This video is a Colab with @toolscientist on the topic of Milwaukee M18 Battery codes present on some batches of batteries. You can find out charge counts, how long you’ve owned the battery and more with this simple trick.
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Do your Milwaukee batteries do This good day and welcome to another Tools and stuff video if you are a user Of Milwaukee tools and Milwaukee M18 Batteries in particular then some point In this video you're probably going to Have to pause this and go running out to Your work van or down to your garage or Your shed with wherever you've got your Batteries and um try out this little Trick here because as you can see got a Few flashes going on on these batteries What is going on why are the LEDs all Wigging out well they're not wigging out They are programmed to do a certain Thing and today I'm going to tell you About that thing some of you may recall My video over on builds and stuff I'll Put it up in the top Corner up here and Down in the description about 6 weeks Ago I um got this battery and I opened It up first thing I did before I even Used it opened it up took the screws out Tipped it upside down to see what sort Of cells it had in it when I turned it Back over the LED was going bonkers here Flashing doing all sorts of things and I Thought oh as did a few other People uhoh I've bricked this battery I've just stuffed it it knows that it's Been opened I thought there was a Perhaps a sensor or something on the Side it looked like there was something There

And I've stuffed it potentially so had a Quick look at it screwed it back Together it worked fine and I kind of Forgot about it and a few people left Comments of course and one of those People was tool scientist and it Obviously was playing on his mind a bit Because a couple of weeks later after Him watching it two three weeks later um Four weeks later I don't know whatever It was he commented again saying that he Thinks he knows why it's flashing and so We both started doing a bit of Investigating and there's a little bit Of information about this already out There on the old interwebs but not a lot And so we started trying to work out What the flashing lights on these Batteries meant why they were doing it So I've got six batteries here on the Bench the new Forge a 12 a six high Output another 12 five and a six here Now these three at the front all do what I'm about to show you these three at the Back do not so this comes down to the Age of the battery if your battery is Old now we're talking sort of before 2016 we're not sure we've got a fairly Good data set here this is all the data That tool scientist has put together I Know he's still doing it but I've got to Start filming this video to get it done Uh so through throughout this video I Will be referring to this and he will

Probably have some more updated Information for his video now his video Will be going out straight after this One so once this video is finished You'll see his video pop up and you can Go over and watch that if you're Interested more in the details about What I'm about to show you so what we're Talking about is this if you push your LED fuel gauge button and hold it down This happens the battery indicator Lights start flashing in a seemingly Random pattern unless you of course know What they stand for now the newest old Battery that we know of that does this Is 2015 the middle of 2015 somewhere between the middle of 2015 and March 2016 they stopped doing This you couldn't do it any longer but As of somewhere around the middle of 2021 the last last one that we've got That doesn't do it is from February 21 And the newest one that does is the Middle of 2021 so somewhere in that area Of a few months there they started doing It again so if you have a battery dated 2016 to 2020 it ain't going to do it but if you Have newer batteries or really old Batteries then you can try this little Trick at home yourself so hold down your Battery hold it for about 3 seconds and This happens you'll see it's flashed Four lights then a couple of flashes

Then the four flash twice then we have Some more Lights then we have three flashes of Four any moment Now there we go and then another set of Numbers indicated by the flashing lights And then we have one last set so these Are like four data points and we were Trying to work out what the four of them Were so this is what we have so far now There's a couple that we're pretty Certain of so the second set after the Two flashes of Lights we know is the Amount of days this one's quite Intriguing I'm quite Fascinated shocked in a way that they Actually do this it's the amount of days Since you first charged the battery and That of course goes up by one every 24 Hours and you don't even have to put it On the charger for that to happen it Will just go up it's sitting here on Your bench check it one day the next day Check it again at the same time it will Be one number Higher when we first checked this this One was on 50 and I'll show you what I Mean by 50 so this is our first number Which is like 101 this is our second Number this is how many days 1 2 3 4 5 50 days 1 2 3 53 days since this was first Charged so if you push this on there you

