Have you had any issues with the set or notice anything quirky with them?

@@TalkingHandsTools No I can't think of anything. I also have Sunex master impact socket sets. I just wish they offered a 3/8 drive magnetic set. I am a big fan of the brand.

A 3/8 magnetic set would be nice. I agree sunex has been a great value for the money.

Is it a back pack style?

@TalkingHandsTools no it's like the milwaukee version you have.

@jasonvandervalk3679 I see they make Super Blowers for Dewalt. Do you have the ability to test what voltage that version shuts off at? I'm thinking it would be 13.2V, which is a bit low, but I'd be curious to find out. For the money, I think the Super Blower is a great deal. You just have to be vigilant about your batteries.

@@TalkingHandsTools no I don't

That's a hard one to judge without seeing it. Does it seem like the battery pack filled with water? If so, it may be done.

Most tool batteries don't shut themselves down for low voltage. The tools have that part of the BMS in them. For Milwaukee the exception is V18, V28 and M28 batteries those do have low voltage protection in the batteries. That being said it's why I think it is important to check what voltage the tool shut down the circuit. Many knock off tools seem to have a 13v ish range which I think is far too low and will ultimately damage your packs.

@@TalkingHandsTools Thanks for the information. I'm surprised that's the way it is done. I have learned something valuable! I have some experience with other kinds of lithium battery usage, mostly for solar and emergency backup. Those BMSs seem to take more strict control of the battery voltage and amperage, both outgoing and incoming. I guess that is because in those cases the battery manufacturer has no control over what devices they are used in, unlike branded power tools.

@fxm5715 I think you are correct. The tool companies plan on you using their batteries and their tools. I would imagine if you use anything different, you void any warranties. Tool batteries also don't have very sophisticated balancing circuits in them, so cells occasionally get out of balance. I would imagine if you ran any low charging them could be a problem. Milwaukee M18 batteries are decent to use cause you have the voltage based charge indicator. If you use them for tools like this blower, keep checking the indicator periodically, and I like to take them off to charge once your down to a single solid lit bar. I know they go down to a single flashing bar, but why push it?

@@TalkingHandsTools I think that's a good practice. I suspect a lot of power tool batteries go bad because they sit around partially charged for a long time, drifting significantly out of balance, then someone uses them down to "zero", which for some cells, may be well below the safe level of discharge. This damages the pack, or at least takes it out of the voltage range the branded charger is willing to work with. If a battery pack has been sitting for more than a few days, I always charge it back to full if I'm going to be drawing it down significantly. I figure the charger probably does a reasonably good job top-balancing them.

They work pretty well. It seems like the loud noises get canceled. That being said, you still can hear them if you have the volume low. It seems as you turn up the volume to hear voices, the loud noises start to cancel as they essentially overdrive the system. Hopefully, that makes sense. I will say you can't play music super loud with these, and phone calls aren't bad, but they aren't crystal clear. I've not tried a phone call in a loud environment they may or may not do well with that.

I didn't realize there was multiple versions. How can you tell the difference?

@@TalkingHandsToolsmost of them are using 30Q v3 like yours till around dec 2021, they switched to Sony / Murata VTC 6 - best cells then in 2023, they switched back to 30Q version 6, so far i haven’t seen any bad one yet, i like Murata, very strong and consistancy cuz these M12 does not have balance board, even M18 board doesn’t balance cells and you can tell when you fully charge a pack and measure them to see if they keep themself balance

@TranTek I have seen none of these packs seem to balance. When I repair batteries, I've been matching the cells inside. My thinking is that the cells all have different capacities and characteristics. I obviously can't find an equivalent cell with the same amount of run time and charge cycles, but matching types of cells does match cell charging and discharging characteristics. In your experience, does any of that matter? To be fair I don't replace many cells I normally have to balance charge them and I can normally get the pack working again. I do have a M18 12AH that has some issues that will likely end in cell replacement if I can troubleshoot it and identify the problem cells.

@@TalkingHandsTools if you run across well made cells they don’t sag like that, i seen many bad one and good one like Sony VTC 6 18650 to VTC6a 21700 cells that still very well balance even those Samsung 30T and Samsung 25S LG are very good too Samsung made some of the crappy one over the years and also some very good one

You are correct, I'm hoping to have a future video get into this a little more.

