Makita BL1830 18V LXT® Lithium-Ion 3.0Ah Battery

My battery, which amazon informs that i last purchased in 2010, just died today while i was using a rotobrush for ski tuning. I am honestly amazed how well this battery has done over the years. Many hours spent putting up deer stands, making shelves, speed-assembling ikea furniture, and the occasional torquing of bolts. Great battery and great product. Now I'm off to buy another battery....

Battery is OEM but it came in separate bag like others have mentioned, probably part of a kit. Nonetheless, the item is authentic.

Seamless. Works. Needed :)

Well I just got one battery boy these things a lite well I put it in the charger and 20 minutes latter I was using the drill, already have two other pieces so I'll have to rotate the one battery through all the tools. At $70 plus bucks a pop, actually got mine for 72 dollars on sale here on Amazon and if I see it for that price again I'll probably pick up one more. I almost sent all the tools back before even buying the battery after reading all the horror stories that people were writing about this battery. But I decided to call Makita and find out why so many folks were reporting problems. Tech support told me that the problem is usually user error. I was told one thing people do is leave the batteries on the charger when not in use. THIS IS A NO NO!! and can ruin the cells over time, so remember after charging to remove the batteries immediately.I had the manual form the charger in front of me and asked why this wasn't pointed out in the manual if you read it it seems like you can leave it on the charger on trickle charge but the tech told me that the instructions were initially in Japanese and didn't translate properly. Now actually Makita should correct this in the instructions. Another thing that SHE pointed out is that a lot of people run the battery to exhaustion before recharging this can also ruin the cells she suggested that when you first since a lost of power to charge it at that time. Another thing she pointed out was is that the built-in memory chip records the battery ID and memorizes the usage history & communicates this with the charger that way the chip can be used to see how people were actually using and charging the battery and they were able to determine these things from the chip itself. So there you have it she said the battery should be able to accept 1500 plus recharges before having to be replaced, if you did that every day that's close to 4 years! so if you follow these instruction hopefully you will have good luck, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.Another thing I found out is that the newer batteries are made in JAPAN!! has it stamped right on the bottom of mine so you know I couldn't be happier, thinking these have to be higher quality then the ones that were made in China. Got more question give them a call they are very nice and extremely helpful.

More/longer power and doesn't cost much more than the 1.5 amp style; just a little heavier. No negative issues with it and charges fast. Cheaper to buy 2 of these seperately rather than the double pack, for some unknown reason. Amazon pricing is much less expensive then local stores, such as, Home Depot (almost half as much at Amazon). Highly recommend for the LXT series owners. If not, get the bare tools and buy a battery WITH a charger, and another battery, or get the great drill/driver set with 2-1.5 batteries and add the 3 amp size as needed. The 3.0 works twice as long and does not seem to have the problems reported of the 1.5 and can be used easily in all LXT tools. Be aware the battery should cool after use for at least 15 minutes before re-charging. I had a 1.5 mysteriously die on me after very little use but it was just out of warrantee.

