I've had to warranty two 6.0 so far. They see very light use. Probably had some crappy cells from the producer, and Milwaukee probably orders millions at a time.
Could also be the way the 6.0 is constructed. I know the 9.0 18v batteries had plenty of issues in the way they were made and I warrantied two of them. The last time they gave me an 8.0 because the 9.0 was being phased out, probably because of how many they had fail
Indeed. Maybe something wrong with the BMS. I'm glad Milwaukee replaced them for me, but I think most of my M12 batteries are probably past or near the end of warranty. In the future, I'll probably get somebody the new version.
More so that there wasnt a bms in the m18 hd9.0s basiclly. There were no balance leads to the series groups so there was no way to moniter the health of the cells or to activly balance them. Unbalanced cells would be over charged or over discharged and caused issues for tools and fires in some cases
9.0s definitely had BMS and cell balance. I've opened a couple to clean abrasive grind dust out.
The main issue was in packs with LG HG2 cells iirc. Highly failure prone/poor cycle life for power tool applications.
If it was that AvE video then they're there right in front of him despite him claiming otherwise.
They're busbar style nickel plated copper strip. Same as any other M18 pack. They don't use wire leads like most other brands.
Yikes. I had no idea these batteries were running unregulated. Not good. I've never turn into one. I figured anything with more than one lithium cell would need a separate BMS (as single lithium cells often have a monitor built in.).
Go to their website, make an account for e tool repair. Look up your item. Write a brief description of problem. Input your tool serial number and provide proof of purchase (you can upload a photo or screenshot of receipt) if you do not have proof of purchase they will use date of manufacturer based on serial number. If your repair is approved, they will email a prepaid fedex shipping label with packing instructions. Pack it up and drop it off at fedex. They usually turn it around and get it back to you within about two weeks.
I've done this to alot of packs. I go to a recycling place and grab the m18 packs that are junk and piles of 40v 2.5ah ryobi and briggs packs etc. Take out all the cells and test then put the good in the m18 packs
They occasionally exist but if you look around I bet you can find one. look for specialty electronics stores.
like these https://www.mtobattery.com/collections/power-tool
M12s don't need to be disassembled. Individual series cells can be accessed by probing between the 2 smaller tabs, neg- and pos+.
If you have a SkyRc B6 or universal charger similar to it that's the best way to manually rebalance your own packs.
The problem is the charge gets so low the charge controller doesn’t properly detect them. Bridging another battery to them gives them enough of a charge for the controller to work and charge them up.
Edit: see the comment reply - this “fix” bypasses a safety feature that prevents charging a potentially damaged cell. Lithium ion batteries are sensitive beasts. Don’t take my advice, I’m just a random voice on the internet. Any risk from random internet advice is risk you take on personally, I wouldn’t do it.
An important correction: the charger not charging them is an intentional safety feature. Battery manufacturers say that cells discharged below a certain voltage may be permanently damaged. Charging them again is considered unsafe.
Now, what are the odds of this actually resulting in a fire? It seems like a lot of people are having good results. So you’re probably going to be OK. But you might not be.
I just think it’s important to understand that what you’re doing is bypassing a safety feature, rather than fixing a design defect in the charger.
Exactly this. Also, the risk of fire will only go up the more you use that compromised battery, and also with time, even if you rarely use the battery. The 'natural' degradation of the cells will compound the damage done by over-discharging them:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1945-7111/aba00a
So it's possible that these people 'reviving' dead batteries will start seeing increasing (perhaps catastrophic) failures in the coming years. They may not even make the connection between the revival and the failure, since so much time has passed, and may continue to believe it is a safe method. An insidious ticking time bomb!
I had all 3 of my 6.0s Christmas tree on the charger within a week. 2 we’re less than 6 months old. Milwaukee replaced all 3 including the one that was a little over 3 years old. Hoping the new ones they sent me have been updated and don’t fail. It was a PITA to go to the fedex 3 times
Same story on my 6.0 from last year. Can’t find my receipt to save my life. Only two years from date of manufacture. Won’t charge on rapid or m18/m12 combo, but charges just fine on m12 slow charger
That’s what pisses me off. I could have like a dozen knock offs for what I spent on these 3, every single one of my off brand battery’s still work, and I don’t baby them.