Can find out how old your battery is There is of course a date a manufacturer Date on the bottom of your battery just Here this one bit of a glare there uh 2023 on the 10th of November this Battery was made pretty fresh battery Newest one I have but that number of the Amount of days is from the actual first Day it's charged if you go back and Watch that video that's up in the top Corner you'll see that I hadn't charged This thing and so the flashing lights Are a bit different to what you'll see Today the other number we are certain of Is the third number now the third number Third set of numbers is the charge count Now charge count a little bit misleading Because it's actually the amount of Times you put it on the charger whether It charges it or not you put a full Battery on there stick it on there for a Few seconds and pull it off it will add A number to this thing which is a little Bit Disappointing and this is that number Here One 1 2 3 4 5 and it should be Six yeah so that was 16 one Flash in This column six in this one 16 charges Now I can make that jump up if I put This on the supercharger in the Background Here video for this will be Out in a couple of days put that on There green light solid it's fully

Charged didn't need to put it on there Did I now if we take a look at those Flashing lights again we will see it Should now say 17 charges one two 3 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 now when we were first Trying to work this out we had four Batteries I think it was from Tool Scientists these three batteries here And we were trying to work out whether That third one was the charge or not we Knew one of them was going to be a Charge count and it seemed accurate for This it seemed accurate for this but This one seemed too high cuz it only Just got the thing and all I'd been Doing was a few tests for YouTube and I Thought I've charged it say about four Or five times yet it was showing 15 Charges I thought well that can't be the Charge count then it's got to be Something else but it it seemed to fit For this one cuz I just got this battery As well and it seemed to fit for this One this one basically just gets used For YouTube videos and those numbers Seemed accurate but this one seemed too High and I thought okay maybe I got a a Battery that had already been used I Mean it looked brand new sealed in the Box but maybe somebody had already Previously been playing with it Milwaukee sent me this battery well I Picked it up from them and maybe they Had used it I thought but no turns out

Every time you put it on the charger as You just saw it clicks over another Charge count now I had been testing this Charger and showing it turning the fan On and off and that sort of thing inside The charger and so I'd been putting Numbers on this battery um without even Realizing so that is why that number is That number and that is why number three On these batteries is the charge count Or at least the amount of times that's Been on the charger so those two numbers We know for sure the second and third Number now the first and the fourth one Are a little bit trickier we haven't Quite worked that out yet and we might Need some extra input so if you know Anything about these let us know down in The comments if you work for Milwaukee And you know just that'll be sweet Just put us out of our misery so the Fourth number we'll look at it a Different battery Here this one Has they've all got the same first Number which I'll explain at the end but We'll go to the last number now now the Last number we think is a factory code We we threw this one around all over the Place we thought maybe they were at First potentially codes that told you The amp power and when it was made that Sort of thing some sort of date code but Now we've worked out it is just a this

Is it here this one should be 512 this Number will never Change so there we go 512 we think now that that's probably a Factory code because there's batteries That are 12 a and 6 a and stuff that Have the same number at the end and That's the same with other ones my Number that's on this one which is 256 Is also present on some 1.5 a batteries Some 2 a batter batteries from other People and other people have 6 amp Batteries that have the same number as This so we think it's probably a factory Code so that if something goes wrong With the batteries you take it into Milwaukee they can see where it was made Maybe if they've got a lot of them that Same number having the same problem they Know there was an issue with that Particular Factory and that run of Batteries now the first number still Needs a little bit of testing but on all Of these at this stage I will do a quick Test in a moment to change it the first One's change but not too much so 1 0 1 So 0 1 0 1 that's what we've got for There so that's like four different Things going on on that first number Whereas the other ones are just one Thing and now those flashing lights are Putting me off let's just think of it Like this we think this first one this First indicator this is sort of like the

Status of the batteries these four Lights underneath the first Diagnostic flash so the first one is is A zero if the battery is charged if the Battery is completely depleted and flat That will be on that'll be one so the Next one if your battery is good we Think the health of the battery is good Maybe it's the health of the cells this Will be a one most of the batteries that Have been tested we've looked at have Been one in this column but if I look at The data on the sheet here there's quite A lot that are zero but they are older Batteries it potentially changed at 1 Point or most likely that is a battery Health Indicator the third one we haven't ever Tripped that onto a one yet so it's Either something that maybe when Something's wrong with the battery that We haven't tested in any of the Batteries that we've got hasn't been an Issue and maybe that is used for some Form of diagnostic breakdown in the Battery but otherwise it's potentially Just an empty slot there and this last One is battery charged from our testing So that will be A1 or on when the Battery is fully charged presumably over A certain voltage and this one will be On when it's under a certain voltage That is what those four lights are so on All three of these batteries I'll show

