What It Means If Your Milwaukee Hard Hat Light Is Flashing Red, Green, Or Both

Milwaukee has long been regarded as one of the best, most reliable brands in the tool market. At this point in its history, Milwaukee has skin in every corner of that market, manufacturing hand tools, power tools, lawn care equipment, safety gear, and other handy gadgets. The company's line of safety gear includes a rechargeable hard hat light, which is an essential a tool for those required to traverse dark, damp places on the job — as well as those who do the same working around the house.

Milwaukee's hard hat light comes with some pretty impressive stats, too. It offers dust and water resistance, a light boasting up to 450 lumens, a magnetized lamp that can be removed from its cradle and fastened to metal surfaces, and a battery that can provide up to 14 hours of light. Those who already own a Milwaukee hard hat lamp know they feature a light other than its primary illuminator. You might even have noticed it intermittently flashes red, green, or both. There are good reasons those lights may be blinking, as each indicates the status of your hard hat light's battery. Here's what those blinking lights mean. 

It may seem obvious, but the red and green lights on your Milwaukee Tools hard hat light are, more often than not, an indication of the lamp's battery life. It's probably even more obvious that a green light indicates a healthy battery, and red indicates one that needs to be charged as soon as possible.

According to the instruction manual for Milwaukee's hard hat headlamp, the green and red lights indicate a specific level of battery life. Per the manual, a solid red light means the light's battery charge rests somewhere between 10% and 25%. If the red light blinks, the battery power has dipped below 10%, and it's time to find a USB port to charge your light. On the green light side of the equation, solid green indicates your battery is 80% to 100% charged. While there is no blinking green light indicator on your headlamp, according to Milwaukee, when your battery power ranges between 25% and 80%, a solid orange light will show.

The lighting system is essentially the same while the headlamp is charging. But it should be noted that the colors will blink while the hard hat light is charging, with a solid green light popping on when you're at 99% to 100% charge.

As it is, seeing an individual green or red light on your rechargeable Milwaukee hard hat headlamp is no reason to worry, with the latter light merely indicating that you need to find a USB port to plug into and charge the device. But if the light is flashing red and green in tandem, you'll want to take matters more seriously, as it indicates you have a faulty or damaged battery.

Per the instruction manual a red and green flashing light may not indicate serious problems, with Milwaukee suggesting users check that the device's battery is firmly connected inside the headlamp's casing. The best way to do this is to remove the battery, reinsert it, and turn the light back on. If the green and red blinking continues, the battery may be instead reacting to the weather in your working environment, as extreme heat, cold, and exposure to excess water can cause a malfunction. The fix is potentially simple for each issue, with Milwaukee recommending you let the battery cool down when it's hot, warm up when it's cool, and dry out when it's wet. 

Those fixes are not guaranteed to work, however. If the light keeps blinking red and green after taking those actions, you may need to contact Milwaukee's service team directly for assistance.