Thread: Non-genuine lithium battery for Metabo cordless drill?

Originally Posted by jack620

My hard-working Metabo drill's lithium batteries have finally given up the ghost. They are 14.4V, 1.6Ah lithium. I haven't priced genuine replacements, but I expect it will be more cost-effective to buy a new drill. I'd like to keep this drill going if I can without spending a fortune.

I found some no-name batteries on eBay that will fit. They claim to be 3.0Ah, but the Chinese are notorious for wildly exaggerating the ratings of their batteries. However, even if they are half what they claim, they would be close to the original rating. Has anyone had any experience with non-genuine lithium drill batteries?

Here's an example:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Battery-f...item1e9331cfe5

Looks like nobody wants to talk to you Jack! I doubt I'll be much help either. Normally I'd say something smart-ar#@d like "as Metabo (unlike the others) offer a 3 year warranty on their batteries too why the hell would you be wanting to go aftermarket"?

However in this particular instance I'll differ. Your batteries, and ergo your tools are earlier generation releases, from about 10 or 12 years ago. They were at the time the pinnacle of battery development, with OEM batteries & chargers available in a variety of chemistries: NiCad, NiMH & Li Ion & capacities & charge times as short as 10 minutes available.

When the next generation of tools were released in Li Ion only, the platform & tool/battery/charger interface was also changed. Every single manufacturer changed at this time, meaning incompatibility with older tools, and development effectively stopped on the older generation of tools & batteries.

So you'll be paying "full price" for an OEM battery with less capacity than can be available aftermarket. A similar price, in fact, to that for a latest generation equivalent with superior performance & capacity. This doesn't make sense, so in your case I'd say give the cheapies a try & see if they make your tools last a few years longer.

Incidentally, following the change in battery chemistry, some manufacturers (ironically Metabo is a leader here) are going to great lengths to ensure their tools, batteries & chargers are fully backwards & forwards compatible as new technologies are introduced.

This is a timely post. I have 3 Ryobi 12Volt blue variety drills. They are a number of years old and are still serving me well. I have 3 batteries (Ni Cad) and they are all, not giving me a full run on a battery charge. So what to do???? Went to Ebay to see what was on offer. Well I found a mob in Sydney who will sell me a 3.0 Ah Ni-Mh heavy duty replacement. It reads up well but I will have to wait and see if they are what they reckon they are.
When the battery turns up (hopefully tomorrow) I will post on here my findings

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/131088857...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Hi Ratbag,
Thanks for the detailed reply. I was using the drill today to drill an 8mm hole in some RHS. Not a big ask for this drill, but the bit (brand new) was slipping in the keyless chuck no matter how hard I tightened it. So now I'm also up for a new keyless chuck. I reckon I will just buy one of the aftermarket batteries as you suggest and use the drill for drilling timber with hex-shank drill bits (i.e. spade bits) and driving screws. The old chuck is fine for that.

I'll have to get myself a new cordless drill (non-hammer) for the heavier duty drilling. Any recommendations?

Originally Posted by jack620

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Battery-f...item1e9331cfe5

They're a bit cheaper from their website......
http://www.aussie-battery.com/search....x=0&image.y=0

I just ordered two for my Makita kit - can't comment yet.

Ignore the fact that they say they are in Sydney - the batteries come from China. I've heard delivery can be slow until you send a hot follow up email ("get them out of Customs or else!").

Originally Posted by jack620

I'll have to get myself a new cordless drill (non-hammer) for the heavier duty drilling. Any recommendations?

Emmuch you wanna spend?

Jack, I'm just a little reluctant to make any recommendations in regard to alternatives. I just don't know anything about your intended use or expectations. I can therefore only talk about my own personal preferences & experience.

