Makita 18** Batteries On Cheapo Tools

[Onoff]

I have a number of perfectly serviceable 18V tools of various, dubious, here today gone tomorrow brands. All bought on a whim, dirt cheap or got as a present:

Champion circular saw

Rolson 4 1/2" grinder

Performance Power hedge trimmer

Jigsaw, can't remember make.

These all came with Nicads originally. There is some interchangeability between batteries though the hedge trimmer the + & - are reversed. The grinder batteries fit the hedge trimmer but the wrong way round and with the aid of some tape! Some batteries fit and work but the holding clips are in the wrong place. Tbh I'd use them more if they had good batteries that lasted and the charge times weren't "3-5 hours" and you didn't need multiple chargers. (OK, the grinder is 1 hour). So here's the plan:

I had considered 3D printing adapters but I'd need to do the CAD etc. Found these Makita battery Stealth Mounts moulded from tough ABS at £15 for 4. Aim is to graft these onto the top of the various tool batteries, the section that slots in or to the tool base itself. Then a couple of down pointing "tags" to line up with the Makita batteries + & -:









These are injection moulded rather than 3D printed btw.

Stripping the grinder and it's battery down last night:



The battery lid:



Inserted into the grinder:



The stealth mount held against the battery lid:



Tbh a rectangle of plastic (or timber?) a few mm thick screwed to the grinder base then the Stealth Mount on that should work. The grinder body plastic is really tough and would pass the "drop test"

so would take a couple of self tappers:



Hedge trimmer, the + & - reversed for a start:



Lid moulding is quite complicated...So we'll ditch that:



Stealth Mount balanced precariously:





Again probably a rectangle of something to bring the base flush, deeper than for the grinder, then the Stealth Mount is the way forward I think:







"Infill blocks" next then figure the battery connections. I think I'll open the tools up and hard wire the new battery connections direct to the switch etc to bypass the remnants of "tangs" that attach to the original battery.

Watch this space but don't wait up!

 

[carbon]

I believe that the battery contacts for the makita are available as a spare part as I have one here in a different adaptor. Just had a quick search and have found this parts breakdown item 8 could possibly be a start.
https://www.partshopdirect.co.uk/makita-bdf452-18v-liion-12-spare-parts-s10353/

Possibly other suppliers may have better pricing but does look overly expensive

 

[Muppet]

I tried fitting my 18v makita battery to a black & decker hedge trimmer also 18v
Polarity correct on connection , nothing , tried the battery and it was dead ,
Put another battery on full charged , nothing , again , checked the battery also dead,
Put both battery's on charge and they both came up battery faults,
Expensive experiment,

 

[Sean]

yep theres a lot of trickery in a Makita battery its just not worth it - most of the trickery is to preserve the battery from over discharge and heat, once the onboard chip thinks theres a problem it kills the battery as Li Ion are essentially an incendiary bomb waiting to happen!

 

[carbon]

Sorry my previous post should have read “doesn’t look overly expensive”

 

[Onoff]

I believe that the battery contacts for the makita are available as a spare part as I have one here in a different adaptor. Just had a quick search and have found this parts breakdown item 8 could possibly be a start.
https://www.partshopdirect.co.uk/makita-bdf452-18v-liion-12-spare-parts-s10353/

Possibly other suppliers may have better pricing but does look overly expensive

Cheers. £4 postage for one just to try. Reckon I can bdnx some sheet steel for nos

I tried fitting my 18v makita battery to a black & decker hedge trimmer also 18v
Polarity correct on connection , nothing , tried the battery and it was dead ,
Put another battery on full charged , nothing , again , checked the battery also dead,
Put both battery's on charge and they both came up battery faults,
Expensive experiment,

Good to know thanks though not for you! Hoping the £20 clones will fare better.

