When I put the A9277 'Fire Storm' battery into the power (cordless) screwdriver - it doesn't go at all. Instead of charging, the 'full charge' light shows immediately but again, the drill doesn't go at all. I'm thinking that the battery is bust but want to be sure before buying a new one. Any ideas?

Grant Cockerill, December 2006

Hi, I think I found an answer. I had a A9275 B&D battery that would not charge and the green light would come on straight away. I found there are three poles in the battery and only two is used to charge and one is to give the charger feedback about the state of the battery to prevent overcharging. Insulate this third pole with paper/plastic etc. for 30 minutes and the cells would regain to a certain voltage. Take care not to overcharge. Once charged use the battery and next time you would be able to charge it normally (without insulating the pole).

papadelta, October 2008

A bit late I know, but...

This happened to me the other day, and after a lot of head scratching I found a soulution.

It seems that the B&D charger does not like dead flat battery packs ( less than 1.5v ).

I put my battery pack onto a workbench DC power supply 1A at 12 volts or so for about an hour.

Ater I got some 12v or so into the pack the B&D charger was quite happily to charge it up to the full 18v.

In future I'll just charge the batery pack a bit more often.

Roy, July 2008

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HEATH HAYES MARINES, September 2007

hey there! i have the same model driver, with the same problem, try plugging the charger in and connect the battery, the green light will come on, leave it like that for half hour or so then take battery out and reconnect, if the charge light does not come on then the battery has expired!

bobby, March 2007