Most cordless batteries don’t wear out from use. They wear out from sitting in a hot ute, being charged when they don’t need it, and being run flat and left flat.
1. Heat is the killer, not cycles
Lithium-ion cells degrade permanently above roughly 45°C. A battery left in a closed ute on a 38°C day is sitting in 60°C+. That single day can cost more capacity than a month of hard use.
2. Don’t charge a hot pack
After a hard run, let the pack cool to ambient before charging. Most good chargers have a temperature cut-out — cheap ones don’t, which is why cheap packs die young.
3. Store at about 50%, not 100%
Full charge plus heat is the worst combination for cell chemistry. If a pack won’t be used for a fortnight, run it down to roughly half before putting it away.
4. Never leave a pack completely flat
Deep discharge below about 2.5V per cell can make a pack unrecoverable. If a tool starts to noticeably slow, swap the battery rather than pushing it.
5. Rotate your packs
Most crews have one “good” battery that gets everything. Rotate through the set so wear is even — you’ll get far more total cycles before the first failure.
When to replace
A pack that charges to full but delivers less than half its original runtime, or that gets noticeably hot while charging, is done. Replacement cells cost far less than a new tool.
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