Helpful video. However I have just taken one of these apart and can confirm what some of the others have suggested - there is no balance charging in this battery pack. The purpose of the transistor array is to multiplex the different cell voltages onto a single ADC pin on the cheap micro-controller they have used. The pack can only signal to the charger or tool to protect individual cells from high or low voltages, so if the cells become unbalanced you will not get the full capacity. The letters 'F1' on the silkscreen give the game away about the metal thing - it is just a fuse. There is no provision for monitoring the voltage across it, so no current measurement either.
so no balance charging and no low voltage cut off so if i adapter this battery to a cordless tool that has 18v i can get a dead battery cause the bms does cut the power to the drill if it get less that 2,5v.
@@joaomewini9099 Yes, there is no disconnection on the battery itself - the battery signals to the tool to protect the cells from over discharge. A BMS is needed to protect the pack properly. Not found one I feel I can trust yet....
@Joao Mewini Exactly. 2 of my batteries went dead for no reason. I called the manufacturer and they say these battery packs only have 6 months warranty. Really? So I ended up stitched up. As I had 2 dead batteries, I thought, what do I have to loose if I open them up and check the internals? After opening them up, one pack had a dead cell, so I will keep this pack for parts. The other pack had low voltage in all the cells. I managed to balance the cells and the pack is back working. I still pissed off because I lost 1 battery pack.
@@LongHoseDiver Sorry I did not have a tool to check that, I bought 4 x 2Ah packs while they were on offer for a project. Interestingly although 3 of them came with cells with a very closely matched state of charge, one of them did not and required about 5 hours on my balance charger to straighten it out. As there is no balance charging in this setup, best case it would have given poor performance, worst case it would have failed in short order (more likely). I wonder what the cost to the consumer would have been to put it in? Seems irresponsible to omit such a key feature - planned obsolescence at it's worst. .
Noting that your 'Lidl - Parkside' battery has four charger connectors, I found the same on an 'Aldi' own product. I was intending (trying) to repair a blown Parkside charger for a friend so I went into things quite deeply. I worked out how (generally) the battery and charger work together - as a simple fact, but was initially curious as to why the Aldi battery and charger needed the fourth connector. I'd already worked out that the connection commonly marked 'T', was the connection the battery used to tell the charger when the charging had ceased. I also determined that it was the battery that stops the charge, not the charger ... all the charger did was turn on the fully charged LED to tell you - the user. I noted that the 'T' connection from the battery was supplying a train of positive going pulses of around 0.7volts to the charger while ever the battery was charging. The pulses appeared to be switching on and off a transistor, which in turn passed the pulse to a 'ring counter' circuit that controlled the red and green LED's. Fairly straight forward, though quite technical, but that was the Lidl 18v set-up that had blown apart. So, could the Aldi charger help me..?? The answer was, "no way"..!! It was far more sophisticated with - dual circuitry, because it could charge Aldi's new range of both 20v and 40v tools. And that's where that 'fourth' connection comes into play, by telling the charger which battery has been connected. My problem was that I couldn't work out how this happened thanks to unidentifiable chips and semiconductors - idents rubbed off purposely. The lesson learned is that each manufacturer's set-up - battery and charger, all do the same thing, but in their own unique way, and they aren't telling us how they work.
I was talking to one of the staff at our local Lidl store, he confirmed what I expected was true, Parkside tools are manufactured for the most part, in the Bosch factory in Germany. The build quality is very good. I can confirm that the limiting is in the tools for cut off. If the drill stops when the battery is drained, if you pause for a while, it will go again till put under load and will again stop. Their wood plane gets quite hot if you push it too hard, the battery gets hot and will stop due to the excess heat. Parkside gets a 9/10 for quality and 9/10 for price. The 12v team series has Two battery types, A1 and A2. They are identical all but for a line on the moulding, which stops you interchanging them. David. (G1ZQC)
David Potter your member of staff either hasn’t got a clue or deliberately fibbing then. Most are made in China 🇨🇳 by OEM’s (Positech, Chervon, TTI, or others) contracted by Einhell or Grizzly Tools (and a couple of others iirc). Hence the uncanny resemblance in all but colour some of the tools have to Einhell’s! Bosch tools may well be made in the same factory in China as they also contract out production to OEM’s, though most of their tools are made in Malaysia these days. The factory in which a tool is made has little bearing on quality anyhow, for example Milwaukee, Ryobi, and AEG are all made in the same factory for the same parent company but to different specifications. The address on Lidl tools is simply that of the “importer” and is usually an office building somewhere in Germany.
It seems that there are new battery packs for the x20v series that do feature cell balancing, at least thats whats advertised on the box. They also have a differtent serial number then the old batteries; PAP 20 B1. I saw them in a dutch LIDL store yesterday. So thats the good news, the bad news is that we can now with almost certainty state that the older packs didnt have this feature.
I've seen other battery packs that indicate 'full' until they are well below 50% charge. I think companies may be hurting themselves by this practice, because some (less well-informed) consumers may open a new battery pack, push the test button, see it light green, and say to themselves 'it must be fully-charged' and start using it. When it runs down after 30 minutes or 1 hour instead of the expected 2-3 hours, they get irate and return it or leave a bitter review, rather than fully-charging the pack and trying again. At least, this might be happening, judging by the negative reviews of battery packs I've had no problems with. (Of course, quality control, etc., may also play a factor).
If someone isn't going to charge a rechargeable battery at least once, or have remembered the 'charge fully before use' from one of their battery powered devices.. I think they would complain regardless. They're probably wandering around without a mask, licking doorknobs..
When I ripped down the two packs I'd bought, I found the cells were charged to 4 volts. I ran the circuit board through a power supply and found that the battery indicator progressively fades all three leds and drops out the green at 18.2v, the yellow at 17.7v - the red drops out at 1.7v.
My partner has a lot of tools, so when he needed a circular saw, I ordered this one for him as a Christmas gift. ruclips.net/user/postUgkxYDKeIjKLOfcwTgdin7TtCutsz4MbIc43 He is incredibly happy with the purchase. He stated that he likes that it is powerful, but still easy to use and cuts very well. He mentioned that it is important to know the right tools for the job at hand, and this compact saw has been exactly what he needed for a variety of projects at his rental properties and renovations. He also appreciates the battery packs, as stated, he owns a lot of DEWALT tools, so he is able to always keep batteries charged as needed.
