Auger batteries not charging? Hack to restart them.

Sorry this it a long story but if you have troubles with your lithium auger batteries it's worthwhile reading.

I have an Ion G2 auger and the week before heading on my first ice excursion I tried to top up my 3 batteries and two wouldn't take a charge. One battery (labeled #2) was replaced by Ion when I first got the auger as it's capacity was much less than the other. I label all my batteries so I know which is which. My batteries were at room temperature and batteries 1 and 2 (my originals which came with the auger) caused the same flashing Red on the Ion charger like when an attempt is made to charge cold batteries. The battery indicator on all three batteries were showing 3 out of 3 green lights.

I called the 1-800 number at Artisam and my auger still has 3 months left on warranty. The fellow at suggested I might try run the two non charging batteries (1 + down and give them a go on the charger after. He said if I was still having issues they would be happy to send me a new battery free of charge.

Fast forward to last weekend. I went down to the Red for a few hours in the morning. I put battery #1 in the auger, the auger comes on turns a few times and shuts down. Battery #2 (my first weak battery) wouldn't even operate the auger. I put in battery #3 ( the warranty replacement) and cut 8 holes and start fishing. Sunday was mild, hovering around freezing at snow started near noon. After a few hours I decided to punch a few more holes and now battery 3 would only get through 3 inches of ice and the auger would shut down. I had left the battery in the auger but it wasn't that cold out.

On Monday I called Artisam again the gave them the report. I said basically even the best battery isn't giving me much and explained my situation. They thought it might be a faulty controller causing poor battery performance ( a known issue) and would send me a new controller, a new charger (in case the charger was faulty) and another new battery. My order was shipped by Fedex Monday at 4pm and yesterday my parts arrived near 2pm. Nice and quick considering it came from Wisconsin. Everything was cold in the delivery van
so I put the new battery (#4) near the wood stove for an hour to warm it while I replaced the new controller in the G2. I gave the new charger a go with battery 1+2 and got the same damn Red flashing light. The new battery was showing only one green light indicator out of the box and put it on the new charger and I get the dreaded Red flashing light. I'm a bit discouraged at this point, but got the controller replaced and put in battery 3 and the auger works great. I still only have one functioning battery so phone Artisam and they're sending a 5th battery so I'd have at least 2 good batteries like I did purchasing the auger.

I'm at a loss that 2 of 3 batteries suddenly shit the bed and a new battery is also non functional. I did a few searches on Lithium Ion batteries hoping something shows up regarding Ion G2 batteries. Nothing on Ion batteries but stumble upon a video talking about Dewalt lithium batteries which were unable to take a charge and a hack to get them charging again. Basically it involved putting a 2 jumper wires from the positive and negative from the good battery to the same poles of the un-chargeable battery. It got me thinking and thought what the hell at this point. I started off with jumpers from good battery #3 to new battery #4 and gave it 30 seconds. I could few the one wire actually warming a bit as battery #4 was actually quite low. I put the new battery, #4, in the charge and voila the charger is flashing green and it took a full charge. I did the same with #2 and since I have 2 chargers got it charged up as well though it will have a reduced capacity. Battery #1 is still giving me 3 green lights indicating it's full so putting the jumper to it from the fully charged batteries doesn't do anything and it still causes either charger to flash Red but now that I changed the controller it actually works in the auger now. I'm going to run that battery down and try the jumper trick. Give it a try if you have a battery which suddenly doesn't work. Artisam is has awesome customer service for warranty issues.

 

This trick also works with lead acid batteries but for a similar, but different reason. The BMS in the lithium batteries will shut down if the voltage is too low. So when you put it on the charger, nothing happens. The hack you mentioned above gets the voltage up enough for the BMS to be reset. For lead acid batteries, the charger won't recognize the battery if the voltage is too low. Same as above, use jumper cables to connect the dead battery to a good, charged battery. Additionally, you can connect the good battery to charger and it will charge both batteries simultaneously as they are connected in parallel.

 

Great post. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for sharing this!!!

Good info!!!

 

I did this a while back with Dewalt and Makita tool batteriesthat wouldn't take a charge, it worked!

 

No problem. Hopefully I can save someone else some grief and having to purchase an expensive new battery unnecessarily.