I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any solution?

"jim dixon" wrote in message
...

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?




--
jim dixon


Had the same problem on my Triumph Bonneville. Didn't use it enough, flat
battery, these new batteries cannot be recovered. New Battery :-(



--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

On 01/12/2012 07:25, 'Mike' wrote:


"jim dixon" wrote in message
...

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?




--
jim dixon


Had the same problem on my Triumph Bonneville. Didn't use it enough,
flat battery, these new batteries cannot be recovered. New Battery :-(



Try this question on uk.d-i-y , lots of helpful experts there, IMHO.

--
Remember the early bird may catch the worm but the second mouse gets the
cheese.

"jim dixon" wrote in message
...

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?

I don't know if this is similar at all, but a few years ago I was very ill
for several months and my car didn't come out of the garage. After various
attempts to recharge the battery, it turned out that it needed a trickle
charger to get it going.
--
--
http://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

"jim dixon" wrote in message
...

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?


If they have been allowed to discharge fully and then stay that way for a
couple of years then they may no longer function properly.
You don't say how long you had them before they were left unused - the
batteries may just be old and need replacing.

HTH

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

On Friday, November 30, 2012 9:26:01 PM UTC, jim dixon wrote:

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?

If theyre NiCd or NiMH they should have survived no problem. Its unlikely they're lead acid, but if they were they wouldnt be expected to survive 2 years flat. Lithiums arent very well suited to such treatment either.

The only solution is a new battery pack. If theyre NiCd/NiMH, repairs are theoretically possible but last so little time that they're pointless.

I'm assuming you've measured a suitable charging voltage on the terminals during charge.


NT

On Sat, 1 Dec 2012 09:54:57 -0000, "David WE Roberts"
wrote:


"jim dixon" wrote in message
...

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?


If they have been allowed to discharge fully and then stay that way for a
couple of years then they may no longer function properly.
You don't say how long you had them before they were left unused - the
batteries may just be old and need replacing.


That's what happened with a disability scooter my wife has. The
batteries had been flat for a few months. The manufacturer told her it
would need new batteries at £80 each.

I put the batteries on slow charge for a few days and then discharged
them completely. This process was repeated until the batteries would
hold the charge for a day and run the scooter for about five miles.
That's all she needs.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

wrote in
:

On Friday, November 30, 2012 9:26:01 PM UTC, jim dixon wrote:

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt
use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a
charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal?
Any solution?

If theyre NiCd or NiMH they should have survived no problem. Its
unlikely they're lead acid, but if they were they wouldnt be expected
to survive 2 years flat. Lithiums arent very well suited to such
treatment either.

The only solution is a new battery pack. If theyre NiCd/NiMH, repairs
are theoretically possible but last so little time that they're
pointless.

I'm assuming you've measured a suitable charging voltage on the
terminals during charge.


NT


Buy cheap buy twice or thrice. Is it a Bosch from B&Q by any chance?

Baz

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:26:01 -0000, jim dixon
wrote:


I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt use
(medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a charge.
Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal? Any
solution?

As others have said, after two years it's likely that they will have
failed, particularly if they are lead acid.

However it would do no harm to leave them on charge for a day or two and
see if they can at least partly recover, before laying out your money on a
new set. Just check the charger from time to time to check that it's not
getting too hot, which it might possibly do if the battery has gone
short-circuit. That's unlikely though - they are more likely to have gone
high-resistance and not accept a charge.

2 years without charging will almost certainly have killed them off, you might get away with 9 months to a year with certain types but after that forget it. Only solution is to replace the batteries. If they are standard types and you can find a reference number on them then you should be able to get new ones on E-Bay without too much trouble. Then charge them up every time you use it or at two monthly intervals.

On Sat, 1 Dec 2012 02:51:46 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt
use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a
charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal?

Afraid so.

Any solution?

Depends a bit of the technology used by the battery.

If theyre NiCd or NiMH they should have survived no problem.

If they have been charged the self discharge over that period of time
knackers them in my experience. If they had been discharged when going
into storage they would have stood a better chance.

Its unlikely they're lead acid, but if they were they wouldnt be
expected to survive 2 years flat.

Lead acid are the oppsite to NiCd/NiMH they prefer to be stored charged,
so yes stored flat wouldn't do 'em any good. I'd expect a lead acid
battery to not worry unduly about 2 years, it will have self discharged a
bit (maybe 50%) but should still be functional.

Resurection is a varies with the technology. In NiCd/NiMH cells the self
discharge produces "whiskers" in the cell that short it out. It's
sometime possible to fuse these whiskers by *briefly* applying a higher
voltage and hefty current to the cell(*). Then doing a normal C/10
(capacity divided by ten) charge for 16 hours or so. Then cycle the
battery a few times at the C/10 rate. It'll never be as goood again but
maybe good enough.

