A complete discharge is likely to repair your tool battery.
Portable battery-operated tools have made do-it-yourself jobs around your home much easier, and today's power tools are often as powerful as the wired versions. Improved battery technology and the introduction of lithium-based battery packs have made tools lighter, made them last longer between charges and have increased their power. However, nickel-based battery packs are still widely available, and although manufacturers have eliminated some of the earlier problems associated with nickel batteries, they can still lose their ability to retain a full charge after a certain time. Fortunately, unlike lithium batteries, you can usually repair them by using a technique known as a deep discharge. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Remove your battery pack from the tool it powers. Read the label to confirm it's a nickel-based battery. A nickel-based battery will have "NiCd" or "NiMH" on the side. If it isn't nickel based, don't proceed, as the technique won't work for lithium batteries.
2. Put the battery pack into the charging unit. Turn on the charger. Allow the battery pack to charge until the LED charging light changes color or turns off.
3. Remove the battery pack from the charger. Put the battery into the power tool. Select a low power setting, if it has one. A slow discharge is generally better than a fast discharge because the battery begins to repair itself during the procedure, so the longer it takes, the better the results are likely to be.
4. Turn on the tool. Allow the tool to operate. If you need to use the tool for a DIY job, all the better because you can finish two jobs at the same time.
5. Don't turn off the tool until the battery runs down and the tool stops working. After it stops working, turn off the tool and let the tool and battery cool completely. It may take a while for the tools to stop operating.
6. Turn on the tool again after it has cooled. You may have thought the battery was completely dead, but it will have recovered slightly will still operate your tool. Leave it run, as before; it won't have enough energy to use for any jobs, but it will run for a few minutes or so.
7. Turn off the tool and leave it for about five minutes to see if the battery regains any energy, then turn it on again. If it operates, let it run until it stops. If it doesn't operate, your battery is completely discharged.
8. Repeat the process if the battery regained some energy and operated your tool. Do this until the tool doesn't operate.
9. Remove the battery pack from the tool. Put the battery into the charger and turn it on.
10. Let the battery charge as normal. It will take longer as the discharge process has reset the chemicals in the battery and repaired it.
11. Turn off the charger after the LED changes color or turns off. Remove the battery from the charger and put in it your tool, which is now ready for use.
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