further, a mower from Makita (or other well-known, professional brand) has the advantage of an easily replaceable set of batteries. I’ve got a couple of sets of 6.0Ah Makita Li-Ion just for the mower. They last for the whole lawn, easily.

If a battery developed a problem, I simply swap it with what’s on the charger. If I run out of charge while using the tool/mower, then I simply swap a fresh battery set, which takes seconds.

The mowers with a built-in battery don’t have either option. I prefer the modularity of the Makita.

And I know I’ve said this before, but I labeled all of my Makita 18v Li-Ion batteries as I bought them. I’ve got 27 or 28 batteries now, to run well over a dozen tools, including the mower, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and string trimmer for the yard.

Battery #1, which is at least 12 years old, is still in the mix, being used every day for the 18v tools in my shop. Makita batteries have a very long life. You won’t see them burning down a house, either…
 
Astro14 said:
Ryobi has always been “consumer-grade” in my experience, while Makita, Dewalt and Milwaukee have always been professional grade.

The Ego, and other dedicated electric mowers, are brands with which I have no experience. I don’t trust the battery tech because the brand isn’t proven.

Further, a mower from Makita (or other well-known, professional brand) has the advantage of an easily replaceable set of batteries. I’ve got a couple of sets of 6.0Ah Makita Li-Ion just for the mower. They last for the whole lawn, easily.

If a battery developed a problem, I simply swap it with what’s on the charger. If I run out of charge while using the tool/mower, then I simply swap a fresh battery set, which takes seconds.

The mowers with a built-in battery don’t have either option. I prefer the modularity of the Makita.

And I know I’ve said this before, but I labeled all of my Makita 18v Li-Ion batteries as I bought them. I’ve got 27 or 28 batteries now, to run well over a dozen tools, including the mower, leaf blower, hedge trimmer, and string trimmer for the yard.

Battery #1, which is at least 12 years old, is still in the mix, being used every day for the 18v tools in my shop. Makita batteries have a very long life. You won’t see them burning down a house, either…
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I use a hilti hammer drill for work.... somehow in conversation with my sister in law's boyfriend, mentioned battery fires and he said their company usually loses a couple storage sheds each year, burned down by charging hilti batteries. It's a very large construction company so they would have a lot of them. Still not a great thing to hear when I charge mine in my basement.
 
350Rocket said:
I use a hilti hammer drill for work.... somehow in conversation with my sister in law's boyfriend, mentioned battery fires and he said their company usually loses a couple storage sheds each year, burned down by charging hilti batteries. It's a very large construction company so they would have a lot of them. Still not a great thing to hear when I charge mine in my basement.
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I know that Hilti markets to professionals. I am not familiar with their battery tech, so I can’t say if it’s good, or not.

But the Makita chargers actually cool the batteries during charging. There is communication between battery and charger, for temperature and state of charge. If that “handshake” isn’t correct, they don’t charge. Milwaukee does the same. Here is the home charging station, along with 4 drills, 3 drivers, a light, and a reciprocating saw. Not shown are all the tools and chargers at my shop, and there are over a dozen there, as well, including Milwaukee 12v and Makita 18v.

This set - up, at home, with two Makita double chargers and a single - supports all the lawn tools, you can see that there are a couple of sets of fully charged 18v Li-Ion batteries just waiting for the next job.

I really don’t worry about fire from these, since they’re all genuine batteries and Makita has taken extra care in teh design and charging protocol to manage battery condition and temperature.

IMG_0132.jpeg
 
Astro14 said:
I know that Hilti markets to professionals. I am not familiar with their battery tech, so I can’t say if it’s good, or not.

But the Makita chargers actually cool the batteries during charging. There is communication between battery and charger, for temperature and state of charge. If that “handshake” isn’t correct, they don’t charge. Milwaukee does the same. Here is the home charging station, along with 4 drills, 3 drivers, a light, and a reciprocating saw. Not shown are all the tools and chargers at my shop, and there are over a dozen there, as well, including Milwaukee 12v and Makita 18v.

This set - up, at home, with two Makita double chargers and a single - supports all the lawn tools, you can see that there are a couple of sets of fully charged 18v Li-Ion batteries just waiting for the next job.

I really don’t worry about fire from these, since they’re all genuine batteries and Makita has taken extra care in teh design and charging protocol to manage battery condition and temperature.

View attachment 201533
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Our Hilti's have been bulletproof and they get worked hard. Our company has I think 5 of them. No battery failures yet and the charger has a cooling fan that makes a lot of noise. I think when a company has enough of them eventually one will fail and some people may not be taking as good care of them as hopefully all our employees are.
 
Pablo said:
DeWalt 20VMax since ca 2010 - like ZERO fires, hot batteries, nada.

Hilti is not doing something right.
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How many do you own? I'm guessing his company probably has a couple hundred batteries for different tools and probably some negligent users.
There is good reason we're not allowed to put lithium ion batteries in checked baggage on airplanes.
 
350Rocket said:
How many do you own? I'm guessing his company probably has a couple hundred batteries for different tools and probably some negligent users.
There is good reason we're not allowed to put lithium ion batteries in checked baggage on airplanes.
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I am not comparing me to a company. DeWalt has been making the 20VMax for around 14+ years. How many fires? Not many.

Do your really want to compare the millions of DeWalt batteries in use across the world v. Hilti

"A couple storage sheds per year" For one outfit? That has to be an exaggeration or something ain't right is all I am saying!!
 
Pablo said:
I am not comparing me to a company. DeWalt has been making the 20VMax for around 14+ years. How many fires? Not many.

Do your really want to compare the millions of DeWalt batteries in use across the world v. Hilti

"A couple storage sheds per year" For one outfit? That has to be an exaggeration or something ain't right is all I am saying!!
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Either one is possible, he could have been exaggerating but they definitely had at least a couple fires total. I know that hilti has a better reputation than DeWalt. At least around here.
 
350Rocket said:
Either one is possible, he could have been exaggerating but they definitely had at least a couple fires total. I know that hilti has a better reputation than DeWalt. At least around here.
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Sure, no doubt about Hilti having better HD Hammer drills and stuff. DeWalt is middle grade better homeowner stuff. That's not in debate in the least. Not my point.

BUT the volume DeWalt does and not having fires, says something.
 
Pablo said:
Sure, no doubt about Hilti having better HD Hammer drills and stuff. DeWalt is middle grade better homeowner stuff. That's not in debate in the least. Not my point.

BUT the volume DeWalt does and not having fires, says something.
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A quick google search found fires from both DeWalt and Hilti batteries. I couldn't share the YouTube video as I'm on vacation and internet is slow.

All of these could possibly have been from improper use, they get used by construction workers out in the rain, snow and ice, dropped on the ground etc. but my point is it's something to think about when storing inside. I'd feel safer with them in my shed but minus 20 in the winter would not be good for them.

Chances of one burning up if you take care of it are probably slim with the better brands like these.

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