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I have 1 DeWALT 18 volt NiCd batteries. One charges without incident. If I attempt to charge the other, a whining noise is emitted from the battery or charger. Is it safe to attempt to charge this battery?

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My DeWalt 12v battery charger has made a whining noise while charging for about 11 years now... Just a FYI – tegbains May 17 '11 at 0:32
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Please see this question on Electronics SE electronics.stackexchange.com/q/14256/3552 - it is about whining noise in a cell phone charger. It applies if you have a charger based on a switching (so-called "electronic") power supply - it can be recognized by its light weight. If that holds true I'd guess the problematic battery just wouldn't accept charge and so teh charger would only output very low current and it would emit that whining noise in this mode. – sharptooth May 17 '11 at 5:45

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It's possible that the battery's days are numbered, but I doubt that the whine you're hearing comes from the battery itself. That noise is called "coil whine" and comes from the windings of the transformer(s) inside the charger.

An electrical engineer (which I am NOT) could probably explain why you get the noise with one battery and not the other; I can only speculate that the charger is having to crank up the voltage a bit to force a charge into that one. If that's the case, it could mean that the battery is on its way out, but in any case I wouldn't worry that it's going to blow up.

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Not an answer, but my Porter and Cable charger whines like mad and our batteries are on their last legs. Don't know if there's a connection. – Amanda Apr 9 '12 at 15:06
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i wouldn't. the only thing i can imagine the whine being about is battery chemicals overheating.

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I was afraid of explosion. Your hypothesis seems to also support that. – Justin Dearing May 17 '11 at 0:31
That wouldn't cause a whine. You'd also notice bulging in most cases. – Alex Feinman May 18 '11 at 16:25

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