cold and batteries

[Tom Hildebrand]

I thought of a question from the thread about cold shops.

I replaced my Milwaukee drill batteries under the recall recently. The service shop guy told me that cold to batteries refers to "freezing" temps. He actually said 30 degrees, but I would assume 32 at freezing would be considered cold in his definition.

So: do you agree? Is it freezing temps that are too cold to a battery? Or is it something warmer?

thanks

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Tom, batteries lose capacity as their temperature falls from the reference temperature.

The most common reference temp is 25C or about 77F, so at any temperature below that your battery is at reduced capacity.

The lower temperatures do not damage the battery, just temporarily reduce the capacity.

Regards, Rod.

[Don Jarvie]

I take my cordless drill in the house and don't leave it in the unheated garage.

I noticed cold batteries don't work that well at all.

[Mike Reinholtz]

I have 2 makita 18V sets, one sits in the garage and one sits in my truck for work and I've never had a problem. I have noticed them operate a little sluggish when very cold, but once you start using them and the batteries warm up you should be fine. One set is about 3 years old and the other is about 2, so far no problems. Winters where I live get to down to the upper 20s at night, so it's not that extreme, but I use the work set pretty much every day and haven't noticed any lasting issues. They also see the other extreme of summers that hit 110 and get even warmer sitting in the tool box on my truck.

Back when I lived in Chicago I did the same thing leaving my NIMH makita set in my work van every night all year long. Once they warm up they are fine, everyone I worked with did this and no one ever mentioned a problem.

Could this have anything to do with the newer battery technologies and Li-ion? I have been looking at getting a Milwaukee 28V circ saw, nice to know before I take the plunge.

[Ed Griner]

My cordless equipment stays in my van summer and winter.Typically recharge in the house,never had a problem.The winter temps are 5/30 degrees.

Ed