Wolf Garten GH60 7.2V Cordless Shear Replacement Battery

My Wolf Garten GH60 shear blades are moving but barely cutting — feels like it's struggling through thin grass

That's voltage sag under load, and it's the most common sign a NiMH pack is at end of life rather than just discharged. A healthy 7.2V NiMH should hold above 6.5V while the motor is running; if it's dropping below that, the cells can't sustain current draw even though the tool technically turns on. Fully charge the battery, then feel whether the blades slow noticeably the moment they contact stems — that confirms sag rather than a blade or gear issue. If the slowdown happens immediately on contact, the pack needs replacing, not recharging.

Charged the GH60 overnight and it still shuts off after a few cuts — brand new battery did the same thing on the first charge

A NiMH pack that's been in storage ships partially discharged, and some chargers won't deliver a full charge to a deeply depleted cell on the first cycle — they detect low voltage and terminate early. The fix is to run the tool until it cuts out, charge it fully, and repeat that two or three times to condition the cells. We see this consistently on the bench with fresh 7.2V NiMH packs that have sat in a warehouse: capacity reads low on cycle one and climbs significantly by cycle three. Don't judge the battery's performance until it has completed at least two full discharge-charge cycles.

GH60 worked fine last autumn, put it away charged, now it won't wake up at all — charger light just stays green immediately

A charger showing green instantly on a battery that hasn't been used all winter usually means the pack has self-discharged below the threshold the charger uses to detect a valid cell. NiMH chemistry loses charge steadily in storage, and 7.2V packs left for several months can drop low enough that the charger treats them as already full or as a fault condition. Try leaving the battery on the charger for a full 12-hour cycle regardless of the indicator light — some chargers will trickle enough current to recover a mildly over-discharged pack. If the light goes green again within minutes of a fresh charge attempt, the cells have likely self-discharged past recovery and the pack needs to be replaced.