That was a great question about level vial liquid freezing I was wondering if the batteries from cordless tools are effected, over time, from the cold? I leave cordless tools out year around in my truck box, temperatures range from approximately -40c to +30c.
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NiCd is not affected at all by freezing. MiMh - probably not either, but I'm not certain. Heat is the killer.
I've left my cordless (NiCad) drill in the unheated garage (southern MN) for probably 15 years now. Have worn out two batteries, but that's pretty much the norm. (One went out on the hottest day of the year, the other just got tired.)
I have been thinking about this and was about to post a new thread asking the very same quesiton.
I live in MN, and have usually carried my cordless batteries into the house overnight -- to keep them from freezing in the truck. But it sounds like that might not be necessary.
I hope others who live in cold climes will find this thread and tell us what their experience has been.
However, you won't get as much power out of them when they are cold.
If batteries are being used outdoors in the cold, can they be damaged by putting a depleted battery in the charger -- or should the cold battery be brought up to room temp first, and then charged?
I've charged them cold on occasion and never noticed any problems as a result. The charge current warms them up fairly quickly, so it's probably not an issue.Like I said, though, I had one go dead when I tried to charge it hot.
Heat is the real killer.I *think* that I might have seen some technical refernece to problems with cold charging. If so it would only be at very cold temps. This is off the top of my head. But I think that if you have been using the tool and it runs out then you can put it on the charger right away. The battery won't be ambient because it will have been warmed up somewhat in use.But if it had sat unuesed for a while and it was below, say 20, then I would warm it up before recharging.