Thanks, I'm game to make modifications for the better. What should I use to do what I'm looking for? Currently, the batteries are isolated, and with the plastic fasteners, the aluminum heat sinks are insulated in the plastic box. I never claimed semiconductors were my strong suit. If there's something that's a better fit, I'd like to use it. Part of why I like to make videos is to show it's okay to learn as you go and make changes. If you have a good idea, I'll put it on the project and include it in a future video. I have another upgrade planned already. Thanks for the comment.

@@TalkingHandsTools So my recommendation after watching the video is that you want to swap the diodes around. You had the right idea of "ground" being battery negative but that isn't really feasible in this application and trying to keep that idea led you astray. I'll explain why in the next paragraph but what you need to do is remove the diodes on the negative heatsink, put them back in your diode drawer. Then take the diodes you used from the positive side and mount them to the negative side heatsink. Connect the negative battery leads to the small tips of the diodes, and the negative of the boost converter to the negative heatsink (the large threaded metal part of the diode). In your final configuration shown at the end of this video is not ideal at all, you don't need 4 diodes just 2. On the negative side, the negatives of the batteries are shorted together through the heatsink, then you connected the other ends of the diodes together. Which is why you could see the current flow between the batteries, the only thing the 2 diodes (acting as a single diode in parallel) would have prevented is the boost converter from accidentally charging the batteries (which it's already impossible due to diodes already in the module). You were on the right track with adding the positive diodes by isolating the heatsinks. However you should just take a step back and combine the 2 ideas. Don't use the negative diodes because they did nothing and isolate the 2 batteries by using the non heatsink side of the diode. So do what I said earlier, use the other polarity of the diodes and mount the battery terminals directly to the tips of the diodes. I hope this helps! Diodes can be a tricky thing, especially when they mount to a heatsink and that then becomes part of the circuit. This is the reason why most semiconductors have isolating pads on them because the back tab is connected to the center pin which is the Gate/Collector!

I can definitely see that would work. I was thinking I should only need two diodes, but I ended up spun around on things and had the batteries in parallel. Thank you. I'll try and incorporate this change in a future video. There's already at least one more video part that'll go out first, and then we can get into the modifications. To anyone reading this is the fun part about building things, sometimes you get it wrong but it's okay take a step back and coarse correct a little and everything will work out and you'll learn something along the way. Thanks again!

@@TalkingHandsTools You're welcome! Happy to help! Yes, when you are building no matter how much experience you will eventually mess up. Just learn what went wrong and keep on building. You'll only get better and better!

This is a convenient size. It was also surprising it moves more air than the M18.

It's been a while but make sure the lever mechanism attached to the trigger is put together properly. I recall it being finicky to get back together.

With the original trigger assembly, it was lost. Once we installed the new trigger assembly, it was good to go again. This has been a great drill to use in the shop.

Thank you very much for the comment. I can try to mute the audio in the sped up clips. Unfortunately, I kinda just hit record and start doing things. I don't have a script, so I really don't know where I'll have lags in the video. I'm still experimenting with video editing. This was 2X speed to try and compress the time a little. Thanks for the input.

It would be great to get into hard to reach areas. It is only 3/8 wide, so it might be easy to dig into the work piece. I've also not tried a lot of side loading on it. I think you would need a fairly light touch to avoid pushing the belt off the tool. I'd give it a go if I was comfortable with spending the money, knowing it may not work. If I already had one, I'd definitely try it. There would be nothing to lose at that point.

Happy to help out!

Thanks, these old ratchets are great quality and worth trying to fix up.

I agree, I can't believe they are that bad.

I do a full test on a three phase motor with this meter in another video. I believe it's called motor testing 101.

Do you know what they were in to get nasty? I've not had any issues with mine yet. Are yours the new non USA version or do you have ones made by Western Forge?

I have a Braun here as well as at least one or two others. I'm thinking of good was to compare them, and it'll probably be a video sometime in the future. For the money, there's nothing wrong with the Braun from what I see so far.

I saw those adapters and was thinking about giving one a go. How's the torque with the lower voltage?

