I had seen other reviews of this charger that said it could revive old Ryobi 18V NiCds. I have two NiCds that have worked great for several years, but are approaching the end of their lives. One of them, in fact, would no longer take a charge at all from the old NiCd charger. When I put my old batteries on this new charger they both charged well and are very usable again. The only caveat is that the batteries will still lose their charge within about 24 hrs (did I mention they're old :-), but if I know a little in advance when I'm going to need them I can just put one of them on the charger an hour before and I'm set to go for that job. Eventually I am going to get some new batteries (not sure yet if they will be NiCd or Li-ion), but this charger has extended the life of my old batteries at a time when I need to stretch my dollars as much as possible.
There are two lights on the charger that tell you what the charger is doing and what state your battery is in. If you can't remember what this light flashing, or that light on steady means, there is a handy, large reference panel right below the lights so it takes about 1 second to glance down to see what the lights are telling you.
One more thing I like about this charger that the old one didn't have: This one has holes on the back to allow it to be mounted on a wall. One less thing to take up space on the workbench! Also, with it mounted on the wall it only takes one hand to pull the batteries out of the charger. Brilliant! Ryobi 140501001 18V Lithium-ion 1-Hour Battery Charger
I have had this for a little over a year and it worked great with light use. This morning I went over to plug in a battery and noticed the unit seemed completely dead. Tried a different battery and outlet, nothing.
I opened the unit up to see if the fuse had blown and found a small plastic piece rattling around. The piece turned out to be an electrical voltage regulator component that had completely failed, cracking itself in half. Thankfully this failure didn't cause a fire or any additional damage. The fuse remained intact.
This makes me concerned that the design is either flawed or that the components used are of poor quality.
I have both Lithium Ion and NiCad batteries and this charger works well with both. I have a Ryobi drill and electric blower and I use both types of batteries with the charger and the tools. The charger is fast and easy to use. I like the status led indicators on the unit, as well. I am glad I purchased this unit, which was reconditioned.
Thought that all of a sudden all of my ni-cads were toast. No real upgrade option since
Ryobi doesn't offer a battery/charger upgrade for li-ions. Figured it was strange that all my batteries died at once so I popped for this charger. Worst case would have been that my nicads were still toast but it will allow me to upgrade to the better batteries later. Popped each into the new charger. Within a few minutes they were done. I think they held a charge, just needed to be reset or something. They're all working great. Probably will upgrade the batteries this year. But I'll be able to wait until there is a sale on the 2 pks.
I've got a "Chicken and the Egg" scenario with this charger...two brand new Ryobi batteries (NOT lithium...my mistake) seem to hold less-and-less of a charge each time I recharge them. I don't know if it's the charger or the battery. That aside...
...The lights on the left side are too confusing. There's a red and green light, and there are instructions on what each of five scenarios mean...problem is that the red light is either lit, blinking, or off...same thing with the green light. The combination is supposed to mean something, but it's very hard to determine.
Whatever happened to "Red light when charging, green light when done"?
That aside, it feels lightweight (cheap), and you can't pull the battery out with one hand. I have to use my foot and hand if I'm holding my Ryobi tools.
So, just 3 stars. It's "Just OK". - Ryobi - Lithium-ion - 18v - Chargers'
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