I find that once a sealed lead acid battery has a dead cell that's it.
With wet lead acid I think you can add chemicals to remove the sulphation
and/or flush out and change the acid but that all a bit messy and battery
acid isn't very skin or surface friendly. A wet lead acid battery that
still has its nominal 12v terminal voltage will probably recover if
trickle charged for a day or two. Keep and eye on the cells and stop when
most are gassing a bit.

I doubt power tools have lead acid batteries though almost certainly
NiCd/NiMH. It might possible to recell the packs for less than new packs,
assuming that new packs are still available...

(*) Connect the cell (note cell not battery) directly across a 12v car
battery for a couple of seconds.

--
Cheers
Dave.

RG wrote in newsp.wom4wac0gkcl5l@home1:

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:26:01 -0000, jim dixon
wrote:


I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt
use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a
charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal?
Any solution?

As others have said, after two years it's likely that they will have
failed, particularly if they are lead acid.

However it would do no harm to leave them on charge for a day or two
and see if they can at least partly recover, before laying out your
money on a new set. Just check the charger from time to time to check
that it's not getting too hot, which it might possibly do if the
battery has gone short-circuit. That's unlikely though - they are
more likely to have gone high-resistance and not accept a charge.


That is some very, very bad advice.
Don't do that.

Baz

On Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:14:02 -0000, Baz wrote:

RG wrote in newsp.wom4wac0gkcl5l@home1:

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:26:01 -0000, jim dixon
wrote:


I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated. Didnt
use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to take a
charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this normal?
Any solution?

As others have said, after two years it's likely that they will have
failed, particularly if they are lead acid.

However it would do no harm to leave them on charge for a day or two
and see if they can at least partly recover, before laying out your
money on a new set. Just check the charger from time to time to check
that it's not getting too hot, which it might possibly do if the
battery has gone short-circuit. That's unlikely though - they are
more likely to have gone high-resistance and not accept a charge.


That is some very, very bad advice.
Don't do that.


smiles
Please explain why it's very bad to attempt charging a sulphated lead acid
battery, Baz.
I'm interested to learn.
Don't hesitate to use specific technical terms - I am qualified to
understand.

RG wrote in newsp.woo4cn1cgkcl5l@home1:

On Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:14:02 -0000, Baz wrote:

RG wrote in newsp.wom4wac0gkcl5l@home1:

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:26:01 -0000, jim dixon
wrote:


I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated.
Didnt use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to
take a charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this
normal? Any solution?

As others have said, after two years it's likely that they will have
failed, particularly if they are lead acid.

However it would do no harm to leave them on charge for a day or two
and see if they can at least partly recover, before laying out your
money on a new set. Just check the charger from time to time to
check that it's not getting too hot, which it might possibly do if
the battery has gone short-circuit. That's unlikely though - they
are more likely to have gone high-resistance and not accept a
charge.


That is some very, very bad advice.
Don't do that.


smiles
Please explain why it's very bad to attempt charging a sulphated lead
acid battery, Baz.
I'm interested to learn.
Don't hesitate to use specific technical terms - I am qualified to
understand.

Only because I have seen, and been to board up homes who's occupants have
bought fake items and fires have resulted.
A big % of these have come from scam batteries and chargers.
No smiles here RG.

Baz

On Sun, 02 Dec 2012 18:44:42 -0000, Baz wrote:

RG wrote in newsp.woo4cn1cgkcl5l@home1:

On Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:14:02 -0000, Baz wrote:

RG wrote in newsp.wom4wac0gkcl5l@home1:

On Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:26:01 -0000, jim dixon
wrote:


I bought a hedge trimmer and a cutter both battery operated.
Didnt use (medical reason) for 2 years. Now cant get batteries to
take a charge. Have checked charger and engines, all okay. Is this
normal? Any solution?

As others have said, after two years it's likely that they will have
failed, particularly if they are lead acid.

However it would do no harm to leave them on charge for a day or two
and see if they can at least partly recover, before laying out your
money on a new set. Just check the charger from time to time to
check that it's not getting too hot, which it might possibly do if
the battery has gone short-circuit. That's unlikely though - they
are more likely to have gone high-resistance and not accept a
charge.


That is some very, very bad advice.
Don't do that.


smiles
Please explain why it's very bad to attempt charging a sulphated lead
acid battery, Baz.
I'm interested to learn.
Don't hesitate to use specific technical terms - I am qualified to
understand.

Only because I have seen, and been to board up homes who's occupants have
bought fake items and fires have resulted.
A big % of these have come from scam batteries and chargers.
No smiles here RG.


Err yes. I understand your concern about fake items.
But how does that apply to the OP, whose problem is due to putting his
equipment into store for two years.
I don't see any suggestion that those are 'scam' items.