Ryobi Batteries

[ecotourist]

Yesterday I discovered that a Ryobi rechargeable battery had been left in the charger, which was now displaying the dreaded "defective battery" warning light. I don't know if the failure was due to being left in the charger or whether it was just a coincidence. It's an 18 Volt battery and the terminals showed barely a flicker of voltage on the lowest setting of my analog multimeter. That battery was completely dead, and they're pretty costly to replace.

We have 3 Ryobi batteries, the oldest about 10 years old. They get regular use and are almost always fully charged.

After saying a few unprintable words I remembered seeing videos on how they could be brought back to life. It seemed like a long shot but what was there to lose? Essentially you open the case, work around the protective electronics to bring the Voltage up to something the charger can recognize, and off it goes again. And it worked. That completely dead battery is now back to life.

 

[Leo99]

But for how long?

 

[Donald]

I have had two Ryobi batteries go bad after a year or two. So far all my Milwaukee M18 batteries are working as they should.

I have given up buying aftermarket batteries.

 

[Lyman]

I have had two one+ batteries for 9 years now with no issues. Once in a while they get a little hot and I have to let them cool off before charging.

 

[ecotourist]

But for how long?

It was completely dead before and it isn't now so any remaining life is purely a bonus.

Some people on you-tubes talk about getting another year out of a refurbished battery. But they've just got it going again so I don't know how they'd know. We'll just have to see.

I plan to use it hard, meaning frequently run to empty and recharged. I think that may be the best way to extend its life.

 

[dogememe]

I’ve had great luck with Ryobi one+ batteries. Have had many for 5+ years. I use them occasionally. Still get runtime and power comparable to new. Two have died over the years.

 

[FT92]

I've brought back some older ni cad batteries. using methods i found on youtube ..seemed to work ok, just they didn't hold a charge very long but i guess you could say they at least worked for a while

 

[ecotourist]

The rejuvenated battery worked perfectly today. It did a good few hours work (whipper snipping) and then recharged normally. Fingers crossed.

 

[IcarusLSC]

There is a house a few blocks from here that caught fire due to Ryobi batteries in the garage, Burned the garage and spread to the attic before the people got out, they were lucky. They have been out for almost 3 months now dealing with insurance

 

[The_Eric]

There is a house a few blocks from here that caught fire due to Ryobi batteries in the garage, Burned the garage and spread to the attic before the people got out, they were lucky. They have been out for almost 3 months now dealing with insurance

I think almost any battery make can be susceptible to those sorts of problems.

 

[Zee09]

I have had two Ryobi batteries go bad after a year or two. So far all my Milwaukee M18 batteries are working as they should.

I have given up buying aftermarket batteries.

Same here. I'm no fan of Ryobi crap.

 

[Zee09]

There is a house a few blocks from here that caught fire due to Ryobi batteries in the garage, Burned the garage and spread to the attic before the people got out, they were lucky. They have been out for almost 3 months now dealing with insurance

That's normal. When Ryobi batteries fail they ignite and disintegrate to hide the evidence.

 

[Donald]

That's normal. When Ryobi batteries fail they ignite and disintegrate to hide the evidence.

So if you want to torch your car, you drive it on a highway far from exit. Tape the trigger on with duct tape for a Ryobi drill. Leave drill running in front seat. Start walking. At some point when you look back all you will see is ashes.

 

[97prizm]

Not sure why but the Ryobi batteries seem to be much larger than Milwaukee, Makita, or Black and Decker tools that are similar.

 

[ecotourist]

We've used that battery a couple of times. It seems to have plenty of stored energy and is taking a charge normally. Fingers still crossed.

 

[CarLuver]

i have done it the battry trick before with another battery. non have been successfull in that they stayed charged like a normal battery. the way to fix them seems to be to take apart and find the bad cell and replace . usually its just one or two in a battery pack

 

[ecotourist]

The Ryobi Battery Saga Continues

We used the battery this morning for a few hours cutting down ferns with a hedge trimmer. It worked fine. At the end of the job I plugged the battery in to recharge it. The Ryobi charger flashed green (charging) and within a few seconds turned solid red (defective).

What? The battery still had charge. It would still run the hedge trimmer normally. Oh well I thought, I tried and I'll just run this battery down one last time and recycle it. But then I thought, you don't suppose it's the charger? So I plugged in a known good battery and the charger turned solid red for it too (defective).

I just happen to have another Ryobi charger and plugged the (original) supposedly defective battery into it. It's now charging enthusiastically.

So it seems the charger was on its way out and almost took out a perfectly good battery on the way. That 18 Volt battery had essentially zero Voltage when I tested it, so I know it had failed - but that was quite possibly because of a defective charger.

 

[thastinger]

Yesterday I discovered that a Ryobi rechargeable battery had been left in the charger, which was now displaying the dreaded "defective battery" warning light. I don't know if the failure was due to being left in the charger or whether it was just a coincidence. It's an 18 Volt battery and the terminals showed barely a flicker of voltage on the lowest setting of my analog multimeter. That battery was completely dead, and they're pretty costly to replace.

We have 3 Ryobi batteries, the oldest about 10 years old. They get regular use and are almost always fully charged.

After saying a few unprintable words I remembered seeing videos on how they could be brought back to life. It seemed like a long shot but what was there to lose? Essentially you open the case, work around the protective electronics to bring the Voltage up to something the charger can recognize, and off it goes again. And it worked. That completely dead battery is now back to life.

You'll have to remember this parlor trick for when your Tesla battery reaches that age.

 

[ecotourist]

So it seems you can repair a Ryobi Battery charger too. I'll try this when I have a few minutes. Life in retirement is very busy!

 

[researcher]

The Ryobi Battery Saga Continues

We used the battery this morning for a few hours cutting down ferns with a hedge trimmer. It worked fine. At the end of the job I plugged the battery in to recharge it. The Ryobi charger flashed green (charging) and within a few seconds turned solid red (defective).

What? The battery still had charge. It would still run the hedge trimmer normally. Oh well I thought, I tried and I'll just run this battery down one last time and recycle it. But then I thought, you don't suppose it's the charger? So I plugged in a known good battery and the charger turned solid red for it too (defective).

I just happen to have another Ryobi charger and plugged the (original) supposedly defective battery into it. It's now charging enthusiastically.

So it seems the charger was on its way out and almost took out a perfectly good battery on the way. That 18 Volt battery had essentially zero Voltage when I tested it, so I know it had failed - but that was quite possibly because of a defective charger.

Was this the "Fast charger" that Ryobi uses for their One+ Batteries? The model I have is P117, the dual chemistry charger, says it's intelligent. I know when I first got my Ryobi setup, the first P117 was making a very high pitched squeal sound, some said it was normal. Exchanged it and the next one was very quiet.

Glad to hear that it wasn't the batteries!!