rechargeable batterys

i just bought a hitachi 12 volt with lithium-ion batteries is it possible to leave it on the charger too long. I looked in the tool book and it wasn't mentioned. I had a old Colman drill and it said not to leave it on for more than 4 hr.

The charger for My Black and Decker 18 volt is apparently a "smart" charger. I leave the battery in the charger until I need it. Sometimes 2 to 3 months or longer. Never experienced any troubles.

You ask "is it possible to leave it on the charger too long"


SHORT ANSWER: YES ITS "POSSIBLE"


MORE CORRECT ANSWER: IT DEPENDS ON THE CHARGER
AND BATTERY

From what I have read, Lithium Ion Batteries are sensitive to proper charge voltage and amps and charge time and over charging.

THEREFORE if you have an advanced smart charger designed for certain Lithium Ion Batteries, which precisely controls and regulates voltage and amps and time, it can be fine and there's little to no risk of over charging or danger...

HOWEVER if its a cheap bulk charger that DOES NOT properly control and regulate voltage and current and time and isnt designed for certain Lithium Ion batteries, YOU COULD BE IN BIG TROUBLE

I attended a Seminar on Lithium Ion batteries and charging them which agrees with what I have read and posted above.

HOWEVER not having the chargers specs and data and detailed battery information I (nor see how anyone else) can give you a perfect correct answer

SO CHECK THE CHARGER SPECS AND INFORMATION AND FOLLOW IT INSTEAD OF WHAT I SAY or go with what Billy Bob and Bubba say to do!!! YOUR MONEY YOUR CHOICE.

John T

My dewalt Li-ion charger shuts off when battery is
charged. The old dewalt Ni-cd chargers never shot
off, battery would be hot is you left it in too
long.

So if your charger indicates battery is charged and
an hour later, battery is still hot, then I would
say you need to put a timer on charger. Most of the
time my dewalt chargers are done in less than an
hour. I used a one hour timer on the old charger.

Thanks John T the manual states that the charger is dedicated for that battery.
I went down and checked neither the battery nor the charger was warm. It states that it will recharge in 45 min=and have a 3 .5 run time.
Thanks Guys didn't want to go to a barbecue

I've had the Hitachi 12-volt drill & impact set for 5 years now. When the battery is charged, the charger shuts off. When the battery gets so low, the drill will stop working so the low voltage will not damage the drill. I used to have DeWalt drill; I like the Hitachi drill much better. The Hitachi impact driver is one tough tool; I use it for driving tough screws and lag bolts.

Id suspect a new state of the art Battery and Charger to be perfectly matched and SMART so it precisely regulates voltage and current to prevent damage or any chance of overcharging, so I'm NOT surprised, but have learned over 15 years on here to be cautious in my answers lest some Billy Bob A$$ Hole jumps out of the woodwork yelling you're WRONG I GOTCHA thinking he has really done something lol

John T

There are various types of Lithium-ion battery chemistry. However, typically the batterys are damaged if over charged or over discharged. Therefore, the battery charger should shut off at a preset charge voltage and the tool should have protection to shut down at a preset discharge voltage. In other words the battery is managed between less than maximum charge and greater than maximum discharge levels.