Battery Charger Recall

[Airscrew]

I figured I would post this just in case you may have one or didnt hear about the recall like me.  If you got one might want to check it out.  somehow we were lucky and didnt burn the house down.

I'm in the process of building a paint booth for my airbrush so I can paint inside.   Sunday night I grab my cordless Skil drill, no battery, quiz the family and my daughter has the battery and the charger in her room because she was going to hang a new curtain rod and curtains.  She brings me the battery and its dead, I tell her to bring me the charger .... holly crap... its all melted and burnt up.   Search online for replacement battery and charger and found out Skil had a recall on thier charges

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/PRHTML03/03082.html

The transformer inside the charger can overheat. If this occurs, the charger housing can melt and deform, possibly igniting flammable materials near or on the charger.

I go to the web site and no rebate info so I sent them an email.  and they replied

Dear Ken,

Thank you for writing Skil.

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Robert Bosch Tool Corporation is voluntarily recalling over 2,000,000 Skil battery chargers. The transformer inside the charger can overheat due to aging batteries. If this occurs, the charger housing can deform due to increased transformer temperature, and combustible materials near or on the charger may ignite.

The affected chargers were sold from August 1994 through December 2002.

Chargers were included with tool model numbers 2375, 2380, 2475, 2480, 2482, 2580, and 2582.

Chargers were also sold separately under catalog numbers 92950, 92970, 92980 and 92990 ¿ part number 2610995852 only.

There are no service parts available for these units any longer.

If you have any of these tools or related charger models, please stop using immediately and call the toll-free Skil recall information line: 1-800-661-5398 Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST for further instructions.

Please write back if I can assist you further.

Ellen
Skil Customer Service
For additional information, please visit our web site at www.Skil.com

so now I gotta call, which i was trying to avoid dont want to spend an hour on the phone talking to some wack job... Oh well.

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

So...the chargers gone..your house is still alright, 2 million have been recalled, they are a 1994 to 2002 product.


And..why..now are you going to sit on a phone for an hour talking to some wackjob over what, a 40+ dollar product?
Here, blame your daughter for "over charging it" and have her replace it with a new new one of some type come fathers day.


Honestly im just glad your all alright, i would not touch another product made by those people,ever. and sure as hell wouldnt waste a hour of my life trying to contest to a company that is probably going to go under, now to mention the lawsuits of the houses and people that may have died because of this all. 2 million in product, wow.

 

[Fulmar]

For three years in college I worked at Batteries Plus, and other than installing car batteries, 4.5 million watches, I was the main tech guy at our store.  My part time hours I'd probably do about 10-20 (sometimes more) cordless drill packs a week.  Basically, we open up the pack take the contact connectors, temp sensors, or other resistors off the pack.  Glue up the new batteries to the same shape, spot weld the connections together and finish the final connection.

Skill packs were always a POS.  Once you get them open, they were cheaply made and the cells were sub par quality with lower capacities.  When I was done rebuilding them, my quality was much better than their China factories.  But that's where every brand makes them.  But some brands are much better than others.

Black and Decker chargers were always POS as well.  My manager and a customer ordered replacement 14.4V chargers (direct from B&D) within a 1 week timeline.  The first two chargers my manager received already had burnt circuit boards in them prior to use, and the same happened to the customer.  Finally they both got working ones but you could tell that these chargers that they charged $20 for (8-hour chargers) were made for $0.10.  This is their old style batteries like this one:


Anyways there are brands that do make good quality batteries (and chargers).  But they match their price tags.

Good:
Dewalt (occassionally prone to breaks in connections between the neck/top cell and the bottom, overall good batteries)
Bosch

Average:
Craftsmen (actually these were pretty good, but they use lower capacity cells and often use 4/5 Sub-C's and made them fit in full Sub-C cases)
B&D (similar construction to Dewalt, though not quite as good, used lower capacity and often 4/5 sub-c cells like Craftsmen)
Milwaukee (though they are constructed well, a couple years ago they recalled about a million batteries)
Porter Cable (hit and miss sometimes, their 2.0Ah batteries marked on the outside are actually 1.9Ah internally)

Bad Design/Overall:
Skill
Lincoln Grease Guns (I laugh at what they charger for OEM batteries, I've seen more of these batteries melted by internal short circuits than anything)
Any $10-$20 18V no-name brand.  Good luck having a battery last more than 6-12 months.

I can go on for hours about this, and I'll field any questions!

[Airscrew]

Fulmar,  Bosch makes Skil tools
Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

BK, I'm in the middle of a project building my paint booth, I need my drill... I'm only going to call because the recall said they're supposed to issue a $25 rebate good for another purchase.  I have B&D, Skil, and Ryobi tools.  Never had an issue one with any of them until now.  That drill I bought new in 98, worked fine no issues at all, till my daughter got a hold of it. 

I'm not going to wait for a rebate though, probably go tonight and get a new one, of course now I got an excuse to get one of those kits that have the cordless drill and saw.

[Fulmar]

I know Bosch makes Skill tools, but those batteries weren't made in the same factories.  Same with Dewalt and B&D.

Ryobi makes a good battery.  I can't say anything for the drills and their usage because I never used them.  I can only comment on battery construction and performance.

[Masherbrum]

Panasonic power tools have the best batteries period and they rarely get mentioned.   

When it comes to power tools I look at two brands: 

    Corded:  Milwaukee - No one is even close.   I own the 50th Anniversary Sawz-All and the 75th Anni. 1/2" Magnum Hole shooter.   Most would coddle it because "it's an anniv."    I have beat the living sh*t out of the drill.   It is scratched, the sticker is almost gone.   But I know when I need it, it's there.   

    Cordless:  Makita - Makita makes the best cordless tools and rarely get mentioned.   I have a 25 year old 9.6v Makita passed down to me from my father in law (who gave me the 1/2" Hole shooter for a B Day gift) and it has yet to fail.   IF I cannot use it for whatever application, I go to the Milwaukee.   I'll never understand why Makita (which is superior to DeWalt in most ways) is the underdog.   

I wouldn't buy a DeWalt tool if my life depended on it.   The ONLY DeWalt item I have purchased was a cordless driver bit set (in a pinch), the glue fell off of both sides.  I gave that to my buddy when we drywalled his basement.

 

[Airscrew]

well I just put this up in case anybody had one of these drills.  I had mine for quite awhile and never heard about the recall, of course I rarely ever fill out any of those registration cards or now days go online and register anything.   I could have had a fire... luckily I didnt.   

[Masherbrum]

well I just put this up in case anybody had one of these drills.  I had mine for quite awhile and never heard about the recall, of course I rarely ever fill out any of those registration cards or now days go online and register anything.   I could have had a fire... luckily I didnt.   

It's a good thing you posted it.   But more importantly, you found out about the recall and no one is hurt.