Battery compatibility

[ChaiLatte]

The original poster mentioned a chainsaw in his post.

A lot of the high power tools are 36v (i.e. dual 18v). There might be physical space issues in using an adaptor with that style of tool.

A single battery tool with an adaptor genrally just moves the battery 'downwards' a bit.

 

[dickm]

Yes, it's primarily battery chainsaws that interest me; my oldish Hyundai is still OK if it's charged regularly, but it's only a 12", and a 14" would be useful. The original versus non-OEM quality difference makes sense, but what it would be useful to know is whether there is any interchangeability between brands. Mountfield, Greenworks. Ryobi, EGO, Oregon and probably others all use vaguely similar looking battery compartments and take nominally 40v batteries, but are any of them interchangeable.
Of course, the sensible thing to do would be to buy another Stihl but.....

 

[ChaiLatte]

Mountfield, Greenworks. Ryobi, EGO, Oregon and probably others all use vaguely similar

You could solve that problem by switching off the computer, going to a place that stocks the brand and trying the battery in different machines.

As a question, what other strategies would be possible for answering it?

Let us say I have a Mountfield and you have a Greenworks. We could measure and photograph all we like but unless we meet in the same place with the tools and try one battery in the other tool, we will never resolve the issue.

How do you think the adaptor people make their products? They buy a Bosch battery and a Makita tool, reverse engineer the two, make a prototype, try it and refine it until it is correct.

 

[thikone]

I never trust non-OEM batteries and their prices are always too good to be true.

I did build some batteries myself though. There are empty cases for Makita batteries that can be found on far east sites (even with BMS inside).
As an example, real Sony VTC6 batteries that are high capacity and high discharge current cost like 75 EUR for 10 pieces nowadays.
Add to that 15-20 EUR for the plastic case.
Now compare that to original Makita 6 Ah battery that costs like 100 EUR. Not much different, is it?

My reasoning to assemble my own batteries was to make combinations that are not produced by Makita - 3 Ah slim 5 cell 18V battery and 3 Ah slim 3 cells 12 V and 6Ah 6 cells 12V batteries. Though, it turned out that it is not very important or not that different from 2Ah or 4Ah ones.

It does make sense to make your own batteries from cheaper cells or salvaged cells sometimes - but only for low power tools, like lights, vents, radios and such. But then also maybe do not use fast (or rapid) chargers with them. Definitely not for a chain saw nor for angle grinder - that can pose a fire hazard easily.

 

[phlppip]

I would only buy genuine manufacturer batteries, you only need for something to go wrong once and it could be the end of your workshop!