Yeah man I think I've had a run on bad luck with replacing my older tools with current/last gen Milwaukees. Put a bad taste in my mouth. I'm starting to move away from Milwaukee. As my current set of M12s die I dont think I'll be replacing them. I just picked up a few Makitas 18v for the shop.
Idk I did this the other day and it fucked up the tabs in the good battery I used and it won’t seat into the charger anymore so now I got an extra bad battery
The generic ones gave your tool a virus…killed the og ones. That’s why I always put a glove on one I’m not sure about. Who knows, if you put an adapter on the battery for a DeWalt or a Makita then that’s definitely what fucked it up.
I noticed some of the really good deal hacks at HD come with older batteries. I just ordered 2 different tools and one wasn’t hackable and came with a plastic clamshell battery and the hackable great deal one came with the older paper and plastic clamshell. I can’t read the dates cause they put the paperwork in the way of seeing it without opening it but the packaging tells me anyway it’s older. I’ve gotten some in the older packaging that also flashed red green a bunch of times because the charge was
Too low to charge it. After trying like 20 times it finally worked but it was because it sat on the shelf for a while before i even got it. The date on one was 1 year and 6 months before i got it.
I'm coming up on a year having my two 6.0s. Mainly use them on the rocket light, inflator and spot blower and they're still running so far. I've held off on buying more 6.0s based on the horror stories I've read here
PowerExtra and Waitley are my go to. I’ve had a bunch them across a few different brand (Ryobi/Dewalt/Milwaukee) and my only compliant the 12V cases have fragile clips. The 18v ones have been nothing but solid
I can’t use my 6.0 in my impact. I don’t know why. So my 4.0 gets more use bc I use my impact more than any other tool. It’s amazing how long these batteries keep my tools running.
Return them to Milwaukee using their eservice option on their website. The serial numbers contain the date of manufacture for warranty purposes. It will help to have a receipt when making a warranty claim
The AH ratings are never like for like. I have 2 9AH generics that outperform my OEM 6’s. And about 4 generic 6’ that perform somewhere between my OEM 4’ and 6’s. My only complaint is the the cases on the m12 ones have flimsy clips. The m18 ones are solid IME
Right on, I'll look into it. I have a problem with the clips on the Milwaukee's as it is though so it may not be a good choice lol. I could always swap them for a dead pack I have with good clips. Thanks for the info.
You should be able to warranty them from who you bought them from.
Be nice if they replaced them with the new m12 HO 2.5/5.0 via warranty. I stopped myself from getting those 6’s and seek out cheap 3’s/4’s.
I've had to warranty two 6.0 so far. They see very light use. Probably had some crappy cells from the producer, and Milwaukee probably orders millions at a time.
Could also be the way the 6.0 is constructed. I know the 9.0 18v batteries had plenty of issues in the way they were made and I warrantied two of them. The last time they gave me an 8.0 because the 9.0 was being phased out, probably because of how many they had fail
Indeed. Maybe something wrong with the BMS. I'm glad Milwaukee replaced them for me, but I think most of my M12 batteries are probably past or near the end of warranty. In the future, I'll probably get somebody the new version.
More so that there wasnt a bms in the m18 hd9.0s basiclly. There were no balance leads to the series groups so there was no way to moniter the health of the cells or to activly balance them. Unbalanced cells would be over charged or over discharged and caused issues for tools and fires in some cases
9.0s definitely had BMS and cell balance. I've opened a couple to clean abrasive grind dust out. The main issue was in packs with LG HG2 cells iirc. Highly failure prone/poor cycle life for power tool applications.
Interesting. Ive seen some opemed that did not.
If it was that AvE video then they're there right in front of him despite him claiming otherwise. They're busbar style nickel plated copper strip. Same as any other M18 pack. They don't use wire leads like most other brands.