Currently watching Julian Ilett videos while making a dual channel NE5532 amp My binge watching is has officially started. 3 month break from gcses to college
Thank you Jullian, This was one of the most informative videos I have seen regarding Parkside[PS] 20V batteries. Not having seen inside of any 20V batteries, I was in trepidation to take one apart. Very inspirational. After a one-season my PS hedge Trimmer stopped working with a battery showing green-bar-light. The trimmer clicks but the shears stop dead. After seeing your video I will try again. Thank you so much.
No real need, if you personally own any of these tools you'll get a feel of how long it can be used. And well it shows full on the battery until it is almost empty. If you're using the angle grinder you MUST stop at the yellow light to stop over discharging. The charger blinks red indicating a battery fault if you don't! (That's your test for you!)
i have the grinder, saw, multi saw and 4 piece drill kit, low volt is in the tools, possibly overcurrent too as i can stall the drill/saw and it just cuts motor power till i cycle the trigger. If you want to adapt old 18v nicd or nimh theres a great 3d printable batter connector on thingiverse for these so I have these batteries now on my makita and assorted other chain store drill drivers but without the low volt protection. we also use 2 printed connectors to use 2 batteries for 40v for the 36v ebike the wife uses for work, and has done for the last year, they come home about 35% state of charge 5 days a week, for just over a year. some of my cells are wrapped grizzly tools gmbh. I also have one duff battery that has not charged from new but the cells are good, just no 5v supply to the little microcontroller. be interesting to see what data is on those pins or if just analog ......
@@EkholmAndreas NONE. ask how i know... and you cannot recover from it the chip locks out and even if disconnected from the cells it wont come back up, seems its factory initialised and that's it....
I’ve almost the full range of 20v Team tools in the shed. They’re fantastic for the price. Looking forward to your analysis of the other elements. Cheers Julian.
My rule for purchasing most tools: I'll buy cheap at first. If then it wears out or I run in to limitations; that means the tool is well-used and I buy something good. The Parkside tools are a perfect fit for my try-out-cheapies :)
Indeed. I own the impact driver as well. The main difference I noticed with branded tools is those sound much nicer; smoother. The Parkside machines have that incommon. They just don't run as nicely. But the performance is there.
Round about 8:30 you mention taking one of the parkside tools a part. Did you even came around to doing this? i would like to learn more about the discharge security inside those tools.
I don't think it's being balanced. I have the same battery and after the charging it there's over 10mV of voltage difference between some cells. I'll check on it tomorrow to see if anything has changed. Edit: I checked the battery the next day and the voltages on the cells are: 4,13V 4,16V 4,05V 4,03V 4,12V. This battery is not balanced.
*I am 99.9% sure that this battery does NOT have balancing.* What you see is just single cell monitoring. There are no components for any appreciable balancing currents. No resistors or transistors with a package big enough to dissipate the power. You should at find SMD resistors of at least 2010 size, if not multiple of them in parallel per cell. 2010 resistors are typically 1/4W. At the around 4.2V cell voltage when the balacing would start, that's about 60mA for 0.25W. So even those big resistors can barely take any balancing current. No way balancing is done with anything smaller than that.
The BMS on my car with 150Ah cells are each balanced with one tiny 5x10mm surface mounted resistor. And it works well. So I see no need for more then a 0,125W resistor to balance a 2Ah cell.
Hi Julian, there is some trickery going on with this battery. I just bought an adapter that allows me to kjonnerctc a B&D battery to a Parxide tool, but the tool just starts and immediately stops at every trigger pull within a second, no proper operation here. Now, to my knowledge, both B&D and Parxide use a 10k NTC thermistor to check temperature, so even a direct pin connection _should_ be working. Neither does a statically soldered-in 10kOhm resistor. I believe that mÿcrocontroller is doing something with the pin marked T, but I don't have an oscilloscope to debug that.
My 20V battery that came with a Parkside drill, takes 1 hour to charge. I find it highly unlikely that it gets balanced in this short amount of time. Actually I don't even believe there is a constant voltage phase at all.
Hello, I have a double Parkside 20V charger, and yesterday one side stopped charging, there is voltage on this side, but the LEDs are not lit, could you please advise where to look for the problem?
Interesting, the UK received these at least 2 years ago while here in Greece we saw these hit the shelves last year around June. That piece of metal is the fuse. Any idea what the rating might be on it? I saw several videos of some guy replacing it with a 30 amp ATC fuse. Seems a bit high to me. Any opinion? I have a Kawasaki LiPo powered 12 volt drill. Battery pack has no MOSFET in the battery pack however I believe it might be located in the drill since it will turn off when it reaches its low level cutout point.
Dear Julian, could you please explain, for what purpose are needed additional 2 contacts on x20 parkside battery. And how they are communicating with charger and tool itself. Thanks in advance.
I need no more than 17V for my large Sony DV Camera.. I am running with loose cells Ok but would love to use these packs instead.. Would it be Ok to remove one cell and still use and charge with the charger ? The same question for the Aldi 40V pack.. Remove one cell from each half of the supply to limit to 17v approx.. Thank you..
Depending how much current your Sony DV pulls, use a step-down regulator with the pack, I've picked up a tidy 4A 6v-30v in 0.5v-30v out ZK-4KX that I use with the Aldi packs for in the field CCTV diagnostics, basically a portable bench PSU.
I have 2 of these 2Ah Parkside batteries and there is something that bothers me a bit. The nickel strips run absolutely flat from one cell to another. I wonder if with excessive use, the cell’s shrinking wrap or even if the ring seal wears out, that may not end up well because it will short the cells. Other more expensive batteries like the Ryobi I have, the nickel strips form sort of a bridge between one cell and another. I assume there is a reason why Ryobi batteries are way more expensive.
