About this replacement
Craftsman 315.11538 — 12V Ni-MH Replacement Battery (130279001)
This is a 12V Ni-MH battery rated at 3300mAh (39.6Wh), built to fit the Craftsman 315.11538 cordless drill/driver. It replaces OEM part number 130279001 directly. The pack slots into the same bay and connects to the same contacts as the original.
- 315.11538 and 11538 platform fit: Both model references point to the same tool chassis and use the same 12V battery bay, contact layout, and charge management circuit — one pack covers both designations without modification.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this pack on the 315.11538 platform through repeated trigger pulls at full-torque load. The BMS held stable across motor-start inrush spikes and did not trip into protective cutoff under normal drilling sequences.
- Ni-MH break-in on a drill platform: On first use, run the tool at half load for two cycles before pushing maximum torque. This lets the charge circuit profile the cell stack's internal resistance before locking in its top-off thresholds — skipping this step can leave the first few charges slightly short.
BMS cutoff on motor-start inrush with the 315.11538
When you pull the trigger hard on a stalled or high-resistance bit, current draw spikes sharply before the motor reaches speed. On Ni-MH packs, the BMS monitors this inrush window and will cut output if the spike exceeds its overcurrent threshold. A new or cold pack has higher internal resistance, which amplifies the voltage drop during that spike and pushes the BMS closer to its trip point. If the tool cuts out immediately on trigger pull, release the trigger, wait three seconds, and restart at reduced speed to let the BMS reset and allow the motor to spool up gradually.
Charger not recognising this pack after storage
Ni-MH cells self-discharge over storage — a pack sitting unused for several months can drop below the voltage floor the charger uses to confirm a valid battery is present. The Craftsman 12V charger typically requires the pack to present above roughly 7–8V to begin a charge cycle; below that, it may blink an error or do nothing. To recover the pack, try a compatible Ni-MH charger with a manual or "recovery" mode that forces a low-current trickle until the pack rises above acceptance voltage. Once the pack reads above 10V, the standard charger should take over normally.