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When I press the fuel gauge button on my Milwaukee M28 battery pack for a bit longer (some seconds), the four fuel gauge LEDs start to blink out what seems to be diagnostic codes. I just tried it twice in a row, and each time the readout was as follows: all 4all all 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4all all all 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4all all all all 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4Here, 'all' indicates one flash of all four LEDs at the same time, and a number indicates one flash of that LED (counted from left). Reading direction is like lines of text. Spacing is for clarity only.What do these battery flash codes / blink codes indicate?I found nothing about them in the, and there is seemingly no equivalent document for the (newer but very similar) M28 battery series.Battery pack data:. model: Milwaukee M28 Lithium-Ion 3.0 Ah (so, not yet the new M28 REDLITHIUM series). nominal voltage: 28 V.
working fine but in use for some years already. other numbers: 4932 3525 23, 7INR18/65-2, HAAC0.
Since there is no official documentation, we need to do a bit of reverse engineering. So it appears to me (from similarities with flash codes from cars in the 1990's) that the number of flashes will indicate digits.
The 'all together' flashes are probably just separators. Applying this, the numbers encoded in your example would be:.
0001. 1638. 0235.
0289Meaning:.The second number means 'days since first charge'. This number seems to increase by one every day (I observed an increase of 1 in 36 hours, but have to check more; also somebody else claims for M18 batteries it changes daily, see below).
So 1638 days back from the date of your question would mean Sept 5, 2012. It will probably be the day of first charge, not of manufacture, because the date of manufacture is already included on the battery as a (though for this one I can't detect one, bit strange). Also, it is reported in the Milwaukee that fuel gauge LEDs do not work at all before the first charge, so it seems reasonable to assume the flash codes will not work until then either. That is unconfirmed though, but anyway, both date of manufacture and date of first charge are a reasonably good approximation of battery age.The third number means 'charge cycle count'. I found that out by charging again until the green light appears, which increased the third number by one and left all others unchanged.The first and fourth numbers did not change yet, and I have no idea what they mean.
They did not change for others who tried to decode them (see below). So maybe a battery health state code, a battery type number, or something else. I will have to compare values from my other battery packs (or if you have these too, please post your values below).Other bits and pieces (everything I could find on the web):.Seemingly the Milwaukee M18 battery packs (18 V LiIon series) exhibit a very similar behaviour, and one user reports about that: 'The first set of flash codes appears to change daily. A second set does change as well, but I haven't figured that one out yet. The remaining codes remain the same.'
.Again for Milwaukee M18 batteries, an unknown source is quoted saying that 'The batteries have a chip that records the date they were first charged (at the factory I assume) and that it records the number of charge cycles it has gone through.' .A Milwaukee support employee reportedly said 'The flashes are of no significance.' The answer should have added 'to consumers' however, as blink codes are of major significance to geeks:). I've done similar investigation on the M18 Milwaukee battery packs.I have 4X 4.0 amp hour packs and 2X 3.0 amp hour packs.I'm also getting 4 separate codes.
0001 1. 0001. 0950 2. 0950. 0031 3. 0025. 2251 4.
2134These are some other identification numbers on the plastic casings. 4.0ah 140122U 1/22/14 E54CD-279534 2. 4.0ah 140122U 1/22/14 E43CD-281017 3. 3.0ah 131129P 11/29/13 B41LD-360392 4. 4.0ah 140106U 1/6/14 E54CD-199520 5.
4.0ah 131008W 10/8/13 E54CD-142398 6. 3.0ah 131225P 12/25/13 B41LD-402152. My best guess is it just tells the status of the battery, all my 6 batteries are working fine.
This seems to be an assembly number because the first two 4.0 batteries, which came in a set, have their dates and other identification numbers match. For example, the fourth battery in my list (4.0ah) has an earlier date, 1/6/14, then the first two 4.0ah batteries, 1/22/14, and the code is also lower 0808 then the later ones 0950 and 0952. This may help Milwaukee pinpoint any errors on the assembly line if sent in for warranty.
This seems to be a cycle count. This seems to indicate what capacity the batteries are, since all the 4.0 match together and the 3.0 match together.What i gleaned from this investigation is if buying used batteries, its good to check on the cycle count after the all four triple blink, to get an idea of how much it's been used. After almost a year since my last investigation into the flashing codes, i brought the batteries in from the cold garage for the winter and checked the codes again.The original poster is correct that the second set of numbers is in fact days since first charge. But i would like to add that it is actually days since first charge after being depleted of the 50% charge it comes with from the factory; so maybe more precisely date since second charge.
Because I have batteries with an older date stamp but with less days on the counter than batteries minted at a later date, but which turn out to have more days ticked.This just lets the technician know how long the battery was sitting on a shelf before it was purchased and began to be used. Hope that helps!
