M12 multi bay charger

Doing my black Friday shopping at home depot today and was talking to a Milwaukee rep. Had a good conversation, he mentioned some new products like the new radio that’s coming out which all of us tool nuts already know but he did mention a new m12 multi bay charger coming out. I thought it was a good idea as I have 4 m12 batteries. What do you guys think?

An m12 multibay charger does sound useful. We all have a few m12 batteries sitting around. Now their even selling them in 2 packs.

Will it be like the 6 port m18 charger? Will it charge them one at a time or all at once?

Not sure, I didn’t ask but my guess is it probably will only charge one at a time for the same reason the m18 only charges one at a time

I figured. Do any multi port chargers charge all of them at once in the same time as a regular charger?

Javier wrote:

Doing my black Friday shopping at home depot today and was talking to a Milwaukee rep. Had a good conversation, he mentioned some new products like the new radio that’s coming out which all of us tool nuts already know but he did mention a new m12 multi bay charger coming out. I thought it was a good idea as I have 4 m12 batteries. What do you guys think?

I have probably 14 m12 batteries and a half dozen chargers. A power strip works wonders and allows them to charge at the same time.

NicholasShetley wrote:

I figured. Do any multi port chargers charge all of them at once in the same time as a regular charger?

Dewalt and Makita multi port chargers only have 2 ports, and the Dewalt charger is set up to charge their stempack and slidepack batteries so you can’t charge 2 20v batteries at the same time.The Makita can charge 2 packs at the same time but it only holds 2 packs.

Thanks dr. I am wondering what it will look like now.

Javier wrote:

Not sure, I didn’t ask but my guess is it probably will only charge one at a time for the same reason the m18 only charges one at a time

Damn. I ordered the m18 6 pack charger, but i didn’t know it only charges one at a time. I guess i‘m going to have to open it up and mod it to charge them all at the same time. 

The problem is they only have one set of charging circuitry if you did manage to charge all 6 at the same time it would take hours because it would divide the normal charge 6 ways. I have the Ryobi version of the same system its not as bad as you think I got it before I decided to upgrade to a more professional tool. I still use Ryobi for some of the odd stuff Milwaukee does not have like a weedwhip and yard blower.

That would be nice to have a multi charger for the M12 line.  I do the same thing, I have a power strip and a bunch of chargers plugged in.

I love the idea of multi-port chargers, but I hate the sequential crap. Don’t know what the big deal about simotanius charging is, but maybe theres some kind of hurdle I don’t understand. 

If you were to charge them all at once there would have to be seperate charging elements for each bay, or longer charge times. It’s a way to keep costs down.

I think heat build up might be an issue. My m18 charger gets pretty hot and I’m sure that Milwaukee would have to make a pretty complex system to deal with the heat, that and price would shoot up the roof I’m sure

But like others have said it’s easier to use a power strip and multiple chargers

Even charging 2 at a time would suffice for my needs. The sequential charger is useless for mid shift duty. Great for overnight charging though.

Conductor562 wrote:

Even charging 2 at a time would suffice for my needs. The sequential charger is useless for mid shift duty. Great for overnight charging though.

This is what i use mine for. I got it the other day. I came home with 4 dead batteries today, put them all on the charger and walked away. In the morning they’ll all be green and ready for work. Sure beats going in and out of the garage to swap em out every 45 minutes. 

I think it would be good for multiple people at a job site with multiple people using them. They can grab a fresh battery and go.

I got some more info today from the Milwaukee rep about the m12 multi bay charger. Said it will hold 6 batteries and confirmed it will only charge one battery at a time. Said pricing would be similar to the m18 multibay charger at about $89 or $99

I wonder what it will look like?