Ohh I’m really digging the repairability on these batteries that’s a real pro side, just to feel like it’s not artificially made to resist. Even when in the end I neither have one to break down or I would repair it It breaks, but I could :D
We have only had Lidl here in the US for a few years. I have purchased a number of Parkside tools. I recently purchased an extra 20 volt battery, 3 years production date from my oldest one. I took two battery packs apart and was comparing the differences in the circuit board revision. I unfortunately do not know enough about electronics to know what the revision has changed.
Hi Julian, if you don't mind I have a suggestion, now that you have so many 18 v power tool batteries and also the solar panels, it would be interesting to se if one could charge a 18v battery straight from a solar panel, considering that a solar's panel top voltage is around 21v so it can't overcharge the battery. If, anyways, the voltage is slightly higher it could be lowered with something very simple like a diode, resistor, or something. Also to keep the current low, if the solar panel puts out more than the battery can take, I'm thinking that the simplest solution could be using a 12v mr16 led lamp's driver (yes they usually work fine with 21v). Thanks, looking forward for more of your videos.
Can't believe he waffled on endlessly about how inaccurate the charge level indicator was, but never measured the state of charge! Bizarre for a "technical" review...
@@jeales895 I'm sure had he measured it he would have said so - if one has definitive information which backs up one's supposition that something is designed/implemented poorly, surely it would be shown!
@@jeales895 I wasn't rude or unpleasant, and my original response as far as I can see is accurate and fair. Hopefully it will be taken as constructive criticism :-)
I wonder what name all these batteries and tools are being marketed under here in the U.S.A. Most all you have dissected don't seem available here. ParkSide does in fact show up on E-Bay this time.
They are in the us and bright blue, I have seen the 20v lidl impact with us battery's and vice versa on mydealz.de ... They are made by kompernass or grizlytools and grizzly is under OEM in the us
Hi Julian! I need your help. The fuse is blown on my unit (same model) due to a short. While using it as an extra outdoor battery with leads and clips. Batteries and circuit board undamaged. Where do I get a new onboard fuse? Thanks & Regards.
Hello I have a 20v batterie which shows at the connector 20 v but it does not provide power to the drill and it will not charge both led blinking. Is this repareble or should i buy a New one.
What does that circuit do? Will I be able to charge the battery pack with a third party charger matching the original output values without overcharging the cells?
What is the middle conector on the power tools? I have a parkside angle grinder and I want to use it with my diy bateries but I can't get it to start without knowing what that middle conector does
My guess (and it is only a guess) is that the tool centre pin is a shutdown request sent from the battery if it's discharged or over temperature. It may be as simple as a voltage signal. Tinker at your own risk :)
@@pimciu7202 i didn't figure the midle pin comunication but I added 2 more rows of cells to a normal battery so I have 5s 3p wich lasts a lot longer and has way less voltage sag
Is it possible to use those cells to rebuild other 18v battery? It is the cheapest way and i see those cell are not 4.0v but 3.7v which will be almost exactly the same as 3.6v in average 18v battery...
Balance charging is a way to charge the cells to the same voltage over charge time so if on or other cells is charging faster it is discharge between the cells so all cells are charging in the same voltage and time, this i s way to extend the life of the cells. The lowest voltage is usually around 2.5V in a cell and maximum charged is around 4.2 volt per cell. Anyway great channel you have Julian👍
That's what he said, but it can't compensate at full charge current as those small components can not handle the full charge current, so it must signal some how to reduce the charge current and start balancing.
@@FireballXL55 I am 99.9% sure that this battery does NOT have balancing at all. What you see is most likely just single cell monitoring. There are no components for any appreciable balancing currents. No resistors or transistors with a package big enough to dissipate the power. You should at find SMD resistors of at least 2010 size, if not multiple of them in parallel per cell. 2010 resistors are typically 1/4W. At the around 4.2V cell voltage when the balacing would start, that's about 60mA for 0.25W. So even those big resistors can barely take any current. No way balancing is done with anything smaller than that.
@@superdau A lot of balancing circuits only seem to do low current i.e. less than 100mA, I don't really class them as balancing circuits. They will obviously balance the cells when the charge current drops to less than this value. I don't know about this pack I was trying to read the resistor values but I think I saw 45 but not sure.
The Ozito 2Ah battery has an interesting 'analog frontend' chip (AF10S20 - www.micro-bridge.com/news/news.asp?id=1973). It does balancing at just 50mA and can only do one cell at a time.
Does anyone know the name of the connectors on the board through which the battery is connected to the devices? Or where to buy them? I know that the counterpart can be replaced simply with a faston ... But I would need the female part ..: D
Does anyone know that "T" connection/communication thing can be shunt/eliminate somehow, to be able to use the tool by a wired power supply instead of its batterypack?
Wanted to use old 20v parkside battery but only works for a second with new 20v x range tools. Thinking of that t port connection but no idea. I have seen this 10kohm resistor being used for other brands tool. Should be the same in this case?
@@sisqoszilard I tried with a 10K resistor and the tool only starts for a second then stops. Then again for a new trigger pull. There is some intelligence going on on that T pin.
@@Surmoka I did manage it to work for me with the 10ohm resistor however it was a while ago and not 100%sure how I did. I followed an instruction and worked.
Interesting suggestion that the metal-with-hole is a current sensor. There is a video on 'parkside 20v battery repair' where it is shown this piece of metal acted as a fuse. ruclips.net/video/A6LYNa3-n90/видео.html
@@JulianIlett Thank's a lot. I have seen a video for you about balancing circuit for the super capacitor using Tl431A, Do you think that this could be used to balance a lithium battery ?
It's likely you've already discovered this by now, but in case someone else wonders the same thing 2 years later... I have both Parkside 20V and Einhell 18V. The basic shape and physical design is essentially identical, but the dimensions seem carefully chosen so einhell batteries don't fit in parkside tools, and Parkside batteries don't fit in einhell tools. Additionally, the einhell batteries have 5 terminals, with the middle one labeled "NC" on all of my batteries. I also have Bosch 18V, and those have a significantly different physical shape.
They degrade faster if stored at max voltage and shouldn't be run down very low because that also shortens their lifespan. To absolutely maximise their life charge and drain slowly up to 80% and down to 30% If that's not practical and money is no object then obviously you can do whatever you like.
