Lithium ion bateries

[redrockv8]

I have a Milwaukee 18v impact wrench with lithium batteries. I bought this to carry in my Commander when I'm on long distance road trips in case I need to change a tire. It has no other use and I have never used it except to spin off one lugnut on my Cherokee to see if it worked. I've had it for a year and keep it stored in the house. Question is how often should I charge the batteries? I get conflicting views when I google this question.
HT

[stites-xk]

Sorry I just saw this post! I to have a Milwaukee impact going on 4 years now. If you do not use it very often say at least once a week. Then you want to run your battery all the way down and do a full charge on it once a month. The reason being is that they have a memory setting in the battery and it will pick up how often it charges. If it doesn't get a used that much it won't hold a full charge any more! Hope this helps!

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[Matt]

Li-ion batteries arent as susceptible to the "memory" issues like the older Ni-Mh or NiCd batteries. And it's not that the batteries have a memory setting, its a term used to describe a chemical effect on some types of rechargeable batteries. For instance if you keep recharging a NiCd battery after it naturally loses 20% from just sitting there, eventually you'll only have 20% of usuable energy in that battery because it wont go any lower than 20% discharge when you use it. Hence those types of batteries require a full discharge/recharge every so often to maintain full use of the battery.

Again, that's not an issue for Li-Ion batters. In addition to that, its also not recommended to fully discharge Li-Ion batteries; the lesser the discharge, the longer they last. So you'll actually be hurting these batteries if you fully discharge/recharge them once a month. They also have a relatively slow discharge rate, so for the OP's use i'd recommend putting them on the charger every few months.

How often do you change your oil... twice a year? If so, id throw them on the charger while you're doing your oil change and call it good.

[07JeepXK]

Change oil twice a year?!?! I change mine every two months.. Lol

[Matt]

Change oil twice a year?!?! I change mine every two months

Yeah yeah i know... you put a lot more miles on than most and also do 3k intervals. Most "normal" people need oil changes 2-3 times a year.

[07JeepXK]

Yeah yeah i know... you put a lot more miles on than most and also do 3k intervals. Most "normal" people need oil changes 2-3 times a year.

Haha I'm normal. Changed the interval to 4,000 miles a few oil changes back

[redrockv8]

Matt,
Thanks for the tip. I charged both batteries. This is only the second time I've charged them in the last year. Charge was quick. Finished each in about 20 minutes.
Guess I need to run down and re-charge the Nic-Cad batteries in my Dewalt Power screwdriver. Wonder how long I have to sit and hold the button in before it dis-charges.

[06JeepXKHEMI]

Not sure on your Milwaukee but my Craftsman charger will usually charge my low battery for the impact in 30-40 mins tops..