@@TalkingHandsTools They work a little slower. The only drawback is that the M18 battery does not communicate with the consumer and does not have overdischarge protection like the original Milwaukee V28 battery.

@Popajaja you're correct the V series of batteries had the Battery Management in the battery the new tools have it in the tool. You would have to watch your charge manually.

I apologize, but it appears a bunch of my early videos only uploaded in lower resolution for some reason. I could try and re-upload the video at some point. I honestly wasn't aware till just now. I thought I uploaded everything in 1080P I guess my old crappy internet got me.

Let me know how they hold up. The Doyle pliers in this video are a copy of the Channellock 428. I tend to go for the 428s before these Doyle in the shop.

I think I can test that with some of the new gear I recently got. If they are a little harder than others, they should hold up a little better. I was surprised how bad the flush cut quality was on the Klein. I've had the Klein in the work gear for years. If you didn't see the final episode where we compare all the cutters together, check it out. The performance of the Klein surprised me greatly.

Glad to help out, my only warning on this one would be keep track of your batteries. If you get down to one bar take them off. Don't wait for the tool to shut off. 13.2V seems too low and might hurt the longevity of your batteries.

It is amazing how decent the cheap ones are.

Great info, I currently do not have a rig to bring cells down, but I did have the power supply. I have a normal charger somewhere, and I agree it would have been a better choice due to the lower current. I guess it was obvious I don't use the rapid charger much due to me not knowing what the flashing light meant. I could very clearly hear the charger stop charging, and it flashed green for about 15 minutes, which led to me speculating what the flashing green might have meant. The nice thing about playing around it is that you learn. I just happen to shoot a video while I learn, so mistakes are gonna happen for all to see. I could have edited all them out, but I like to leave them in the hopes it's shows people it's okay to make mistakes and maybe show you have to be willing to evolve with your project. You might have an idea going into a project, but if you're successful, you should know a lot more when you're done. The other nice thing about leaving mistakes in is it creates a dialog where hopefully others that had a similar experience can say what they've seen and what they do. Thank you very much for your insights it helps out the discussion a great deal. I agree with you that whether you drain high cells or float charge low cells, you need to get them all close before you try to charge them, and a non-rapid charger is preferred. I do think I prefer taking the low cells up only due to I have the advantage of an infrared camera, if there is an issue with a cell and it gets hot I stand a better chance of finding it with the individual charging method. Thanks again for taking the time to comment. I greatly appreciate hearing what other people do when they are faced with this. Hopefully, I was able to show you at least stand a chance of fixing your pack if you get the dreaded 8 flashing lights.

Do you think if there's a high current draw or if they sit an extended period, it could throw things out of whack? I've brought back a few equalizing the cells this way, and they are still operating fine.

@@TalkingHandsTools The issue with lithium batteries sitting for long periods of time is self discharge if it gets below the BMS low battery cell cutoff voltage, thus preventing it from being recharged, and possibly damaging the cells once it falls below the minimum cell voltage for enough time to cause damage. I have been told that if you are not going to use your lithium batteries for extended periods of time to keep them in a freezer, but make sure you let them defrost fully before using or recharging! This is supposed to slow down the self discharge to almost nothing. It seems to me to be a failure of the BMS board and charging system, either in design or a malfunction, that it cannot detect that while some cells are at charged voltage, others are not, and charging needs to be applied only to the low cells until all cells are balanced. This is a normal function of quality lithium BMS that include cell balancing. I am disappointed by my Milwaukee 12 Ah batteries having a much shorter life than I expected, and will be looking to follow your lead in refurbishment. I suspect that Milwaukee went with the cheapest BMS they could get away with, one that may not even include balancing, and the batteries are suffering for it.

Thank you very much for the comments, what your saying is aligning with what I've seen in practice. For what it's worth, I have brought back a 12ah pack this way. I didn't shoot a video on that one, but it prompted me to shoot a video when I played around with this one. That 12AH pack has been going through charge cycles fine since I balanced the cells.

@@TalkingHandsTools Thanks for the info. I am an electrician in the power industry, and have a small pile of Milwaukee batteries that have stopped working, and you are giving me the courage to fiddle with them. I suppose I will keep a bucket of water handy just in case :) Now to find a power supply fit for purpose.....

