Is Your Ryobi 40v Battery Defective? (We Have a Few Fixes)

Cordless power tools have made doing just about anything around the house a completely different task. No more having to find an electrical outlet. No more getting tangled up in tool chords. Going wireless is simply better.

If your Ryobi battery is defective you can check to see if your battery is in sleep mode. Or, you can charge your battery for 10 minutes at a time to get the battery working again. This will eventually build up enough power so that you can use it throughout your new project.

Even though it may seem like the simple answer is “it is bad”, that may not be the case. As a matter of fact, the most common reason is actually that it gets stuck in “sleep mode” and simply fails to get out of that mode.

There are a few ways to get a Ryobi 40v battery working again. One of the most common ways is to simply jolt it out of sleep mode using mini charges. You will have to do this a few times, but it should be enough to bring the battery back to life.

One of the most common issues with batteries of any kind is extreme temperature change. We tend to think of batteries as these invincible little energy machines that bring our favorite tools and equipment to life, making projects far easier than ever before.

Battery charging temperature range. Lithium-ion batteries in particular need to be in a certain temperature range to charge effectively. That range for lithium-ion batteries is between 41 degrees and 113 degrees Fahrenheit.

If a battery gets stored in a place that is either cooler or hotter than that – particularly when temperatures hit extremes in the winter or summer – it may not work.

Change the room temperature. One of the best ways to get your Ryobi battery working again is to bring it back to room temperature. In most cases, that should be enough to get it working again. But if you keep it in extreme temperatures for too long, it can suffer permanent damage and will need to be replaced.

Always store electronics and batteries in temperature-controlled areas to prevent damage. The garage may seem like a great place to store your tools, but batteries may not fare so well.

Believe it or not, it could just be a simple matter of your lithium-ion Ryobi battery falling into a slumber. Yes, batteries do have “sleep mode” on them. Sleep mode happens when the battery reaches critical levels.

Why sleep mode happens. Generally speaking, sleep mode happens when the battery gets used up but isn’t dead. Instead of going onto a charger, it sits on a shelf where it slowly loses power. The battery is unable to tell whether it is healthy or not, so it puts itself into sleep mode to prevent any further damage and thus will not charge.

Getting it out of sleep mode. Thankfully, you can bring the battery out of sleep mode and get it working functionally once again. This involves giving the battery a series of small charges since it won’t take to charging when it enters sleep mode.

When you connect the battery to a power source, there are a few seconds of charging before it triggers sleep mode again and stops. Implementing enough charges over that couple second interval can be enough to get the battery back up over the minimum threshold. That tells the battery that it is in good condition and charging is safe once again.

It takes time. Keep in mind that this method will take about a half-hour or so. Slowly put the battery onto the charger, count to 2, and disconnect. You don’t want to see either the green or the red light. Eventually, when you leave the battery on the charger, it should give you a green light to indicate that it is charging normally.

If you are an experienced electrician or feel confident in your electrical abilities, you can use alternative power sources to charge the battery once again. You can rig up another battery of the same model or use a separate DC power source.

All that needs to be done is to connect negative to negative and positive to positive. Keep in mind that if you get this wrong, it will damage the battery. When you have your connections in place, leave it be for around 5 to 10 minutes. You want to give it just enough juice to get it charging properly once again.

Having a multimeter around the house can make for an extremely handy tool. Checking the voltage on your Ryobi battery can be a sure way to determine whether or not there is a problem or if it has simply just drained to a critical level.

Mini charges. Generally speaking, a battery will require about 7 volts before it is capable of charging fully once again. Test out the battery voltage to see where it is at. If it is below that 7 mark, try a mini charge and then test it again.

If the battery isn’t damaged, the voltage level should rise with each mini charge. It may take a few of those charges to get the battery back into healthy charging territory but should ultimately work. Either way, this will confirm whether or not the battery is healthy enough to eventually sustain a charge.

In the above examples, the battery isn’t damaged, it is just below the safe threshold for charging. That means it can be brought back to life with a little bit of ingenuity and patience. But not all batteries have that happy ending.

When a battery dies and is still under warranty, you can call Ryobi’s customer service line directly to have it replaced. Batteries that are no longer under warranty will get directed to the Home Depot where a new battery will need to be purchased.

Having a warranty on your tools can come in handy, particularly if you use them often enough. When under warranty, most manufacturers will replace components or even the entire item depending on the terms of their warranty.

Ryobi does not offer a lifetime warranty on their tools or batteries. All of their 40v lithium-ion outdoor chargers and batteries fall under a 3-year limited warranty. If you are not sure whether or not yours is covered, call the Ryobi customer support line for more information.