Four Bars On Your Ryobi Battery May Not Actually Mean It's 100% Charged

Ryobi's interchangeable battery packs are the cornerstone of its cordless tool lineup, and most keen fans of the brand are likely to have multiple examples on hand in their tool kit at any given time. Although there's still the odd battery mistake that users can make, like using lower-capacity batteries for more demanding power tools, the brand's battery packs are generally designed to be pretty foolproof. As a result, most people probably don't give them too much thought unless something goes wrong.

That can lead to some minor misconceptions, including about what exactly the charge level indicator lights at the front of the battery pack are telling you when they light up. Pressing the charge level indicator button will bring up between one and four of those indicator lights, with a greater number of lights meaning the battery has a greater level of charge. It might be easy to assume that four out of four lights being illuminated means that the battery is 100 percent charged, but that's not always the case.

According to Ryobi, if four out of four indicator lights are illuminated, the battery is between 75 percent and 100 percent charged. Three lights illuminated means that the battery is anywhere between 50 percent and 75 percent charged, and two lights means a charge of between 25 percent and 50 percent. If a single light is solidly illuminated, the battery's charge level is between 10 percent and 25 percent, and if that single light is flashing, it's below 10 percent.

Keeping tabs on the charge level of your Ryobi battery packs isn't just useful when you actually need to use them. To keep them in top condition, Ryobi recommends that users should also check the charge levels of battery packs that aren't being used for long periods of time.

The brand says that anyone who plans to store their battery packs for more than 30 days should ensure that each pack is charged to around a 30 percent to 50 percent level before it's put into storage. As a reminder, that means it should have two out of four indicator lights illuminated when the indicator button is pressed. When they're in storage, Ryobi recommends keeping them in ambient temperatures below 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Generally, the worst places to store a Ryobi battery are anywhere with extreme temperature fluctuation, and anywhere where the batteries could be exposed to moisture.

If the battery packs are being stored for especially long periods, the brand suggests recharging them fully once every six months to ensure their performance is maintained. If they're stored improperly or aren't properly maintained, there's a risk that they won't be covered by Ryobi's standard warranty if anything goes wrong.