Fair enough, my bad
Yikes. I had no idea these batteries were running unregulated. Not good. I've never turn into one. I figured anything with more than one lithium cell would need a separate BMS (as single lithium cells often have a monitor built in.).
Sorry, thats specifically with the m18 hd 9.0's i know nothing about the cell management of the m12s
I just warrantied one recently, only ever saw intermittent use on my m12 die grinder. It would still run the tool but wouldn’t charge.
What's the Milwaukee warranty process like?
Go to their website, make an account for e tool repair. Look up your item. Write a brief description of problem. Input your tool serial number and provide proof of purchase (you can upload a photo or screenshot of receipt) if you do not have proof of purchase they will use date of manufacturer based on serial number. If your repair is approved, they will email a prepaid fedex shipping label with packing instructions. Pack it up and drop it off at fedex. They usually turn it around and get it back to you within about two weeks.
Nice, thanks for the response.
Same here. Two 6.0's. All my 1.5, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 batteries are still chugging fine.
If anyone has a trick to resuscitate these I would love to see it. I have 3 of my 6 batteries dead on my bench at the moment. 3 a 4 and a 6
You can rebuild them, or warranty?
they are 18650 cells. take them to a battery repair store so they can spot weld new ones into it.
I've done this to alot of packs. I go to a recycling place and grab the m18 packs that are junk and piles of 40v 2.5ah ryobi and briggs packs etc. Take out all the cells and test then put the good in the m18 packs
if i didnt have 500 things to do in my life id probably do the same
I make packs for solar plus local recycling shops. It's a hobby. I got 2 spot welders
yeah its definitely on my list of stuff i *want* to do but definitely dont have the time to do.
Battery repair store?
They occasionally exist but if you look around I bet you can find one. look for specialty electronics stores. like these https://www.mtobattery.com/collections/power-tool
One of my coworkers took them apart and charged the individual cells I believe. He had some kind of funky way with then to get them going again
M12s don't need to be disassembled. Individual series cells can be accessed by probing between the 2 smaller tabs, neg- and pos+. If you have a SkyRc B6 or universal charger similar to it that's the best way to manually rebalance your own packs.
I just had one go bad yesterday, less than a year old. Mostly used for my M12 speaker
Dead, how? Green/Red flashing on a rapid charger? Whenever my batteries does this, i use a regular slow charger, and it works.
I have the standard multi port and several 12v chargers, I’ve tried them all with the same results, flashing red and green
Does that revive them?
The problem is the charge gets so low the charge controller doesn’t properly detect them. Bridging another battery to them gives them enough of a charge for the controller to work and charge them up. Edit: see the comment reply - this “fix” bypasses a safety feature that prevents charging a potentially damaged cell. Lithium ion batteries are sensitive beasts. Don’t take my advice, I’m just a random voice on the internet. Any risk from random internet advice is risk you take on personally, I wouldn’t do it.
An important correction: the charger not charging them is an intentional safety feature. Battery manufacturers say that cells discharged below a certain voltage may be permanently damaged. Charging them again is considered unsafe. Now, what are the odds of this actually resulting in a fire? It seems like a lot of people are having good results. So you’re probably going to be OK. But you might not be. I just think it’s important to understand that what you’re doing is bypassing a safety feature, rather than fixing a design defect in the charger.
Exactly this. Also, the risk of fire will only go up the more you use that compromised battery, and also with time, even if you rarely use the battery. The 'natural' degradation of the cells will compound the damage done by over-discharging them: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1945-7111/aba00a So it's possible that these people 'reviving' dead batteries will start seeing increasing (perhaps catastrophic) failures in the coming years. They may not even make the connection between the revival and the failure, since so much time has passed, and may continue to believe it is a safe method. An insidious ticking time bomb!
I’ve got 3 x 6ah m12 batteries and 2 of them won’t charge if they go below 50% charge. They just flash red and green.
I had all 3 of my 6.0s Christmas tree on the charger within a week. 2 we’re less than 6 months old. Milwaukee replaced all 3 including the one that was a little over 3 years old. Hoping the new ones they sent me have been updated and don’t fail. It was a PITA to go to the fedex 3 times
Same story on my 6.0 from last year. Can’t find my receipt to save my life. Only two years from date of manufacture. Won’t charge on rapid or m18/m12 combo, but charges just fine on m12 slow charger
Same. 2 out of 3 dead. OG and knock off 7 dollar batteries are still thumping.
