DeWalt to Makita battery adapter

[graduate_owner]

Hi all,
Looking for advice. I have several 18V NiCd Makita tools with ageing batteries and want to power them using a DeWalt 18v Li ion battery. I have looked for adapters but they all seem to power DeWalt tools from Makita batteries, or only power 12 / 14V Makita tools.

Do any readers use battery adapters and if so, are they reliable/ worth the bother?
Does anyone have a link to the particular type of adapter I need?

Thanks in advance,

K

 

[ChaiLatte]

Can you post a picture of the NiCad Makita battery you have so we can see what the tool end of the adaptor would need to look like.

NiCad technology is old, and even adapting from Makita Li ion to Makita NiCad is expecting a lot, let alone going from a different manufacturer to an obsolete format. How many of those would a person sell in a year? The only off-the-shelf solution you might find in this direction is a 3D printed one, so look on Etsy or Thingiverse etc.

You can buy something that clips onto the DeWalt battery onto which you can then graft an empty Makita NiCad battery to make an adaptor if you are sufficiently desperate. You retain the shell and clips of the Makita item and discard the innards. Most have a flat base, so joining the two parts is not so difficult.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006047153708.html

Be wary about running the tool for too long in this manner. Normally, when the battery is tired, it will signal to the tool that it wants to shut off (that is why most Li ion batteries have three connections) and the tool obeys that command and draws no more power from the battery. In your setup, the tool would not have that circuitry and will continue to drain the battery until it is over-discharged. Then you will have great difficulty recharging it on a standard charger. Summary: be careful lest you screw up your DeWalt batteries.

Edit: this goes Makita Li ion to Makita NiCad, so keeping the top of it, sanding off the bottom of it and then sellotaping to the AliWalt above would do the trick

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecarke-Battery-Converter-Cordless-Compatible/dp/B08S6Y41SB

After writing all above, the item you want actually does exist (note to self: never believe someone who states they have looked):

https://powertoolsadapters.uk/products/dewalt-20v-to-makita-18v-nicad-battery-adapter

 

[wurglesnash357]

I bought an adapter to run Ryobi tools off Makita batteries. It was difficult to fit and spoiled the balance of the tools. I gave up and bought a new Ryobi battery.

Les

 

[graduate_owner]

Can you post a picture of the NiCad Makita battery you have so we can see what the tool end of the adaptor would need to look like.

NiCad technology is old, and even adapting from Makita Li ion to Makita NiCad is expecting a lot, let alone going from a different manufacturer to an obsolete format. How many of those would a person sell in a year? The only off-the-shelf solution you might find in this direction is a 3D printed one, so look on Etsy or Thingiverse etc.

You can buy something that clips onto the DeWalt battery onto which you can then graft an empty Makita NiCad battery to make an adaptor if you are sufficiently desperate. You retain the shell and clips of the Makita item and discard the innards. Most have a flat base, so joining the two parts is not so difficult.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006047153708.html

Be wary about running the tool for too long in this manner. Normally, when the battery is tired, it will signal to the tool that it wants to shut off (that is why most Li ion batteries have three connections) and the tool obeys that command and draws no more power from the battery. In your setup, the tool would not have that circuitry and will continue to drain the battery until it is over-discharged. Then you will have great difficulty recharging it on a standard charger. Summary: be careful lest you screw up your DeWalt batteries.

Edit: this goes Makita Li ion to Makita NiCad, so keeping the top of it, sanding off the bottom of it and then sellotaping to the AliWalt above would do the trick

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecarke-Battery-Converter-Cordless-Compatible/dp/B08S6Y41SB

After writing all above, the item you want actually does exist (note to self: never believe someone who states they have looked):

https://powertoolsadapters.uk/products/dewalt-20v-to-makita-18v-nicad-battery-adapter

 

[TheUnicorn]

as chai latte says the dewalt batteries have no over discharge protection, relying on circuitry in the tool to protect the battery. you'd need to do your research but I believe makita batteries have protection built in, and I think that the same is true of the parkside batteries at lidl, so that might offer a more budget friendly solution

 

[graduate_owner]

That's the one I have been looking for. Thank you haiLatte. I now need to decide if this is a wise step to take. The thing is, I have a Makita NiCd impact driver and a sabre saw, and really don't want to have to buy replacement tools if I can avoid it.

K

Edit - perhaps I will just go for replacement Makita NiCd copies, although I have read some of these fail early. Problems problems.

 

[TheUnicorn]

amazon sell this, which claims to also fit milwaukee batteries

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Mi...rue&qid=1736712805&sprefix=xxx,aps,104&sr=8-5

 

[ChaiLatte]

...I believe Makita batteries have protection built in...

All batteries have a monitoring circuit. In most batteries that monitoring circuit just signals to the tool that it should switch itself off. Please have a quick look on YouTube at a recent video (of this date) by BigClive, where he tests a glue gun, In that he points out that it only seems to be Ryobi and the knock-off main brand batteries that do everything themselves (and do not rely on the tool).

Makita batteries have three contacts: positive, negative and signal. When the battery is happy, the signal contact is high. When the battery is flat, it sends the signal line low. In effect, that signal line is used in the tool to keep a contactor inside the tool energised. That contactor inside the tool is what supplies or cuts off power to the tool*.

With a non-OEM arrangement, there is nothing inside the tool connected to the battery signal line, so the battery signal line can publish a full page ad. in a newspaper and the tool will not see or obey it.

It should not be something to prevent a person using a battery not as intended, but doing so will need a diligent human-powered battery management system rather than a silicone-powered one.

Be sensible - use the tool with a fully-charged battery for a short period and then swap to a different battery before the battery is discharged. Most batteries have a 'fuel gauge' on them, so make use of it. You do not drive your car until it runs out of petrol - you watch the fuel gauge and top up before the tank is dry.

A third option might be to buy the adaptor, and a clone DeWalt battery and use that, even in the short term, until you establish a workable system. If you fail and ruin the battery, it is less pain than ruining a genuine battery. If you succeed, it is an extra battery you can use in the DeWalt tools.

*That 'contactor' is only on the high power draw part of the tool - on Makita stuff, the LED will always work even if the motor won't turn.

 

[Superduner]

I use Badapter converters to let me use Dewalt (or copy Dewalt) batteries on Black and Decker (pole saw and hedge clipper) Worx(drill, mini saw, pressure washer, strimmer and extended hedge trimmer) and Ryobi (chain saw and sds hammer drill) tools.
Never had a problem with any combination of them, but maybe I'm just lucky.
Just remember that the batteries always have to be charged by a charger of the same "make".

 

[Lard]

This topic has come up several times previously. In my case my 4 makita 18v drills are now running on 20v ferrex (Aldi) batteries and have been doing so for a few years. I wasn't prepared to throw away perfectly good working drills. In fact I bought another makita for a fiver at a tool auction without its battery, knowing I could make use of it.

Why ferrex? Well, I was in the local Aldi and saw them at such a low price and thought about adapting them.....obviously someone else beat me to it.

I bought someone else's 3d printed adaptor initially (eBay) but then printed my own later on. They work as expected.

The only thing you have to do, and what I ensure I do (as others have intimated), is check the ferrex battery lights (3 of) and when it gets down to one, I recharge.

The simplified answer to your question is yes, you can do it but you'll probably need, or know someone with, a 3d printer.