How many batteries are necessary?

For many years I’ve always thought the more batteries the better.  While there is no denying having plenty of packs on hand is very handy, where does a guy draw the line?

I myself, have come to the conclusion that age of the batteries is more detrimental than actual use.

I’ve heard storage temperature can play a big role in life of cells, but I personally don’t know if there are any real life gains to be had in a controlled enviroment.

What are your thoughts on battery packs?

This is a very different answer than it was a few years ago, but with the newer packs you can typically get by with one on less power hungry tools and 2 for the hungrier ones. 

It obviously depends on individual usage, but I would think 3 batteries for every 2 tools would cover you in damn near any situation. Again, it’s an individual question with an individual answer as your list of most used and seldom used tools will be different than mine and will vary in power requirements. 

Well I have had bad luck storing batteries in any sort of freezing weather. I bought 3 brand new Ryobi batteries and put them on the 6 port charger they offer and by the spring the new batteries were throwing error codes. My old beat up Ryobi batteries that were 4 years old at that point worked fine go figure the new ones were the ones that died. A friend has had the same problem his batteries would die if left out in the cold too it could just be a Ryobi issues that their cells just cant handle the cold if left of a charger. At that point they sat out side because I had Milwaukee tools for the construction stuff and Ryobi was for the outside tools and some tools Milwaukee just doesn’t offer on their battery platforms. After that I keep all my batteries in the basement the tools still get stored in the garage over the winter.

Back to the question on how many packs it depends on what your doing I think you could get away with 4 2.0ah packs if all you did was drilling and fastening. Now if your doing any sort of higher power tasks like cutting or grinding your probably going to want a few 3 at the minimum 4.0 packs. You can go through them quick if your working hard and fast.

Yea it’s such a hard question to answer with the new high battery capacities the numbers are defiantly lower that you used to need. I know I probably have more batteries than I need, but you can’t beat the buy a kit get a free battery deal. Also like not having to swap packs on tools to use them by having a battery for each tool you are going to use for that project is also very convent.

It definitely depends on what type of work you predominantly do, if it is mainly demo than I can see a lot of batteries because there isn’t much measure twice cut once time on stuff like that but if you do more fastening then maybe only two or three as you can do a ton of screws with a 4ah battery now a days. The other thing that matters is do you have other “accessories” like a radio, heated hoodie, that type stuff that isn’t really a tool but yet takes up a battery or two.

Me and a friend did a demo on a pretty decent sized structure with 4 4.0 ah batteries with my Fuel Sawzall we never had to stop and wait for a battery to charge, and we took out a lot of material on that demo.

I like to stay at 4 but then 5 and 6 makes sense when using several tools at a time and have a radio running off batteries and a heated jacket and also a power source for the usb

I have 9 M18 tools and I have eight 4.0 packs and two 1.5 packs

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You could possibly mount the charger on the side of one of your big tough boxes as a mod Regopit. If you added a rubber washer or just some adhesive caulk to seal everything from water possibly getting in. Or at least the option to hang it off the side I might make it too wide to get through some doors. I’m thinking of selling all of my M12 chargers and using that money to get the new M12 M18 six pack super charger.

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I have the six pack charger I keep here at the house that I will put my dead batteries on when I get home. So far I have not had to use the 2 chargers that I carry with me.

I have too many 🙂 I am still on the old school mentality have more, but I think I’ll never need them all at once, my issue is that these kits sometimes aren’t much more than a bare tool and you get a battery (maybe 2), charger and a case or bag.

I have an addiction and needs help O0

I think this is a hard one to answer, there are way too many variables to consider and really depends on the person using them really.  

I have 25+ M12 and 20+ M18 I have them because I hate taking the time to charge them on the job so I just swap them out and have a battery charging party on the weekends. 

I have some of the older first gen M12 and M18 batteries that have been laying around for over 2 years and still have charges on them.  The key to Storing Lithium batteries is to drain them to between 30 and 50%.  Never store then dead or fully charged.  I also live in Palm Beach, Florida so our winter consist of 2 – 30 degree days if we are lucky.

Dang Tool Whore!! And I though I had a lot of batteries!! I think you could power a small African nation with all of those packs. I just grew the family by one m12 xc4.0, but that wasn’t even planned. I just couldn’t justify the new M12 hackzall for $139 when I could get the kit for $149. So back goes the bare tool to Home Depot!!

I actually found the website were the grey market guys buy the knockoff battery packs. They had so many vendors and options to buy from you could even but Default and Malwiki, and Marika brand tools. That a non tool person would think were the real deal. It was pretty crazy too see. but a lot of it you could tell it wasn’t legit from the pictures they would have the wrong fonts and crap. That’s the one thing about cordless powertools they nail you on the replacement or extra batteries if you don’t get a deal on them some how. It’s totally the razor blade model sell the tool for nothing and get me on the battery replacement. The thing is most people have gotten on to that and just buy a new kit its cheaper, and either keep the old tool or sell it for a few bucks on Craigslist. I get a new tool with a warranty, and some one gets a used tool on a budget.

