Tool Batteries

[Amateur]

There appears to have been a big price increase in makita18v batteries, or they just crept up in price while I was pre occupied drilling away.?
Maybe this was always going to be the case as more folk changed over to buying bare battery powered tools. Let's face it bare bodies are relatively cheap when a metal geared impact driver Is cheaper than a battery 5 ah.
Is it now a question of just biting the bullet or are there any alternatives worth looking at our there?
I also know from experience that it's a sad day when you have tools that are yesterday's technology but are in good Nick that manufacturers have stopped making batteries for.
My Dewalt 10.8 drill falls into this criteria which I'm trying a cheap chinese replacement battery on.
I'm not expecting much from it.
Although it came fully charged its a lot lighter and slightly bigger than the originals, which indicates less internal batteries.?
What's your take on this?
Do you think replacement batteries from the main manufacturers are now over priced?
I know one thing. I wish I had bought more batteries a couple of years ago in hindsight.

Mike

 

[TheUnicorn]

Batteries are definately over priced, however I would always buy the genuine thing over a clone, far more likely to be the Ah rating they claim, work on your tool and charger, and not set fire to your house.


I think some of the best prices on batteries are to be had from the heavily promoted drill deals, where you get a drill, case, charger, for about a tenner more than the cost of the batteries they come with. Sell the tool etc as bare and you might start clawing back some cost

 

[Lazurus]

I have got 4 x Bosch clones and they are on par with those supplied OEM, cannot remember the make off hand but have had no problems with them over the past 2 years and still going strong. There are good and bad clones

 

[Spectric]

That is always going to be the issue with any cordless tools, you will always be tied to the OEM and buying their batteries for as long as you want to use that tool. With a corded tool you are not tied and it will keep going until the point of failure not until it is not cost effective to replace the battery.

 

[PerryGunn]

I think some of the best prices on batteries are to be had from the heavily promoted drill deals, where you get a drill, case, charger, for about a tenner more than the cost of the batteries they come with. Sell the tool etc as bare and you might start clawing back some cost

Definitely worth keeping your eyes open.

I recently took advantage of a Makita promo offer at my local Screwfix that included an 'OK-spec' 18v drill, charger, case and 2 x 5Ah batteries - cost was slightly less than the best online price I could find for the batteries.

Didn't sell the drill/case/charger though, I'm a tool wh0re so I always like to have spares...

 

[Noel]

I have got 4 x Bosch clones and they are on par with those supplied OEM, cannot remember the make off hand but have had no problems with them over the past 2 years and still going strong. There are good and bad clones

Switched to Makita a year or two ago with 6/7 tools so far. All powered by 6 (5 x 6ah + 1 2 ah) non OEM batteries and 1 genuine Makita 5 ah.

Let's go shopping for a genuine Makita 6ah battery:

1st hit is FFX @ £99.00 but out of stock
2nd hit is Toolden @ £107.00

Bound to be cheaper, try the bay:

Cheapest I could see is £73.95 free P & P although showing 2 week delivery.
Saw another listing at £120 +............. and a used one at £70.00........



The non OEM batteries I use are all Vanon brand, have the push button indicators on them and I see no difference in performance or capacity to the real thing.
6 x Makita 6ah at £74 a throw = £444.00
6 x Danon 6ah at £25 a throw - £150.00

Will the Danons go on fire, fail, die after 5 years? Might do, might not but I could buy 18 of them for 6 of the cheapest OEMs.
No brainer in my view, especially if you are on a budget.

 

[gmgmgm]

In my (limited) experience the fake batteries are ok for light use (e.g. DIY drilling), but die quickly if used in more powerful tools; chainsaw, grinder etc. Maybe it's overheating, or protection circuitry, but I've killed 2 fake batteries so far using the Makita 36v chainsaw.

 

[Yuri]

In my (limited) experience the fake batteries are ok for light use (e.g. DIY drilling), but die quickly if used in more powerful tools; chainsaw, grinder etc. Maybe it's overheating, or protection circuitry, but I've killed 2 fake batteries so far using the Makita 36v chainsaw.