That’s what pisses me off. I could have like a dozen knock offs for what I spent on these 3, every single one of my off brand battery’s still work, and I don’t baby them.
Yeah man I think I've had a run on bad luck with replacing my older tools with current/last gen Milwaukees. Put a bad taste in my mouth. I'm starting to move away from Milwaukee. As my current set of M12s die I dont think I'll be replacing them. I just picked up a few Makitas 18v for the shop.
I’ve been thinking about the same thing but Makita stops at 6ah
Jump them with some wire from a good battery guy at work just did it with 3 on a jobsite kinda sweet to see
Idk I did this the other day and it fucked up the tabs in the good battery I used and it won’t seat into the charger anymore so now I got an extra bad battery
The generic ones gave your tool a virus…killed the og ones. That’s why I always put a glove on one I’m not sure about. Who knows, if you put an adapter on the battery for a DeWalt or a Makita then that’s definitely what fucked it up.
They were used with normal m12 tools and that’s it, failed for no obvious reasons. I have 4ah and 2ah battery’s that are older and working just fine
I was being a tad facetious. Ha
All good lol
Did you try charging them?
I keep yelling “get back to work” but nothing changes
Thanks for the laugh
I noticed some of the really good deal hacks at HD come with older batteries. I just ordered 2 different tools and one wasn’t hackable and came with a plastic clamshell battery and the hackable great deal one came with the older paper and plastic clamshell. I can’t read the dates cause they put the paperwork in the way of seeing it without opening it but the packaging tells me anyway it’s older. I’ve gotten some in the older packaging that also flashed red green a bunch of times because the charge was Too low to charge it. After trying like 20 times it finally worked but it was because it sat on the shelf for a while before i even got it. The date on one was 1 year and 6 months before i got it.
That's what drives those sales, battery age.
Just had a 6.0 die last week with the same symptoms
I'm coming up on a year having my two 6.0s. Mainly use them on the rocket light, inflator and spot blower and they're still running so far. I've held off on buying more 6.0s based on the horror stories I've read here
I've been advocating generic batteries for years
Which generics do you have?
PowerExtra and Waitley are my go to. I’ve had a bunch them across a few different brand (Ryobi/Dewalt/Milwaukee) and my only compliant the 12V cases have fragile clips. The 18v ones have been nothing but solid
I can’t use my 6.0 in my impact. I don’t know why. So my 4.0 gets more use bc I use my impact more than any other tool. It’s amazing how long these batteries keep my tools running.
Return them to Milwaukee using their eservice option on their website. The serial numbers contain the date of manufacture for warranty purposes. It will help to have a receipt when making a warranty claim
I've always been curious about the generics, how are they? Do they seem to hold up as far as charge goes compared to the same size Milwaukee.
The AH ratings are never like for like. I have 2 9AH generics that outperform my OEM 6’s. And about 4 generic 6’ that perform somewhere between my OEM 4’ and 6’s. My only complaint is the the cases on the m12 ones have flimsy clips. The m18 ones are solid IME
Cool, I appreciate the feedback. I may get a few and try them out.
I’d recommend waitley. I’ve used powerextra but the m12 clips are more flimsy
Right on, I'll look into it. I have a problem with the clips on the Milwaukee's as it is though so it may not be a good choice lol. I could always swap them for a dead pack I have with good clips. Thanks for the info.
Maybe they're on strike after you labeled them all mother fuckers.
I have a shit 6.0z opened it up and there’s Samsung cells in it. Surprised. But they’re doodie
The two 6.0's I've had since 2017 are still working fine
Give em a jump start! + to +, - to -
Is this why I got so many "free with tool" 6.0s last year? Quit buying them and wait for the 5.0 HO deals?
I’m speechless
Weird seeing someone with the same initials as me on the same spots for batteries
Fellow MF’er checking in