Julian or somebody can you guys help me how to power parkside x20 tools with a different battery? I want to use einhell batteries but x20 parkside tools have 3 contacts and if you put plus and minus contacts to the tool it doesnt start... I dont want to buy seperate batteries because i have 6 einhell batteries looolz
yeah to test capacity they drain them, then charge them to see they take a full charge, then ship them, why waste time draining them to 50% when they have more chance of surviing transit delays at 100%, i notice he just stated ''they are always shipped 50%'' (in not so many words) but didnt actually meter a spanking new pack cell to see... all mine have come 80% to fully charged, not measured, just unpacked and used and they have lasted like a fully charged pack ''on the job''' - maybe i should buy a new pack and test it...
Hey how are you doing! I hope you are well!! Do you remember me? I once asked you what you do for a living. I live in the UK and I'm thinking maybe we can have an electronics meet! I buy tons of electronics online and I study electronic engineering at the University of Southampton! Would be lovely to hear from you!
Crap cells. Just bought 4Ah 20V pack and they are about 0.1V differenc when charged. Lowest 4.1, highest 4.21V. About twice the internal resistance and voltage drop, compared to Sony VTC5A cells
@@swecias have it in 2p configuration, (4ah converted to 6Ah), good for medium stuff, on angle grinder its lacking amps. would have gone with HE4 or VTC5 cells if i knew tbh.
If the battery cut-off protection is in the tool, that means its not ideal to be used in DIY projects. That is a major disappointment and not so understandable decision from Lidl/Parkside as I will not buy their batteries for my DIY devices, so less money for them.
Hi do you think I could use one of these batterys to power a 48w led tractor worklight (they work on 10-30v dc ) I'm just unsure on wether the battery has under discharge protection in it or the tool unit
@@Boz1211111 cheers I’ve made a work light with one it seems to last 20-30 mins on a battery lots of light but I’ve made another recently with a 27w light that lasts about 2 1/2 hours but I have to manually switch it off or it make the battery go that Dead the charger won’t charge unless I jumpstart it with a good battery then it’ll charge I’m going to install an external low voltage cut off to each light
Helpful video. However I have just taken one of these apart and can confirm what some of the others have suggested - there is no balance charging in this battery pack. The purpose of the transistor array is to multiplex the different cell voltages onto a single ADC pin on the cheap micro-controller they have used. The pack can only signal to the charger or tool to protect individual cells from high or low voltages, so if the cells become unbalanced you will not get the full capacity.
The letters 'F1' on the silkscreen give the game away about the metal thing - it is just a fuse. There is no provision for monitoring the voltage across it, so no current measurement either.
so no balance charging and no low voltage cut off so if i adapter this battery to a cordless tool that has 18v i can get a dead battery cause the bms does cut the power to the drill if it get less that 2,5v.
@@joaomewini9099 Yes, there is no disconnection on the battery itself - the battery signals to the tool to protect the cells from over discharge. A BMS is needed to protect the pack properly. Not found one I feel I can trust yet....
@Joao Mewini Exactly. 2 of my batteries went dead for no reason. I called the manufacturer and they say these battery packs only have 6 months warranty. Really? So I ended up stitched up. As I had 2 dead batteries, I thought, what do I have to loose if I open them up and check the internals? After opening them up, one pack had a dead cell, so I will keep this pack for parts. The other pack had low voltage in all the cells. I managed to balance the cells and the pack is back working. I still pissed off because I lost 1 battery pack.
So what is the low voltage cut of on the and the 4ah par side batteries?
@@LongHoseDiver Sorry I did not have a tool to check that, I bought 4 x 2Ah packs while they were on offer for a project. Interestingly although 3 of them came with cells with a very closely matched state of charge, one of them did not and required about 5 hours on my balance charger to straighten it out. As there is no balance charging in this setup, best case it would have given poor performance, worst case it would have failed in short order (more likely).
I wonder what the cost to the consumer would have been to put it in? Seems irresponsible to omit such a key feature - planned obsolescence at it's worst. .
Noting that your 'Lidl - Parkside' battery has four charger connectors, I found the same on an 'Aldi' own product. I was intending (trying) to repair a blown Parkside charger for a friend so I went into things quite deeply. I worked out how (generally) the battery and charger work together - as a simple fact, but was initially curious as to why the Aldi battery and charger needed the fourth connector. I'd already worked out that the connection commonly marked 'T', was the connection the battery used to tell the charger when the charging had ceased. I also determined that it was the battery that stops the charge, not the charger ... all the charger did was turn on the fully charged LED to tell you - the user. I noted that the 'T' connection from the battery was supplying a train of positive going pulses of around 0.7volts to the charger while ever the battery was charging. The pulses appeared to be switching on and off a transistor, which in turn passed the pulse to a 'ring counter' circuit that controlled the red and green LED's. Fairly straight forward, though quite technical, but that was the Lidl 18v set-up that had blown apart. So, could the Aldi charger help me..?? The answer was, "no way"..!! It was far more sophisticated with - dual circuitry, because it could charge Aldi's new range of both 20v and 40v tools. And that's where that 'fourth' connection comes into play, by telling the charger which battery has been connected. My problem was that I couldn't work out how this happened thanks to unidentifiable chips and semiconductors - idents rubbed off purposely. The lesson learned is that each manufacturer's set-up - battery and charger, all do the same thing, but in their own unique way, and they aren't telling us how they work.
I was talking to one of the staff at our local Lidl store, he confirmed what I expected was true, Parkside tools are manufactured for the most part, in the Bosch factory in Germany.
The build quality is very good.
I can confirm that the limiting is in the tools for cut off. If the drill stops when the battery is drained, if you pause for a while, it will go again till put under load and will again stop.
Their wood plane gets quite hot if you push it too hard, the battery gets hot and will stop due to the excess heat.
Parkside gets a 9/10 for quality and 9/10 for price.
The 12v team series has Two battery types, A1 and A2. They are identical all but for a line on the moulding, which stops you interchanging them.