DR, this is really why my Battery collection grows, I look at the bare tools but for $30-$50 more you can get 2 batteries, charger, and a case, and some times other perks, its worth it for the most part.

Milwaukee makes it really hard because they run that free buy a kit get a free battery or bare tool deal so often. I don’t know the last time the other brands have done it, but Milwaukee is pretty consistent in offering it multiplez times during the year on both M12 and M18 platforms.

I love those deals, that’s how I got my ratchet and stick light! I have used my free tools more than the kits I bought. Thanks to your latest deals I’ll be adding some new kits to my collection! I have almost decided to stop my 20v lineup and start getting M18, but I feel like I’ll have a real problem and need some help if I do that……it still might happen tho as I want the fuel Impact Wrench 🙂

Milwaukee is great at keeping there customers happy with these kind of deals other brands need to take notice.

That’s why I have so much Milwaukee gear! And because m12 has all the deals it’s no surprise I have a ton of m12 and little m18

Javier wrote:

That’s why I have so much Milwaukee gear! And because m12 has all the deals it’s no surprise I have a ton of m12 and little m18

It’s also the Fact that the M12 fuel gear has enough power to do pretty much everything now. I rarely pull out the M18 fuel drill and impact driver now. I won’t get rid of them because I like having the power just in case still. I will proably still even get updated M18 fuel drills just because I’m crazy like that. Their are a few tools I would still like too have, but you know something always comes up.

DR99 wrote:

Dang Tool Whore!! And I though I had a lot of batteries!! I think you could power a small African nation with all of those packs. I just grew the family by one m12 xc4.0, but that wasn’t even planned. I just couldn’t justify the new M12 hackzall for $139 when I could get the kit for $149. So back goes the bare tool to Home Depot!!

LoL!  It certainly does what I need it to when i want it too LoL!  

 Like many others here, I have so many because of the promo’s they offer so often and because I like to have the cases so I have to buy the kits anyway.  I think I’m going to start selling off my 1.5 and XC3.0’s now that the XC5.0’s are coming out.  

Thanks for posting that deal from Home Depot, thanks to you I just pissed away more money on something I really didn’t need to fill my insatiable lust for the latest and greatest FUEL.  I also picked up the M12 FUEL Impact so I’ll have 3 more batteries and two more tools I don’t need but I don’t care because I WANT them and it fills my need to “FUEL” up 😀  

Seriously though, thanks for posting that, I was going to get it soon so this deal couldn’t have come at a more opertune time for me.   

Hell, thinking about it, I may just dress them up (Clean them) and take a picture of all my fuel tools since I don’t even know what all I have anymore :/

All depends in your line if work and how much u use your tools. I get by with 2 m18 4.0packs at work a day With my two impact wrenchs and 1 m12 for my smaller driver

For my personal Dewalt 20v I have 6 batteries, 4 3.0 Ah and 2 1.5Ah.

I always keep one on my radio and revolve the other ones on my tools. I don’t remember the last time I had on die on me.

For my Milwaukee 12v I have 3 3Ah and 4 1.5/2ah. I keep 2 batteries with the band saw. 2 batteries stay with two other specialty tools. I keep 3 batteries in store just for the heated hoodie.

I definitely have more than I need, but I have enough to keep them sorted the way I want. 

I try to move them around if I can to try to keep them all used.

I went through 6 fully charged 4.0xc M18 batteries on Friday……Tool reviews take a lot of time & (battery) energy…haha 🙂

I think AT MINIMUM anyone who uses a cordless tool to make money needs 2-3 batteries. 

A DIYer or homeowner can get away with only one, since they can have the time to come back and finish after it recharges.

woodstockva wrote:

 

A DIYer or homeowner can get away with only one, since they can have the time to come back and finish after it recharges.

You must not have a wife that nags until the work is done! Get me another battery and one while I’m waiting!

Batteries are like rifles…. I just need one more…

I like that BK!!:)

woodstockva wrote:

 

 

A DIYer or homeowner can get away with only one, since they can have the time to come back and finish after it recharges.

I’m self employed (wife calls it Semi retired) and most of all my work is done from home, however when I’m doing something for the house/family/wife there is nothing worse than being in the middle of a job and having to wait……some times jobs can only get done at certain times of a day…

I suggest a 2 battery minimum for a diyer

As others have said, it mostly depends on your needs. I have (4) M18 tools with (3) M18 3.0 and (4) M12 tools with (2) M12 4.0 & (1) M12 1.5. and that suits my needs perfectly. YMMV

Just like potato chips u can never have just one, or two, and so on. I’m a homeowner and diyer, I have 3 -3amp,1-1.5amp, and 1-4amp dewalt batteries. Still not enough.

