Porter Cable 18V Battery Status Indicator (PCC580B) - Review

It’s a simple idea, but sometimes the best ones are very simple.  Now, in a perfect world, all batteries on all tools would have a built in fuel gauge on them.  So that you could push a button anytime and tell how much charge is left in the battery.  In reality, some batteries do have this feature, but many don’t.  So what if you forget to put the battery on the charger, and you want to take it to the job site? Will you know how much juice is left in the battery?  Will you know if you need to make arrangements to charge, or if you’ll have enough power to get through the day?  If you are working with Porter Cable 18V batteries, you’ll know by using they 18V Battery Status Indicator.  It works on all Porter Cable 18V Lithium Ion and NiCd batteries.

Like I said, it’s simple.  Just slide the indicator onto the battery and the easy-to-read LED lights will indicate how much life if left on that charge of the battery.  If none of the LED lights illuminate, then that means the battery has no charge on it.  If one of the three blue bars lights up, then that means a low charge.  Two lights indicate a partial charge, and all three lights on at once mean that the battery is charged to 75% or more.

Once you’ve gotten the answer, you should take the indicator off of the battery so as not to run the battery down, but if you forget, Porter Cable solved that problem for you by adding an automatic shut-off feature.  If you accidentally leave the indicator on the battery, in 15 seconds it will shut itself off, saving the charge on the battery.

The battery status indicator has a three year limited warranty and a one-year service contract.  And if that’s not good enough, it also has a 90-day money back guarantee.

To buy the battery status indicator on Amazon.com:  CLICK HERE

For more information: CLICK HERE