It on this one cuz it's a little bit Brighter and easier to see on the Camera one and a one there so 0 1 01 can I make that change now to 1 0 I Should be able to if I flatten the Battery it should then say one it's Under a certain voltage one the battery Is still in good health zero because That one's always been zero and zero Because it's now below the voltage of Being charged that's what we think it is So I'm now going to go and Chuck this And this one on the Milwaukee 36v vac And drain them both see what those first Numbers change to And then charge them up again and see if It changes back so before I go and do That I will just show you what these Ones are Showing so we have One One the next one doesn't really Count cuz you don't need to know it but If you want to see it change if I do an Add-on to this in a couple of days then You'll see this number Change One 2 3 4 5 6 7 297 Days 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 78 18 charges and it showed 0 1 01 at

The beginning This one will also of course show 01 01 At the beginning but this will change Once I have flattened them if our theory Is correct so that was the 101 then I Have 50 whatever it was 53 days so it's Been 3 days since I first wrote down the Numbers for this Tool battery should I Say Six seven so that is the battery count 17 so we're going to flatten it that one Will remain the same the first one will Change the only one that should change When we flatten it is that first set of Numbers and then once I then Chuck them Back on the charger in the back there That third number will change okay Comprend everybody understand let's go Flatten these going to bung the VAC on Full whack running on the VAC for about 5 minutes has taken these down to three Bars each I'm now just going to check The voltage and then we'll check that First number as well so the forge we are Looking At 19 volts that's pretty good 19.25 And 18.8 for the six high output so They're still pretty good above the 18vt Mark That's nice these batteries will be In the the low 20s sort of 20 to 21 when They are first free frally charged let's Try this 12 here just to see what it's

Reading It there you go 20.3 6 So these have dropped not a huge amount For that first bar on the gauge here Let's now take it down another bar and See what they read at oh first I better Of course check have we got 0101 Yes yes and on this One yes yes okay let's go do some more [Music] Depleting okay now with two bars showing On each battery do we have the same Code we Do and same on that one Voltage 18 coming back 18 1 12ish for the forge Still very Good and The high output Six 18.3 hasn't dropped much since the Last time so they're pretty close to Each other there which is nice now we'll Take it down to one Bar okay we are showing one bar each now Let's check The Lights still 0 1 01 [Music] And 01 01 right what about the voltage quick Voltage check for for the Forge 17.75 so we're below the 18

Finally 17.7 for the high output that's pretty Good right I am now going to take them Right down to the point where they cut Out and then we should see I think 1 0 On the batteries both of them on that First one 1 1 0 0 let's try that Out Okay I quickly just noticed on the forge I took it straight off the V well I Actually tested it while it was still on The V and the first light flashed so I Whipped it off and quickly tested it but By the time say flashing say is Dead back to one there but it did have a One here it's currently sitting at 16.6 Vol let's see if it's popped up again I'm guessing this light comes on when it Drops under a certain voltage maybe 16.5 Maybe 16 So it's yeah 16.6 it's recovered a Little bit so just going to see if I can Get this to deplete a bit More okay flashing light one flashing Light let's see will we get the first Light to flash after the first test There it is and that one and then two Not doing it and this one should Hopefully be the Same oh no it's recovered a little bit a Moment ago it did the same as that one So let's just quickly test the voltages Again so Voltage

16.2 this is over 16 A2 no we're on 15ish come On yeah so we're only around 15 on that One and yet that first one was still There so doesn't seem to be a particular Voltage that does it if this one is Doing it at 16 yeah look at That well it basically means the battery Is flat anyway this one may have had Just a tiny a little bit more juice left In it cuz I ran them both on the VAC so Once the VAC cut out this one might have Still had a little bit more juice than This one even though voltage wise it's Definitely lower as you just saw um I'll See if I can get it to to flash that Light again by just chucking it on Another tool for a moment and I can also Test something else well show you what Else it can do when we put it on the Drill Here so if we have it on the drill and We run it we'll see that you can still Use this Feature Ah Oh cut out so now you will see that this Should yes yes no no right so flat Battery basically all it means but the Voltage I was hoping they were going to Be able to we're going to be able to see A a common theme in the voltage between The two that this would be you know once

