Milwaukee 18V Power Plus Batteries

[Kode VioL8R]

Anyone here use any Milwaukee 18v cordless tools with the NiCd batteries? I have the 624-24 Cordless Hammer Drill and I've recently had both batteries suddenly go bad. They suddenly stopped lighting up the red light on the charger. This is without any prior signs of the batteries losing their ability to hold a charge or anything. Just one day, they fail to work. I've read several accounts on the internet of Milwaukee batteries failing. I love the drill, but the batteries just seem to be problematic. I've read that the 18v Milwaukee Lithium Ion Batteries are much better, but I am not sure that they are backwards compatible with the tools that came with NiCd batteries.

[Fischer]

The problem with many more powerful battery packs, 12v and up, is that they're are using multi cells, and the cells are clustered in an oval configuration. The cells are going around the perimeter and in the center of that perimeter, and the problem with that is the cells in the center do not cool down enough before recharging. The center cells then overheat. The original Makita 9.6v batteries on the first commercial grade drill were in a line configuration, and lasted for years and years, and the reason was they were able to cool down uniformly.

My understanding, and anyone correct me if I'm wrong, is that when the batteries in the center are not allowed to cool, they will actually change polarity and kill the battery. I killed 2 brand new Ryobi 18v batteries the first day I had them. (I was doing trim work on an apartment building and using the skil saw continuously).

The other thing that I've found is that batteries tend to die in clumps, even when taken care of. Multiple 18v makitas all seemed to die between uses.

The Milwaukee's may be a totally different story, and there may well be a problem with them, but the situations I've described above will kill the batteries, so always let them cool.

[BOA]

The problem I had was letting my Milwaukee 18v battery run all the way down. Doing so cooked it.