I've gone the other way. Meaning I bought adapters for Dewalt, Milwaukee and Ryobi that allow me to use any of these tools with my 18v Makita batts. The adapters are readily available and cost about $20 each.
I chose the Makita as well to do this with mainly because it blows air to the battery while charging unfortunately I had a basket of batteries stolen I started doing this with Black & Decker for my Milwaukee stuff so I have many different adapters that go many different ways the only thing I'm exclusively in is Milwaukee M12 things are pretty common at pawn shops that you can get the tools at the pawn shops
This sounds like a SUPER utilitarian idea that would make a boatload of sense for people in multiple tool systems! The cost vs the OPEN utility of being used by multiple platforms make this a time and money saver!
I'm in 10 battery platforms between 12v - 80 v. And I hate it. Only reason I did it is because of the sales and the STEEP discounts that are offered to get you into a line. I don't regret it. But one battery style to rule them all would be fantastic.
One thing you kinda touched on but not fully is that most the tools out there has a chip in it to talk to their battery. This chip also shows what battery that the tool has been connected to for it's life cycle and someone I know bought one of these ryobi to dewalt adapters off of amazon and it bricked his drill. Brand new drill so he just contacted Dewalt to see about replacement, they had him send in the tool, saw it was connected to a third party battery, and they denied the warranty. I would never use third party batteries or adapters on my tools.
I use Ceenr batteries. The one in my jobsite speaker gets drained and charged daily. I've had that battery in my speaker for five years and it hasn't lost any run time.
I just bought adapters for my Dewalt and Milwaukee tools that I leave on the tools all the time. That way I can use my Bosh batteries with any of my tools and not have to mess with multiple battery and charging systems. That way I can buy the tool I like no matter what platform it is on and know I won't have to buy extra batteries.
What REALLY needs to happen is for the manufacturers to get together and decide on a true universal platform. Everyone still sells their own brand, and the new battery could come with an adaptor to make it fit their old tools for years. If the manufacturers don't do this, the government is going to force them to do it, and of course they will screw it up and people will be bootlegging tools and batteries.
How long before the brands start putting id chips in their batteries so their tools only work with their batteries (HP printer ink cartridges, anyone?)
The EU is currently fighting the proprietary battery connections even now. They will fight that too. Unfortunately the EU can make it illegal to sell the tools if the manufacturers don’t bend to the EU. Apply had to put USB-C on their iPhones, EU requiring it made it where Apple finally did it.
A couple of them already are. In one of Hilti's industrial lines, the battery has a memory element where tool use and statistics are tracked, and those stats get uploaded every time the battery gets put in the charger so Hilti can predict when tools need to get replaced. As far as I know, the tools will only work with the system batteries. (This line is exclusively a "tool-as-a-service" thing, you don't buy them, you make payments for a specified number of tools and Hilti is responsible for making sure you have that number of functional tools, including maintenance and routine replacement of tools and batteries, so it's not something random home users are going to buy by accident.)
I have Black & Decker1/4 impact, sawzall, Porter-Cable grinder and Craftsman. I modified my B&D batteries to match the P.C. batteries, then bought a $20 adapter for my Craftsman drill. It is all pretty much lower level stuff. For my stuff a dummy adapter does what I need.
I have Ryobi and Drill Master 18v tools. 😂 no more NiCad batteries for the Drill Master so ive modded the old tool to accept the Warrior LIon battery. Happy to have it back.
My main line tool system is Makita LXT but buy adaptors to allow me to use my Makita batteries with other tool brands, typically Ryobi and Bauer. Sometimes I don’t need the more expensive Makita performance, and sometimes there is a tool Makita doesn’t make (like a cordless garden sprayer). Working for me so far.
Mine sparked the second time I tried to use it and the battery is dead. Ceern was to send me a replacement and that was months ago now. My problem here is they do not offer the adapters I would need for anything else besides the Craftsman, so...yeah...interesting idea, but needs work. They sent me Bosch, Milwaukee, Makita which did not fit the ones I have here. Again, not clear on which models do and do not fit their adapters.
