Cause of weed wacker dying?
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Cause of weed wacker dying?
Hi: My black and decker weed whacker is just a few years old. I'm trying to use it but when I put a battery in it acts like the battery is giving out and about to die. It makes noise and the string whirs around but all it does is slap the grass. It has no power or extremely little. The sound is also the sound you hear when the battery is on it's last legs, not the strong powerful sound it's supposed to make. The battery was freshly-charged overnight. In fact, I have three batteries and it's the same story with all three, all freshly-charged. Two are a few years old and one is maybe just a year old. So I'm thinking it's the whacker itself? How can I determine if it's the batteries or the whacker without buying a new battery? They are pricey. Thank you.
#2
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Batteries have a limited lifespan. Even a freshly charged battery can have little power. There isn't much that can go wrong with the tool as long as it still runs so I suspect the batteries.
#3
Personally I've never understood the appeal of batter powered yard tools.
Corded is bad, gas is great, especially with 3 acres to address, battery, why?
Corded is bad, gas is great, especially with 3 acres to address, battery, why?
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I went with a battery-powered because yard is too big for cord and I hate the messiness and smelliness of the gas ones. Plus they are way heavier. But yes I remember way back when I had one it was much more powerful.
#8
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What battery technology are your batteries? For example Li-Ion batteries die based on the temperature and their state of charge. So, keeping your batteries fully charged for long periods and sitting in a hot shed can accelerate their decline. You have to be careful though storing them discharged. If they self discharge too low the charger may not charge them and give you a faulty battery warning.
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Pilot, I don't know. It just says Single Source System, black and decker, 18V.
HPB18-OPE. Slide pack battery. Big and orange.
Thanks for info, interesting about temps and storage levels.
HPB18-OPE. Slide pack battery. Big and orange.
Thanks for info, interesting about temps and storage levels.
#10
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It looks like those packs use nickel metal hydride (Ni-Mh) cells. One thing you can try is to completely deplete a pack and then completely charge it. Do this cycle only once. In the long term the deep discharge shortens the life of the battery but I have heard that the deep discharge and full recharge can help bring back declining batteries.
Ni-Mh batteries self discharge pretty quickly. So if you charged the batteries a month ago almost half the charge could be gone. You should charge them right before you use them.
Ni-Mh can be damaged by deep discharging. If you've been using the tool until it slows or beyond that can shorten the life of the packs.
Ni-Mh batteries self discharge pretty quickly. So if you charged the batteries a month ago almost half the charge could be gone. You should charge them right before you use them.
Ni-Mh can be damaged by deep discharging. If you've been using the tool until it slows or beyond that can shorten the life of the packs.