# Milwaukee m18 battery issues?



## jefft110

I just picked up an m18 hammer drill/sawzall combo from my supply house. Yesterday I was in the branch across town and the guy behind the counter said that they have been having issues with the batteries and that they are going to stop carrying the m18 stuff until Milwaukee addresses the issue.

He said it was only the m18 batteries and not the m12's. Anybody else here of this?


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## MarcDuke

jefft110 said:


> I just picked up an m18 hammer drill/sawzall combo from my supply house. Yesterday I was in the branch across town and the guy behind the counter said that they have been having issues with the batteries and that they are going to stop carrying the m18 stuff until Milwaukee addresses the issue.
> 
> He said it was only the m18 batteries and not the m12's. Anybody else here of this?


Nah. I have the m18 hammer drill and I love it. It has so much more balls than my old makita. The batteries have been fine for me.


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## farlsincharge

The v18's sucked, doesn't surprise me that the m18's would too.
Milwaukee has sold out to the HD crowd. My old lok-tor drill was 8 years old and on its 4th set of brushes when it finally called it quits. The M18 one I got to replace it is like a toy. And as ****ty as they are, they still weigh a ton, so you lose both ways.
It'll be Hilti or high end Makita next.


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## amptech

I have had the M18 since they first came out. I haven't had any trouble with the drill or the batteries. I did get the heavy-duty hammer drill-driver model though. There is a lighter-duty hammer drill-driver and a compact model as well. I have heard they are not near the performers that the heavy-duty model is.


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## electro916

I had issues with the early M-18 batts shorting out. So I went back to the fullsize NICAD Milwaukee, and the drill shorted and burned all my batteries. 
So I hen switched back to Dewalt, I had previous problems with them but i figured Id try them out again......That drill shorted and took 2 batteries out with it, that was just repaired under warranty.

Maybe its just my luck.


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## BobBob

*Problems*

I'm glad you said something. I'm having problems with them. I thought it was user error but maybe now. Basically, sometimes it works and sometimes it don't

I'm going Hilti now anyway


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## wil335

I bought the 2611-24 hammer drill kit in Jun 09 and by dec 09, both M18 XC Lithium-ion batteries were not charging to max capacity. They were charging to only 2 bars. Both batteries haven't even been charged 5 times each. Luckily, Home Depot took them back and gave me a full refund. With that refund, I walked out with milwaukee's recently released 2602-22 hammer drill kit, thinking I just had bad luck. Now, 13 months later, here I am with my M18 XC Lithium-ion battery giving me grief again. This time, one of my batteries does not want to charge at all. As soon as I put it in the charger, the indicator on the charger says it is fully charged. The other battery is only charging to 3 bars. They haven't even been charged more than 15 times each.

Today, I just contacted Milwaukee for warranty replacement. Hopefully, they will send me a battery that has been updated to address these battery failures. I'm sure they know about it, but haven't admitted to it. After looking at Milwaukee's website, I think they came out with M18 XC "RED LITHIUM". I think this might be a replacement. I'll confirm it if my warranty battery is different.


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## randas

I'm going on 3 years with my M18 stuff and I couldn't be happier!

Don't forget you got a 5 year warranty, which in my experience is "no questions asked"

I dropped my flashlight two stories out of a lift... "no problem"! :thumbup:

A couple guys at work had the gears strip in there makitas and they were just told they 'overworked' there drills


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## McClary’s Electrical

electro916 said:


> I had issues with the early M-18 batts shorting out. So I went back to the fullsize NICAD Milwaukee, and the drill shorted and burned all my batteries.
> So I hen switched back to Dewalt, I had previous problems with them but i figured Id try them out again......That drill shorted and took 2 batteries out with it, that was just repaired under warranty.
> 
> Maybe its just my luck.


I think you're just hard on tools



wil335 said:


> I bought the 2611-24 hammer drill kit in Jun 09 and by dec 09, both M18 XC Lithium-ion batteries were not charging to max capacity. They were charging to only 2 bars. Both batteries haven't even been charged 5 times each. Luckily, Home Depot took them back and gave me a full refund. With that refund, I walked out with milwaukee's recently released 2602-22 hammer drill kit, thinking I just had bad luck. Now, 13 months later, here I am with my M18 XC Lithium-ion battery giving me grief again. This time, one of my batteries does not want to charge at all. As soon as I put it in the charger, the indicator on the charger says it is fully charged. The other battery is only charging to 3 bars. They haven't even been charged more than 15 times each.
> 
> Today, I just contacted Milwaukee for warranty replacement. Hopefully, they will send me a battery that has been updated to address these battery failures. I'm sure they know about it, but haven't admitted to it. After looking at Milwaukee's website, I think they came out with M18 XC "RED LITHIUM". I think this might be a replacement. I'll confirm it if my warranty battery is different.