There are several Ryobi tools that are HP, but they don't use the extra terminals. Harbor Freight was in a position to create different tool brands, with a common battery connection. Run cheap 90 day warranty Bauer and Warrior or 3yr Hercules batteries or they could have offered one brand of batteries. I am running Ryobi, Milwaukee and Hercules. Ain't no tool going to hold me down.
Do you have to buy an adapter, or are the original batteries made the same way, where you could take the topp off of it? But thanks for the review and information! The Bear rocks!! 😃😃😃❤❤❤
Would be interested if they added Kobalt adapters as my dad has a bunch of Kobalt tools. Would also be interesting if they added adapters for Dyson vacuums haha (there's already some out there for replacing the dying batteries on like a Dyson v7 or v8 with your power tool batteries)
I think a good way to market it would be to the dead battery platforms. I have my old Bosch radio 18v(postl that I loved but they don't make that style batteries any more and now I can only plug it in. I have a few other misc cordless tools that were niche and useful but the batteries have gone bad and it's too expensive to have them rebuilt.
I am using three battery lines right now. I am reluctant to add any more. I have long thought the lack of standardization of these power tool batteries was absurd. In the past two years I have come to a sobering realization, you need to have the best batteries possible for safety not performance. I know two people that have suffered fires because of lower quality power tool batteries. One was an inexpensive internet sourced replacement battery for a Dewalt, and the other was a low cost tool kit that had a poor battery design. One of these friends lost a garage with two cars. The cause and origin investigations of both determined the batteries were at fault. The lawyers and insurance companies are telling them they will have little to no way to recover anything from the makers and sellers of those batteries. These situations have convinced me to avoid off-brand batteries. Now there might be some replacement batteries that are well made, and have the appropriate circuits and protection you get from OEMs. And even OEM batteries could suffer a failure and burn. I understand all that. But I think it's best to be very careful with batteries.
Society seems to have forgotten how dangerous batteries are, especially Lithium-Ion ones.. laptops have been blowing up and/or causing fires for 20 years, not only are people storing their batteries on chargers INSIDE their $30,000 toolboxes at work but people are now driving CARS with battery-bombs right under their butt. This is borderline insane.
I have mostly DeWalt tools but also have M12, Ryobi, Kobalt, Worx and Metabo HPT. I have some adaptors. Adaptors to run Kobalt on Ryobi (increases the performance too since it is 24v) and DeWalt to Worx and I think a couple others. Wish there was a good one for using Kobalt to DeWalt
I'm a Ryobi user that started off with a weed eater, blower, and drill. Didn't really need anything other than a bunch of 2Ah batteries to power them, and I could get them for cheap from the Factory Direct Outlet. I've since grown to an impact driver, a shop vac, the dual blower/inflator pump, and the 18v single battery mower. I wish you could get decent quality generic Ryobi batteries, especially an 8Ah or higher and at a decent price, so I could run my mower for a longer runtime between battery swaps. I'm not paying 1/2 or more the MSRP of the mower for a single 8Ah battery. For now, on a hot day and or really long grass day, I'll settle for waiting on about 1/4 of the yard unmowed waiting on a 4Ah battery to charge.
Ebay has adapters for Hercules or Bauer batteries to Ryobi. Today I just bought 2 8AH Hercules batteries for $99.99 at Harbor Freight. So for under $120 you could have 2 8AH batteries for your mower.
@@siegelge But can you use the Ryobi charger to charge the Hercules batteries with the adapters? I always thought you can't do that. If that's the case, I'll consider this.
@@matthewjbauer1990 I don't know, I don't have a Ryobi adapter. I haven't tried it with the Dewalt adapter, I have 3 Hercules chargers so it hasn't been an issue for me.
what i did 1st switched from snapon to milwaukee. had some older dewalt only one good battery left so i purchased the adapter from milwaukee to old style dewalt 18volt i can always keep a hot battery i never run down one before i can get one charged. i have a small automotive repair shop and use milwaukee 12 volt and 18 volt works for me. seems the milwaukee batteries last a lot longer than the snapon did several times had to wait for charging
do they make an adaptor for the old Bosch 24V ni-cad? the tools work great but i have to get aftermarket batteries that are not close to the original Bosch batteries. if not i will stick to what i have.
