I want to turn all my power tools and batteries a universal connector like USB-C. I have a 3d printerand skills so getting the manual interface is easy enough, but I don’t a lot about ports and tech. I’m learning fast, but I’m not quite there yet.
From what I understand, I’d need to put a female port on the battery which isn’t difficult and has been done plenty for charging.
I’d need to put a male plug on the tools to interface with it, and my initial research says I can’t just solder the power pins to the cables in the tool, I’ll need a circuit board that requests the 20v from the usb source? Is that doable? It looks like I can pick them up on AliExpress. But I need a qualified adult to verify that’s what I need to do.
From there, would I be able to cord them with this method or would I need to build a better usb charger port?
Is there a better port to use? Usb-C is nice and small so I can fit it in wherever I like, but can it handle tool use? Would it be better to do usb or something else?
As you mentioned, we can already see USB-C charged batteries for power tools out on the market without all the proprietary charging crap from other platforms. As an example, see Greenworks Pro 24v, 4 or 8 Ah and/or Hyper Tough brand
I also haven’t looked at all the specific bells and whistles, but Torque Test Channel on YT has a couple of videos opening them up and testing them, and they do have a circuit board inside the bidirectional charging batteries (either 21700 or 18650 cells), which charges at 65w, and the port also has a little silicone(?) flap to cover it when unused. Perhaps it might be useful as a reference for your trials
See below video “Even More Problems for Big Brands from Walmart”, around 30s mark as an example:
non YT link
YT linkFor the adapter, perhaps you could use this open source terminal_v2 as a reference on the battery side? This one is for Ridgid batteries specifically, so you will need to fiddle with part A to adapt it to your brand battery connector. They used a Molex 44262 series connector on the contacts with the battery for reference.
On the other end, it has anderson connectors, but you could adapt it to xt## depending on your preferences/availability
If you don’t want to open/cut the tool itself, perhaps a dummy + xt/anderson connector on the tool side to connect into terminal_v2 on the batteries side?
Ridgid dummy example from the same author.
Disadvantage of dummies is that you would need one dummy for every brand you have to use
Above dummy also has a dangling cable. I’m not a designer, otherwise I would look into having the dummy with an xt## built into it, than have part B from terminal_v2 have the other xt## built into it, which slides/locks/connect into the dummy. I’m not sure if that was clear, sorry
The author also made a video showcasing the terminal_v2, dummies, and other features that might be useful, see “Build a battery adapter to power the whole Lab”, as it might help:
non YT link
YT linkIf you want to go the OpenBox route shown in the video, this bushing might also be useful, discussed around 22m10s on the video above
If you want tools to run off a wire, independent of battery, I’d suggest just buy mains powered tools with built in cords. It’s not worth the hassle - sorry that’s not a very diy answer. I think you’d find most diy tool projects would just use mains rated motors and such.
The power requirements is sort of the reason battery tools take a lot longer to charge than to run down (continuous).
Since you need approximately mains level power, then you need mains rated connectors, or probably even fatter wires depending on how much current there’ll be down at 20V. The tool itself probably has thermal cutoff(s) somewhere in it if it overheats, so you don’t want wires or connectors generating too much heat where that thermal cutoff won’t detect it.
I’d assume you don’t want to add a mains AC:DC 20V 20A converter into the “hand” tool side of the cable so that probably means thicker cables.
Mains powered tools are just designed better to do this @110/220V~. It keeps the current down so you can have thinner, lighter, longer more flexible wire.
Better just limit the USB to top up the battery at lower power. The battery would still deplete in use, but you’d be topping it up in between.
Yeah, I think for better or worse, the most universal and least consumerist “cordless” system is picking up your favorite used Mains corded tools, and getting yourself a Jackery/Ecoflow/whatever battery bank to plug into. This can be really cost effective for a DIY setup.
Petrol generator is probably cheaper. But still expensive.
I really hate proprietary batteries on powertools, so corded is tempting. But I can’t get power 250m away across a road and several other peoples gardens.
Jackery/similar are a far higher capacity than I would realistically need to run a few tools for a fairly brief duration but you need the big ones to have a high enough current limit to reliably run any kind of garden power tools I may need.
I found another solution though. Return to tradition! Got a hand scythe. Also working to remove most grass areas. Not 100% sure what to do with the space over winter when veg isn’t growing. More rhubarb? At least weeds don’t grow as much over winter either.
yes. Brace and bits, screwdriver, hammer + chisel, a few hand planes a few handsaws axe.
These tools’ biological battery power source can be easily re-charged on the go by inserting waste vegetable matter. Lubricate regularly with beer (or other fermented waste vegetable matter).
That’s what i mostly use; I’m dealing with wood mostly though - and of course i do it in order to pass time, not to make up rent, so slower is just fine for me.
Scythe is worth having just for the coolness of the word - unfortunately I don’t have any use for one. Adze would be another good one I’d like to find cheap and sharpen up.
But I’ll grant the power tools awkward situations like up a ladder, stretching over precariously, a battery drill one handed can be useful.’
I generally prefer fermented fruits and honey. Although I suppose rhubarb is a vegetable, and one of the things I grow with hand tools.
I have seen battery adapters that let you use one brand’s batteries on another brand’s tools. Though I think some newer batteries now use proprietary controllers in addition to proprietary formats.
