Do you leave your cordless tool batteries in the charger?

Leaving your batteries on the charger can potentially decrease their life. Do you leave your car battery on the charger all the time?

If you leave the battery on the charger you are relying on the circuitry in the charger/battery to prevent over charging. Overcharging can cause battery damage, even to the extent that they leak (which many times leads to fires).

Li-ion batteries will hold their charge for a long time, even in cold temps. Ni-cads will self discharge fairly quick and if you don't use them often it would be good to hit them with a charger ever few weeks. Ni-mh batteries will also self discharge but not quite as quickly. They too should get a little maintenance charge every few weeks-month if they aren't being used.

Keeping batts in a warm environment may be helpful. The problem with temp changes is condensation happens inside the battery case and we all know electricity/circuitry doesn't like water. A few batteries (I am only aware of makita and ridgid) have chargers with fans that blow through the battery while charging. This helps keep the battery cool and helps blow moisture out.

Also, leaving a charger plugged in with, or without, a battery attached will decrease the charges life and use electricity.

I have used a lot of different drills and batteries and have found the makita li-ion to be the best I have used yet. I have had a lot of bad luck with Dewalt stuff, but I know a lot of people who like it. I don't have a lot of experience with Milwaukee batteries. I have had good luck with ridgid but find their drills heavier and bulkier than makita. I have had really bad luck with ryobi li-ion batts but their ni-cads have performed about the same as others. Makita used to make ni-mh batts that seemed to last a long time.

Also, almost every battery can be rebuilt for cheaper than a replacement. The guys that rebuild them typically are using higher quality replacement cells too. So, this will usually mean you get longer run time and longer life.

So, in the end I have found that all batteries go bad and cost way more than I think they should and it seems like you can't have enough of them.

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Possibly. Some Makita chargers have built in cooling fans that bring down the temperature of the battery before allowing it to charge. If you do not have a cooling fan in your Makita charger

never charge a hot battery

. Allow it to cool off at room temperature first. Charging an overheated battery will cause battery failure. (See Battery Care Guide for further information.)