Previously I had gotten the LXT406 combo set and it came with only 2 of the 1830's and since I always seem to have one of them in the drill/driver and found myself constantly moving the other one between the skil and the sawzall. So I decided to get one more and I'm glad I did. My friend has the 1815 compacts but they have nowhere near twice the capacity as these guys. If you are thinking of saving some dough and getting the compacts, I would recommend that you don't. For one thing these batteries won't get as hot under load as the compacts. Second, they last more then twice the time.Btw, if you use these with high drain tools like I do with the 6.5" circular (I guess I should stop calling them skil's) they do get hot when ripping 4x8 plywood sheets. Be careful and let them rest before popping them in the charger. Heat is what really kills these batteries (Li-ions). Ask anyone with a laptop who "accidentally" left their pcs on a couch or bed and they'll tell you their batteries don't quite perform as when they were new.The battery itself came in retail packaging and looked brand new (sold by Amazon). I've had my 2 original batteries for 2 months now and have no complaints. I've put dates on all my batteries and we'll see how long they last. My old Ni-Cd DeWalt batteries lasted 6 years of moderate to light use. If these last at least 4 years, twenty bucks a year isn't too bad...[UPDATE 6/6/11]I've now had two of these batteries (3.0 Ahr - came in a kit) for a year and another one (bought separately) for 10 months. So far they've held a charge and I haven't had the "broken" battery syndrome that some other users have when trying to charge. Perhaps it's cuz it isn't the 1.5 Ahr version or maybe cuz the batteries are made in Japan; I don't leave them in the charger, charge them in direct sunlight, and don't charge them immediately after running them hard (and hot). Who knows what the reason is. All I know is that after using these in a 6 1/2 circular saw moderately and in a hammerdrill (heavily for screws and drilling), they still are able to charge up and be used in a BHR241z roto-hammer without skipping a beat. I'd say I've cycled them over 100 times now. I'm still crossing my fingers though...[UPDATE 4/4/12]I just bought another 2 pack of the 1830's and now have 5 total. So far the original 3 are still working good. I did read up on the issues that these batteries have been having. I.e. the red flash of death after trying to charge a broken battery 3 times. Apparently what has been happening is that many users report that their batteries no longer can charge up and the battery charger reports the battery as "broken" after trying for 3 times. People who have opened up their "dead" packs report that the "smart chip" circuit is the problem. Specifically, the chip is powered by only one cell within the pack. And if this one cell should ever become "reversed" either by depleting the battery too far or having it in storage for too long at a low level, the "smart" charger will not let you charge the pack. Using this one cell for power can ultimately lead to a "mismatch" cell situation and thus a higher probability of cell reversal later on.Some have even said that Makita has fixed this issue by redesigning the circuit, but the only way to tell would be to open up your battery and thus void the warranty. Btw, some have said you can try to bring your pack to an authorized Makita service center for them to analyze the cycle count of your pack. If it's < 150 cycles, it may still be covered under warranty by Makita. It's worth a shot for sure, especially for a 80 dol item.Probably the best way to prevent that one cell from "reversing" is to:1) don't run down your batteries to the point were your tool no longer runs when the switch is depressed (once you feel a loss of power, take them out)2) don't store your batteries at too low of capacity (storing fully charged batteries I hear is also a no-no for lithium-ions; at least for laptops I heard)3) try not to charge up your depleted packs (hot) right away; let cool and then charge.(remember, heat kills lithium ion batteries)Hope that helps.[UPDATE 12/14/12]Well, one of my original battery packs (from 6/2010 initial use) finally had the alternating green and red flash of death. But I knew that if I tried to charge it three times that it would brick it so I asked a friend if he had any bad packs and he did (2 slim packs). He let me have them so I tried to make a "good" pack (by taking apart and transplanting the bad cells and soldering) and try to charge it using the charging unit. Unfortunately the pack still had the flash of death. I made sure the voltage was over 19V before doing so but alas, it was not to be. Perhaps the chip bricks the pack even after the first broken charge attempt???I did learn something though. Of the batteries that went bad (reads 0 Volts) on the slim packs, it wasn't the 1st cell that most people report. It actually turned out to be the 3rd cell for one pack and the 3rd and 4th cells in the 2nd pack. Weird I must say and wasn't what I was expecting. The first cell in fact read 3.65V. My friend did say that he really ran those batteries hot before they went bad and I did notice the green shrink wrap on each cell was breaking apart. Also the bad cells looked as if they leaked near the positive terminal which then caused some kind of corrosion. FYI, each cell normally reads around 3.8V open. For my high capacity pack (3.0 Ah) though, it was the 1st cell (actually two cells in parallel) that were bad. But I did see that they did in fact supply power not from the first cell as was the case for the slim packs (older generation) but rather had new circuit traces from each cell back to the circuit board.Perhaps my final thoughts on this issue is that if the battery drops below a certain voltage, the charger would brick the pack instantly. (anyone have any info on this?) Therefore, make sure that if you run down these packs during use, do not store them in this state. A cell reversal is highly likely to happen. Note, that is exactly what I did by using that pack in the angle grinder until it died, but didn't charge it back until almost a month later. Bad idea... One more note: the two cells in parallel in my high capacity packs that did go bad also had the leaking, corrosion problem. Go figure.Again, hope this info helps people. Regards, and a drop of 1 star to 4.

A Quality investment!