Ryobi 1400669 Hedge Trimmer Replacement Battery 9.6V 3000mAh

Ryobi CTH962K / HP961 Series — 9.6V Ni-MH Replacement Battery (1400669)

This 9.6V, 3000mAh Ni-MH battery replaces OEM part 1400669 in the Ryobi CTH962K hedge trimmer and fits the HP961, RY961, and SA960 models. It slots into the same bay and connects to the same terminal block as the original pack. Capacity figure is 3000mAh (28.8Wh) — taken from our product data, not estimated.

• CTH962K, HP961, RY961, SA960 compatibility: These models share the same 9.6V battery bay geometry, terminal layout, and charge-control circuit. The same pack works across all four because Ryobi used one platform battery spec for this voltage tier. No adapter or modification needed.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this pack through a charge-discharge loop on a Ryobi 9.6V charger and confirmed the charge-control circuit accepted the pack without fault codes. Cell voltage at full charge held within the expected 1.4V-per-cell ceiling for Ni-MH at this configuration.
• Blade-load cycling on first use: Run the trimmer through two full cutting cycles at light hedge load before tackling thick woody stems. This lets the pack thermally stabilise and gives the charger circuit a clean capacity baseline before high-current blade-jam events.

Why the CTH962K stalls on thick stems but runs fine on light growth

Ni-MH cells at 9.6V have a steeper voltage sag curve than lithium chemistries under high current draw. When the blade hits a woody stem, motor current spikes sharply and pack voltage drops below the tool's low-voltage cutoff threshold — the trimmer stalls even though the battery shows charge remaining. A degraded or partially discharged pack makes this worse because internal resistance is already elevated. A fresh, fully charged pack reduces sag depth and keeps the voltage rail above cutoff through the inrush spike.

Charger LED blinks and never goes solid on a new pack from storage

Ni-MH packs self-discharge during storage and can drop below the minimum cell voltage the charger's detection circuit will accept — typically around 0.9V per cell. The charger blinks rather than committing to a full charge cycle because it reads the pack as potentially faulty. Pull the pack out, wait 60 seconds, then reinsert it firmly — some Ryobi 9.6V chargers re-poll on reconnect and will accept the pack once the circuit resets. If the blink continues, check terminal contact with a multimeter: target a pack resting voltage of at least 8.0V across the terminals before the charger will engage.