@GoCoyote the batteries aren't too bad. You will want to make sure nothing gets hot as you charge them. A constant current power supply like I use in the video is best. That way, you can make sure you're not putting too much current into the cells. I'm an industrial electrician myself. Just make sure you work on rubber and you keep metal tools and other objects away. As I'm sure you're well aware, batteries don't have overcurrent or short circuit protection, so things can go very bad if you short them out. Meter things out good first and get a sense for where things are at and take it from there. If you have questions, feel free to ask. I'll help where I can.

LOL, nah, the only guy that could be AvE is AvE. I'll do my own thing my own way. I doubt I'll ever be anywhere close to his level. But I am a guy playing around in my own shop, which is always fun, and if I'm not mistaken, is encouraged by any of the good KZbinrs. Did you try this conversion? It works great. I have quite a few hours on this now with no problems whatsoever. Thank you for the comment.

@TalkingHandsTools We're you doing it your own way when you took his lingo? Doing some of that is fine if you pit your own flavor on it & also have your own style to begin with. This is not that. Hell yeah! I did it's a skookum choocher nowadays. It's nice, but you gotta keep it clean. I gotta tear it apart and clean out the shmoo inbetwixed the gears.

@AsteroidRespecter you got me confused give me a time stamp. What did I say?

​@TalkingHandsTools Dude, it's a 6 minute video & it's obvious you know AvE's lingo. In fact, if you can't figure it out then you shouldn't be doing this job to begin with. FFS

Have you ever worked in industry or the trades? Guys talk like I talk in this video to each other every day. It's not like AvE invented an entire vernacular. Maybe the reason he's so popular is he's so relatable to people work and earn an honest living every day. Thanks for the comments.

I did not make a follow-up yet. I can say these knock-off batteries are hit and miss. I think I'm at about 50 percent success rate. If you buy two, one seems to fail. I have recently started to wonder if it's low voltage. It may be that they don't recover from being run down hard like the legit batteries do.

@@TalkingHandsTools Thanks for the reply. I’ve just purchased a couple of WECACHWE M28s. I’ll let you know how they do. I’m just finding it hard to drop $184 for 1 battery from Milwaukee.

I agree with that completely. I'm always looking for an alternative myself.

Happy to be able to help out.

The 260 is an amazing meter. Rest assured the school stickers will be staying in place.

How old are those Kleins? Do you have a catalog number for them? I'd like to look them up and test them against the others.

I try and use them as much as I can in the shop. I've beat my hands up a lot over the years. I'm hoping it's not too late to make a change. Plus, they kinda look cool under the microscope.

I use QElectroTech you may have to make your own symbols but you'll always have them to use after you make them.

I'm not sure you would be able to magnetize a socket enough to hold nuts or bolts. You may be able to purchase magnets and try to modify a socket with them.

I gotta admit I didn't expect the results I got with the Klein. I was really happy with the quality of the Weller cutters for the money.

I'd have to go back and look, but I think I show some of the buffing on the straight grinder videos we did on the channel. In the future, I can show more of how I buff them. I normally do a fairly quick job, and it gets decent results. I'll try and work in a restoration in the next month or two.

That's a great idea. I might do that at I might do that myself at some point.

I agree I have a pair of Kleins that I've had at work a long time for the exact same uses.

Does your Snap-On close similar to the one I have here? I was kinda bummed to find the gap on them. I was curious if other pairs were similar.

@TalkingHandsTools if ur talking about the flush cutters having a slight gap between the blades, yeh, mine does too. My icons dont

@benjaminmasters5375 that's really a bummer considering what they cost. I like everything else about them aside from how they are ground I do believe the Snap-On has slightly better build quality over the Icon. I'm not sure it's three times better but I think it's better.

I missed that, good eye!

It's really hard to show on video, but they really are a better quality grip.

I agree. I like the feel of the snap on and newer icon handles over the first icon pair I got.

Thank you very much. I've always goofed around with things and thought it might be fun to share what I get into. At a minimum, maybe I can help someone decide what product fits their needs best or encourage them to try and take apart something that is broken and try to repair it.