Just need to vent...

White Lotus eh? We don't get such as that on the telly.

 

Well I for one would not argue that BitTorrent was your friend here, because that would be illegal.

 

Even your youngest could have watched VoIP version of Counterpart with no moral damage. All that girl on girl stuff, Crtl-X

 

To veer in another direction.

WHY OH WHY do all tools makers have their own "battery/charging systems???"

And, some of them look pretty identical, although I am not about to risk a tool/battery/charger by experimenting.

IF it were all standard, think of the money we'd save -- and that phrase, unfortunately, reminds me of a hermit named Dave.

 

Every manufacturer's incentive for now is to build something that locks your future additional purchases in to their product line.

We have standards organizations like ANSI, but we have little political appetite for mandating that manufacturers standardize on something. The manufacturers will usually go to a voluntary standards org like ANSI when they feel they would all benefit from a compatible ecosystem. For as long as they feel they'll be selling as much or more of their own product because of their own lock-in, that won't be happening.

If the market conditions ever change and they feel more pressure from consumers for compatibility, then they'll all probably be forming an ANSI working group, and each one will be trying to work it so their system ends up being the standard.

 

At least corded devices do have a standardized power system.

 

Yeah ... I had my Gen 1 tricked out with an adjustable-voltage DC power supply I hardwired into the cig lighter circuit, and it could be set for 1.5, 3, 4.5, 5, 6, 7.5, 9 volts, etc., and had a whole bag of different plugs for powering different devices.

Now I have an inverter supplying 120 VAC. Every device has its own wall wart that'll plug into that. It seems goofier from the standpoint of avoiding unnecessary conversions, but it's a lot less fuss.

Now, at last, things are standardizing enough that most of those wall warts produce USB-A or USB-C. I'm thinking of wiring in a couple USB-C outlets.

 

Years ago, when I was still working, China abolished much of the plethora of wall warts in its domestic market by requiring most such devices to charge via USB Power. While there were multiple USB standards then, and even more now, this did greatly improve interchangeability and simplify the charging of small devices. And while the rule was domestic only, its benefits spread worldwide.

Now, the EU is requiring this device market to adopt USB-C as a universal charging standard. And that means Apple too.

 

I'm waiting for a smart bloke using a 3D printer to make an adaptor to fit X brand tool and adapt to the more common batteries of the same voltage.

T1 Terry

 

There are usually more than two terminals on that battery. Some for monitoring and temperature management. If I didn't know for sure those circuits were compatible in detail—and if I had seen a few videos of large unhappy lithium batteries—I don't know that I'd touch an adapter like that with a ten-foot pole.

 

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Stevewoods ... Back in the early ’80’s DeWalt made a “universal” charger. I remember buying a friend a cordless circular-saw that came with it for a Christmas present. I remember some legal issues for a while and that charger wasn’t continued for very long. It was very nice though.

 

That may have been universal within DeWalt only. To charge any of their NiCD or NiMH 7.2V to 18V packs. My DeWalt charger is NiCD only.

Adapters do exist to allow use of one company's batteries with another's tools. I wouldn't try using them in a charger.

 

For sure the old NiCd ones from the 80s; that just wasn't a power tool technology ready for prime time. Likewise the almost-as-old NiMH ones. (I also had a weed wacker built with a strap-carried lead-acid battery. Not worth its scrap value.)

What seems to have been accomplished more recently, in both lithium battery technology and brushless motor electronics, is a dramatic transformation to cordless tools that straight-up do their jobs and don't go defunct fast. I've had my Ego tools for several years now and they're still going strong. I don't know that I'd expect them to end up in recycle piles much faster than gasoline or corded ones.

 

My 18V DeWalt set is over 20 years old, and I don't see them going into the trash anytime soon. No problems with the third party NiCD replacements. Much cheaper than the DeWalt branded ones. Would have preferred getting NiMH, but the charger I have isn't listed for them. Replacement pack costs were high enough for me to not risk shortened NiMH life on a NiCD. Later got a DeWalt adapter to use 20V batteries with the tools. Only downside to that are that the clips on the adapter are tight. Hard removing it from the tool.

Did recently toss an even older Craftsman 14.4V drill. Itself was probably still working. The batteries weren't holding any charge at all though. A kit to replace the old cells with new ran more than the replacements for the DeWalt.

Dead batteries seems to be what lead to many of those cordless tools ending up in a land fill. With the frequent sales, it was usually cheaper to just get a whole new tool than replace the battery or even a lost charger.

 

When Dad passed a couple years ago I grabbed his Makita corded rotary hammer drill. He had the thing for ~ 4 decades. Many a concrete hole was bored with that sucker.



Similar to this - with metal case, probably the first of its kind with variable speed. What a beast. Hold that thing with 2 hands and it can still pull your wrists out of socket. Compare that now to the Chinese everything made versions - with variable torque going so low you won't strip plastic fasteners.
.

 

Unless it needs more energy than what a typical outlet can provide for the tool's task, then a corded could do whatever the cordless does.

Most users need to take the tools to where they are needed, as oppose to getting whatever needs tooling to where the tools are. Cordless is just easier to use in that role. There is also the safely issues removed by getting rid of the cords.

 

I once was helping install an electrical switch box in a building where the walls were solid brick. (A course of bricks up the exterior, another course up the interior, then plaster over the interior brick).

Had the pleasure of renting a Boschhammer.



Carved a box-shaped rectangular recess into those bricks like they were butter.