I had your Metabo setup some years ago: drill, recipro, saw, torch & SDS. Pretty good gear, in fact probably at the time close to the absolute state of the art. Except the saw, which was (in common with all 18v saws to this very day) suffering from gutlessness that verges on uselessness. I stripped the saw down once to checkout its internals, and was pretty impressed with it: four poles, heavy windings, metal gears & epoxy protection. It was probably one of the less gutless saws I've used, actually outclassing newer (current) models from Makita & Bosch.

The recipro was absolutely the best I've ever used: the easiest, quickest & most intuitive (single lever) blade change around & most importantly the most sensitive and responsive trigger mechanism. By comparison my Bosch recipros (both 18 & 36v) have hair-triggers, going from slow to flat out in just a few mm. of trigger travel. This makes them utterly useless for any sort of delicate work, whereas the Metabo was from memory able to smoothly transition from the slowest, gentlest crawl all the way to full throttle as required.

I digress. The entire kit was stolen, and I replaced it with Bosch. Not as good in many respects as the latest Metabo, but the key components AT THE TIME (SDS hammer, LED torches, Radio Charger for the cricket) were superior from Bosch. The drill (the last of the Swiss-Made cordless) was excellent, but badly let down with a lack of interchangeable chucks. Instead of removing the left handed screw, inserting a bent 10mm allen key sideways & giving it a sharp rap with a hammer, the entire front end of the Bosch required replacing!!! Subsequent Bosch tools are similarly afflicted up to but excluding the latest one.

This has, just like all the better Euro manufacturers a Protool/Festo/Metabo/Kress/Mafell style "FlexiClick" system for changing chucks with angle drives, offset drives & even an SDS adapter. Ever the sceptic, I doubt its long term viability in heavy duty use, but as a concept its brilliant.

The newer Bosch drills (even the top-of-the-range ones) just seem a bit lightweight and low in torque output for my needs. The latest Metabo ones are mightily impressive. Last year I went to a demo night to try out the latest Metabo range. Their brushless drills were similar in performance to a Makita 2 speed drill, but the 4 pole "traditional" brushed versions were in another class entirely. In low gear it would've given my 36v drill a fair run for the money, rivalling the output of my 750w corded Atlas Copco (AEG Milwaukee) Ergomax stud drill. One horsepower!

If I needed another drill or a drill/grinder/jigsaw/recipro combo I'd buy Metabo in a heartbeat. They're simply the best cordless drills & grinders available. The best performance, the most grunt, the best warranty, and the best (strongest) angle drive available. The closest cordless yet to corded grinder performance too, comprehensively outperforming my Bosch.

Bosch might (still) make a better SDS hammer for fixings. But I doubt there's many out there that would give a greater weighting to an SDS over a drill anyway. I haven't used either of the new Metabo or Festool equivalents, but their latest gear is pretty impressive too.

It depends on which particular tools you need most: each manufacturer has its own particular strengths & weaknesses. At the time I was buying Bosch had the best SDS available, their lights excellent, their drills (at least the older models) & grinder were good, and the recipro (just) useable. If the SDS wasn't my most needed tool I'd have probably brought Metabo again, or if I wanted a lot of other fancy cordless tools like Planers, sanders, inspection cameras etc. etc. then I'd have to look seriously at Makita, Milwaukee or the like.

But for sheer robustness and fitness-for-purpose I feel that Metabo takes a lot of beating. Whilst the range (i.e breadth) of their cordless tools is smaller than some (currently only about 57 or so tools), it's depth & ability more than compensates. Having the heaviest duty & largest range of drills & grinders more than compensates for a lack of less useful tools in my opinion. Having (easily) the best battery system available (6.2, 5.5, 5.2, 4.0, 3.2 & 2.0 ah) and the best warranty is just the icing on the cake in my opinion.

In the meantime I'll have to be content with my Bosch gear. There's much too much money invested here to even consider a change.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Emmuch you wanna spend?

Nothing to be honest- but I guess I'm prepared to stump up $400. That figure is plucked out of thin air. I have no idea what sort of quality that buys until I go and have a look. Thanks for the battery link- I'll grab one. Please let me know what you think of yours when you get them.

