Unfortunately, whatever you want to call it, it means that the devices run out of juice way too soon to make them useful portable tools when using the NiCd battery packs.

Thanks for the tip on NiMH replacement. I’ll probably just stick to the lithium ion batteries.

It’s not recommended to replace the NiCad cells with NiMH. Not unless you intend to use a charger that is designed to charge the NiMH’s.

Lacrosse(SP) has a few battery chargers for AA and AAA types that run batteries through a conditioning cycle and charges them slowly. It makes a huge difference in how the batteries perform. I wish there was such an animal for my 18V NiCad’s.

The LiIon batteries are great for a few years and simply die off. Think of your cell phone battery how long does it last? Probably roughly 2 or 3 years. Heat including room temperature heat kills these guys off. I suppose you could store your 89 dollar batteries in the fridge and get them to live much longer. Google Battery University for more info.

Meanwhile, any one seen an 18 volt charger that will automatically condition the batteries and do the charging in a slow gentle manner?

The regular jobs, siding a house, building a deck, taking down a tree, framing a garage, etc need real tools with reliable power.

It’s possible that the Ryobi tools also allow users to over-discharge NiCad/NiMH batteries. Lithium-ion batteries come with extra circuitry to protect the cells and because of safety issues, their chargers have to be “smarter”. The downside of lithiums is that they can have a shorter lifetime. Even if you don’t abuse them, they die of “natural causes” after a few years.

That said, you can replace the spent NiCads in your battery pack with NiMH. Just make sure to transfer all the safety components (fuse & etc) to the new pack. There are companies out there that either sell pre-configured battery inserts or offer replacement service. Personally, I think it’s hardly worth rebuilding Ryobi packs unless you’re able to get a great deal on NiMH cells.