Milwaukee M18 cordless tool guys – Question…

Guys, I’ve had M18 Milwaukee drills for a long time now, maybe 6-7 years. Always worked great, probably my favorite cordless drill out of the 6 or 7 that I’ve owned.

Anyway, I bought a Milwaukee impact driver last summer. The Brushless version, not the Fuel and not the base model.

I’d noticed that every time I pick up the impact driver it seems to be almost dead. It took me a long time to figure out if it was just coincidence or what, but here’s what I found.

When I put a fresh battery on the impact driver, the LED “worklight” and the 4 little lights that show the charge status of the battery all come on. The worklight goes off after 10 seconds, but the little “gas gauge” lights on the battery stay on all the time until the battery runs dead. I think this is what’s killing my batteries all the time, those little LED don’t use a lot of power, but leave it set for 5-6 days and they zap the battery. I had one battery that sat on the driver while we went on vacation and that battery totally died and could not be charged, I had to recycle it.

This does NOT happen on my cordless drills. When I put a new battery on them, nothing lights up at all.

Does anybody own a newer Milwaukee impact driver? What happens on your driver when you put a newly charged battery on it? Do the LED lights on the battery go out after 10 seconds or so?

Many thanks.

Grouse

We use the M18s at work, every time a new battery pack is plugged in the LEDs come on to show the charge level then turn off after a few seconds.
They also turn on every time the trigger is pulled, so maybe there is something in your trigger that is making contact, keeping the lights on.

All the Milwaukee’s I have used (old and new) the battery indicator goes out after a few seconds. Never seen them stay on for extended periods. I’d contact Milwaukee. Their Customer Service is typically top notch.

You could also check with Thomas tool down in burnsville. Chris is a great guy and very knowledgeable

I run Milwaukee everything from saws to work lights to impacts and drills. My side job outside of school and coaching is remodeling homes, flipping houses, and doing some repairs around the area.

In my time using Milwaukee I’ve never heard of that issue. My work light and battery indicators light up for 4-5 seconds after installing a battery before going out. Send it in and I’d be shocked if Milwaukee doesn’t take care of you.

Thanks for the confirmation guys. That’s how I thought it should work, but I wanted to confirm before sending it to Milwaukee.

This is the first issue I’ve ever had with a Milwaukee tool. I have and am still using ever Milwaukee tool I’ve ever bought. Even the old nicad 18 and 14.4 stuff. Batteries may wear out but yoy can’t kill the tools.

Grouse