Ratbag,
Thanks for the info. I must admit that Metabo are my fave after Festool. I've got a 20 year old 750W Metabo rotary hammer that I cannot kill. I've had the gearbox so hot it burned my hand. I'll go have a shufty at the local Metabo agent.

Originally Posted by jack620

I must admit that Metabo are my fave after Festool.

Festool only make one or two drills that are worthwhile - and they are REALLY worthwhile. The rest of them don't seem to stay on the market for long (Ti 15 dead and buried after 2 to 2½ years). Got a feeling the whole 15v range is going or gone.

Originally Posted by jack620

I've got a 20 year old 750W Metabo rotary hammer that I cannot kill. I've had the gearbox so hot it burned my hand. I'll go have a shufty at the local Metabo agent.

Yeah, my Metabo hammer is about 30 now. I didn't realise when I bought it that it was German (didn't know much about tools then) and was somewhat surprised years and years later to read the fine print.

Metabo are making some noise about their revolutionary Li HD new batteries due for release in six months. The one thing they don't talk about is the charging time. What I'm getting at is if you can wait a while and find out more about this "revolution" you may be better off in the long term. These days it pays to be an early adopter because the tech changes so fast - at least you get some advantage for a while before it's outdated.

Suspect major changes in batteries over the next few years, which is why I wouldn't buy OEMs at the moment -cheap generics to get through for a while will do me nicely thanks.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Metabo are making some noise about their revolutionary Li HD new batteries due for release in six months. The one thing they don't talk about is the charging time. What I'm getting at is if you can wait a while and find out more about this "revolution" you may be better off in the long term. These days it pays to be an early adopter because the tech changes so fast - at least you get some advantage for a while before it's outdated.

OK. I've ordered a non-genuine Lithium Ion battery. I can get a genuine German made Metabo chuck for $50 on eBay. That should keep me going for a couple more years.

Well the new battery just arrived in the mail. After unwrapping it I pressed the button on the back that activates the LEDs that show charge state. Nothing. Not a good start.

So I put it in the Metabo charger and the charger's red light starts flashing. According to the manual, that means the battery is faulty. So I guess I've answered my own question- the aftermarket batteries are crap.

Originally Posted by jack620

Well the new battery just arrived in the mail. After unwrapping it I pressed the button on the back that activates the LEDs that show charge state. Nothing. Not a good start.

So I put it in the Metabo charger and the charger's red light starts flashing. According to the manual, that means the battery is faulty. So I guess I've answered my own question- the aftermarket batteries are crap.

Gee, that's surprising...
I'd encourage you to email or ring the vendor about that, as in the past I've bought a number of non-genuine batteries [Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Hitachi] from various internet suppliers and all have worked well..
Cheers, crowie

Originally Posted by jack620

So I put it in the Metabo charger and the charger's red light starts flashing. According to the manual, that means the battery is faulty. So I guess I've answered my own question- the aftermarket batteries are crap.

I wouldn't be so hasty just yet. The two non-OEMs I have for Makita will sometimes do a similar thing but they do charge. Sometimes the charger will keep flashing instead of solid green at the end of the charging cycle, but all is good and the battery works very well.

I put this down to the circuit in the battery not being as compatible with the charger as it could be, but at the end of the day all I want is a reasonably priced battery full of juice - which I have.

Crowie,
I've messaged the seller. Are your batteries Li Ion or Nicad/NiMH? I gather Li Ion batteries die if they are allowed to fully discharge.

Brett,
I can't get my charger to even start charging. The exact wording from the charger's manual for a red flashing LED is: "Battery pack is defective. Remove the pack immediately from the charger".

Chris

Originally Posted by jack620

Brett,
I can't get my charger to even start charging. The exact wording from the charger's manual for a red flashing LED is: "Battery pack is defective. Remove the pack immediately from the charger".

I'd still be inclined to leave it on there for a while to see if any charge gets through - these are the same symptoms I sometimes have.