Battery adaptors.

[cdbe]

I need an 18v hedge trimmer. My existing batteries are DeWalt but the DeWalt trimmer is £140 and the Makita is £75. I can buy a DM18M battery adapter for £10. Has anyone used these adaptors? I understand the main issue is that you loose the battery protection - but hopefully a hedge trimmer would give reasonable warning that the battery is reaching excessive discharge (by slowing down)? Otherwise given I have a small hedge and 2 x 4ah batteries I could just check and stop when the led gets to 1 bar.

 

[lostinthelight]

You can get a hedge cutter with 5ah battery and charger ,with a free radio or grass shears for £170. If you register for news letter, cancel later, you can get a further discount
https://www.toolstop.co.uk/makita-duh523rt-18v-lxt-hedge-trimmer-1-x-5-0ah-battery/

 

[opps]

Don't the adaptors just rejig the connections? I was not aware of any loss of protection. That said, I haven't studied the topic though.

 

[cdbe]

You can get a hedge cutter with 5ah battery and charger ,with a free radio or grass shears for £170. If you register for news letter, cancel later, you can get a further discount
https://www.toolstop.co.uk/makita-duh523rt-18v-lxt-hedge-trimmer-1-x-5-0ah-battery/

That's ridiculous!!

I can flog the radio on eBay for £140!

I've ordered it and I think I'll order another for the wife tomorrow!

I did want to avoid the hassle of two different battery set ups as I'll only use the trimmer a few times a year - so I still might try the adaptor then I could sell the Makita battery and charger as well.

 

[cdbe]

Don't the adaptors just rejig the connections? I was not aware of any loss of protection. That said, I haven't studied the topic though.

I haven't researched much, just one of the first things I read so don't know if it's true.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Don't the adaptors just rejig the connections? I was not aware of any loss of protection.

Different makers use different ways for the battery to communicate with the tool, potentially. To date I haven't seen any detailed articles about the different proprietary protection technologies used

 

[rsgaz]

I was not aware of any loss of protection.

This is the underside of a Makita to Ryobi adapter. You can see it only has the positive and negative pins. ...

But, if you look under a Makita tool, you'll see extra pins which do the current sensing/temperature monitoring/etc...

What I don't know however, is whether the battery itself would cut the power when over-discharged, or whether it's the tool that monitors that. That's probably brand specific.

Charging the batteries will be as normal of course, the charger monitors the current, voltage and temperature of the battery.

 

[cdbe]

It's arrived. Battery adaptor seems to work ok:

and has a handy usb output:

I found this info which suggests they are ok if used with care - should be obvious with a hedge trimmer so I'm going to sell on the Makita battery/charger set, and I've submitted my radio claim.

 

[opps]

This is the underside of a Makita to Ryobi adapter. You can see it only has the positive and negative pins. ...

But, if you look under a Makita tool, you'll see extra pins which do the current sensing/temperature monitoring/etc...

What I don't know however, is whether the battery itself would cut the power when over-discharged, or whether it's the tool that monitors that. That's probably brand specific.

Charging the batteries will be as normal of course, the charger monitors the current, voltage and temperature of the battery.

I would have assume that a lithium battery would have the safety features built in to the battery, rather than those features being built in to the device that is drawing the load.

I am currently in the pub as I read this. I looked at the 12v Metabo cordless drill in my rucksack. It has 5 pins. To be honest, I have no idea what each of them are used for. Metabo are part of the CAS (a unified battery alliance)- the same battery will fit a number of other tools from other brands (at the moment only German brands). Some of those pins may exist for future proofing(?)

 

[big-all]

i would say never ever leave a battery on an adaptor as you dont know if there is a draw even when not in use you may after several months off gradually greater time left on the adaptor decide its safe to risk but remember you have no comback on where you bought the battery or tool from

 

[lostinthelight]

That's ridiculous!!

I can flog the radio on eBay for £140!

I've ordered it and I think I'll order another for the wife tomorrow!

I did want to avoid the hassle of two different battery set ups as I'll only use the trimmer a few times a year - so I still might try the adaptor then I could sell the Makita battery and charger as well.

Its been a while since you bought this and wondering how its performing.

 

[cdbe]

I've only user it once but it worked perfectly. I kept checking the battery level with the little button and there were still two out of three LEDs lit up when I'd finished so I didn't find out what would happen with the battery protection.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

My missus has been running a Ryobi cordless inspection lamp on one of my "snide" (Waitley) 18 volt 6Ah Makita compatible batteries through an adaptor. She has just brought me a battery bsck which is showing 0 volts and which won't recharge (Makita DC18RD dual fast charger). Make from that what you will, but I think it underlines the point about there being no guarantees when using adaptors

 

[SFK]

Dewalt batteries do not come with in-battery low volage projection.
The battery protection is in-tool, not in-battery.

Hence, if using an adapter or taking power straight from the battery pins, you can easily discharge a Dewalt battery to a point where the Dewalt re-charge station will not recharge them.

Full view inside a Dewalt battery here showing its battery/cell direct connection to the pin-outs.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=83447

This article key comment - stop using and recharge battery pack as soon as LED swiches from two to one bar. Or stop and recharge when voltage has dropped to 15V (3V per cell x 5cells).


Note that the 'xh-m609' module provides good 'undervolage cuttoff' protection for use bwteen battery and tool - but too big for your application.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=xh-m609&

SFK