Both Hitachi 18v drill-driver battery sets leaking charge

[Breaktime1]

Hi. I've not had any trouble with the batteries (EB14B - 2.0 Ah) of my other Hitachi product, a 14.4v impact driver. Just the batteries (EB1814SL) for my Hitachi 18v drill. When just freshly charged they work okay. The problem is they don't hold the charge for very long between the last charge and first use. In other words, I have to keep them sitting in the charger at all times except just until the moment when I need to use them. Then I must promptly put them back in the charger. My 14.4v Hitachi on the other hand gives me no such problem. I can leave the batteries out of the charger for quite some time during periods when the tool is not in use, and still count on much of the charge remaining at the time of my last use still there. Anybody else experience this? How to remedy the problem? BTW, all batteries referred to above are the older Ni-CAD type.

PS: If I decide to buy a new set of 18v battery packs (or rebuild the existing battery packs with new cells), what are the obstacles to converting to lithium ion batteries. Or can this be done as long as I'm careful to incorporate a special lithium battery protection circuit/board?

Thanks,

Breaktime1

[Conductor562]

Unfortunately batteries are consumables and sometimes they just go bad. Considering that they are older Ni-Cad's I'd say that's the case. Rebuilding them is always an option and with the tools being older it may be worth going with re-builds. As far as converting them to lithium-Ion, I've never known of anyone doing that and I have to believe there's a reason why. I can't say it's impossible, but it seems to me it would be more trouble than its worth. IMHO, the 2 best options you have are either to upgrade to a new Lithium kit or replace/rebuild the bad battery pack.