Tag: battery

Milwaukee M12 Heated Jacket Failures

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B got a Milwaukee M12 heated jacket over Thanksgiving to wear in the coolers when she’s at work.

The pocket where you connect the batter is on the back left, which is an awkward position. In less than two months the wire frayed by the barrel jack.

The exposed wires caused a short in the M12 Power Source, which is the red plastic shell that connects the battery.

The part was dead in the water and gives an error status. What terrible designs in the jacket’s wiring and the power source. Luckily, the battery does have fault protection and still worked. I checked the item on Milwaukee’s web site and other people had the same problems. After leaving a review, it looked like Milwaukee reached out to them. So I left my own review with a picture of the wire…

My partner got the jacket less than 2 months ago. The wire frayed by the connector causing a short, which appears to have killed the power source. I read 12.5v out of the battery just fine, but nothing from the power source. Terrible design in the jacket and with no protection in the power source. I can fix the connection and barrel jack on the jacket without an issue, but not much we can do about the power source.

Their social media team sent me an email the next day…

We are sorry to hear you are experiencing some issue with your M12™ Power Source! As a one-time courtesy, our team would like to assist with a replacement!

About a week later they emailed me again, with a return label to send them both the battery and the power source and they sent us replacements. Kudos to Milwaukee for sending the new version of the power source and a 3.0 Ah battery when the previous one was 2.0 Ah. B will be happy about the extra battery life.

By the time we got both items it was exactly three weeks after I had left my review. I isolated the wires with some cardboard between them so I could make sure the jacket worked with the replacements. It was a success, so I separated the two sides of the wire, tested which side came from which part of the jack, and then cut it off.

I stripped back insulation, put shrink tube around each wire, connected a new jack, put shrink tube around both wires, and gave it a couple wraps of electrical tape.

I might end up getting a right angle jack to help with the strain relief. We’ll see how this holds up.

Review: Hychika 3.6V Cordless Screwdriver

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Last week I was contacted by Hychika, who asked if I’d like to try one of their tools in exchange for a review. They offered their 20v Drill/Driver, a small tire inflator, or a small cordless screwdriver. I’m set on drills and impact drivers with my Ryobi collection of tools and I don’t have a bike, which would be the ideal use of the inflator. The 3.6V Cordless Screwdriver caught my eye and it arrived in a couple of days.

The set came with an injection molded case, which I usually think are a waste because they’re junk; the parts are always hard to get out and put back in. This case is really no different than my other experiences with them, but for how I’ll use this screwdriver, I’m actually glad to have it. It’ll make the set easy to store in my hobby room.

At only 3.6 volts and 180 RPM, this is not a powerful screwdriver by any measurement. I won’t be driving screws in to hardwood that’s for sure. I’ll keep it in my hobby room where it will get a lot of use working on electronics and small appliances/machines. It’s the perfect size and muscle for that type of use. I did pull it out today when I had to take the face plates off some outlets and was able to remove the outlets too, so it may prove useful in the kitchen or garage when I don’t want to run downstairs for a full size driver.

The kit comes with a USB charger, a mini wrench, and a nice assortment of sockets and bits. The screwdriver itself has a couple of nifty features, like a flashlight, rotating head for use in two orientations, and a quick release chuck. The quick release chuck seems similar to the one on my 18V Ryobi impact driver and I love that thing.

I did a quick search and Ryobi makes a four volt version of this tool, which seems almost identical. Overall this Hychika screwdriver seems like a decent tool for what it’s designed for, but I’m curious how it’ll hold up over time.

Revive a Ryobi Battery

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I’ve been able to revive a dead power tool battery before, but Ryobi has some extra protection so you can’t trickle charge them from the contact points on the outside of their batteries. I was able to use a method I found on YouTube to trickle charge from the inside and the battery is working again.

When I say “dead battery” I mean the charger status shows the battery is defective. It can do this if the battery completely loses all of its power or the cells become imbalanced. The charger has built-in safety measures that prevent it from charging batteries in this state.

Be aware that opening the battery like this will void the warranty. Due to the special screws (T10 with a hole) I bought a security bit set from Menards for $5.

Update: A second battery went dead the day this was published. This method resurrected that one as well.

Resurrect a “Dead” Power Tool Battery

Nick Momrik4 Comments

Ever had a “dead” power tool battery that wouldn’t charge? It may not have been dead-dead. Some chargers have a safety feature that prevents trying to charge a battery completely out of juice. I was able to bring a Craftsman power tool battery back from the dead using a trick I found in the comments on a YouTube video. Sometimes it pays to read the comments.

This battery was part of a used Craftsman cordless tool set I practically stole. The set was a battery charger, small circular saw, reciprocating saw, nice case for those 3, drill/driver, nailer/stapler, and 2 batteries. Everything is in excellent condition and I only paid $30! The original sticker price on the box for the nailer alone was $80.

Negative Voltage

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The girls were having some problems with the LEDs in a couple of stuffed bears. Mom thought there might be a short in the wiring because they’d work for 10-15 seconds and then the LED sequence would freeze up or turn off. Before tearing into the bears I got out my multimeter (has become quite the handy dandy tool for me) and tested the batteries, which had been straight out of a package when they were used in the bears.


Two of the AA batteries were reading right around the expected 1.5v, but the other was -0.3v, as shown above. I’ve never seen that before, so I did some Googling.

Any type of battery can and will begin to charge a dead cell in reverse if you keep trying to draw current out of it. Remember, a battery is a series connection of cells, so in any pack regardless of chemistry, a dead cell once depleted is going to be subjected to voltage reversal.
– Source

It looks like something happened to reverse the polarity during manufacturing or the battery was DOA and got charged in reverse from the other two AAs.

After replacing the batteries all of the bears work again. It’s a good reminder to check your power source when things don’t work.

Wire Loop Game

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Kennedy and I made a wire loop game, using some basic cheap electronics.

  • 9v Battery
  • Buzzer
  • Old light switch
  • LED
  • Various wires
  • Nuts and bolts
  • Electrical tape
  • Wire screw caps
  • Cardboard box

The initial wiring and cutting of the box took more time than I figured and she started to lose interest until we got around to the top. We did this all on-the-fly, but there are plenty of tutorials (like one on Instructables) you can follow.

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Test LEDs with a Coin Cell Battery

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The battery (CR2450) in my garage door sensor was getting low, so I replaced it. I’ll keep the old one in my electronics kit for LED testing, as shown in this video. Touch the longer leg (anode) of the LED to + and the shorter leg (cathode) to –. Usually + is the top of the battery where the words are. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt the LED if you connect it the wrong way.