Makita 18V Battery

[Glenn0010]

Hi all,

I am looking at getting some cheap-ish battery power tools and a challenge. Has anyone found a way around the Makita 18V Battery brick problem. Where when your cells die even if you replace them, the battery still won't take a charge. I know there are replacements pcbs out there, however these do not include balancing.

Has anyone manged to reverse engineer the circuit or if there are schematics out there. i assume there is a uC on there that bricks it when the voltage goes low so if that's the case resetting it would be pretty hard. I have re celled RYOBI's before but not Makita

Cheers

[bob91343]

I know it's off topic, but I think battery tools are a solution to a problem that really very rarely exists.  I use my power tools so infrequently that, if they were battery operated, would have dead batteries most of the time.  In fact my experience has confirmed this.

I have a few battery drills that I have connected to power supplies so that in a pinch I can use them, but I always end up with line operated units.  More power, no worries.  And no expense.

Of course there are situations where battery power is a good idea, such as high on a tower.  Even then, I am willing to run a long power cord.

Gasoline tools are another problem.  My chain saw won't work any more because it's been a long time and it's all clogged.  Repairing it is silly because a new one is very cheap but still the old electric job keeps on running.  I just spent $90 getting my lawn mower unclogged when, had it been electric, I wouldn't have had to spend.

I apologize for ranting on a somewhat related subject.

[Glenn0010]

I know it's off topic, but I think battery tools are a solution to a problem that really very rarely exists.  I use my power tools so infrequently that, if they were battery operated, would have dead batteries most of the time.  In fact my experience has confirmed this.

I have a few battery drills that I have connected to power supplies so that in a pinch I can use them, but I always end up with line operated units.  More power, no worries.  And no expense.

Of course there are situations where battery power is a good idea, such as high on a tower.  Even then, I am willing to run a long power cord.

Gasoline tools are another problem.  My chain saw won't work any more because it's been a long time and it's all clogged.  Repairing it is silly because a new one is very cheap but still the old electric job keeps on running.  I just spent $90 getting my lawn mower unclogged when, had it been electric, I wouldn't have had to spend.

I apologize for ranting on a somewhat related subject.

No worries, it is an interesting discussion. I agree to you to a point . Corded power tools are simple and robust. But cordless power tools in most cases now are more powerful and a lot less faffy without the cable, granted you need  a charged battery which is fair. However I think the convenience of not having a cable is great.

Also the challenge of repairing one of these would be great

[maginnovision]

Have you ever worked as a full service vehicle tech Bob? For hobbyists, or so called DIYers, it rarely matters but for people actually doing work they save a ton of time and offer the flexibility you need. You also don't typically have a single battery. You have two and by time you need to swap the other battery is good to go.

As for repairing the battery packs... I don't know have any Makita tools, but perhaps it is possible to bypass whatever shutdown exists. If there are replacement pcbs though you could just add a balancing circuit based on the original if you wanted.

[bob91343]

Well sure if you amortize the cost of batteries over tool usage, there is a crossover point between not enough usage and frequent usage.  So yes if you use a tool frequently during the day it might be nicer to have it run from a battery.

But for casual use, the battery gets expensive and annoying.  Plus of course the weight and bulk are very different.

Each has his own criteria and it's not for me to tell someone what is right for him.  I was just telling what's right for me.

[Seekonk]

I have a whole collection of battery powered tools at my camp which is 12V.  The good name tools are only a couple bucks at garage sales. I just dump the battery and run them on 12V even with an extension cord, fine for the 18V models. They sure make it hard to get into some of those batteries.

[james_s]

I find the cordless aspect to be indispensable, I would never want to go back to corded tools for things like drills and my reciprocating saw. Cords are a pain, they never seem to be long enough, I hate untangling them and rolling them back up, it's just a hassle. I can take my cordless drill up into the attic, out into the yard, on a boat, in an RV, in a car, anywhere without thinking about having a place to plug it in. I use my cordless drills and screw gun the most often, then the reciprocating saw. I haven't had any trouble with the batteries either, as long as I use it at least once every few months and charge it when I'm finished it's always ready to go. I had the battery packs for both of my cordless drills rebuilt about 4 years ago, they were around 10 years old at the time and were getting tired, the rebuilds are still going strong. My circular saw and router are corded but those are both tools that really need to be powerful and I don't use them all that often.

Next on my list is a cordless string trimmer, I have an electric one that is a big pain to drag the cord around, and a gas one that I spend more time screwing with the carburetor than I do using it. Looking forward to getting rid of both of those. I got a cordless electric lawnmower a few years ago and I love it, that was another tool I was spending more time fixing than using, I have a small yard so a gas powered mower was overkill and plug in electric mowers are a pain to avoid tangling or mowing the cord.

[bob91343]

Yes there are many reasons for making the choices we make.  I love my gasoline mowr even though I have a small yard.  Its important feature is the great power it has; I can cut stuff I am sure other mowers can't.  It's easy enough to use, a bit noisy of course, and needs fuel occasionally.  If it runs out of fuel in the midst of use, I take it as a favor to take a break from pushing it.

The drills, well I have three or four cordless ones that run from power supplies and four or five from the power line directly.  My saws are all power line type and very strong.  The problem with the drills is getting bits that hold up, and finding a decent method to sharpen them.  Heck, I would love to sharpen my old razor blades rather than throw away something that could be reused.  But sharpeners are hard to find and expensive (compared to buying new blades).  And should I end up sharpening my old razor blades I have to factor in the cost of band-aids.

One thing I've wanted is a cordless soldering iron.  I never was willing to pay the price for one, though.  For the biggest jobs I have my propane torch.

One tool I love is called something like a rotary cutoff tool.  It's like a giant Dremel and uses a nonmetallic 3" disk as a cutter.  I have used that for everything from cutting out plumbing fixtures to sawing wood and tile.  I got mine at Harbor for less than $20 and it's been wonderful.  My only complaint is that I can't seem to get it back into the box it came in.

[Electro Detective]

It's amazing that I'm on the same page re tools as bob91343, yet an ocean away   

I've added decent cheap air tools and an air compressor with long hoses to the DIY arsenal as well,
great if you need electrical isolation from any live potential work, and zero batteries to think about

Battery powered tools are great for tradies that use them regularly and keep up the maintenance

For the occasional user come DIYer, they can be a disappointing nuisance,
either flat or holding a halfassed charge that one time you need them for a quick fix low demand task

So, out comes the corded powered tool to the rescue..again 

[ckambiselis]

There should be an option for the OP to group post that are off topic so you actually have to expand the group to see them, this topic was lost because of this!

Just my 2 cents!

Oscar