One of the biggest problems that faces any service or construction related company is tracking the equipment. Whether you’ve got 5 guys or 500 everyone we’ve talked to has some level of frustration due to tracking tools and tool lose, theft or otherwise. When was first launched from Milwaukee the first question many of us had was can it track my tools. The answer at the time was a diplomatic no but soon we might have something for you.
Well that day is here and we are very impressed as well as a little scared about our how easily traceable our smart phones make us.How Does It WorkInside all with ONE-KEY is a chip that can be pinged for up to 2 years after the last time it has been connected to an M18 battery. So YES even without a battery you can track the tool for months and years later! Anytime that chip comes into range (about 100 ft) with any smart phone running the Milwaukee ONE-KEY app that tool is pinged and that ping can be tracked by the person/company who setup the ONE-KEY.If you’ve got multiple service trucks and/or multiple jobsites that could mean potentially hundreds of tools out there that might be very tough to track. Assuming most or at least some of your employees used the app this would mean multiple pings each day for every tool in the fleet. From conversations we’ve had, even if no tool was ever lost again, this system could potentially save hundreds of man-hours and many thousands of dollars if you could quickly and easily identify where tools were, who had them and what tools to expect back after a job.Lost & FoundIf a tool should ever come up LOST or STOLEN (essentially not pinged for a day or two) you can simply mark that tool as MISSING. This will then notify you the next time that tool is pinged (within 100 feet of anyone with the Milwaukee ONE-KEY app) and you can see where it is.
This might be across town or at a pawn shop 500 miles away it wouldn’t matter. This is a pretty huge theft deterrent in our heads because essentially it could be used to pinpoint a thief at their home or if they did try to sell it. Also a huge benefit to actually get your tool back if it does get sold on Craigslist or to a Pawn Shop.How You Can Help Reduce Tool TheftSo basically the more people who download the ONE-KEY app the more effective this tracking system will be. Even if you don’t use Milwaukee Tools but want to help fight tool theft simply by downloading the app and going about your life you might be able to help.
Walking by a car or place where stolen tools are located you would be able to help solve a crime. That is pretty big and may make tools a much less attractive target for thieves.Milwaukee ONE-KEY vs Hilti ON!TrackThe closest competition to the Milwaukee ONE-KEY platform, marrying tools & tech, is the Hilti’s ON!Track which is another good solution for tracking power tools on the jobsite but works with a little different technology.
The ON!Track solution uses RFID tags, very similar to a 3 rd party solution like Trimble AllTrak. These tags can also be added to other equipment as well (ONE-KEY does not yet offer this but we were told it was a future possibility).The price tag on this program is roughly cost $8000/year but is typically built into their 3 year lease programs aimed at larger companies. The scanner unit’s cost (& replacement cost) is $3000/unit which seems less terrible over a 36 month lease however you will need one anywhere you want to track the tools. If you’ve got multiple locations or jobsites that is a lot of money on the table just for the scanners.
If even 1 of those units go missing anytime in those 3 years that’s some serious cash just to replace a tool which sole purpose is to prevent lose. Of course if the Hilti RFID tools do get stolen this system will help determine that as well but there is no proactive global system to help you get those losses back and/or help catch those responsible.When you look at the ONE-KEY solution in the same light, it makes the $30-50 one-time up-charge on these tools look like a bargain! Looking at the two programs side by side the Hilti solution looks to be aim more at very large companies where money and multi-year contracts are less of a concern, also who run very tight tool cribs already focused on a few larger commercial jobs. For small or medium size companies or any size companies with lots of service vehicles on the road the Milwaukee ONE-KEY solution seems to have some big advantages in tracking, cost savings and flexibility.Is ONE-KEY the Future?When it first launched we saw the features of tool reporting and ability to control features/setting as very valuable for specific niche solutions but we did question their mass appeal.
The inventory/tracking piece of ONE-KEY in our minds does give the platform mass appeal to pretty much every individual or company, whether a small crew or on a national scale. Every new version (free) of ONE-KEY app you update improves the way your ONE-KEY tool works. Milwaukee is currently working on additional features for more security, remote shut-off, service alerts, additional tracking and many more “top secret” ONE-KEY features.This sort of “upgradable platform” approach works for every other apps we all use everyday. As costs will continue to come down on the tools it is pretty clear this is what the future looks like for professional power tools. We would not be surprised if this is an industry wide trend over the next 3-5 years with other brands either partnering/licensing the ONE-KEY technology or building their own similar solutions.Great news is you can right now buy M18 FUEL ONE-KEY tools as, and but we would imagine soon, and much more will all be getting converted over soon. If you have any questions give the pros at Ohio Power Tool a call 800-242-4424.More Information.