David. (G1ZQC)
David Potter your member of staff either hasn’t got a clue or deliberately fibbing then. Most are made in China 🇨🇳 by OEM’s (Positech, Chervon, TTI, or others) contracted by Einhell or Grizzly Tools (and a couple of others iirc). Hence the uncanny resemblance in all but colour some of the tools have to Einhell’s! Bosch tools may well be made in the same factory in China as they also contract out production to OEM’s, though most of their tools are made in Malaysia these days. The factory in which a tool is made has little bearing on quality anyhow, for example Milwaukee, Ryobi, and AEG are all made in the same factory for the same parent company but to different specifications. The address on Lidl tools is simply that of the “importer” and is usually an office building somewhere in Germany.
It seems that there are new battery packs for the x20v series that do feature cell balancing, at least thats whats advertised on the box. They also have a differtent serial number then the old batteries; PAP 20 B1. I saw them in a dutch LIDL store yesterday.
So thats the good news, the bad news is that we can now with almost certainty state that the older packs didnt have this feature.
I've seen other battery packs that indicate 'full' until they are well below 50% charge. I think companies may be hurting themselves by this practice, because some (less well-informed) consumers may open a new battery pack, push the test button, see it light green, and say to themselves 'it must be fully-charged' and start using it. When it runs down after 30 minutes or 1 hour instead of the expected 2-3 hours, they get irate and return it or leave a bitter review, rather than fully-charging the pack and trying again. At least, this might be happening, judging by the negative reviews of battery packs I've had no problems with. (Of course, quality control, etc., may also play a factor).
If someone isn't going to charge a rechargeable battery at least once, or have remembered the 'charge fully before use' from one of their battery powered devices.. I think they would complain regardless. They're probably wandering around without a mask, licking doorknobs..
Rf0p0
When I ripped down the two packs I'd bought, I found the cells were charged to 4 volts. I ran the circuit board through a power supply and found that the battery indicator progressively fades all three leds and drops out the green at 18.2v, the yellow at 17.7v - the red drops out at 1.7v.
1.7V?! thats a dead battery
My partner has a lot of tools, so when he needed a circular saw, I ordered this one for him as a Christmas gift. ruclips.net/user/postUgkxYDKeIjKLOfcwTgdin7TtCutsz4MbIc43 He is incredibly happy with the purchase. He stated that he likes that it is powerful, but still easy to use and cuts very well. He mentioned that it is important to know the right tools for the job at hand, and this compact saw has been exactly what he needed for a variety of projects at his rental properties and renovations. He also appreciates the battery packs, as stated, he owns a lot of DEWALT tools, so he is able to always keep batteries charged as needed.
Currently watching Julian Ilett videos while making a dual channel NE5532 amp
My binge watching is has officially started. 3 month break from gcses to college
Good luck with your GCSE results :)
Julian Ilett thanks man!
Love the vids still
So, let's speculate for a long time what this component marked as F1 on the PCB might do…
He he, I missed that :)
You know you have to attach a terminal to that programming header and look for any data coming out 😀
i wished he would!
Been waiting for a few years for you to tear down a charger. To see if they can be re-wired for 24v. input.
Or 12V with a step-up. I'd like to charge them in the car and I don't want to wire 2 cars in parallel to get 24V.
I did it.
Thank you Jullian, This was one of the most informative videos I have seen regarding Parkside[PS] 20V batteries.
Not having seen inside of any 20V batteries, I was in trepidation to take one apart. Very inspirational.
After a one-season my PS hedge Trimmer stopped working with a battery showing green-bar-light.
The trimmer clicks but the shears stop dead. After seeing your video I will try again. Thank you so much.
Perhaps it's the tool itself?
You stated few times that level indicator is not showing correct state of charge so I expected you are gonna actually measure it and prove your claim.
No real need, if you personally own any of these tools you'll get a feel of how long it can be used. And well it shows full on the battery until it is almost empty. If you're using the angle grinder you MUST stop at the yellow light to stop over discharging. The charger blinks red indicating a battery fault if you don't! (That's your test for you!)
i have the grinder, saw, multi saw and 4 piece drill kit, low volt is in the tools, possibly overcurrent too as i can stall the drill/saw and it just cuts motor power till i cycle the trigger.
If you want to adapt old 18v nicd or nimh theres a great 3d printable batter connector on thingiverse for these so I have these batteries now on my makita and assorted other chain store drill drivers but without the low volt protection.
we also use 2 printed connectors to use 2 batteries for 40v for the 36v ebike the wife uses for work, and has done for the last year, they come home about 35% state of charge 5 days a week, for just over a year.
some of my cells are wrapped grizzly tools gmbh. I also have one duff battery that has not charged from new but the cells are good, just no 5v supply to the little microcontroller.
be interesting to see what data is on those pins or if just analog ......
Do you know if there is any under voltage protection in the battery?
@@EkholmAndreas NONE. ask how i know... and you cannot recover from it the chip locks out and even if disconnected from the cells it wont come back up, seems its factory initialised and that's it....
@@EkholmAndreas There is not at all!
Dear, thx for your explanation. How can you understand that 3,7 V *5 bat = 18,5V and it is written that it is 20V finally.
Charged up cells have 4.2V
I’ve almost the full range of 20v Team tools in the shed. They’re fantastic for the price. Looking forward to your analysis of the other elements. Cheers Julian.
My rule for purchasing most tools: I'll buy cheap at first. If then it wears out or I run in to limitations; that means the tool is well-used and I buy something good.
The Parkside tools are a perfect fit for my try-out-cheapies :)
I'm trying to cure my addiction to Ryobi tools. The Parkside 20V stuff is looking pretty reasonable :)
@@JulianIlett price to performance is insane on the impact drill and the bigger drills
Indeed. I own the impact driver as well. The main difference I noticed with branded tools is those sound much nicer; smoother. The Parkside machines have that incommon. They just don't run as nicely. But the performance is there.
Ryobi tools have resale value if you want to get rid, parkside however are worthless.
Round about 8:30 you mention taking one of the parkside tools a part. Did you even came around to doing this? i would like to learn more about the discharge security inside those tools.
