Keep Your Tools Fully Charged With A New Power Tool Battery
Battery-powered power tools are now a must-have item for any home handy person. They offer extra portability, so you don’t have to plug your tool into a power point when you’re using it. But batteries do wear out after a certain amount of time and when that happens, you’ll need a new battery to keep on working.
Additionally, if you use your power tools for extended periods, you might like to invest in a second battery so that you don’t have to wait for the current one to recharge. This way you can always have one battery readily charged when you need it.
Whatever brand of power tools you own, whether they’re Makita, Ozito, Ryobi or DeWalt, you can purchase a replacement battery easily once yours has reached the end of its life.
Why do power tool batteries wear out?
Inside the battery, there’s a cathode and an anode. Ions flow freely between these two. When the battery is being charged, the ions flow from the cathode to the anode with the reverse happening when the battery is being used.
Over time, this causes the anode to wear out and this results in the battery having reduced capacity. What this means is that your battery slowly loses more and more capacity to store power as it ages.
How do you determine what size battery you need?
One of the easiest ways to ensure you get the right battery is to look at the one you currently have and see if you can find an exact replacement. However, sometimes you might want a battery that has a longer run time than your current one.
To determine the run-time of any battery, look at the amp hours. Power tool batteries generally range from 2 amp hours (2.0Ah) to over 5 amp hours (5.0Ah). Therefore, a battery with a 5.0Ah rating will be able to power your tool for longer between charges than one that is only a 2.0Ah rating.
Make sure you get the correct voltage when replacing your battery
If your power tool currently uses a 20-volt battery, you cannot replace it with a higher voltage one as this will destroy your power tool. The voltage determines the power of your tool, so a higher voltage tool will be more powerful. Therefore, a higher voltage battery will burn out the motor in your power tool that is designed for a lower voltage battery.