I have a professional series Craftsman 14.4V cordless drill. It is practilly in like new condition however, the batteries aren't working. They worked fine up until a few weeks ago when both started showing up as "soft start" on the charger. I've hardly used either battery. They have had less than 25 recharges. S E A R S says either the batteries or charger is bad. I hate to discard a perfectly good drill because the batteries aren't working. The replacements are as expensive as a new drill. Does anyone know how I can recondition the batteris or how I can test the charger to see if its bad? I forgot to mention that I've had the drill since the summer of 98. Its spent most of its life in the case.

I have the same issue as the one you posted. Did you ever figure out what the problem was?

i also have the same drill it comes with flash lite attachment i used it less than yours i would say around the 7th 0r 8th charge i started getting the same message on my charger it seems that everyone who has this drill we all have the same issue so what are we gonna do about this if we band together against craftsman and or sears i cant find the battery the charger or the drill but i can find older models that came out before this one for replacement parts why u think cant find a way to get directly to craftsmen always get steered back to sears
any info or ideas greatly appreciated you can call me
203 980 0110 riccio interiors
aricco1@netzero.com

I went to sears website... cant purchase a replacement batt. for the 14.4V model # 114240 drill... or the batt #1311443.. sear cant match the # for a replacement.. Its the batteries I have two of them.. I also own an older 14.4V drill the batt IS NOT interchangeable.. I just got off the phone with sears parts.. I have owned mine for 18 months,,, batt last about 5 to 10 minutes after using them. this happen within a year of my purchase. SEARS need to recalled these batt and pro-rate their comsumers.

I had the same problem with mine. It seems that they go into this state when they have been stored for a long time. What I did was to connect a positive and negative to the battery ( 2 wires held in place with a rubber band, and recharge them with a 12v portable jump battery, then when they hit around 12.5v I stuck them into there charger and the red fast charge lite came on and they recharged the rest of the way, battery's seem to be back to normal. Hope this helps.