Don't sweat it. They'll take good care of you. Just mail them your batteries and you'll get new ones.


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## HARRY304E

mcclary's electrical said:


> I think you're just hard on tools
> 
> 
> 
> Don't sweat it. They'll take good care of you. Just mail them your batteries and you'll get new ones.



My M-18 stuff works great i have had no problems with the batterys..


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## wordnz

If you want the best batteries you can get, and an awesome drill to boot, go Panasonic.

I have the Panasonic 21.6v Hammer Drill driver combo. Outclasses Makita/Milwaukee/DeWalt etc.


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## wil335

wil335 said:


> I bought the 2611-24 hammer drill kit in Jun 09 and by dec 09, both M18 XC Lithium-ion batteries were not charging to max capacity. They were charging to only 2 bars. Both batteries haven't even been charged 5 times each. Luckily, Home Depot took them back and gave me a full refund. With that refund, I walked out with milwaukee's recently released 2602-22 hammer drill kit, thinking I just had bad luck. Now, 13 months later, here I am with my M18 XC Lithium-ion battery giving me grief again. This time, one of my batteries does not want to charge at all. As soon as I put it in the charger, the indicator on the charger says it is fully charged. The other battery is only charging to 3 bars. They haven't even been charged more than 15 times each.
> 
> Today, I just contacted Milwaukee for warranty replacement. Hopefully, they will send me a battery that has been updated to address these battery failures. I'm sure they know about it, but haven't admitted to it. After looking at Milwaukee's website, I think they came out with M18 XC "RED LITHIUM". I think this might be a replacement. I'll confirm it if my warranty battery is different.


After six weeks, I finally got my replacement battery yesterday. I was disappointed when they sent me the same battery model and not their upgraded model. They launched their "RED LITHIUM" battery line on their website this week. I'm sure this was in response to their battery problems.


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## McClary’s Electrical

wordnz said:


> If you want the best batteries you can get, and an awesome drill to boot, go Panasonic.
> 
> I have the Panasonic 21.6v Hammer Drill driver combo. Outclasses Makita/Milwaukee/DeWalt etc.


 

The specs have that drill at 575 inlbs of torque, the same as the M18. I hardly call that an outclass:blink:


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## B4T

I had a battery go bad today... thing won't hold a charge.. 

Tool is a little more than a year old and hardly ever used..


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## Frasbee

mcclary's electrical said:


> The specs have that drill at 575 inlbs of torque, the same as the M18. I hardly call that an outclass:blink:


Bosch's 18 volt has 650 in-lbs of torque.

Just sayin'...:whistling2:


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## Jlarson

I can count on my hands how many Makita batteries I've had fail, 2 and they where let's say "well used". I see way more failures from Dewalt and Milwaukee, some with very light use. 



Frasbee said:


> Bosch's 18 volt has 650 in-lbs of torque.
> 
> Just sayin'...:whistling2:


cough...Bosch Whore...cough

Does Bosch pay you for your services? :laughing::laughing:


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## randas

650 in-lbs :whistling2:











http://www.milwaukeetool.com/tools/...formance-1-2-inch-hammer-drill-driver/2611-24


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## Frasbee

randas said:


> 650 in-lbs :whistling2:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.milwaukeetool.com/tools/...formance-1-2-inch-hammer-drill-driver/2611-24


Yeah, well...

RPM: 0 - 475 / 0 - 2,050
BPM: 30,750

Compared to Milwaukee's

RPM High 0-1,800
RPM Low 0-450
BPM 0-28,000

:whistling2::whistling2::whistling2:


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## randas

Frasbee said:


> Yeah, well...
> 
> RPM: 0 - 475 / 0 - 2,050
> BPM: 30,750
> 
> Compared to Milwaukee's
> 
> RPM High 0-1,800
> RPM Low 0-450
> BPM 0-28,000
> 
> :whistling2::whistling2::whistling2:


You left out the part where the bosch numbers are under no load :whistling2:


Besides the milwaukee has a battery gauge, that $hit is worth its weight in gold :thumbup:


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## Frasbee

randas said:


> You left out the part where the bosch numbers are under no load :whistling2:
> 
> 
> Besides the milwaukee has a battery gauge, that $hit is worth its weight in gold :thumbup:


I'm messin', milwaukee is a good brand.