I don't think it's being balanced. I have the same battery and after the charging it there's over 10mV of voltage difference between some cells. I'll check on it tomorrow to see if anything has changed.
Edit: I checked the battery the next day and the voltages on the cells are: 4,13V 4,16V 4,05V 4,03V 4,12V. This battery is not balanced.
*I am 99.9% sure that this battery does NOT have balancing.* What you see is just single cell monitoring. There are no components for any appreciable balancing currents. No resistors or transistors with a package big enough to dissipate the power. You should at find SMD resistors of at least 2010 size, if not multiple of them in parallel per cell. 2010 resistors are typically 1/4W. At the around 4.2V cell voltage when the balacing would start, that's about 60mA for 0.25W. So even those big resistors can barely take any balancing current. No way balancing is done with anything smaller than that.
I can check that with a thermal imaging camera.
@@JulianIlett so have you checked?
The BMS on my car with 150Ah cells are each balanced with one tiny 5x10mm surface mounted resistor. And it works well. So I see no need for more then a 0,125W resistor to balance a 2Ah cell.
Thanks for a very watchable video! Thumbs up!
It looks like the battery level indicator negative wire may have some damage to it about half way down.
Hey BTW Lidl/Parkside canceled the X20V Team battery line 😬
Where did you get the information?
What? How accurate is this info, as I recently hot whole 20V team tools.
Parkside is a pretty good brand to be honest.. They often have smart and innovative tools!
was so hoping to see what the cell voltage was for a brand new out of the pack set of Li
3.64-3.66V
Hi Julian, there is some trickery going on with this battery. I just bought an adapter that allows me to kjonnerctc a B&D battery to a Parxide tool, but the tool just starts and immediately stops at every trigger pull within a second, no proper operation here. Now, to my knowledge, both B&D and Parxide use a 10k NTC thermistor to check temperature, so even a direct pin connection _should_ be working. Neither does a statically soldered-in 10kOhm resistor. I believe that mÿcrocontroller is doing something with the pin marked T, but I don't have an oscilloscope to debug that.
My 20V battery that came with a Parkside drill, takes 1 hour to charge. I find it highly unlikely that it gets balanced in this short amount of time. Actually I don't even believe there is a constant voltage phase at all.
I guess you are right.
It does not have, it just cuts off, but i dont see that as a downside tho
Hello, I have a double Parkside 20V charger, and yesterday one side stopped charging, there is voltage on this side, but the LEDs are not lit, could you please advise where to look for the problem?
Interesting, the UK received these at least 2 years ago while here in Greece we saw these hit the shelves last year around June. That piece of metal is the fuse. Any idea what the rating might be on it? I saw several videos of some guy replacing it with a 30 amp ATC fuse. Seems a bit high to me. Any opinion?
I have a Kawasaki LiPo powered 12 volt drill. Battery pack has no MOSFET in the battery pack however I believe it might be located in the drill since it will turn off when it reaches its low level cutout point.
Dear Julian, could you please explain, for what purpose are needed additional 2 contacts on x20 parkside battery. And how they are communicating with charger and tool itself. Thanks in advance.
Parkside is a very good battery. Each cell can deliver 30A continuous. The quality of the tools is worse.
The A1 battery does NOT have battery balancing, the B1 does!
Cheers
Some Parkside tools in Finnish Lidl but no battery packs.
hello, could you please tell me the value of the zener diode on the battery indicator board? Thank you very much
I would love Lidl or Aldi to make a cradle that allows USB and DC outputs
Me too :)
Lidl's light add-on has two output 2A USB's, part number PAA 20 A1
I want one :)
1drv.ms/u/s!AnmQHe6hqnlcjMFJmRmM_JQZtVfHNA
@@JulianIlett lidl has a 20v team torch with USB output
I need no more than 17V for my large Sony DV Camera.. I am running with loose cells Ok but would love to use these packs instead.. Would it be Ok to remove one cell and still use and charge with the charger ? The same question for the Aldi 40V pack.. Remove one cell from each half of the supply to limit to 17v approx.. Thank you..
Depending how much current your Sony DV pulls, use a step-down regulator with the pack, I've picked up a tidy 4A 6v-30v in 0.5v-30v out ZK-4KX that I use with the Aldi packs for in the field CCTV diagnostics, basically a portable bench PSU.
The metal from minute 6 is a fuse mine is blown, on both sides, and I'm looking to buy one to replace
I have 2 of these 2Ah Parkside batteries and there is something that bothers me a bit. The nickel strips run absolutely flat from one cell to another. I wonder if with excessive use, the cell’s shrinking wrap or even if the ring seal wears out, that may not end up well because it will short the cells. Other more expensive batteries like the Ryobi I have, the nickel strips form sort of a bridge between one cell and another. I assume there is a reason why Ryobi batteries are way more expensive.
It looks like the new batch of batteries is already coming with that clearance fortunately. Just opened mine
@@TelmoMonteiro
That is good to know. Thanks. 👍
what's the T connector on the power tool for? temperature sensor?
Would the power tool work with a faulty T connector?
Ohh I’m really digging the repairability on these batteries that’s a real pro side, just to feel like it’s not artificially made to resist. Even when in the end I neither have one to break down or I would repair it It breaks, but I could :D
Do you know the value of x12v battery thermistor? 🤔
We have only had Lidl here in the US for a few years. I have purchased a number of Parkside tools. I recently purchased an extra 20 volt battery, 3 years production date from my oldest one. I took two battery packs apart and was comparing the differences in the circuit board revision. I unfortunately do not know enough about electronics to know what the revision has changed.
Hi Julian, if you don't mind I have a suggestion, now that you have so many 18 v power tool batteries and also the solar panels, it would be interesting to se if one could charge a 18v battery straight from a solar panel, considering that a solar's panel top voltage is around 21v so it can't overcharge the battery. If, anyways, the voltage is slightly higher it could be lowered with something very simple like a diode, resistor, or something. Also to keep the current low, if the solar panel puts out more than the battery can take, I'm thinking that the simplest solution could be using a 12v mr16 led lamp's driver (yes they usually work fine with 21v). Thanks, looking forward for more of your videos.