Easy enough to label yourself. I might try a paint pen. If you were using this tool you could also factor in having only one charger as well and costs for that? I was shocked when it had a Molicel battery because those are really good batteries and one thing they are known for is very little voltage sag. I have an ebike too and the guys that hop up ebikes really like the Molicel batteries.
I'm on the Ryobi platform and have no need to change. But over the years i still have the old Ryobi blue tools kicking around and working, also have some of the latest, but for me this is a no fly deal. To many years of tools and since i don't rush out and buy the latest and greatest i will stick with what i have. Some of the tools will connect to the battery computer and some won't. So looks good but i am just going to stick to the one battery platform. Yes i will Pay more for the Ryobi BUT it will work in ALL my machines the way it is supposed to and if i wait for a sale then 2 batteries for $120.00 that will last for years for me is an ok deal. Besides i am not a contractor just a home user.
I want to know if there is voltage regulations built in somewhere. I committed to ryobi because of there commitment to their battery platform. It's my understanding ryobi is the only one that has voltage regulation built into the battery. Most power tool companies build it into the tool. This stops over draining the battery. Also picked ryobi for the variety of non power tools that are compatible with the battery platform. Like lawn and garden power tools. They had a large variety since before most even built lawn and garden power tools. Ryobi may not be the best at any category but they are good enough for most in almost all categories. I really would like a more powerful impact driver then my current ryobi one. This could solve a issue for me.
I see that this is a battery that has a very firm connection to the adapter so the whole thing can be easily swapped in and out if the tool... I feel like a more useful setup, at least for how I'd use it, is to have adapters that firmly connect to the tool (maybe with a set screw) and the battery itself is a universal quick-disconnecting block with its own charger. A system to make the tools universal (or all use the same battery), so I dont have to stop and change battery adapters every time I swap it to a different tool.
I personally use one company as much as possible because I hate having chargers all over the place. Mostly I use DeWalt, have lots of batteries and a four place charger. My exception is Stihl. I understand a Milwaukee or Makita may be better for a specific tool, but DeWalt is generally more than adequate. If I had started with Milwaukee or Makita (add any decent brand with good selection) the story would be the same. I go to a job site with several backup batteries, all that communicate perfectly with my tools, no worries of running out. This system may be decent, but I already have batteries and chargers for what I use, and they all interchange (exception is Stihl), so I’m not adding another charger. This is just my way, your mileage is going to be different. I would say that staying in one system, with optimal batteries, is going to give best service from your tools.
I am switching over to Harbor Freight brands. I have both and am continuing to buy tools for both. I was able to stick with DeWalt tools until last year and now am hoping that eventually somebody will make an adapter for either Bauer or Hercules batteries on DeWalt tools, or rebuilding the batteries with new cells till I can bleed the tools dry.
Minor correction: Keep in mind that IANAL, but I do feel very confident in saying that reverse engineering is NOT illegal in the US. It may be a breach of contract IF reverse engineering is prohibited by a EULA, but...I do not recall ever receiving a EULA or anything like that with any of my powertools. Is that a thing?
I don't have a problem with them not having any markings to identify the brand. I'm sure it's a trademark issue and they can't. We can find ways to mark them. People should have a label maker anyway. they are cheap and they come in handy for all kinds of stuff.
It’s not universal if you have to buy adapters for every brand tool. They already make adapters. I have adapters to use my DeWalt batteries on my Craftsman tools and Craftsman batteries on my DeWalt tools. If you’re smart, there’s ALWAYS a deal out there for batteries.
While I like the idea,.I think it falls a bit short in execution and price. Most people would be best served to stick to one primary battery platform. The reality of it is that the vast majority of people won't notice the minute differences in performance between two different brands at relatively the same price point. If you're on DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita, etc, they all have most of what you'll likely need and there's very little difference in performance or value from one to another, especially if jumping brands requires buying new batteries (vs tool only). The only brand that stands out as having a noticeable expansion in tools offered is Ryobi. And there are plenty of battery adapters easily available on eBay or Amazon to adapt pretty much any tool battery to use in a Ryobi tool.
