ION Alpha dilemma

This past weekend I was fishing on a lake with about 10-11″ of ice. Every hole I drilled, I’d get about halfway through and it would quit. I would just lift it up, reset the triggers and would proceed through. I’d run reverse to clear the hole with no issues either. The battery wasn’t 100%, but had two lights lit. Was it the soft ice bogging it down? I seemed to have that issue more with my old Gen2, and I don’t recall it happening last year with much thicker ice either – thanks.

I don’t have an Ion but had similar issues with my Dewalt. It was always because of a low battery.
DT

Take advantage of their 2 year warranty and give customer service a call.

I havnt had that issue with the eskimo e40 so it may just be a bad battery. I would give them a call.

My ion alpha batteries have done that before. Always happened when I used the same battery for multiple days w/o charging. Also stored outside in the cold. Not sure of the exact cause but I don’t think it has anything to do w ice conditions.

I’d try charging it first before calling customer service. sometimes those battery status indicator lights can be very inaccurate

Charge the battery go drill some holes and see it was low on charge, no different then your car battery showing good voltage but put it under a good load test and it fails.

Funny my Alpha did the same thing to me this weekend. My battery was used for a few outings so it was not fully charged. I charged it up and did not use the next day. Hopefully there will be a next outing this year.

Yeah, I’ll try charging it fully. To be honest, I only charged it before my first excursion a month ago. I’ve only been out four times and just drill a few to several holes each time out.

I always charge my drill batteries as soon as I get home. I warm them inside the truck on the ride home. I never go multiple days without a recharge. Never had an issue doing it this way.

Ryan Overson wrote:

Yeah, I’ll try charging it fully. To be honest, I only charged it before my first excursion a month ago. I’ve only been out four times and just drill a few to several holes each time out.

A month ago?? Like others said, charge the battery.

MX1825 wrote:

always charge my drill batteries as soon as I get home. I warm them inside the truck on the ride home. I never go multiple days without a recharge.

Same here! I’ve always been under the impression that when a battery sits partially or fully discharged for longer periods of time, it diminishes the battery’s overall health and performance. I try to keep all my batteries fully charged when not in use.

I have lithium ion batteries for other things, and they always recommend storing them at 70-80% for extended periods of time, which is why I don’t keep them at 100%.

that makes sense. I dont own any lithium ion batteries so wasn’t aware of that.

But Ryan, a month of time with a few to several holes each time is still pushing it. Please report back on the results of a full charge.

The manual states for long storage charge 100% before storing.

Could be the deadman switch. On my g2, you really have to hold down the switch hard or it cuts out.

Still curious how it did on a full charge?.?

I’ve owned an alpha since they came out. It’s battery needs to be warm or it will constantly cut out. Even right at freezing for 2 to 3 hours it will start doing this. Both my batteries do this and have since new and ion says to keep them warm. When warm they have no such issues.

Strikemasters don’t do this in my experiance. They slow down on a cold battery but keep going.

The new e40 doesn’t do this according to a YouTube review I watched where they had 2 augers both new e40s doing a battery test with one room temp and one cold. No difference. Batteries I do believe interchange with the alpha.(I could be wrong on that) so I wonder if it’s the auger or the battery.

The alpha is wicked fast and might just need more amps than a cold battery can deliver. They seem to have gotten past that with the e40. Now is this due to the less agressive pitch on the blades or a difference in battery cells idk.