Pull out the Craftsman V20 battery, insert into charger and go. Green. Red.
No indicator. Nothing. No sound.
No light on battery. Is your tool dead? Nope, most of the time it’s just stopped charging.
Here’s why: system knows when there is a little something wrong with the battery. It won’t charge to protect itself from being hurt. So understanding this protective logic will cost you nothing while helping you fix problem without spending a dime.
Steps to Fix Craftsman Battery Charging Issues
How Craftman V20 Batteries Should Charge
This is quick test. Inspect the physical connection. Debris accumulate rapidly on the contacts.
Cleaning Dirty Battery Contacts
Oxidation, dust, and sawdust blocks the flow of electricity. The metal contacts will be discolored/dull if they’re dirty. Clean with bit of isopropyl alcohol or a dry cloth.
Bad contact is an easy fix. The charging process won’t start because lack of lights means circuit is not closed. Lithium-ion batteries is affected by temperature.
Fixing Temperature Related Charging Issues
Craftsman battery feature thermal protection that prevents you from charging if it’s too cold or to hot. They’ll lock up the charging port on a too-hot or too-cold battery; whether from sitting in your freezing garage or hot car. Don’t try to force it; the internal sensors will locks the charging port.
Let the battery acclimate to a safe operating range typicaly between fifty and ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. The battery management system can also malfunctions because of software problems. This can cause the microcontroller in the charger to become out of sync with state of charge of the battery.
Resetting the Charger Electronics
A power cycle will usually fix it. Remove the battery and unplug the charger from wall. Wait 30 seconds, plug the charger back into wall and reinsert the battery.
That resets internal logic boards of each device. The system will redo its connection, and you’ll see indicator lights again. If it still doesn’t charge, try using the charger on another known good battery.
Diagnosing Dead Batteries or Chargers
If it charges this other battery fine, then your original battery likely has a dead management board or a failed cell. If you try a different battery and none of them will charge, then the charger itself are defective. Don’t mess around opening up the case yourself, Craftsman provides warranty support for this sort of thing.
It’s not worth voiding the warranty just to play around with it yourself. Replace the defective part and get back to work. Don’t assume dark charger means dead battery.
More likely it’s just a protective pause. Most times this can be overcome by resetting electronics, managing temperature, and checking contacts. Tools is resilient.
Support are available when required. Clean your contacts; keep your batteries cool and they’ll work for you again. You should of checked the connections first.
It’s moddern tech. Better than old ones.