 

[carbon]

I’ve been looking at batteries myself, not 100% sure on this but some sellers list that batteries only fit certain colour contact plates but I think it’s the 5ah battery only fits certain tools as possibly the earlier ones have a block in the way, but my adapter doesn’t have it so any fit

 

[carbon]

This is the adapter that i have http://www.afineredgemfg.com/index.htm

 

[Onoff]

Came across this:

http://bl1830-failureprevention.blo...ita-radio-1-cause-of-battery-failure.html?m=1

His Advanced Solution #4 is for installing an undervoltage switch to protect from over discharge. Here's the circuit:



https://www.circuitlab.com/circuit/dk4vzq/makita-undervoltage/

Can't say I understand the circuit...the cells on the left...are these the battery cells?

Figuring this could easily be built into the space where the old battery slotted in?

 

[Morrisman]

My Makita batteries all died within a week of each other, built in timed obsolescence I reckon, as I have three batteries and two chargers, none now work.

However, I notice that my Wickes el cheapo batteries almost fit. The prongs are the right width apart, the holding grooves interphase, just the metal prongs seem a bit too long and need 10mm trimming off. But they work when loosely wedged in.

And the Wickes only have two prongs/contacts, instead of the three Makita has.

It it almost like they were designed in the same factory then sent in different directions.

 

[Rig Pig]

I bought these for my Dewalt, so far they have been fine, the drill is old and the cost of genuine batteries would have sent it to the bin!
I doubt that there are any fancy protection circuits in them.

 

[Kayos]

My Makita batteries all died within a week of each other, built in timed obsolescence I reckon, as I have three batteries and two chargers, none now work.

However, I notice that my Wickes el cheapo batteries almost fit. The prongs are the right width apart, the holding grooves interphase, just the metal prongs seem a bit too long and need 10mm trimming off. But they work when loosely wedged in.

And the Wickes only have two prongs/contacts, instead of the three Makita has.

It it almost like they were designed in the same factory then sent in different directions.

They sound like non lxt makita batteries

 

[carbon]

Would seem like it as all the contacts I’ve looked at for the lxt battery only has two connections

 

[Onoff]

Would seem like it as all the contacts I’ve looked at for the lxt battery only has two connections

My two older LXT drills only have two blade contacts. My newer LXT impact driver has two big contacts and a smaller one that goes to a terminal marked "TH" on the battery. On the base of the impact driver wher the battery fits is a (star) symbol. My clone batteries fit all 3 tools no problem.

 

[armalites]

You would probably be better off buying one of the converters that convert the new Li-Ion batteries to be used on old Makita kit(assuming they do as Dewalt do). Then graft the tool battery connection to that.

I've seen a guy on Youtube who has dozens of Dewalt batteries but he liked a few of the items Ryobi did so he built a converter so he could use Dewalt batteries.

For some reason this video showed as not available in the thread, if that happens again then search youtube for "How to use Dewalt batteries on Ryobi Tools"

This will explain why you had a problem, on Dewalt and I guess Makita too the intelligence is in the tool and that's what stops the battery being killed, what you've done is link directly to the battery and bypass that protection so it shut itself down.

 

[Morrisman]

Would seem like it as all the contacts I’ve looked at for the lxt battery only has two connections

Not sure if it is LXT, but both batteries have three connections, the Makita tool has two connections, Wickes has three, but when I plug the Wickes battery into the Makita drill it works perfectly.

I think I could trim the Wickes battery terminals 1/2” and resurrect my far superior Makita drill and driver. £50 Wickes set, versus £350 for the Makita combo.

Not sure how much a couple of spare Wickes batteries would be.

 

[Onoff]

My Makita batteries all died within a week of each other, built in timed obsolescence I reckon, as I have three batteries and two chargers, none now work.

However, I notice that my Wickes el cheapo batteries almost fit. The prongs are the right width apart, the holding grooves interphase, just the metal prongs seem a bit too long and need 10mm trimming off. But they work when loosely wedged in.

And the Wickes only have two prongs/contacts, instead of the three Makita has.

It it almost like they were designed in the same factory then sent in different directions.

Conversely I have a Makita 18V impact driver with 3 prongs but both drills only have 2.