I agree that the lack of battery gauge is near fatal in this lithium age but generally isn't a concern for me because I'm the only one that uses my cordless so I know what battery is charged and which one has been in use. I'm still using Ni-Cads. I promised myself that I would upgrade once these batteries go, but they've going strong for 2 years now and I have a "new" one discharged waiting in storage.


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## B4T

I just want to know why the battery costs 2/3 of the whole tool _with_ a new battery..


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## HARRY304E

B4T said:


> I just want to know why the battery costs 2/3 of the whole tool _with_ a new battery..


Funny how that works:no::no:


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## HARRY304E

Jlarson said:


> I can count on my hands how many Makita batteries I've had fail, 2 and they where let's say "well used". I see way more failures from Dewalt and Milwaukee, some with very light use.
> 
> 
> 
> cough...Bosch Whore...cough
> 
> Does Bosch pay you for your services? :laughing::laughing:


I hear Fluke is paying you the Big Bucks ..:laughing::laughing:


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## randas

Frasbee said:


> I'm messin', milwaukee is a good brand.
> 
> I agree that the lack of battery gauge is near fatal in this lithium age but generally isn't a concern for me because I'm the only one that uses my cordless so I know what battery is charged and which one has been in use. I'm still using Ni-Cads. I promised myself that I would upgrade once these batteries go, but they've going strong for 2 years now and I have a "new" one discharged waiting in storage.


Same haha :laughing: bosch/makita/milwaukee/dewalt - Honestly anyone who thinks that any one of those is far superior to the others is on glue 

When I bought new tools three years ago, of those 4 only milwaukee and makita had lithium batteries. For me what honestly tipped me to milwaukee was the battery gauge :laughing:


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## randas

B4T said:


> I just want to know why the battery costs 2/3 of the whole tool _with_ a new battery..


I've noticed if you catch a sale you can usually pick up a new drill kit for less than what two batteries cost.


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## Frasbee

randas said:


> Same haha :laughing: bosch/makita/milwaukee/dewalt - Honestly anyone who thinks that any one of those is far superior to the others is on glue
> 
> When I bought new tools three years ago, of those 4 only milwaukee and makita had lithium batteries. For me what honestly tipped me to milwaukee was the battery gauge :laughing:


What tipped me towards Bosch was that nobody else on the jobsite had them. Less likely the mexicans would steal my batteries.

Same reason why I avoided Klein tools for the first 2 years in the trade. Had I not been using greenlee's lineman pliers, I never would have spotted them in the mason's tool box to steal back. It's also why I painted my estwing hammer bright pink. I recovered that baby twice.


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## Demac

Frasbee said:


> It's also why I painted my estwing hammer bright pink.


There is a female apprentice in my class that painted all her tools pink. I don't work for the same company so I've never worked with her, but I'm guessing her tools don't walk away very often.


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## Auto_Sparky

Demac said:


> There is a female apprentice in my class that painted all her tools pink. I don't work for the same company so I've never worked with her, but I'm guessing her tools don't walk away very often.


Yep theres a lot to be said for owing ugly things!

I've just got second hand Milwaukee M18 compact drill and hammer drill to replace my old faithful Bosch 14 volt mainly because I needed to up size from 10mm to 13mm chuck! but I have no complaints with the old Bosch 15 years of hard use old and still goes hard (onto its 3rd battery pack) I hope this Milwaukee is just as tough!


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## Norcal

Here is a link to Milwaukee "E Service".

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/PartsAndService/Repair/Default.aspx

I had some problems w/ some M12 batteries & they provided great service, even paid for shipping & sent me 2 new batteries to replace the malfunctioning one quickly.


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## pwoody

Frasbee said:


> Bosch's 18 volt has 650 in-lbs of torque.
> 
> Just sayin'...:whistling2:



makita's new 18v drill...

No Load Speed:Low0 - 400 RPM
High0 - 2,000 RPM
Blows Per Minute:
Low0 - 6,000 BPM
High0 - 30,000 BPM
Maximum Torque
*750 in*. lbs (84 Nm)


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