Don’t buy fake batteries! Buy branded other maker batteries that are made to fit your brand of tools ,,, old batteries can also be repacked with new cells that can match the ome or even exceed them for a fraction of the price of a new ome battery,,,

 

[Dabop]

A trick I have used quite successfully is the 'adapter' units- you can get them in almost any combination of batteries available, makes 'sticking to your brand' far less of a 'must' because you have already got such an investment in batteries or whatever
My first was a DeWalt 18 to 20v adapter- now I got a couple of each- going 18 to 20v and 20v to 18v, plus a DeWalt battery to Milwaukee 18v one as well
(A handy thing is all of my DeWalt ones also have a USB recharge port in them- so I can chuck a battery on, and then use it to charge my phone up onsite)
(despite the batteries being 'different voltages' in actuality- they are both the same voltage-in the case of the DeWalts just a slightly different chemistry, the voltage difference is purely nominal- and either is happy running on the others batteries via the adapter with no noticeable difference in speed)

One noticeable difference is weight- the new 20V series are definitely MUCH lighter and smaller, despite a much larger capacity in AHr and run times...
So much so that the older ones tend to be used as 'emergency spares' in most cases- only the big 1/2" rattlegun I keep using the bigger battery pack on despite its shorter run time- as the new one is TOO light, and makes the rattlegun 'front heavy' without the extra weight of the old battery, makes it tiring to use as it keeps wanting to tilt forwards...

 

[PerryGunn]

Hate to blame it all on COVID but that's the reason Makita batteries have increased in price so much - demand is outstripping supply so there's little need to discount.

pre-COVID my target pricing for genuine Makita was always around £10/Ah and I was picking up 3Ah for £27 and 4Ah for £38 - hopefully we'll get back to that sort of pricing within the next year

 

[niemeyjt]

I have a load of Blue Bosch 24V "O" battery tools. The genuine batteries are a mix of NiCd and NiMh - but are slowly dwindling in number. I can see fakes on Amazon and ebay - but can anyone recommend a company to repack the casings with new cells and do other repairs - or are such fakes the way to go? I suspect the electronics in both the battery and the tool is less sophisticated with these older technologies.

 

[Noel]

In my (limited) experience the fake batteries are ok for light use (e.g. DIY drilling), but die quickly if used in more powerful tools; chainsaw, grinder etc. Maybe it's overheating, or protection circuitry, but I've killed 2 fake batteries so far using the Makita 36v chainsaw.

Not in my experience and that includes a grinder and 36v top handle.

 

[Bill Derr]

Use both original and cheapy batteries on my Blue Bosch and Makita stuff and can't say I have noticed any real difference.

 

[pe2dave]

That is always going to be the issue with any cordless tools, you will always be tied to the OEM and buying their batteries for as long as you want to use that tool.

It is possible to get 'converters' - bit of plastic and metal to mod the actual battery to the 'required' battery interface.

 

[Spectric]

Thats ok providing the protection circuitry of the donar battery meets the requirements of the tool and supported by the converter. I already have a Makita battery that will not fit my older Makita drill, it has an extra connection.

Also some batteries have extra circuitry that identifies the battery to the device, an example here is one of my Nikon DLSR cameras that refuses to function with a third party battery I brought, it just fails to turn on. The reason apparently is that it is a Nikon battery management feature but I suspect it is only there to make you use Nikon batteries.

 

[pe2dave]

So I guess you'll be forced into buying the OEM batteries Roy.
Just note, there is a choice.

 

[alanpo68]

Probably the cheapest way to get hold of genuine Makita batteries is to take advantage of the free battery Freegardenproduct

You can get a DUB186RT Blower that comes with one 5ah and a fast charger for around £140 then you claim a 2nd 5ah battery by redemption.

 

[Spectric]

Hi Dave

I use mostly corded 110 volt tools and only a cordless Makita Impact driver and a couple of Makita drills because they warrant being cordless for convenience, I will not use any other cordless tools because I want them to just keep going without having flat batteries which always seem to go flat at the most inconvenient time possible.

 

[Sideways]

Thread got me wondering about the cost of lithium cells. Googling the latest 21700 cells, 4 to 5Ah capacity from Panasonic or similar it looks like the 5 cells you would need to make an 18V 4Ah battery pack will cost end users like us a little over £30 delivered, tax paid from Hong Kong.
That compares with about £50 street price of the corresponding battery pack for a major brand.
So there's not a great deal to be saved by trying to refurb a worn out pack at those prices.

If you buy in 100's then the price falls to nearer £3 per cell or £15 per 4Ah pack

 

[MARK.B.]

If you can find a way to open and reseal the battery casing Replacement cells could be the way to go, the ones on my Bosch drill have four screws so its a easy fix for me and cheaper than buying a new battery.