10.06.2022 DeWALT chainsaw woes.

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 Friday 10th 54F. Overcast but some brightness promised. Up at 5am.  

 Looking down at the fibreglass dish/pond on the ground, from the balcony room above, the white finish looks cheap  and harsh. I tried to pretend it was solid, white marble but it was a struggle. A pond paint job? Once filled with water it will probably gain a coat of moss. 

 The DeWALT 40cm chainsaw is more of a problem. The battery is fully charged but the saw is non-functional. I managed to get the motor to turn by using a ring spanner on the chain drive sprocket. [Battery and saw bar removed for safety!] 

 Though the brief rotation may have been coincidental if it is an electrical fault. As soon as I assembled the complete saw it only lasted a few seconds before cutting out again.  

 What if it is only the battery at fault? The chainsaw uses an 18/54V 9ah battery. It has a test button to show up to 3 LED bars of charge. None of my other DeWALT batteries will fit. The 9ah is much deeper and has two location slots in the housing. Presumably to prevent smaller batteries being substituted. These have only one location slot.

 It would be so simple to borrow a battery to confirm my diagnosis in seconds. But where would I be allowed to do so?  I tried to measure the battery voltage but it needs finer probes than those on my standard multimeter. I used two pins [carefully] and read highly variable DC voltage. Probably just a contact issue. I was afraid of accidentally shorting between the loose pins. I'd need to find some thin copper strip to slip into the battery's narrow contact slots to do any serious measuring.

 Despite still showing three bars of charge, the DeWALT charger's cooling fan started as soon as I connected the battery. Only briefly and it does that every time on all my DeWALT batteries.  Found some brass, shim stock. All my DeWALT batteries measure 20V between the B+ & B- slots. Including the 9ah. The other slots are some form of coding or control. I read 8V on connecting to some of them.

 Is it worth investing in a second 9ah battery? Just to see if it solves the problem? 1200DKK [£140 GBP] online plus P&P is a lot of money. Unless I pay for a repair shop after finding the old battery is not at fault. Once repaired I will have a spare battery.  A non functioning saw is money wasted. 

 The 9ah battery works fine on my other DeWALT tools BUT they are NOT 54V rated. The bigger battery is rather heavy as a reserve for normal hand tools. Though it could be used on the jigsaw. Since the extra weight is actually useful for stability and balance. The price is 1400DKK in the builder's merchants. Decisions-decisions.  

 

 07.30. I have had breakfast and have been testing the battery and saw outside in the warm, early sunshine. I think I might drive to the builder's merchants and take the saw with me to test. They might have a battery on a hire tool. If not I shall just have to buy a new battery anyway. My saw is dated 2017. So I have had five years of use out of it. Or five years of battery use? 

 09.00 62F. Returning from a drive to the builder's merchants. They had no 9ah batteries. I rang ahead but there was no answer. So I went anyway. Since the battery works with my other power tools it was agreed that the chainsaw needed to be checked. I left it there and will get a message with a price for repair. 

 The countryside just goes on getting prettier. They have trimmed the verges but only a couple of feet wide, close to the road. That leaves a wildlife corridor and gives the wild plants a chance to grow and seed.

11.00 65F and breezy. I have just returned from cycling to the village. 8 miles. My wife left me over 100 decorative plant pots. Which I have no obvious use for. The local charity shop has agreed to take them if I deliver them. Another burden lifted. They are taking up a quarter of the greenhouse floor area. Being difficult to stack without toppling.

  I will start loading the trailer right away. Perhaps I ought to box them. To save breakages and make them easier to handle. Or not. They get heavy pretty quickly.

 12.30  70F. I went with bare pots. Except where they were already boxed. There must have been well over one hundred pots. 

 You may well imagine how slowly I drove to the shop. Not one breakage. All the voluntary staff stood around smoking. While I unloaded the trailer into their goods inward area. At least I had a couple of polite thanks afterwards.

 Despite all morning sunshine and 70F outside [in the shade] the greenhouse is showing only 76F inside in the shade. I have both end doors open for a through draught. There is quite a south westerly breeze helping the cause. Though the westerly greenhouse door is well sheltered [from the wind] by large shrubs and trees.

 An afternoon nap. With the arrival of thin cloud the greenhouse is at the same temperature inside and out. 70F. I am going out to do some strimming. 

 I have to be careful not to cut down any flowers. The strimmer makes a good job of dandelions. It can be directed to destroy the plant right down to the soil. A very dark magenta Aquilegia is coming up in the long grass. We both liked these "fairy flowers." There are different coloured varieties and forms all over the garden,.

 17.00 66F. Followed by the first mow of this year. Lawn, 100m drive and parking area. The drive has a grass strip down the middle. Where vehicle wheels never reach.

 It sounds odd, but I was never allowed to cut the grass. My wife insisted on doing it herself. We/I have a lightweight, rechargeable, Bosch Rotak. It was/is fine for our/my needs. The previous one lasted for years and was completely worn out after frequent blade resharpening [myself] and occasional replacements. So we replaced the mower with an identical one. It makes me smile when I see people using ride-on mowers for postage stamp lawns. 

 A Red kite just flew over the garden. One has been around most days recently. I have been tidying the greenhouse now there is more room to move.

 

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