Hi, both of my Makita 12V 1220 batteries are not charging, The red LED charging light on the Makita 1470 charger unit comes on for around 5 seconds and then goes off. Can you help?

I agree that the pictographs are not very helpful. You probably have one of the new chargers. I have an old one, which is a little easier to figure out.

From top to bottom

1. The flashing green light with the electric plug indicates that the unit is plugged in and ready to go.
2. The flashing red little fan means that the battery is too warm so it is just cooling it and not charging it at that moment.
3. The solid red empty battery outline means that it is charging but hasn't got very far, less than 80% full.
4. The mostly full battery outline with both solid red and green lights at the same time means it is 80% full or more
5. The full battery outline and solid green with the musical notes means it is full up.
6. The broken battery outline with flashing red and green means you've got a broken battery.
7. The yellow light with the wrench means the charger is "conditioning" the battery, whatever that means.
8. The yellow light with the fan means "cooling abnormality."

Hope this helps

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If both lights on the charger are flashing it is indicating you have a bad battery and the charger will not charge the battery. The charger has circuitry that tests the battery and if it 'thinks' the battery is defective it will not attempt to charge it. The only way to verify whether it's the battery or charger is to try charging your battery on another charger or try charging another battery on your charger. Most of the time it's a bad battery.

Could be.Those batteries leak charge even when not in use.I would let it go for 24-48 hours just to be sure.Unless the batteries or charger becomes very hot.

Hi,
It sounds like the problem is the battery. It sounds like there are shorted cells in it so that it starts to draw too much current from the charger and the charger shuts down as a safety measure.
I hope this helps,
Happy New Year,
Mark

This isn't true because I have a second charger and it works fine

Makita makes two 12V Ni-Cad pod batteries: Battery 1222/2.0Ah (PN: 192598-2) and Battery 1220/1.3Ah (PN: 192681-5). Makita's universal charger (PN: DC1804) will charge any Ni-MH or Ni-Cad pod or stick battery from 7.2V to 18V.

If you are comfortable with removing the upper half of the housing, unplug charger and remove the screws, take a look at the circiut board for a "cold" solder joint or broken component, usually the round ceramic looking piece with the copper wire around it. but look at the whole board.

If the charge count on the batteries is under 300, Makita will replace them. Makita has a known defect in this battery that causes the battery to shut down before it is dead. So as of now they are exchanging ones with low use.

If they are truly defective and makita won't replace, you have to open them, find the dead cell or blown fuse, and replace. Search youtube makita battery for a video on repairing this battery. But once the red and green lights on the charger flash, the the battery can't be charged on a Makita charger -- it's been locked. So use a third party charger.

Maybe your battery is died, you can replace it on

http://www.drillbattery.com.au/buybattery.php/makita_1220_power+tool+battery.html