Milwaukee Tools

I have an extensive collection of Milwaukee tools. I was In hvac when they first started coming out with plumbing tools and that really sent me over the top. I’ve never had a tool fail me, the only time I upgrade my drills is when I get a new one on a holiday sale but the old ones just get tossed in my toolbox for emergencies or if a friend asks to borrow one. I have had about 3 Xc 12.0 batteries fail me which sucks but we have an authorized repair center right down the street and they have been able to get them working again.

 

We have a local discount warehouse that is partnered up with HD. They get new Milwaukee stuff every 2 weeks and its 50% off of the retailnprice at HD. They say that it's overstock, cancelled online orders, etc. They take you to a test bench and test every tool with you before you check out. I haven't had any issue at all yet. It took me a while to get my hands on a right angle drill. Now I just need a jigsaw.

 

Another favorite EDC, can’t recommend enough

$66 Streamlight 2112-21 Flood Light, Red

https://www.amazon.com/Streamlight-...6d5-47ba-9d32-241faf43528b&pd_rd_i=B07849ZPYY

 

Agreed. Option 2 is they are knockoffs. If you are familiar with Milwaukees tools, you can typically spot a fake, but not always. Last year I purchased a small pile of 5AH batteries from eBay (yes, I know, bad place to make a decision and bad decision to make...); pricing was right as they were just a little bit cheaper than the three for $200 deal HD was running. They showed up in nice blister packs, good printing on the packaging, even had the little safety manual folded up in the blister pack. The battery felt almost perfect in hand, but the shading was hair off. And I mean, A HAIR off. But the two dead giveaways were the individual battery cells showing through the bottom vents and the battery meter; it lit up in a slightly different cadence as well as the LED's being a hair offset from the "meter". I fought the guy to send them back and had to take it through eBay arbitration. He submitted pictures of 6.0AH batteries that had been pulled apart and busted I up so I trounced him with photographs of the batteries he had sent me, pictures of genuine 5.0's, and the easy to see differences in 5.0 vs 6.0 batteries.

So there are lots of knockoff batteries and tools available - some of which are very convincing fakes.

There are two ways to jump a battery, depending on the issue. If the battery is completely flat and won't charge at all, you are supposed to be able to jump the respective + and - terminal on a good battery to the terminals on the bad battery (+ to +, - to -). I personally haven't had to do this as I've never had a completely dead battery. And as @RainMan_PNW said, these batteries will mess you up if you do it wrong.

The second method is for batteries that won't charge past two or three bars, but show fully charged on the charger. This is when the individual cell groups won't balance correctly when charging. I suspect it could be from increased resistance somewhere in the circuit or cells, but I don't know enough about them to really know. Obviously, this will only happen on 2P and 3P batteries such as 6.0, 8.0, and 12.0HD's, as well as 5.0's.

I had several original batch 12.0's that had this issue, as well as a few 6.0 or 8.0 batteries. The fix is quite simple, you just need an 18650 battery charger, a few lengths of wire with some spade fittings on one end and alligator clips or spades on the other, and a multimeter. Pull apart the case (T8 and T10 safety bits if I'm not mistaken) and then use your multimeter to find cell groups by checking DC voltage between cells on either side of the battery. Find the groups that are 4.2V or less; if you are reading 6-8V, you found two cell groups in series, 12v and you have 3 groups in series, etc. You should find three or four batteries that will read 3.2-4.2volts; one or two or three of those cells will read less than 4.2V, while one or two will read 4.2V.

Because the charger won't overcharge the cells, it stops charging when it sees any group of cells that reads 4.2V. But when you discharge the battery, it will read empty when any of those cell groups read less than 3.2V. Due to the imbalance in cells, you will get batteries that read full on the charger when the battery meter only reads 2 or 3 bars.

Once you've determined which cells groups are bad, you can charge that group with the wire leads connected to the 18650 charger and that group of cells. ****PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE POLARITY OF THE CELL GROUP AND THE CHARGER. GET IT BACKWARDS AND BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN TO YOU AND WHATEVER IS AROUND YOU**** Charge the individual groups that are low on voltage, reassemble the case, and you will get four full bars.

I find the same to be true. Nail guns don't need big batteries or high capacity batteries so I use the smallest ones to save some weight. Compressors, grinders, saws, blowers, etc, really like the bigger/higher amperage batteries. I prefer the 3.0CP's on my impacts and drills for higher amperage but smallest and lightest form factor for the power.

As for the packout vacuum, I have some 9.0AH flops that I like to use as they give me a lot of run time but aren't as heavy or big as the 12.0's. The 5.0's also work well in them as I don't need the small amount of additional suction the 6.0's provide. I find that 9.0's are good for vacuums and lights for the extended runtime, but don't do will in high demand tools as they will overheat. My chainsaw will cause them to freakout in about 3 minutes.

 

I am the one still fighting this.... I am so vested in Rigid, I couldnt imagine switching anything out. I think I have around 12 batteries of various sizing.... Love seeing the people fall in love with this brand, but I like my Rigids.

 

I used to enjoy a hamburger from McDonalds, too...

 

Ok, that is just gross.....

they were never actually good.

But Rigid tools still do work LOL.... My homestead proves that!

 

I have their bits and blades, but no tools... I have everything you need to build a home in Rigid so I wouldnt even need to buy anything from another brand unless something fails...

That said, have you seen that Ryobi has a battery powered log splitter?!?! That may be my second battery option now lol

 

Very fair point... I am looking forward to the workout, but it comes as I am about to have 5 trees felled and need to figure out how to get the one that fell into another tree out... different worlds!

 

That's how my addiction started too. Very first purchase was a m18 impact driver and of course had to get all the bits, close my eyes for a minute n then I woke up to this..

 

Thank ya thank ya! My brother bought me those metal peg boards from Home Depot. They are Wall Control
https://www.wallcontrol.com/
They sell all the hooks and accessories for just about everything you'd want to mount up to them. Here's how I currently have em set up..


Got an empty space on the Milwaukee wall that needs to be filled.

 

I cannot wait for my new building to be done.....

I went from having a garage where my friends asked me to help them with theirs, to black and yellow totes

 

We all just need to start spamming the shit out of Kid Rock's social media stuff and make him aware of how American @Outbound actually is.. I'm sure he'll sponser him

 

It eats batteries pretty quickly in my experience.

 

My OG’s..

 

Just a tip for you HD guys. Get the app, and you’ll find tons of deals that aren’t posted in the store. I just browsed real quick for an example to show you.
When you purchase the item, make sure it’s the correct sku#. They’ll take the discount at the register when you show them the app. Don’t ever pay full price for tools, always check the app.

 

Yup, should work on all batteries so long as they are the same chemistry and voltage.

Sorry for the late response.. just getting caught up on the thread. This is a bad thread that is going to cost me a ton of money..

 

I bought my first drill/driver combo in person in 2018 for $299 (I believe) and it came in the standard case. Went online the next day and they had it with a Packout case for the same price. Returned my original (unused) to the store and sold the Packout case for $50. I was pumped and it started my Milwaukee journey

 

This whole forum does that

 

Probably too late for me. I'll just remain here on the "dark side!"

 

Reported