19.2 batteries problematic

OK to use a generator to charge batteries?

I need advice on charging Craftsman C3 (19.2V) lithium ion batteries. Over the past 5 years, working at an off-grid property, I've had a batch of cordless tool batteries die early, much earlier than I’d come to expect when working at our city-powered home. All were NiCad -- some Craftsman C3 (19.2V) and some Black and Decker (18V). Instead of the 3-to-4 years I’d been getting, they were going bad in one summer.

I think a big part of my problem is that I was using and recharging the batteries more than I had been at home...more cycles = faster decline. However, I was told by a Black and Decker "expert" :icon_rolleyes: that a contributing factor might be that I'd been using a generator to recharge these NiCads. The generator is a Generac 4000 watt, about 10 years old, THD less than 6% when new, likely still about the same. It’s the only power source we have over there. My only alternative is to schlep the batteries to a friend's home (a 20-mile round trip, half of which is over farm roads), plug the chargers into a wall outlet, and wait several hours for all the batteries to charge…lots of fun. :wallbash:

Last summer I bought 4 C3 lithium ion batteries (2 compact, 2 full size) to replace 4 dead NiCad C3's. So far I have NOT used the generator to recharge them…I’ve taken them to my friend's house instead. All 4 are still going strong, but I'm really getting tired of the 20-mile bumpy boogie.

I need to know if using a generator will damage these Li ion batteries. This is NOT covered in the manual for the Craftsman 4-station multi-chemistry charger. I tried to contact Sears Craftsman tech support, but that’s like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. When I finally reached someone who was at least willing to offer an opinion, she said it was OK to use a generator…but she didn’t sound all that sure.

If the old Generac is a no-no, how about a 12V inverter plugged into my car's system? I really need to find a way to charge these expensive batteries without causing premature death. I like the power of lithium, but I’d sure like them to last a while. :help:

Thanks for the input

ToolSeeker said:

I personally have heard a lot of complaints on Craftsman batteries.

Click to expand...

I, too, have heard the complaints...but until last summer, I had pretty good luck with the old C3 NiCads. I had 5 of them (came with a couple of Craftsman cordless drills and an impact driver over the years), and as of last April, only one had deteriorated noticeably. But by August, they were all shot -- a "full" charge would last from 15 seconds to maybe 2 minutes. I recycled them at Home Depot, and started buying lithium ion replacements.

So far I've been very satisfied with my 4 C3 Li Ion batteries (...knock wood). Two are compact (one "regular", the other XCP, higher capacity), and the other 2 are full-size (again, one regular, 1 XCP). As far as I can tell, they all give me about the power-duration that Craftsman claims for them. I haven't yet had reason to push them hard, but I've used all four pretty extensively, and so far none has begun to deteriorate (...once again, knock wood).

For the money, I've been satisfied by the quality of my Craftsman cordless tools. I hope Sears keeps putting out decent lithium batteries. If they don't, I hope I can find good 3rd party substitutes that will fit.

Cordless batteries

In reading some of the previous posts I latched on to the one about the batteries. While I am not a contractor and never have been, my cordless tools are my 3rd arm. So even though I'm retired not there is not a day goes buy I'm not using one or the other for something and if I'm not my neighbors are so mine get recharged at the very least once a day and some days twice.

So in saying that I now have or had in the past 15 yrs DeWalt, B&D, Porter Cable, Makita, Craftsman, Dremel, and Bosch. I found the Craftsman, Dewalt, Makita, & Dremel to be the worst of the worst for recharging and the charge draining quickly. The one Makita I had not only did not take a charge well with the supplied charger, it just didn't have any power and yes, that one was back in the 12v days. I bought the 14.4 B&D as soon as they came out and that drill lasted me the better part of 4 years before I started having problems with batteries and by then the 18v had come out so I bought the Porter Cable drill, saw, sawzall, flashlight kit. I've had it for well over 2 years now and it's still working great with the same pair of batteries. Since they are getting some age on them I've been looking for replacement batteries at a decent price because I expect them to go anytime.

The thing I find interesting is I still have a B&D 14.4 drill that still works really well but I can't find any 14.4 replacement batteries for it, I can still find plenty of 12V but not the 14.4 which are still powerful enough for most homeowner applications. I bought the Dremel LI rotary driver back when it first came out and that was a real waste of money. That would never hold a charge, if it ever actually took a charge to begin with. After messing with this for 3 months or so I wound up taking it back to the vendor and got a corded one for half the price that is still working well. I had thought at the time, I needed the cordless for work around the farm but it worked fine with the corded and running it off the welder when we were out in the field.

So, with all that really unnecessary information for you to peruse, the one thing I have found over all the different brands is the charger's themselves are frequently the problem more so than the batteries. I wound up buying a universal charger that works on NiCad batteries from 9.2 v to 20V that does a real good job of not only charging but stopping the charge flow when the battery is completely charged. In talking with the electrician I worked with in Maintenance at American Standard, I found that the biggest killer of batteries besides the cold is over-charging or leaving them on the charger for several hours or sometimes even days, if they get forgotten about, which can happen if one has more than one charger and several batteries. Especially if they are put on near quitting time and don't get taken back off the charger until the next day. In the Maintenance dept I think we had 9 cordless drills and probably 30 batteries all DeWalt. So it was someone's job on each shift to make sure these batteries all got swapped around on the chargers so they weren't allowed to over charge because the overcharging would kill them in a hurry.

So now you have this old country girl's version of cordless equipment and getting the longest use from them.

BTW I have a little B&D hand nut driver that is, I want to say close to 10 yrs old. I know I bought it when it first came out and I've not seen one on the market for years now. But this little driver is powerful and the battery is very long lasting. It's light weight and small size make it easy to get into locations a regular drill won't even begin to fit and comfortable to use for long periods of time when holding a 18 or 20v drill for hours gets pretty heavy after a while.

The battery is actually built into the grip so it's not changeable but unless I'm trying to drill a lot of 1/4 inch holes with it for the most part just running up screws, nuts, and small pilot holes, it lasts all day. I really wish I could find another one like this because I will be lost when it dies. It's the same size as the Gyro they came out with last year but seems to be more powerful and that was an LI battery. I tried the Gyro and was not impressed with it. It just did not have the torque this nut driver has.
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