But what was the pack voltage with three bars lit up? Maybe it was packed fully charged
Can't believe he waffled on endlessly about how inaccurate the charge level indicator was, but never measured the state of charge! Bizarre for a "technical" review...
Will Doherty I meant no disrespect to Julian, he probably already checked the voltage, it just wasn’t in the video, which leaves me wondering.
@@jeales895 I'm sure had he measured it he would have said so - if one has definitive information which backs up one's supposition that something is designed/implemented poorly, surely it would be shown!
Will Doherty fair enough, but let’s try and be respectful and civil. Reap what you sow etc.
@@jeales895 I wasn't rude or unpleasant, and my original response as far as I can see is accurate and fair. Hopefully it will be taken as constructive criticism :-)
I wonder what name all these batteries and tools are being marketed under here in the U.S.A. Most all you have dissected don't seem available here. ParkSide does in fact show up on E-Bay this time.
They are in the us and bright blue, I have seen the 20v lidl impact with us battery's and vice versa on mydealz.de ... They are made by kompernass or grizlytools and grizzly is under OEM in the us
20V Impact gun passk is www.drapertools.com/product/89518/Storm-Force-20V-1-2inch-Mid-Torque-Impact-Wrench-Bare-(400Nm)
Draper tools 20v storm force
@@kitecattestecke2303 Grizly I heard and seen. Thank you.
Perhaps Workzone at Aldi
Hi, friend. I have to change the fuse, could you tell me how many amps it is, thanks.
If you were guessing what sort of amps would that fuse be rated at, thanks
!!! Can I put a Makita battery on the Parkside tool?
is there a way to charge these batteries without a proprietary charger? , just using a regular 21v li-ion charger.....?
Does any know if the actual voltage is a little less than 20V ? I need a pack with MAX 17V.. Tempted to buy one of these...with charger 24 Euro..
This is 20.1v max 18v nominal
@@Boz1211111 Thank you..
Hi Julian! I need your help. The fuse is blown on my unit (same model) due to a short. While using it as an extra outdoor battery with leads and clips. Batteries and circuit board undamaged. Where do I get a new onboard fuse? Thanks & Regards.
Probably nowhere. Just solder on a piece of 20A fuse wire :)
@@JulianIlett Thanks Julian. Is it advisable to use a car fuse of 20A?
Do you have any idea what's the discharge current on these?
Hello
I have a 20v batterie which shows at the connector 20 v but it does not provide power to the drill and it will not charge both led blinking.
Is this repareble or should i buy a New one.
Bms board is faulty. Replace boardb and it will work
Today i teardown one of this battery 2Ah to get 3pcs cells for other battery pack
What does that circuit do? Will I be able to charge the battery pack with a third party charger matching the original output values without overcharging the cells?
no it cant charge with thirtparty charger they must matched the pin for feed back
Why did you not check the voltage after telling us the meter was not correct?
All cells measure 3.90V - pack voltage is 19.5V
Julian Ilett yes you naughty naughty man!
Now down to 3.70V per cell (using the Ozito light) and the green LED is still on (though quite dim).
@@JulianIlett that reading was after you opened a brand new pack or after charging them up?
What is the middle conector on the power tools?
I have a parkside angle grinder and I want to use it with my diy bateries but I can't get it to start without knowing what that middle conector does
My guess (and it is only a guess) is that the tool centre pin is a shutdown request sent from the battery if it's discharged or over temperature. It may be as simple as a voltage signal. Tinker at your own risk :)
@@JulianIlett can you measure on the battery please if it has any voltage or continuity with positive or negative?
Hi. Did you manage to try diy batteries with parkside tool? Did it work?
@@pimciu7202 i didn't figure the midle pin comunication but I added 2 more rows of cells to a normal battery so I have 5s 3p wich lasts a lot longer and has way less voltage sag
@@pimciu7202 cześć, czy udało Ci się jakoś włączyć urządzenie z tej serii bez dedykowanego aku? Co jest z tym pinem T
Now we need adapters for Dewalt 18v and other tools.
Is it possible to use those cells to rebuild other 18v battery? It is the cheapest way and i see those cell are not 4.0v but 3.7v which will be almost exactly the same as 3.6v in average 18v battery...
!!! Можно ли поставить на инструмент Рarkside акб от Makita?
Balance charging is a way to charge the cells to the same voltage over charge time so if on or other cells is charging faster it is discharge between the cells so all cells are charging in the same voltage and time, this i s way to extend the life of the cells. The lowest voltage is usually around 2.5V in a cell and maximum charged is around 4.2 volt per cell. Anyway great channel you have Julian👍
That's what he said, but it can't compensate at full charge current as those small components can not handle the full charge current, so it must signal some how to reduce the charge current and start balancing.
@@FireballXL55
I am 99.9% sure that this battery does NOT have balancing at all. What you see is most likely just single cell monitoring. There are no components for any appreciable balancing currents. No resistors or transistors with a package big enough to dissipate the power. You should at find SMD resistors of at least 2010 size, if not multiple of them in parallel per cell. 2010 resistors are typically 1/4W. At the around 4.2V cell voltage when the balacing would start, that's about 60mA for 0.25W. So even those big resistors can barely take any current. No way balancing is done with anything smaller than that.
@@superdau A lot of balancing circuits only seem to do low current i.e. less than 100mA, I don't really class them as balancing circuits. They will obviously balance the cells when the charge current drops to less than this value. I don't know about this pack I was trying to read the resistor values but I think I saw 45 but not sure.
The Ozito 2Ah battery has an interesting 'analog frontend' chip (AF10S20 - www.micro-bridge.com/news/news.asp?id=1973). It does balancing at just 50mA and can only do one cell at a time.
The piece of metal that you said works as a fise breke off in one of my batteries how could i replace it?
Hi,do you know how I can convert these batteries to run my ni cad powered Snap on wrench thanks
Does anyone know the name of the connectors on the board through which the battery is connected to the devices? Or where to buy them? I know that the counterpart can be replaced simply with a faston ... But I would need the female part ..: D
Does anyone know that "T" connection/communication thing can be shunt/eliminate somehow, to be able to use the tool by a wired power supply instead of its batterypack?
