Beautiful job!!
Diana you could not give me the best battery powered weed whacker. I had a black and decker with two batteries. After a few years they would not charge all the way and just not enough power for what we have around here. Hubby bought a gas powered one but its too heavy for me. I have had a corded one for About 5 years now. Runs like a horse. Two 50ft long orange extension cords and I can go anywhere. No breaks. Best part is it is very lightweight. I just tossed a battery powered hand drill too. Worthless after a few years. Going to get a corded one.
We have a gas-powered and it’s too heavy for me, too. I have a corded one, but I was thinking of part of the garden area that needs whacking and I don’t think there’s enough extension cord in the world to reach from the house to the back of the garden.
Maybe once I get some electricity in my Greenhouse/She Shed? The DREAM lives on, LOL!
Kind of thinking ahead for if/when I have to manage more of, ‘this chaos’ myself. I kinda freak out every time Beau is under the weather, or has injured himself in some way.
Current issue is a rotator cuff, but he’s recovering!
Battery powered tools can function well for many years, BUT, you practically have to have a Masters Degree in battery care, and be willing to go to the trouble, to pull it off.
A fundamental problem is that too many manufacturers are generally not using high quality batteries, such as from Panasonic, Tesla, or Samsung, or even EBL. I’ve refurbed a few battery packs with quality batteries, with great success.
Another fundamental problem is that manufacturers, to save weight and cost, and gain energy storage (and advertising oomph), put multiple cells in series. If one cell weakens or fails, the battery pack is toast. A more correct approach (from a reliability standpoint) is to use bigger cells or put cells in parallel* and add circuitry that detects and cuts out a misbehaving / bad battery. Most people will barely notice it if their tool is now running on 3 parallel cells instead of 4. This adds cost, so it’s not usually found in any but (some) expensive equipment.
*Bad cells in series-parallel packs can be accounted for as well (see “Tesla”), but this again adds cost and is usually found only in pricey equipment (like packs for cars.)
From a user standpoint:
1) Don’t run batteries down below 40%, except Ni-Cads, which “need” a full discharge now and then. (I have a few tools that cut out completely, automatically, if the battery gets low. It’s a bit un-nerving when 1st discovered: It seems the tool is running fine, then it abruptly quits with no warning. That has its minuses, but I’ve not yet had a battery pack go bad if it functions this way and the below is also observed:
2) Recharge immediately. Do NOT let a battery sit around in a state of low charge. (This applies to even car batteries.)
3) Recharge at room temperature or as close as possible. (It’s actually dangerous to try to recharge esp. lithium batts @ very high or low temperatures, and recharging below 40 deg. F or so can be quite hard on Lithium batteries even if they don’t become a fire risk.)
4) Leaving batteries on charge continuously can be hard on them (depends a lot on the charger), but OTOH, self-discharge over a long period can lead to damage from “2” above. Refresh NiMh batts monthly and ideally before use.
2-3 months is ok for most Lithium batts, Ni-Cads I’d not leave sitting for over 2-3 weeks.
Note that if a battery pack measures only couple degrees over ambient temperature, well after it should have been fully charged, the charger likely switches to a trickle charge mode that is fairly safe for the battery. (With lithium batts, I still prefer to remove them from the charger once fully charged, and this should be done with any rechargeable battery that stays more than slightly warm in or connected to the charger once fully charged.)
Note after purchase: If the battery pack, in a comfortably warm room, ever exceeds, oh, 100 deg. F, at any part of the charge process, return this tool and buy a different brand. Ditto if the pack seems more than slightly warm hours after the full charge indicator comes on.
BTW, a LOT of this applies to laptops, cell phones, etc. Keep those batteries healthy!
In my case, I’ve only had one battery powered TOOL that I’ve purchased new, in the last 10 (12?) years, fail or become “weak” due to the battery pack failing. But, it required manufacturers getting better (most of the good ones have), significant effort and attention on my part, and a LOT of learning...
For the “handy” with electricity: Most battery powered tools that run off battery packs rated at 12v - 18v (and sometimes more) will run ok off a car or riding mower battery. I’ve rigged up more than one this way with detachable cabling for portability. You can run a long time off a riding mower battery that will take a good charge, but, again, recharge as soon as the battery output seems to drop. (I actually clip a $3 “passive” low current “12 volt meter” (it runs off the voltage it is monitoring) on my setup. (I picked up the meter on eBay many moons ago.)) Riding mower batteries are not designed for deep cycle use and will suffer considerably if deeply discharged.
Now, I will grant you that I use battery powered tools for most quick jobs, and for longer jobs to even 150 ft., I use extension cords to AC powered tools (or using air powered tools when appropriate) instead of my riding mower battery conversion: But, with a property over 500 ft. long, and the outlets (house & shop) at one end, the latter has come in pretty handy sometimes!