Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

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Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by D4np »

Hi all , just wondering if anyone has brought a cordless tool from abroad and used UK batteries in them ?

The reason I ask is because I purchased the cordless dewalt flexvolt chop saw from America before it was available in the UK .

I have had 4 x 54v 6ah batteries die and 1 x 54v 9ah

Most of my tools are dewalt and I use the batteries in all my tools so it is hard to pinpoint if there was a certain tool that was killing the batteries off .

When I rang up repair centres they couldn’t believe I had so many faulty batteries - the guy said that they service the whole country and since flex volt was released he reckons. They Have only a ‘bin full’ of dead flexvolt batteries - bomb proof according to him , I beg to differ however .... he said that the batteries cannot be fixed , so annoying because these batteries aren’t cheap and to find out that they can’t be repaired is frustrating

Thanks





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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by big-all »

the batteries are "chipped " so maybe now they can stop you using non compatable
just a thought are you using an adapter to use new batteries on old dewalt tools :dunno:
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

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big-all wrote:the batteries are "chipped " so maybe now they can stop you using non compatable
just a thought are you using an adapter to use new batteries on old dewalt tools :dunno:
Because it’s cordless the battery just fits - no adapter needed


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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by steviejoiner74 »

Go on the “dewalt talk group” page on Facebook and you’ll see how many people are getting problems with flexvolt batteries,they have a high fail rate!!
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

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steviejoiner74 wrote:Go on the “dewalt talk group” page on Facebook and you’ll see how many people are getting problems with flexvolt batteries,they have a high fail rate!!
I haven’t got Facebook so no can do but that’s interesting . Have you seen many complaints on your travels ?


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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by Bob225 »

I take it you have multiple chargers ? Maybe its your charger killing them, Do all the shoes (battery sockets) on the tools match with the terminals in the same place ?
Last edited by Bob225 on Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by big-all »

its just iff you use one off these
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DCA1820-18-2 ... ctupt=true
non genuine dewalts can ruin the batteries they fit the flexvolt the genuine adapters only fit the 18v
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

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Bob225 wrote:I take it you have multiple chargers ? Maybe its your charger killing them, Do all the shoes (battery sockets) on the tools match with the terminals in the same place ?
I have 2 fast chargers and 3 normal ones . I have had 5ah and 4ah batteries and some of them are date stamped 2012 and there still going !

I’m not using any sort of adapter - I brought into dewalt when they brought out lithium ion . I had all makita kit before then but van got broken into and all makita kit stolen and I couldn’t bring myself to spend £4000 on tools I had previously


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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by Bob225 »

what are the symptoms of the dead/dying batteries ?
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by steviejoiner74 »

D4np wrote:
steviejoiner74 wrote:Go on the “dewalt talk group” page on Facebook and you’ll see how many people are getting problems with flexvolt batteries,they have a high fail rate!!
I haven’t got Facebook so no can do but that’s interesting . Have you seen many complaints on your travels ?
Lots of failures with the 6ah especially. Particularly over winter. The newer batches of batteries apparently are a lot better. The internal switches in them are prone to failing.

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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

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Bob225 wrote:what are the symptoms of the dead/dying batteries ?
It varies - my 9ah shows 3 bars (fully charged ) but won’t put out any power . 1 of them wouldn’t charge but was on 3 bars and I used it down and it still wouldn’t charge . Some of them the chargers won’t pick up . Some of them the charger picks it up but just has a solid red light indicating that there fully charged when there not .

I thought when I brought the 9ah that maybe dewalt had ironed out any issues, found from the 6ah, so I brought 2 ... still issues ..

I’m only going to buy 6ah replacements because it’s not worth the extra money for the 9 and 12 if there’s going to fail anyway


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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by Bob225 »

Its sound like the control/charge balance board inside the battery has gone duff, its a surface mount board, there is a outside chance reflowing the board may work
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by fin »

deffo deffo would not trust any company saying we never hear of anything wrong with any of our gear.
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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by D4np »

Bob225 wrote:Its sound like the control/charge balance board inside the battery has gone duff, its a surface mount board, there is a outside chance reflowing the board may work
How would I go about doing that ? I saw on YouTube about jump starting the batteries off of a good battery but no joy...

It wasn’t dewalt directly who said that - you ring them up and they give you a number of a repair centre nearest to you - pretty sure it’s a company who deals with all the major brands ... still a bit suspicious them saying that though . Looks like I have some very pricey door stops now - that or excellent weapons in case of a zombie apocalypse..




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Re: Imported cordless battery tools (from US)

Post by steviejoiner74 »

D4np wrote:
Bob225 wrote:Its sound like the control/charge balance board inside the battery has gone duff, its a surface mount board, there is a outside chance reflowing the board may work
How would I go about doing that ? I saw on YouTube about jump starting the batteries off of a good battery but no joy...

It wasn’t dewalt directly who said that - you ring them up and they give you a number of a repair centre nearest to you - pretty sure it’s a company who deals with all the major brands ... still a bit suspicious them saying that though . Looks like I have some very pricey door stops now - that or excellent weapons in case of a zombie apocalypse..


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The battery’s have a 1 year warranty....but only if bought in the uk.
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