What's the initial charge time for a new TDK 12 battery?

[Kristian]

I have just purchased a new battery for my TDK 12 and was wondering what the ideal charge time of the first initial charge would be??

Specs.: 12 volt / 3.0 Ah / NiMH

Thanks guys.

- Kristian

 

[AlexThePalex]

The same time as your old batteries. Most Festool batteries take 45 min to 1 hour to charge. Your charger knows. Just leave it in and when the battery is full the charger will stop charging (indicated by a change in the colour of the light on the charger, or something like that).

Only thing to know about Nimh batteries is that new batteries take a couple of load cycles to get to their full capacity.

 

[Kristian]

So you don't have to charge them longer the first time? I bought a shaver recently with a NiMH battery and it said to charge it first time for 16 hours or so to initialize it.

 

[BobKovacs]

I've seen that happen with other items in the past, like the electric scooter we bought for our daughter- it said to charge for a minimum of 12 hours before first use, and that recharging later would take only 4 hours.  Kinda hard to tell a 10 y/o that she can't ride her new scooter until tomorrow.....

 

[Kristian]

I know how she must have felt...  [big grin]

 

[mouppe]

I think it's just as important to drain the battery fully as well as charging it fully. At least this is how I was told to keep my laptop battery in good shape.

 

[AlexThePalex]

So you don't have to charge them longer the first time? I bought a shaver recently with a NiMH battery and it said to charge it first time for 16 hours or so to initialize it.

No idea why they said that. I'm not an expert on Nimh batteries.

All I know is that your Festool charger won't charge your Festool battery that long but will shut itself off after it decides all by itself that the battery is charged. There's a status indicator on your charger so all you need to do is keep an eye on it and when it's done it's done and your battery won't get one milliamp of extra current even if you leave it on for a week.

 

[Kristian]

Thanks for your input, Alex. Maybe the overnight-initial-charge-thing is only for some batteries with less intelligent chargers? Don't know - but I'm happy with just charging the new battery like normal. As any concerned parent I just want to get it off to the best start possible, you know?  [wink]

And thanks as well, Richard. I agree. Draining the battery before charging it as often as possible is equally important. Especially with NiMH and NiCad batteries. Li-ion shouldn't suffer from the same memory effect (at least not to the same extend) but even those I make sure to deplete and fully recharge once in a while. I guess the same goes for batteries and people: we both need the exercise.  [smile]