Would be a little easier to match the top part to the tool first before putting it on the battery pack. Then label them with a touch of paint etch a letter on it.
Here's what I'm getting: for this to be useful, I'd have to start buying these batteries exclusively. Then, if I wanted to switch between, say, Makita and DeWalt, THEN, all of my batteries would still be useful on the new platform. It would save me the headache of building up a battery collection LATER. But right now, I'd be buying batteries which require a clumsy adapter (and extra set of actions every time I got to make a battery change), and which may not communicate very well with my existing tool's electronics.
That univeral one is a very thick battery for only having 5 cells inside. The real Milwaukee battery is much thinner. That is almost the thickness of Milwaukee's 8Ah battery that uses 10 21700 cells. I don't think DeWalt or Craftsman use 21700 cells at all and Makita only uses them in the XGT line which use 10 or 20 cells. It definitely won't be able to perform like a genuine battery of the same size.
They need to just copy the labeling approach that is used by lens adapter manufacturers. They use abbreviations. Dewalt would be DW, Black& Decker would be BD, Ryobi would be RY, etc.
So I think in every pro-summer, there is a nice for this. At this moment I have dewalt, Kobalt and porter-cable on my garage. Let's say one of the batteries dies out. I'm going to order that kit! I would be a fool not to! But that will take a while all these brands have a good track record. I have feigned from buying some well rated harbor freight tools just over this! From what I have read and seen, this is a way to manage your batteries better, even if it's not a "great deal". Who knows it might shake up the whole tool industry!
I hope you have a LOT more porter-cable than Kobalt. They don't support Lowes (Kobalt) or Home D(Ridgid) Since I have ALL Ridgid, I get free replacement batteries, and don't need these.
Not going to work well with Kobalt (or Flex, for that matter, for exactly the same reason); Kobalt is a (nominally) 24V system, which means the battery packs have one more cell than their 18/20V counterparts.
Curious if the DeWilt adapter will also fit HF Hercules? I've got a few adapters for Hercules to whatever... works well enough for me, and the Herc batteries are high quality and quite a bit less expensive than Big Red or Big Yeller.
It is still just one battery, yeah it can fit multiple brands, but you are getting a single battery.... when it dies, you cant just change the adapter and keep using it
They can get in trouble legally if they mark adapters with someone else's brand name (and it's important to note that they're going for the global market, which means they have to deal with trademark laws in a bunch of countries).
if they had adapters for orphaned systems Like the Sears Craftsman 24 volt max and the c 19.2 maybe i might us it. i would like something i could use in systems i have that are 20 + years old
Still running all corded and pneumatic. Don't want to waste huge money on batteries, replacing batteries, worrying about battery generation, ect. If I was going to get battery operated, I can't fathom any reason why anyone would choose to go with more than one brand. The problem makes sense, and some people have it, but why? Poor planning or other reasons.
My only problem with this is that you can't use multiple batteries and adapters at the same time. Lets say you need Craftsman fan and a Dewalt Drill and a Dewalt impact, that's 3 batteries and 3 adapters. You would have to buy every adapter for every situation you could ever come up with a need for. It would be better to have a Dewalt fan and 3 Dewalt batteries instead of this Ceenr battery in this setup. Also, for the one off times you would need something like this, get a Chinese adapter. Invest in the battery meant for your tool and use it. If you intend to buy 10 tools and 10 batteries and 10 adapters because its cheaper, don't.
It wouldn't be a good fit for me because I use multiple tools at the same time. I use 2 drills, impact at the same time very often so I would need 3 of their batteries. Because one drill has a drill bit, one a counter sink and the impact for driving of screws. But it's the first of a kind. Always the first of something isn't the best or the cheapest.
