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Several years ago I bought a Milwaukee compact driver. I use it mostly for driving screws. After a couple of years I was unable to get a full charge on each battery on the charger. The charger would operate for about a minute and then indicate that the battery was defective. The other day I put one of the batteries on my bench and measured the no load voltage, which turned out to be about 12 volts. I then connected a 220 ohm resistor across the terminals and about a day later, the voltage was down to 3 volts. I put the battery back in the charger and it charged normally to a full charge. I did the same to the second battery. The batteries are labelled as "Li-ion.

My 18v Dewalt charger balances the charge in the batteries. Four years down and still going with the original batteries.

trick to insure batteries will charge is to quickly slam it in and out of the charger 2 or 3 times then leave it to charge .... worked for me

Bill

I have a half a dozen Metabo 18v. drills and a few other Metabo tools that use the same battery. The drills sense a low battery and quit. I stick them in a charger that is fan cooled and have never had any problems.

Many years ago I bought a cordless drill to put up a bunch of aluminum trim. The batteries were just horrible. So for many years I stayed clear of cordless drills. I actually bought this one because it came combined with a video camera on a flex cable that I was interested in. I wanted to use the camera to look at an oil leak on my truck! As it turns out, I really like the drill/driver.

I usually get my moneys worth out of the Milwaukee lithium ion batteries. But once they start to go, they go. I haven't looked at them real close yet to see if they are rebuild-able.

I take the old pack down to batteries plus and they put new batteries in them, much cheaper then buying a new one from dewalt.
My dad has had the same thing done on his Milwaukee batteries.
For the most part the battery packs are just c cells hooked up in series or in a plastic case, almost all can be rebuilt.

Working in construction most of my life,I've found that if you don't drain the battery totally they run down easier and do not last as long. Once they go dead they are pretty much toast. That goes for Milkawkee,PorterCable, Bosch, all great products. From my view it's easier/cheaper to find a new one complete with two batteries and move on. I have lots ot 9.6 and up taking up space in the garage. One of my favorites was the 9.6 Bosch. Comfortable and balanced. Most of the 18/24 volts are heavy on the battery end battery end from my view.

Dan