Yeah, expectation of them doing HP style bullshit makes me want to refuse the entire thing.
Plus as long as hand tools do a good enough job there is something rather satisfying about using them. So much quieter too, I can hear the local cats if one of them turns up and wants a head scratch. Or if I have gloves on, a tummy rub.
usbc will break and it can’t deliver required amperage. use xt30/xt60/xt90 connector instead if you must.
You didn’t list what tools you already have.
One good thing about proprietary connectors is that they have decent clip and they won’t fall of from the rail.
The market is set up so that you choose one battery standard and all the tools go with that standard. Check if that standard is reverse engineered and does it have non-brand clones.
If you really need something universal then AC mains plug is your only option with DIY powerbank.
Circular, sawzaw, drill, impact, vacuum, flashlight, mini chainsaw. They’re all Hart brand as either gifts or discount. They’re not bad for what they are.
I’m not at all worried about the clips and rails, powertools are relatively recent to me but I’ve been doing 3d printing long enough that if I can’t make it work with the current hardware I’ll just make and harden whole new shells for all the tools.
I’ll just make and harden whole new shells for all the tools.
That’s just asking for it to break at the worst possible moment and for your flesh to meet the spinny bit. The biggest load is when they are working.
You don’t even have two separate battery systems. Most pragmatic thing to do is to leave it as is. Just as we accept proprietary CPU microcode, it’s easier to accept the batteries than to modify them.
Also battery systems come at different voltages (12V 18V 20V) so different connectors enshure that you won’t mix them up.
The reasons provided are the thin veneer of validity to excuse modifying it for my own fun and preference. If I needed a reason not to do it, the knowledge that it will take any amount of time out of my day is enough. I can’t choose to use a different cpu microcode, I can’t choose to live in a nation that isn’t a shithole, I can’t choose to not participate in consumerism, but I can choose to cut open shitty Walmart tools and replace the shitty proprietary metal prongs with something I choose to put there. Just because I can’t choose most things doesn’t means I shouldn’t use and enjoy the choices I can have.
my own fun
In that case enjoy your fun. Just be safe.
USBC (at least in its current form) likely can’t provide enough power to run most tools well also. According to what I can find for Ryobi tools (as an example) they’re rated to pull 10x the Ah rating in A continuously. That means a typical 4 Ah battery can deliver up to 40 A at 18V or 720 W continuously. I’d guess tools pull 400-600 W continuously, and may be up to 25x on start up or stall for a few seconds before the BMS cuts the tool off. USBC maxes at 240W right now. For reference - that’s about half of what a typical NA wall socket can deliver at 120V/15A.
Using USBC to charge batteries is fine but we don’t appreciate just how much energy can be delivered by batteries and how quickly.
You’d have to have something that can deliver that peak amperage without catching fire, and the wiring to handle it too.
That’s the kind of info I’m looking for, I figure I’ll just be wiring it directly into the tool so the wires in there should handle it. so now I just need to find a readily available male to female port that came handle that.
Do you want to build something like the CEENR PDnation batteries ?
Instead of a brand style mount to attach their battery or a converter to connect brand x to brand y, I want to replace the little block with metal prongs with a little block that has a cheap plug I can buy in bulk. Then do the same to the battery with the compatible plug. Like instead of a 3rd thing, just build it into the tool.
You mean something like this but put it inside the battery?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20V-MAX-Charger-and-USBC-Adaptor-Kit-DCB094K/318666174
Exactly like that for part 1, part 2 would be adapting the battery port to use a compatible plug instead of the current property nonsense.
current property nonsense
You do realise that by using usb-c in this way, you’d be creating a proprietary connector, because there’s a lot more to usb than just the shape of the plug?
Not to mention that it would probably fail pretty quickly as the contact resistance is too high to handle the currents of a power tool. Compare a connector people usually use for batteries like an xt30/xt60 to a tiny usb-c one and you’ll see what I mean.
If the goal is to make it so you can buy any brand battery and use it with any brand tool, I’d look into making contact adapters instead.
Yeah I’m picking up that usb-C isn’t the option.
I’m basically looking to take a contact adapter to the next level and just replace the contacts on all current and future tools with something that’s easy to buy in bulk and reliable. The xt## may be what I’m looking for.
So you want to change the tool and the battery to USB? So the battery plugs into the tool with USB and then the battery whrn unplugged is charged with usb?
I hate the proprietary too but I don’t think usb-c is robust enough for power tools. Vibration and dirt will kill it quickly.
There are numerous adapters on printables to convert one charger to another so you aren’t stuck with one brand of battery. Although I’ve taken the lazy way and buy 3rd party batteries which are super cheap.
However one brand puts the BMS inside the tool, not in the battery but I can’t rember which brand and quick Google didn’t help.
That’s my biggest worry, I’d hate to do all the work just to have to redo it regularly, so I’m not attached to USB-C, that’s just the current trend and I’d like to build this idea to last.
The battery to tool converter is actually how I got to this idea. I live by the idea than anything worth doing is worth overdoing, so why stop at an adapter when I can just make my own interface and modify all future tools with that? It will look cleaner, and all I’ll need to do going forward is solder in the port for any new tools I get.
