Makita 18v batteries

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powertool world as previous posters have said.

also ffx are quite good.

kelvin power tools arnt to bad.
 
I have several Makita cordless tools and 3x torches . I have bought 3x copy batteries over the past 8x years and they are all still working perfectly and in use nearly every day particularly with the torches and drills .
They are so cheap its worth taking a chance and replacing them periodically if they fail due to misuse and abuse .
Like everything the most vocal posters are usually those few that have had a bad experience ...all the thousands of happy users don't bother to post .
 
I'll check the suggests, thanks for replying all. Unfortunately I'm one of those with a bad experience hence I'm looking for genuine. No one needs to worry I'll be scared at the price, I have bought them before. Just looking to stretch the pennies like most other people.

Thanks

Mark
 
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My take on no batteries for tools. Good old makita batteries died (NiCd). Genuine batteries cost another drill, so i made an adapter to use Parkside tool x20v batteries. Cheap as chips if you already have a 3d printer :D No beauty here, pure functionality. Drill served me another ~3 years, all the way until gearbox gave out... I've actually been buying "scrap" but quality 18v tools at flea markets and printing adapters to them. Now gave allkinds running on lidl cheap batteries. Makita drill (dead now), Hitachi jigsaw, dewalt cordless circular saw and impact driver, b&d random orbital car polisher, some other brands - all sport my own designed and 3dprinted adapters, running lidl batteries... all tools with no batteries i paid a fiver for...

#EDIT1# As long as the tool is rated for 18v you can run a 20v battery on (which is a marketing lie but meh...). I have the thing free on thingiverse for anyone to print. Someone actually donated $2 to me for that thing :D Universal Parkside X20v battery adapter by BaronPork

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The problem with lithium batteries configured in an 18V battery pack (5 or 6 cells in series) is that they require some relatively sophisticated electronics to be incorporated within the pack in order to protect the cells and provide optimum life. Both over-charging and complete discharging will shorten their life dramatically, and this applies to each cell individually, not just the entire battery. Hence the electronics effectively bypasses charging current around the first cell which reaches full charge during the charging cycle. The charge-balancing system is refered to as a battery management system (BMS) on larger batteries used in solar energy storage etc. The only way you can check if a battery incorporates this system is to open it up!
 
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In my case, makita's original battery (NiCd) didn't have any BMS (Battery Management System) whatsoever, but lidl x20v system batteries do have integrated BMS in the battery itself, so that protects you from any over-charging and over-discharging. So, any older, especially NiCd generation tool is ideal for conversion. I had some tools bought that had some sort of primitive BMS in the tool itself, but i'd just scrap it and connect directly to battery adapter terminals, letting battery do the regulation. I'm yet to burn out a motor in a tool, or kill a battery, never happened. Plus, x20v batteries are quite smart when it comes to over-current - if i stall the drill/saw, battery cuts off completely, for a short time, then i release the trigger for some time (~5sec) and battery re-enables the juice flow. Smart... Bit of a draw back, but if i'm being an eejit stalling stuff i'd rather have my tool not on fire and stall/quit temporarily... :D

I do RC stuff as a hobby, deal with unregulated LiPo batteries all the time and know what happens if you mess with that too much - hiss/boom/FIRE... (yep, i did destroy batteries in the air (over-discharge), disposed of batteries in fun way by piercing them while fully charged (fireworks :D ) )... So, BMS regulated batteries dont really scare me anymore. I have a battery bunker/storage/charging station made of hollow cinder blocks, where i keep all my LiPo and tool batteries when not in use...
 

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