Cordless Tool Battery Platform

[John Mc]

I kinda hate to loose the Craftsman because they offered a charger that plugged into the truck cigarette outlet which was handy in the field.

Milwaukee sells one of those for their M12 and M18 tools. I have one that I bought for use when working in the boondocks. I have not used it in a while, but it worked fine. It's slower than my 120VAC chargers, but it gets the job done. (It can accept either 12 or 24V input, so it will even work in my 24V antique pickup.)

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/products/48-59-1810

The Home Dept in my area stocks them: $129

[Resonator]

Milwaukee is hitting it like they are desperate for the job

Milwaukee has invested cubic dollars in a wider product line over the last few years, doesn't surprise me they are reaching for greater tool sale market share. A few years ago the local hardware store just had a handful of Milwaukee power tools, now they have an entire area with isles of everything from garden trimmers to workwear clothing.
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If I was doing a lot of remote "Off-Grid" work, I'd look into a solar generator.
Companies have made a lot of advancements in the last few years. They can recharge tools and devices, as well as run some corded tools (depending on size and how many watts they consume). While not cheap, all they need is the solar panel to be plugged in and pointed towards the sun to constantly recharge, and never need gas.

[doc henderson]

John, my brother did road construction and he mounted and inverter under the hood of his truck and wired 120 v plugs in a sealed truck toolbox compartment and had all his chargers in there.  

[Magicman]

Thanks John Mc. 

I wondered about using one of the two inverters in my truck with the 120V charger.  It may work with the Milwaukee chargers but it would not work with the Craftsman charger.

I'll try it before I buy the Milwaukee 12V charger.

This one might work:  12V Charger

[rusticretreater]

Great idea.  Just stay away from the inverters sold at Harbor Freight or any of the other iffy tool dealers such as the company that shall not be named.

[barbender]

I charged batteries with an inverter in my truck and 120 volt regular charger. I've read that the one type of charger will wreck the batteries, but I never had any issues

[hedgerow]

My 2011 F-150 had a factory inverter in it and I used it many times to charge my 18V Dewalt batteries and my Milwaukee 18v batteries. My 2023 F-150 has a factory inverter in it also haven't used it yet. 

[Ljohnsaw]

I had the old 9.6v Makita drill, flashlight and a recip saw. Had the same at work. Then, at work they got 18v DeWalt. Wow, what a game changer. So I later bought a 20v max drill and impact set. Been adding ever since. Some of my batteries that are going on 5 or 6 years old are starting to die.

3 drills, 2 impacts, 2 6.5" circular saws, 1/2" impact, grease gun, 2 sawsalls, 2 oscillating tools, 2 jig saws, 2 grinders, 2 RO sanders, 2 routers and a monster tripod work light. The end goal is to have a complete set both at home and at the cabin.

Early on I got the 12v cigarette lighter charger. Been using that up on my property with a solar setup for the last 3 or 4 years. Chargers as fast as my fast plug in ones.

[Magicman]

While searching I found attachments for the M18 batteries that allows USB, etc. connections and also one that converts it to a jump box for jump starting an auto. 

[Dave Shepard]

Check the output voltage on the jump starter, most are outputting 18v.

[Resonator]

Be careful with vehicle inverters that they are sized right and installed properly for the intended use. I've seen more than one truck burn to the ground from overloaded/overheated inverters.

[John Mc]

Be careful with vehicle inverters that they are sized right and installed properly for the intended use. I've seen more than one truck burn to the ground from overloaded/overheated inverters.

So they are sized right for the intended use, but they didn't fuse them?

[Resonator]

I don't know if they were properly fused or not, I just seen the bad results. When I was truck driving it was common for drivers to add inverters to the sleeper bunk. Newer trucks now have them built in from the factory, and I would say are safer.

[Wlmedley]

When I had a service truck I bought a cheap inverter and mounted it one of my toolboxes . I ran the power wire from the truck battery making sure to put a inline fuse at the battery hookup and never had any trouble. Used it for years mainly to charge battery powered tools. Also used it to power a torpedo heater in the winter and a drop light at times. Handy thing to have and kept me from having to run and listen to my welder. I'm thinking it was rated at 500w and at the time I gave about 25$ for it.

[Magicman]

I ordered the 12V "cigarette lighter" charger sorta like I linked in Reply #28 above.  $17.66 and free shipping from Ebay, so no concern about an inverter.  We shall see.   

[maple flats]

I've got mostly DeWalt, have 8-10 different tools in them, mostly 20V. I have 5 or 6 drills in them, because I use them for tapping trees, 5 or 6 because I used to have up to 4 helpers, now it's me and maybe 1 helper. I also have 3 tools in Ryobe, the good thing there is that the 18V and 20V are inter changable on both the tool and the chargers.
In the last 2 years I also got into cordless electric chainsaws. I have 2 Kobalts (Lowes), a 24V and a 40V and 3 DEwalts, 2 @ soV and a 60V. THeir ability far exceeds what I expected, not the 20V, but the 60V. While it's not as fast on the cut as my Huskys, I often use it because it's about half the cutting speed and no hearing protection needed. That saw has an 18" bar and I have a 9AH and a 9.6 AH (after market) battery for it,and they last longer than I do. Recently I had to take down a large (29" at the stump) sugarmaple that was leaning towards my sugarhouse. I have cut about 10 blocks so far, starting at about 24" diameter. I'll try doing the bigger butt end blocks, but I may need to use my Husky with a 24" bar and work it the way I do on the 18" DeWalt. I just start near the top and keep lifting the handle as it cuts, to where the saw is pointing about straight down, then I bring the saw back to level and saw down thru from the near side. A fully charged battery does 5 or 6 blocks before the battery stalls if I put too much pressure on it. If I'm not worn out by then, I put that battery on to charge and use the second battery, I never yet ran the second battery down before I was worn out.
I've heard a lot of good reports about both Rigid and Milwalkie, but I'm not ready to start another brand.
Not too many years ago, battery powered tools were grossly inadequate, battery technology has come a long ways since.

[TreefarmerNN]

I think you can get a battery adapter to run 20v Dewalt batteries in 18 v tools.

[jpassardi]

Yes, Dewalt makes one as well as aftermarket.

[Magicman]

I said that I wasn't but I just ordered another (aftermarket) Ridgid battery to replace one that is dying.  I have too many good Ridgid tools to start another platform yet.  At least the aftermarket battery prices are more reasonable and the one I ordered "said" USA, but who knows?

[barbender]

Lynn, one thing I have read about aftermarket batteries is that they may have more of a tendency to catch fire, because they may lack the heat management of OEM packs. 

[Magicman]

I had not heard and did not know about that.  The one that I ordered is replacing the only aftermarket battery that I have so maybe I should wise up.  

[Old Greenhorn]

I haven't looked into your setup but there are a lot of battery adaptors out there now that can allow use of one mfg's batteries on another's tools. Maybe that would help you transition? Seems every time I look into it, there are ore options available. Just a thought

[doc henderson]

I just bought 2 cheap battery clones, and they were hard to get in the charger.  not sure I want to leave them unattended in the shop on a charger.

[Magicman]

I am still 18V Ridgid here at home, 40V Ryobi with yard tools, 18V Milwaukee on the sawmill work truck, and 19.2V Craftsman at the farm.  I do not want to inter-match any of them.

[Magicman]

I just ordered both adapters for the Ridgid/Milwaukee platforms.  Both were packaged together @ $41.61 including tax w/free shipping.  This should simplify my battery platform.

Thanks to those that mentioned that the adapters were available.