Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Makita). This thread is read-only.
Does anyone know if Makita lithium ion 18V batteries are balanced by the Makita charger?
Makita batteries and chargers use intelligent charging/discharging. If you look at any modern tool battery, you will see multiple terminals specifically for that purpose.
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That’s the thing, I look at their batteries and they only have + and – connections with the charger. If they had balancing the batteries would need like at least 5 more connections
kat wrote:
That’s the thing, I look at their batteries and they only have + and – connections with the charger. If they had balancing the batteries would need like at least 5 more connections
How so? The electronics in the battery and charger handle the charging and discharging. By your logic a 6.0 would need twenty conductors to talk to all 10 batteries.
I would read up on it, the picture I linked is right from Makita, but you may feel more confident reading up on it yourself.
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Yeah but they don’t say anywhere that the built-in cpu charges each cell individually. They just mention over-heating and over-charging protections, which are trivial, because even the cheapest $1 chinese battery charger supports that.
I found this video and you can clearly see there are no balancing leads on the cells:
Frankly I’m very disappointed that balancing does not seem to be supported by Makita. This surely has a big impact on the battery life…
Oh I missed your first pic, which suggests that balancing is supported? But still I don’t see how, without individual leads on the cells…
I would refer to the picture I linked from Makita that is titled “well balanced charging”. If that isn’t clear enough…
The video you linked is also old. The batteries have changed.
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ok do you know what kind of cells do each of their batteries use?
By the size of them it looks like the 3, 4, 5, 6 ah have 10 cells, and the 1.3 ah has 5 cells.
So the 1.3 ah has 1300 mah cells.
The 3 ah has 1500 mah cells.
The 4 ah has 2000 mah cells.
The 5 ah has 2500 mah cells
and the 6 ah has 3000 mah cells.
but what brand and model are they? I’m curious about their discharge rate
just realised they could put 3000 mah cells in the 3 ah battery to make it the same size as the 1.3 ah
Why does it really matter. They work don’t they? Knowing every little thing that is in the battery isn’t going to make my tools any different.
kat wrote:
ok do you know what kind of cells do each of their batteries use.
but what brand and model are they? I’m curious about their discharge rate
just realised they could put 3000 mah cells in the 3 ah battery to make it the same size as the 1.3 ah
Hilti just unveiled a compact 3.0 FYI.
If this interests you, research it.
You will find that LG is pretty much the only game in town for a 3000mah 18650’s.
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QuasarCZ wrote:
22 minutes ago, QuasarCZ said:I
I don’t understand why Makita doesn’t release 2.5Ah and 3.0Ah compact packs.
I’ll take a guess.
A ‘fat pack 3 amp battery can spread the power draw and hear that comes from that over 2 rows of cells. A compact pack has to provide all power/heat from a single row of cells.
Pure logic alone would dictate a compact 3.0 pack would wear faster, overheat faster.
There’s also a limit to how much power a compact pack can deliver. I’m note sure how many amps 3000mah cells these day can provide continuously but the golden rule has always been: the more mAh inside a cell, the less amps it can output.
If people are gonna start putting 3.0amp compact packs on the high power draw X2 tools then you’ll get lame performance and tools engaging the overheating protection alot.
This would be my guess.
Yes you are right that 2.5Ah and 3.0Ah compact pack would be limited in power
Here are some test of Sony VTCs:
VTC6 http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sony US18650VTC6 3000mAh (Green) UK.html
VTC5A http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sony US18650VTC5A 2600mAh (Green) UK.html
These cells can deliver 20-30 A in burst, min 400W of power with 5 cells in series, it’s plenty of power for compact and subcompact drills and impact drivers. Surely they are not rated for sustained high amperage drain because of heat. Using such pack in angle grinder would be nonsense. But for protection there is PCB/electronics..
And i don’t see any reason for using compact packs in X2 tools… Big high power tool needs big high power packs 😀
QuasarCZ wrote:
7 hours ago, QuasarCZ said:Yes you are right that 2.5Ah and 3.0Ah compact pack would be limited in power
Here are some test of Sony VTCs:
VTC6 http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sony US18650VTC6 3000mAh (Green) UK.html
VTC5A http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Sony US18650VTC5A 2600mAh (Green) UK.html
These cells can deliver 20-30 A in burst, min 400W of power with 5 cells in series, it’s plenty of power for compact and subcompact drills and impact drivers. Surely they are not rated for sustained high amperage drain because of heat. Using such pack in angle grinder would be nonsense. But for protection there is PCB/electronics..
And i don’t see any reason for using compact packs in X2 tools… Big high power tool needs big high power packs 😀
We understand that. But most people don’t.
So in practice alot of people are not gonna think and put compacts on heavy drain tools.
kornomaniac wrote:
8 hours ago, kornomaniac said:I’ll take a guess.
A ‘fat pack 3 amp battery can spread the power draw and hear that comes from that over 2 rows of cells. A compact pack has to provide all power/heat from a single row of cells.
Pure logic alone would dictate a compact 3.0 pack would wear faster, overheat faster.
There’s also a limit to how much power a compact pack can deliver. I’m note sure how many amps 3000mah cells these day can provide continuously but the golden rule has always been: the more mAh inside a cell, the less amps it can output.
If people are gonna start putting 3.0amp compact packs on the high power draw X2 tools then you’ll get lame performance and tools engaging the overheating protection alot.
This would be my guess.
So you’re saying that the 5 ah and 6 ah Makita batteries which use 2500 and 3000 mah cells will wear and overheat faster?
No, because there are ten cells to draw from. If there were only 5 to draw from, then you’d have shorter pack life and more overheating warnings if you used the compact on various types of saw or grinder.
As for brands of cells, most manufacturers use multiple brands; depends on who they get the latest batch from for the best price and who can keep up with demand. Samsung, LG, Sony, etc.
kat wrote:
3 hours ago, kat said:So you’re saying that the 5 ah and 6 ah Makita batteries which use 2500 and 3000 mah cells will wear and overheat faster?
Overheat faster then a 4.0 amp ? Yes, in theory. That’s for Makita, DeWalt, Milwaukee, hilti everyone….
But in practice only milaukee seems to have frequent overheating provlems