I only buy Milwaukee batteries for my Milwaukee tools and currently been switching to the forge batteries. I don’t trust battery adapters or adapters with there branded batteries
Please do a video on the EU mandate starting 2026 requiring all power tools sold in Europe to be on the same battery platform. Here's one video - search for: "Any Power Tool, One Battery: EU's Genius Plan"
They're doing it wronbg, it should be adapters you leave on the tool and the battery quick release. Sell the batteries as a loss leader and make money on the adapters. Getting people to buy 40 adapters and 4 batteries.
i know everyone gets this a white paint pen works great then like i do with any tool that has a warranty i put the date of purchase and the warranty time and place of purchase Harbor fright is the best just return , I am not in the skills and don't care my friends that are don't care anymore they can get any tool replaced if they need it and they don't as much as you would think. They just tell me that get new tools if they fail and the same day. There are better tools not so much better returns
I don't like it because I would have buy more than one battery , so I can use more than one tool at a time. The idea is good but they need to make it more affordable to buy more batteries at a lower price if you buy it all together at the same time.
Wrong approach to a real problem. They should not be selling batteries. I've already got batteries as they come with most tools I buy. They should be making what I call a shim. The first shim adapts the battery to a standard battery platform. The second 'shim' would adapt the tool to the standard platform. A user need only connect the shimmed tool to the shimmed battery. - and it's off to the races. Best of all the 'standard battery platform' could be say the dewalt platform, This would mean that if you want to use your DeWalt Battery on a Makita tool, then all you would need is the Makita tool shim (you would not need to shim the battery). I figured all this out 12 years ago, but I decided not to make this solution. Since no batteries are being sold, the battery shims and the tool shims should sell for $20 or less at retail.
I agree that they should only be also selling just an adapter/converter that works universally with the major batteries. That said, due to patent or copyright infringement, I don't think its possible. Those Chinese makers of battery adapter converters that adapt/convert battery brands to different tools just don't care about that. And some of them might even be straight wired without a BMS, making them a fire hazard.
@@matthewjbauer1990 I think the fear of copyright / IP infringement is overblowin. You are allowed to make a compatible part for a 3rd party item. One of the examples in my business law text book was: A manufacturer cannot make a lamp that only takes light bulbs by the same manufacturer. As you will note, the video shows that the company does make a specifict adapter for each tool they support.
Most of the great téch is designed for the battery--in the first place Batery tech is not likely to stand still, either. If the best saves you key time and $, you're not likely to consider these.
I couldn't tell what screwdriver that was. I like the idea but I wouldn't use it. I can't imagine the major brands putting up with it, they'll do something to make it less effective. If you haven't seen it I'd watch the video Tools and Stuff did about these batteries. His video and the TTC video raise enough red flags for me to stay away.
Prices of turn off for sure now if it gave me the option to buy other bear tools from other brands ... Now that might be an option! Currently I'm rigid so it's pretty much a hard pass for me. But if they opened up the options to have that and include the option for the brands and a good price... Shazam!
Universal tool batteries! HAHA! The automobile has been around for almost 125 years, and the "modern" auto for about 75 and we still can't get a standard for batteries. With 8 cars only my larger Fords use a common battery but the two Subaru's, no and don't get me started on the Jeep. Yeah and I have many different tool family's in my shop, B&D, Milwaukee, Hercules, Sears C3, Einhell, Bauer, and one very vintage Makita. So yeah I'm not holding my breath.
WHAT!? Cars are going on 140 years in 2 years. And a common car battery? All cars have different requirements. This isnt apples for apples! You picked apples for elephants. Also why is 1950 your specified date for the "modern" auto??? Are you referring to the car going from 6v to 12v? Not quite sure I follow. For the batteries here I cant agree more... I wish they were required to be interchangeable!
They could make a adapter but the lower voltage would cost you power. If there's nothing built into the tool that prevents it from running at lower voltage.
@@maxmotors9497 They are inferior, and they do cost too much BUT there is still a niche where they can be of value. Not "terrible" but certainly not perfect.
I've gone the other way. Meaning I bought adapters for Dewalt, Milwaukee and Ryobi that allow me to use any of these tools with my 18v Makita batts. The adapters are readily available and cost about $20 each.
