OT Dewalt cordless grease gun

I recieved a Dewalt grease gun as a Christmas present. This is my 1st electric cordless tool. Should a fully charged battery stayed charged for an extended period time if it's installed on the tool? I've installed 2 different new batteries & both became discharged with very little use. I'm about ready to go back to greasing with my cheap Harbor Freight air powered grease gun.
Thanks,Jim

If you can get a lithium ion battery it will last much, much longer for you. I have a number of Ryobi cordless tools and had the same problem until I got the Li batteries, makes a world of difference. They are a more expensive but worth the convenience and they charge faster than the older types. The old NiMH and NiCads just don't compare to the lithium.

The old DeWalt XRP batteries were for the most
part garbage. The newer 18V and 20V Lith Ion
batteries shouldn?t be an issue. What came with the
tool?

Brand new Dewalt 20V XR lithium ion batteries is what I have.

I have noticed that if I leave a battery installed on my Milwaukee radio, it will discharge. Any of my
other Milwaukee tools will not discharge, however. M18 Li-Ion.

One of my coworkers spotted a loose DeWalt 1/4" impact driver left out in the plant, and figured he had better bring it into our break room and stash it there, rather than return it to the tool crib so everyone had access to it. I saw it in the cabinet back in February, before we started our refueling outage. Last weekend, it was still there, and I had time to spruce things up a little. I took the driver and a whole cart of tools back to the tool crib. I used the driver to tighten the screws on our door on the way out, and it worked fine. No charger to be seen, they all are back at the crib. YMMV.

Take the battery out when not using and see if that has any effect.

If the batteries are not holding a charge. Check Amazon, yes they are Chinese made replacements, BUT, if you consider the cost... I bought replacements for my 12v Makita and my 24v Bosch about 3 years ago ( at less than 1/2 the 'real deal'), and if you keep them charged they are just fine. HTH

I have a lot of dewalt tools. I have noticed that the
newer 20v system batteries will self discharge a bit
with no use. It may take 3 or 4 month discharge a
charged battery but its a downside to lithium ion
batteries. I have the old 18v grease gun and love it
though my old batteries are weak.

May be a long shot but be sure you have not left the
light on on the grease gun.

Thanks for replies. How long should I leave batteries on the charger? I left battery on charger until I saw solid red light on charger. I wish the batteries were easier to remove because due to my nerve damage I'm nearly one handed so removing battery is a chore for me.

At one point I had 25-30 Dewalt mostly 18 volt and a few left over 14 volt batteries. Mismatched as to xrp or regular. I had a short board with an outlet strip with 6 or 7 chargers mounted to it that would neatly fit in a truck side box. Upon arrival to a job site I immediately plugged them in to always have a fresh battery available. I notice that some of the batteries started to go bad in a much shorter time.
At a trip to a Home Depot one day a Dewalt rep was on hand to set up their display and I asked him about my issue and so he followed me to the parking lot (He wanted a smoke break) he told although that was an efficient set up that by leaving the batteries in the chargers unplugged caused a short and dramatically shortened their life.
After that I made sure to remove them each time and very rarely lost one prematurely. I had a few but only 1 every 2 years.
I still have a few batteries that are almost 20 years old that still work. Have also learned that regular use and cycling was better than being dormant. I think I have 8 batteries now and the newest is 5 years old. Either I got lucky or there may something to it.
I've noticed the same problem as Bill in IL with the 20volts.
The other thing is that they can get a memory if not discharged fully before recharge and not completely recover.

(quoted from post at 08:35:44 05/25/18)
Thanks for replies. How long should I leave batteries on the charger? I left battery on charger until I saw solid red light on charger. I wish the batteries were easier to remove because due to my nerve damage I'm nearly one handed so removing battery is a chore for me.

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I agree they are a pain to change, hard to do with 2 good hands. I leave them until the light goes on and if I notice! If not I've left them on until I needed them unless I unplug the charger they switch off as long as the battery doesn't require charging.
JMO but I just don't like the 20 volts. Why'd they have to go and change em. But you got 1 and they are definitely better than a non power grease gun and you can get a relatively inexpensive screw gun or a variety of other tools that works with those batteries. Sadly I would bet that your present was sent with the lower end batteries I don't even know how many chooses there are anymore. If you decided to replace them shop around and get the better ones. World of difference. More expensive but you would be much happier with performance and charge time. Good Luck