New battery for Ferrex Brad nailer.

Shaggy · 16 Sep 2019

I recently bought a Ferrex 18v Brad nailer from Aldi and thought I'd buy a spare battery for it when they next get them in. Today I popped into Aldi and they had batteries that say for Ferrex tools at £15 but they are 20v. Would the tool drop the voltage to 18v (a bit like the Dewalt flexivolt) or would it stay at 20volt and would it damage the Brad nailer? :|

Sleepy · 17 Sep 2019

18v and 20v are the same set of batteries, just measured differently. Those battery packs contain 6 linked together 3v lithium cells. 6x3=18. However, if you measure the voltage of those cells when they're fully charged it'll be around 3.4v. 6x3.4=20.4. The batteries very quickly drop down to 3v in use, so they're probably more accurately 18v battery packs. But 20v sounds bigger and better than 18v, so that's why they brand them as 20v.

Neil Swann · 20 Sep 2020

On their e-commerce site it states the Brad nailer is not compatible with active energy batteries which was all I could see on there.

robgul · 20 Sep 2020

Neil Swann said:
On their e-commerce site it states the Brad nailer is not compatible with active energy batteries which was all I could see on there.

I understand from someone that works at Aldi HQ on the buying side they are (slowly) following the platform approach to tool batteries (as de Walt, Makita etc) where they will sell bare tools with common batteries, rather tools with their own batteries and chargers . . . at the moment there is a mix of tools, as suggested I think the nailer is battery specific.