Power tool battery output capacities. Myth or Fact ?

It is not unusual to question the facts in advertising. Yet in my younger years I believed most of what was published as fact. As I got older I now know that most things advertised is fiction.

I have always given the benefit of doubt to all publications but reserved the final decision until the facts presented themselves.

In the power tool battery rebuilding business I was forced to realize that the published output on any battery was questionable.

I advertised that I was building with 2200mah cells and yet after installing cells that were rated at that capacity I could not come close to that number. I was frustrated and confused what I was doing wrong and abused my test equipment as not accurate. After deep study in the industry I found that the test results at the manufacturer were tightly controlled under perfect conditions and the results were not linear with advertised numbers. Even if the numbers were consistent the amount of time the batch tested sits on a shelf before sold wildly influenced the final test.

After many months of  testing of comparable cells from many manufacturers it was apparent that just from one batch to another the testing was off the scale.

Soon after, I concluded that I could not depend on listed capacities and went to individual testing of all cells before installation.

As the result of this information I quit publishing output capacities and referred to output series only.

I have been talking about the output capacity of power tool battery cells, for the most part, but do not  forget that the billions of batteries sold every year are built for flashlights,  toys, camera's,  Etc. and the listed capacity on those are as erratic as the ones I use.

Don't get me wrong, there are really good batteries on the market that do just fine, but please, don't read the hype on the package and believe what it said. You will have to do what I do and check out the differing brands until you find the one that works for you.