May 8, 20179 yr Four Ridgid batteries died, and Ebay has 2.0 amps and 4.0 amps. Should I pay the small difference to get the 4.0? Don't know what that designates. Edited November 21, 20178 yr by Ron Dudelston tags added
May 9, 20179 yr And you don't have those registered with Ridgid under their LSA? My 24v batteries are still registered and they just replaced them a few months back (and that tool set is over 10 years old). And, yes, get the 4.0 if you want the longer work time per charge. 2.0 will be lighter by some margin, but you won't get as much work out of them per charge.
May 9, 20179 yr Author I bought them at a yard sale. The lady worked for Ryobi, so she got them cheap and w/o a warranty.
May 9, 20179 yr Wait a minute. True enough the higher capacity batteries last longer....but how often do you drain the batteries doing something? If you've never ran one dry, there seems to be little reason to spend more for capacity you wouldn't use. On the other other hand, if the cost difference is negligible you might as well go ahead and spring for the expensive ones.
May 9, 20179 yr 3 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said: .but how often do you drain the batteries doing something all the time... think of the 4AH battery as more heavy duty... also.. if the battery was rated in 4 amps... think of straight amps as horse power...
May 10, 20179 yr Like Stick, I run 'em dry quite often. Always have at least one spare ready to go. Can't have a depleted battery ruin the fun.
May 11, 20179 yr 34 minutes ago, Gene Howe said: Like Stick, I run 'em dry quite often. Always have at least one spare ready to go. Can't have a depleted battery ruin the fun. just run them till they can't do the job any more not till they are dry...
May 11, 20179 yr I have a Bosch 24V reciprocating saw that is over 10 years old. The batteries eventually died, so I replaced them with a different brand that was much cheaper. I soon found that the cheaper batteries had less than half the working time of the original Bosch batteries. Definitely go with the higher amp batteries.
June 5, 20178 yr Author I did go with the bigger ones, and I am glad. One of them seems to be discharging when left intact on the drill. I will have to check on this though. I had one that was going strong when I placed it on the shelf, but when I pulled it 3 days later, it was completely discharged.
June 5, 20178 yr 16 minutes ago, oldwoodie said: I did go with the bigger ones, and I am glad. One of them seems to be discharging when left intact on the drill. I will have to check on this though. I had one that was going strong when I placed it on the shelf, but when I pulled it 3 days later, it was completely discharged. the new ones???
June 5, 20178 yr I discovered that when I was putting my drill in my tool belt, the weight of the drill was pressing on the trigger slightly.
June 8, 20178 yr On 6/5/2017 at 7:13 PM, lew said: I discovered that when I was putting my drill in my tool belt, the weight of the drill was pressing on the trigger slightly. Always place the switch in the center (off) position when carrying or not using it. John
June 9, 20178 yr On 5/9/2017 at 6:59 AM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said: Wait a minute. True enough the higher capacity batteries last longer....but how often do you drain the batteries doing something? If you've never ran one dry, there seems to be little reason to spend more for capacity you wouldn't use. On the other other hand, if the cost difference is negligible you might as well go ahead and spring for the expensive ones. Fred, I have to ask, are you recharging the batteries before they run completely out? If so, this is a bad habit if they are NiCad batteries. You should always run them out before recharging. NiCad batteries are finicky animals with some strange properties. If you run the battery down to, say, 25% of the power left and then recharge it, then the battery will eventually take a "set". If it is done enough it shortens the life of the battery. What happens is the battery learns that at 25% capacity it gets recharged. So, it literally stops working at 25% and waits to be recharged. If you recharge it at 50% or any other reserve it does the same. Essentially, you end up cutting the running time down to the point that the battery lasts for no time at all. It becomes accumulative; first 25% then 50% then less until it just won't charge. I ran into this problem with our two way Motorola radios. They were getting placed in the chargers at the end of the day and the battery longevity slowly decrease to the point we couldn't get through an eight hour shift without them going dead. I solved the problem by having my people leave the radios on at the end of the shifts, so they would run out the batteries. Then fresh, spare, fully charged, batteries were swapped out at the beginning of the shift. The now, FULLY discharged batteries were placed into the chargers. The battery life extended tremendously. For my tools I always had a spare battery to swap out when the one in use went dead. I eventually, swapped to Li Ion which last much longer then the NiCads, and won't take a set. The bad part is, that, they have a finite recharge number. They usually go bad after X number of charges. However, I have some that have been in use for 6+ years without a problem.
June 9, 20178 yr Well, since you asked (and I still think my comment has merit, not everyone has the need for higher capacity batteries) I no longer have any Ni-Cads, and the tools I had that did take them had their batteries replaced with aftermarket NiMh, which was a huge improvement. But as time moved on, I wound up with all LiOn tools, mostly Milwaukee M12. I did get some higher capacity batteries for those tools, but more because I found a great deal on some as opposed to needing more capacity. That said, I very seldom run a tool down.....I can see where someone who uses them for a living might do that, but I suspect most hobbyists do not. Regardless, it's only my opinion.
June 9, 20178 yr I should have added: my spare batteries sit in the charger, and it's hooked to an electronic timer. Switches on for 2 hours once a week. So the spares are always ready to go. Now I think the newer chargers aren't supposed to be a problem if you leave them plugged in with the batteries in them, but I had this setup from the NiCad days and just continue to use it.
June 10, 20178 yr Might want to look at "Memory Effect" on this article: https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/what-the-heck-is-a-nicd-battery.html
June 10, 20178 yr 19 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said: Well, since you asked (and I still think my comment has merit, not everyone has the need for higher capacity batteries) I no longer have any Ni-Cads, and the tools I had that did take them had their batteries replaced with aftermarket NiMh, which was a huge improvement. But as time moved on, I wound up with all LiOn tools, mostly Milwaukee M12. I did get some higher capacity batteries for those tools, but more because I found a great deal on some as opposed to needing more capacity. That said, I very seldom run a tool down.....I can see where someone who uses them for a living might do that, but I suspect most hobbyists do not. Regardless, it's only my opinion. With all being said, seems like you have answered your own question, in a way. Going to the Li Ion batteries is one of the best moves that someone can make. The fact that you have spares ready to go, means you won't be left high and dry without a tool. One of the greatest features of the Li batteries, is, that, they provide full power right until they shut down. The NiCad's and NiMH used to drive me nuts with them slowing down to uselessness. As a non commercial entity you are probably right about capacity. You aren't constantly running a tool like a contractor would in a normal operation. However, if I were doing something like building a deck and screwing down the boards I would want a higher amp battery. I would end up with more power/run-time and have less of a chance that my battery runs out before I have a fully charged replacement.
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