Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 18V lithium batteries for Ryobi tools

Finally hit the point where the original 18+ are not charging well, so hit Amazon and find that there are quite a few brands advertised for use in the Ryobi. Some cost much less than the actual Ryobi brand.

Some folks here must have really good experience/knowledge. Are any of the aftermarket substitutes worth a try? If any, which of the off brand 18+ with 6ah rating are worth buying?

Thanks for any help.

I am in the same boat... would love to have a few recommendations

I got one there for a little hand vacuum to the car floors and the battery you described works as good as the original does.

I cannot recall the brand I have but they work good. Just remember you need a charger for those, the old one won't work.

Just be certain they are returnable. Some offbrand stuff is a scam.

In general; not specific to Ryobi batteries.

I haven’t needed to replace my Ryobi batteries yet but I have used both Creabest and Upstart replacement batteries for my Milwaukee and Makita tools with good results. Both are available on Amazon and EBay.

I have a couple aftermarket batteries for my Milwaukee stuff. They don't hold a charge quite as long as the OEM but they aren't bad and for the price, they're very good. They fit all my drills fine. My sawzall takes some pounding to get them in and out. The fit isn't perfect.

They do use the OEM charger, just like the originals. Other brands might not.

I don't think it matters what the brand is. I've seen Chinese stuff on Amazon with the same items selling under a dozen names. They even use the same photos. Amazon has a very good return policy - for 30 days. I'd try one of theirs and work the heck out of it right up until the return date. If it lasts that long, there's a fair chance that it will last a lot longer. Mine have been going for several years now. I had one that quit on me maybe 18 months ago. On occasion, I'd recharge it and try it again. Then one day it started working again and it's been working fine for close to a year now. I used it to put a metal roof on our house last summer and it never hiccuped.

Reviews are mixed. Some say it came in a very pretty box but they haven't even opened it yet. Others will give a detailed description of any issues. I go more by the negative reviews as long as they pertain to the tool and not the UPS service.

If it's the Intelliport charger it will charge all Ryobi 1+ 18V batteries.

I usually just stick with the Ryobi stuff at Home Depot.

Have a B&D older mower with some 40V ones, hard to find actual B&D batteries for it now, have had mixed results with the Amazon stuff. Have to jiggle them around in the charger to make them work. One set didn't seem to last as long as originals.

Good luck C's

Yes, I bought several off brands from amazon for my Ryobi's, they were dead on arrival and would not take a charge. Amazon did take them back. They were $36 each for the (upgrade) 3.6ah. They had orange tops so buyer beware on those. the brand was Reoben.


ADD,,, now I see amazon sells a charger for this battery, so the poster above is correct.

Regarding Ryobi tools and their batteries, I recently had a conversation with an independent insurance company fire inspector after a shop fire at my friend’s place burned after one of his tenants a towing company had a wrecked car’s battery combusted inside and cause a bunch of damage. During the conversation he said everyone should throw their ryobi batteries in the garbage. He said they have more fires cause by ryobi tools than any other battery out there. He recommended that if one has their batteries, store them away from occupied buildings. In my business we pretty much use Dewalt tools which are owned by Stanley/Black & Decker who also own Craftsman, Mac, and a host of others.

I have no beef with Ryobi but it was interesting to hear from a guy who has to go in and deal with the aftermath of fires and the common causes. My friend had some Ryobi tools and they went into the garabage.

While the fire in his building was not causes by a Ryobi battery, watching a battery fire start on a security cam video and who quickly it it burns is an eye opener. In this case the damage vehicle was inside for 2 months and then one morning, it combusted and all was on video so no tampering etc…

Just passing on an observation from someone who deals with fires every day.

I have a couple 6 Amp after market one from Amazon. They do fine, sometimes do need to wiggle them.around a bit in the charger to get charging.

Re. batteries, you get what you pay for IMHO. Re. fires, I never leave the house with any charger running, and I always put the charger away from combustibles before plugging them in.

I’ve bought off brand batteries for different names, Hitachi, Porter Cable, Ryobi and others. Only had one I bought on eBay bad out of the box. Seller asked me to try another charger, told him I did he had me another in the mail that day. Off brand seem to do the same as name brand. They all come from China, like everything else.

Been a porter cable man for yrs

In early 2022, I bought (3) Ryobi batteries from Direct Tools Outlet. They sent me the wrong item at first but corrected it and told me to keep the wrong part they sent. The batteries are still working great. I haven't bought anything from them since, and it looks like their pricing has gone up (but what hasn't?)

Direct Tools