They got under 15 16 14 and half Whatever it happened to be but it looks Like they're not and they do cut out Quite early I mean this cut out still With 16 volts showing this one pretty Much being on 15 so those batteries Performing pretty much how tool Scientist and I had worked it out so the Very first diagnostic section there After the first flash of four is dead Battery good health Battery we don't know yet third one Maybe it's some other fault within the Battery that none of the packs we've Tested have had and the last one means Battery charged so that one is on pretty Much all the time unless the battery's Completely drained in which case that Light jumps back to the first one I'm Going to Chuck those on charge now just So you can see the counters come up on Those batteries but first we'll just Have a quick look at this so there is Some anomalies on here we've got 99,999 charge count there that's clearly Incorrect because it's only been running For 215 days that's over 50 50 charges a Days sort of thing around that so Unlikely unless the person has been Charging it twice an hour every hour of That battery's life which is yeah pretty Unlikely but we do have some other high Charge counts here we've got a 3,800 Here we got 8,950 here which does seem a

Little bit odd as well but it has been Around a long time but still we're Looking at four charges a day every day Uh then up here we've got some very old Batteries look we've got 3000s up here Which is pretty good it's good to see Couple of 42,000 plus ones there which Is pretty good they haven't had many Charges though look that's only works Out to about like one charge a month Less than one charge a month for their Entire life which is not much some People don't use batteries much at all Look at this 56 days old one charge 41 Days one charge that's me I'll let tool Scientists talk a bit more about some of The data that on here and now I'll just Chuck these on so we can see the numbers Change because it will be the third Number that changes Now so on this one the number as you've Already seen is now what 17 this one is 18 so we will go and Chuck them on the Charger and then have a look at what They turn out to be this is the 18 one Coming up now sorry 17 This one's got some long numbers on It this one should be 18 one and then Eight in this Column I looked away and forgot counting But anyway I'm guessing it was 18 I'm now going to stick this one on The charger multiple times so we know It's 17 let's just go like this wait for

The light to come on take it Off wait for the light to come on take It off Wait for the light to come on take it Off this should now be 20 if our theory Is Correct so it's a little bit Disappointing that it does that so Rapidly oh I think we had one light There and one there then so it's maybe Come back up a little bit and taken off The completely dead Light so this number flashing right now Is the amount of Days and the next number is the one we Want to see if it's jumped up to 20 Should just be one Two and it is and nothing in that one Correct the theory Works but it's disappointing that every Single time you put on the charger it Automatically ticks one over but so be It that's what it does that's what it Does so stick both of them on the Supercharger which as you can hear is a Nice noisy Beast this one will charge Faster for two reasons one it is a forge Battery with PP cells charges quicker And because I stuck it on the charger First this light comes on which is like A boost So if that lights on it means this Charging port is getting more amps going To it this is currently running at a 12

Amp this will only run at six if I take Those Off take that one off you now see it's Jumped over to the high output battery Is now the one with the higher amp Rating this one back on so now that one Is charging quicker but this battery Overall charges quicker so maybe they'll Be charged at about the same Time anyway for that sort of information Check out the video in a couple of days Time all about the charger and how it Works and how these batteries react on This charger versus old Chargers and now It is time for you to go down and get Some of your batteries and start pushing Those buttons if you push the button and It does Something can you please let me know What it does down in the description in Particular if you get that third led to Light up on that first diagnostic Section then please let me know and Please let me know if you think you know Why if your battery is dead if you you Know you overloaded it too much whatever It happens to be also if you have Batteries that don't do it can you tell Us the date because we're trying to work Out exactly when the dates stop and Start for when this system the software Was in the batteries just because we're A pair of Nerds though I'm sure a lot of you

Watching the Nerds as well so that's all Good thanks for watching guys check out That in a few days the the VAC that I Was um using the batteries on that video Will be out soon too as well and There'll be more battery tests on that As well of course and yeah cheers see You all again next time there's some Videos and stuff here at the end down in The description blah blah Bye man that thing's noisy [Music] [Applause]