AGREE!!

I think I have six 2.0 ah M12 batteries and one 4.0. I sure would like one or two more of the 4.0s, but I’m not sure I can really justify it.

BK13 wrote:

Batteries are like rifles…. I just need one more…

I only have 3-18 volt and after reading this post I really need more. Can’t have too many.

Just one…

And one…

And one more…

I saw homedepot is having a battery sale in an email I got earlier this would be a good time to stock up

I have 1x 4ah and 2x 2ah 18Volt Bosch Batteries (enough for just a drill and an impactor)

and also 1x 2ah 12Volt Milwaukee Battery

the Milwaukee battery ran on accident in my arm 😛

Like always it depends on the tools you use. ( Drill driver / impact ain’t power hungry   while a circ saw, recip saw, grinder are very power hungry )

I do suppose it also depends on the charging speed of your brands charger.   Makita’s 4.0 amps charge fully in 40 minutes tops so for most applications you’ll not be able to drain 1 battery before the second battery is topped up on the charger.

There’s also a thing like too much batteries.  If you have too many and some of them don’t see frequent use they’ll start losing performance from age and laying around.

Batteries are in best condition if used ( discharging and charging again ) regularly.

Home user myself and I get by with 2 x  4.0 Amps for the Makita Drill driver / rotary hammer / Recip saw

And I got 2  1.5 amp batteries for the radio / fan / vacuum / heatable jacket.

I have 22 batteries and can easily use 10-12 in a day. By myself. Rotory Hammer goes through batteries like nobody’s business. My grinder does too.

I can imagine that

RickyMcGrath wrote:

I have 22 batteries and can easily use 10-12 in a day. By myself. Rotory Hammer goes through batteries like nobody’s business. My grinder does too.

Is that the dewalt 20 volt Rotary hammer

RickyMcGrath wrote:

I have 22 batteries and can easily use 10-12 in a day. By myself. Rotory Hammer goes through batteries like nobody’s business. My grinder does too.

Yeah, we have DeWalt XRP Rotary Hammers at work and they chew thru batteries like crazy! We don’t really use them that much, unless setting a control network for a big topo job..

kornomaniac wrote:

Like always it depends on the tools you use. ( Drill driver / impact ain’t power hungry while a circ saw, recip saw, grinder are very power hungry )

I do suppose it also depends on the charging speed of your brands charger. Makita’s 4.0 amps charge fully in 40 minutes tops so for most applications you’ll not be able to drain 1 battery before the second battery is topped up on the charger.

There’s also a thing like too much batteries. If you have too many and some of them don’t see frequent use they’ll start losing performance from age and laying around.

Batteries are in best condition if used ( discharging and charging again ) regularly.

Home user myself and I get by with 2 x 4.0 Amps for the Makita Drill driver / rotary hammer / Recip saw

And I got 2 1.5 amp batteries for the radio / fan / vacuum / heatable jacket.

Good advise here.. if your not cycling through your batteries then your gonna ruin them and it’s just a waste..

as a infrequent home user 2 or 3 batteries is probably fine.

Professional users are harder to figure.. look at how many tools you can see yourself using at one time on a regular basis and then add about two extra batteries to that number and you should be fine..

I cant complain with my 3 batteries, I just use it for my drills at home and in my shop

This is what I got and 2 4.0 ah 5 3.0 but 2 are that shop still and 2. 2.0ah and last 2 1.5ah and I still wanna get the 5.0ah 😉

not to be funny, but that Milwaukee tape measure sure looks like it’s got its chest sticking out sitting on a bench with all that black n yellow……

I like that radio next to the tape measure 😀

what brand is that? haha

The new m12 fuel lol!! 🙂

haha – compact version 😀

BK13 wrote:

Yeah, we have DeWalt XRP Rotary Hammers at work and they chew thru batteries like crazy! We don’t really use them that much, unless setting a control network for a big topo job..

Yea last week I got a hold of a almost brand new Dewalt 36 volt SDS Rotatory hammer kit with the attached cordless dust extraction unit the from my local pawn shop for 525$. I used it to drill some holes in the foundation of my aunts house for a reno they had to do. I feel like 36 volt batteries are more suited to that kind of tool, I used 1 battery drilling 20 holes and then spending 45 minutes destroying some extra patio stones in there back yard with my cousin, and after all that the thing didn’t show any signs of significant power drain. It was probably one of the funnest tools I have used in a while. I then sold it to a guy for 600$, witch is crazy because to get it new It costs 1000$.