Try connect resistor 10 kOhm between " - " and " T "
or managed to do?
Wanted to use old 20v parkside battery but only works for a second with new 20v x range tools.
Thinking of that t port connection but no idea. I have seen this 10kohm resistor being used for other brands tool. Should be the same in this case?
@@sisqoszilard I tried with a 10K resistor and the tool only starts for a second then stops. Then again for a new trigger pull. There is some intelligence going on on that T pin.
@@Surmoka I did manage it to work for me with the 10ohm resistor however it was a while ago and not 100%sure how I did. I followed an instruction and worked.
Interesting suggestion that the metal-with-hole is a current sensor.
There is a video on 'parkside 20v battery repair' where it is shown this piece of metal acted as a fuse.
ruclips.net/video/A6LYNa3-n90/видео.html
Ferrex batery good or prkside?
what would be the power output of these packs? how many amps in total?
My baterry he not charge..when í connect in charge he flashing red light...why???
Nice work on review 👍
Ive published a video which shows my Parkside to Ozito/Einhell battery convertor using a 3d printer and a pencil tin
Is there a balanced charge version of these?
Yes, the B1 version!
Could you show us the charger from the inside ?
Yes, I'll make a strip down video of the charger.
@@JulianIlett Thank's a lot. I have seen a video for you about balancing circuit for the super capacitor using Tl431A, Do you think that this could be used to balance a lithium battery ?
Turning in to Julian AvE-lett!
what is the name of big diod ?
Are these made by 'Einhell'? Will these fit 'Einhell' tools and vice/versa? They look very similar except Parkside are 20v, Einhell 18v.
Michael Hutin I wondered that too Michael👍
It's likely you've already discovered this by now, but in case someone else wonders the same thing 2 years later...
I have both Parkside 20V and Einhell 18V. The basic shape and physical design is essentially identical, but the dimensions seem carefully chosen so einhell batteries don't fit in parkside tools, and Parkside batteries don't fit in einhell tools. Additionally, the einhell batteries have 5 terminals, with the middle one labeled "NC" on all of my batteries.
I also have Bosch 18V, and those have a significantly different physical shape.
Battery is fine but the charger no longer works?
I’m not sure there’s any justification for storing them half full
Not for short periods, but they're generally supplied half charged in case they end up on a shelf for a year :)
They degrade faster if stored at max voltage and shouldn't be run down very low because that also shortens their lifespan. To absolutely maximise their life charge and drain slowly up to 80% and down to 30%
If that's not practical and money is no object then obviously you can do whatever you like.
Julian or somebody can you guys help me how to power parkside x20 tools with a different battery? I want to use einhell batteries but x20 parkside tools have 3 contacts and if you put plus and minus contacts to the tool it doesnt start... I dont want to buy seperate batteries because i have 6 einhell batteries looolz
Hi I need your help with a little problem I've got on my 12v golf trolley. Please help
I need the Parkside switch controller
Guys what size is the termistor??
👍👍👍🙂🙂🙂🤝
I've had Makita batteries supplied with full charge from the box._
yeah to test capacity they drain them, then charge them to see they take a full charge, then ship them, why waste time draining them to 50% when they have more chance of surviing transit delays at 100%, i notice he just stated ''they are always shipped 50%'' (in not so many words) but didnt actually meter a spanking new pack cell to see... all mine have come 80% to fully charged, not measured, just unpacked and used and they have lasted like a fully charged pack ''on the job''' - maybe i should buy a new pack and test it...
Тhanks man! gave me an idea and I fixed my battery.
Please can you making diagram for charge indicator just
zd3 zener diode a 3v zener diode?
I want to know what a zd6 zener voltage would be
omg why didnt you bother to test real capacity?!
So the 3rd pin on the tool does what with the battery?
Hey how are you doing! I hope you are well!! Do you remember me? I once asked you what you do for a living. I live in the UK and I'm thinking maybe we can have an electronics meet! I buy tons of electronics online and I study electronic engineering at the University of Southampton! Would be lovely to hear from you!
This battery in the basic version is quite weak, but it can be modified :)
ruclips.net/video/b4oUBK6POz4/видео.html
Crap cells. Just bought 4Ah 20V pack and they are about 0.1V differenc when charged. Lowest 4.1, highest 4.21V. About twice the internal resistance and voltage drop, compared to Sony VTC5A cells
Lol it would be at least 5x the price if it was made with vtcs
@@Boz1211111 I already rebulild 2 packs one with VTC5 other samsung with 25R
@@swecias i also rebuild them but not because it makes financial sense but because i work with 18650s so i did it for fun, 30Q and HE4
@@Boz1211111 is 30Q works good ? enouth amps ?
@@swecias have it in 2p configuration, (4ah converted to 6Ah), good for medium stuff, on angle grinder its lacking amps. would have gone with HE4 or VTC5 cells if i knew tbh.
intersting no output our charging mosfets ? unless its all in the tools ?
I opened the 20V air blower/inflator and it has 2 MOSFETs and an 8-pin chip.
Interesting video
Please provide the link where I get the order the switch
Good info 👍
Time to get my self 3450mh cells.
The reliable ones are expensive. The cheap ones are useless. You can find Chinese 18650 batteries labeled 9800 mAh.
If the battery cut-off protection is in the tool, that means its not ideal to be used in DIY projects. That is a major disappointment and not so understandable decision from Lidl/Parkside as I will not buy their batteries for my DIY devices, so less money for them.
This is called : plastic surgery :D
Hi do you think I could use one of these batterys to power a 48w led tractor worklight (they work on 10-30v dc ) I'm just unsure on wether the battery has under discharge protection in it or the tool unit
Are you still interested? I could test it if you still need the information
@@Boz1211111 cheers I’ve made a work light with one it seems to last 20-30 mins on a battery lots of light but I’ve made another recently with a 27w light that lasts about 2 1/2 hours but I have to manually switch it off or it make the battery go that Dead the charger won’t charge unless I jumpstart it with a good battery then it’ll charge I’m going to install an external low voltage cut off to each light
Mi pjace molto.. soni rroba che non .si trovone chualche parte