How to care for Festool's Lithium Ion Batteries, maintenance ?

[Leifer]

How would owners care for Festool's Lithium Ion batteries ?
Is there routine maintenance to help prolong battery life ?
(I have the C18, and the TCL3 charger, late 2015)

According to one site, about lithium ion batteries in general:

Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, so also does the depth of discharge (DoD) determine the cycle count.
The shorter the discharge (low DoD), the longer the battery will last.
If at all possible, avoid full discharges and charge the battery more often between uses.
Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine.
There is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles to prolong life. The exception may be a periodic calibration of the fuel gauge on a smart battery or intelligent device. (See BU-701a: How to Calibrate Batteries)
LINK

The T15 drill manual says this....

Information on battery packs
– Where possible, store the battery pack in a cool, dry
place at a temperature between 5 °C and 25 °C.
– Battery packs are most efficient at temperatures
between 20 °C and 30 °C.
– Protect the battery pack from moisture, water and
heat.
– Significantly shorter operating times after each
charge indicate that the battery pack is worn and
should be replaced with a new one.
– The LiIon battery pack is fully compatible with the
charger! Integrated electronics prevent overloading
and overheating during the charging process.
– Do not leave flat battery packs in a charger disconnected
from the mains power supply for longer
than one month. There is a risk of total discharge
and the maximum power of the battery pack may
decrease.
– Store the battery pack in its packaging to reduce
the risk of short circuits.
– If LiIon battery packs are to be stored for long periods
without use, they should be charged to 40 %
capacity (approx. 15 mins. charging period).
LINK

Also, what is considered "stored for long periods" ? ...in months ?
Example, is 2 months, or 6 months..... a long period ?

Thx....

 

[DB10]

  I don't think you need to take any extra care with Festools lithium batteries, they are no differnent to any of the other manufacturers batteries on the market. Just use the usual common sense.
I've been using Lithium batteries for about eight years and still regularly use my Makita originals and all my batteries have all looked after themselves. Quite often my tools and batteries sit in my truck with the inside temp in the high 40c's and I've never had a problem. I think there is a big advancement in Lithium batteries over the old Ni Cad versions.

 

[KescoNY]

I think it also depends on the amount of batteries you have and type of work you do.  I have probably just over 90 batteries consisting of Milwaukee, dewalt and festool. They are all treated the same way. When you are working with them all day every day it's very hard to keep track of how much you discharge them etc but as a rule 2 things I do is make sure we don't leave them on job sites/vehicles when it's freezing out and keep them away from moisture. I personally feel I got my money's worth if my batteries last 5 yrs.  Anything beyond that is a bonus

 

[neeleman]

You have over 90 batteries?????

 

[AlexThePalex]

Wut? I only have 4. But the 2 original Li batteries that came with my 2008 T15 set are still in perfect condition. I do not take any special care of them except from throwing them on the shelf with the drill when I'm done.

 

[MGB]

I've noticed if I leave my batteries in the cap overnight. It'll get down to -1 or so. In the morning the milwaukee's are all flat as could be. Yet my festool battery's still have full charge.

Kind of off topic, but the milwaukee charger will completely interfere with my jobsite radio, yet the festool not what so ever.

Only other tradesman I've seen with festool drills had an old c12 with 7+ year old nicads, a little tired, but they still worked. That's with constant full time use too.

 

[Leifer]

Good to know.
Thanks people !!

 

[DB10]

Kind of off topic, but the milwaukee charger will completely interfere with my jobsite radio, yet the festool not what so ever.

My Makita battery charger interferes with my Makita job site radio but all my other battery chargers don't, luckily the Makita batteries charge up quickly.

 

[magellan]

I have an old C12 that never saw much use because the batteries died so fast.  Are there replacements for the C12 now that are better? 

 

[KescoNY]

You have over 90 batteries?????

94 to be exact  Mostly milwaukee m18 & m12s, 2 dewalts and 9 18v 5.2a festools, 6 12v  festools.  At one point we were using a lot of milwaukees on jobsites instead of a generator. At this point i mainly use the festools, 2 dewalts for the cordless miter and only a few milwaukee batteries. May be a good time to get rid of a few  [unsure]

 

[KescoNY]

Kind of off topic, but the milwaukee charger will completely interfere with my jobsite radio, yet the festool not what so ever.

My Makita battery charger interferes with my Makita job site radio but all my other battery chargers don't, luckily the Makita batteries charge up quickly.

Same here with milwaukee but surprising the Rapidcharge 6 pack doesn't  interfere with my radio

 

[semenza]

I have an old C12 that never saw much use because the batteries died so fast.  Are there replacements for the C12 now that are better?

  LiOn or NiCd? 

Seth