Yup I did the same but for dewalt batts
I use my makita batteries for my Ryobi stuff. Only problem is the the makita batter footprint is kind of small to keep my ryobi bendy light upright. 😊
I chose the Makita as well to do this with mainly because it blows air to the battery while charging unfortunately I had a basket of batteries stolen I started doing this with Black & Decker for my Milwaukee stuff so I have many different adapters that go many different ways the only thing I'm exclusively in is Milwaukee M12 things are pretty common at pawn shops that you can get the tools at the pawn shops
This sounds like a SUPER utilitarian idea that would make a boatload of sense for people in multiple tool systems! The cost vs the OPEN utility of being used by multiple platforms make this a time and money saver!
I'm in 10 battery platforms between 12v - 80 v. And I hate it. Only reason I did it is because of the sales and the STEEP discounts that are offered to get you into a line. I don't regret it. But one battery style to rule them all would be fantastic.
One thing you kinda touched on but not fully is that most the tools out there has a chip in it to talk to their battery. This chip also shows what battery that the tool has been connected to for it's life cycle and someone I know bought one of these ryobi to dewalt adapters off of amazon and it bricked his drill. Brand new drill so he just contacted Dewalt to see about replacement, they had him send in the tool, saw it was connected to a third party battery, and they denied the warranty. I would never use third party batteries or adapters on my tools.
I use Ceenr batteries. The one in my jobsite speaker gets drained and charged daily. I've had that battery in my speaker for five years and it hasn't lost any run time.
Silver Sharpie? I use it on my camera batteries, of which I manage several for pro cameras.
I just bought adapters for my Dewalt and Milwaukee tools that I leave on the tools all the time. That way I can use my Bosh batteries with any of my tools and not have to mess with multiple battery and charging systems. That way I can buy the tool I like no matter what platform it is on and know I won't have to buy extra batteries.
Reverse engineering is illegal? When did that ever stop the Chinese?
A lot of what we get are bad copies of expired patents.
What happens is we sell old patents to Asian nations, Japan obviously produces high quality stuff alongside Germany.
What REALLY needs to happen is for the manufacturers to get together and decide on a true universal platform. Everyone still sells their own brand, and the new battery could come with an adaptor to make it fit their old tools for years. If the manufacturers don't do this, the government is going to force them to do it, and of course they will screw it up and people will be bootlegging tools and batteries.
The EU already has a regulation and deadline in place to make all tool batteries interchangeable in 2026
How long before the brands start putting id chips in their batteries so their tools only work with their batteries (HP printer ink cartridges, anyone?)
Lol, that’s cute.
We’ll bypass the chips the same way I did with the printer cartridges😂
The EU is currently fighting the proprietary battery connections even now. They will fight that too. Unfortunately the EU can make it illegal to sell the tools if the manufacturers don’t bend to the EU. Apply had to put USB-C on their iPhones, EU requiring it made it where Apple finally did it.
I love hp printers, but the chips suck so I go with brother
A couple of them already are. In one of Hilti's industrial lines, the battery has a memory element where tool use and statistics are tracked, and those stats get uploaded every time the battery gets put in the charger so Hilti can predict when tools need to get replaced. As far as I know, the tools will only work with the system batteries. (This line is exclusively a "tool-as-a-service" thing, you don't buy them, you make payments for a specified number of tools and Hilti is responsible for making sure you have that number of functional tools, including maintenance and routine replacement of tools and batteries, so it's not something random home users are going to buy by accident.)
I don't think that would go over well, most companies are backing away from those setups in printers now due to backlash.
I have Black & Decker1/4 impact, sawzall, Porter-Cable grinder and Craftsman. I modified my B&D batteries to match the P.C. batteries, then bought a $20 adapter for my Craftsman drill. It is all pretty much lower level stuff. For my stuff a dummy adapter does what I need.
This seems like the right accessory to use for all the "extra" stuff you don't need a big battery for, like the flashlights, tire inflator, fans, etc.
I have Ryobi and Drill Master 18v tools. 😂 no more NiCad batteries for the Drill Master so ive modded the old tool to accept the Warrior LIon battery. Happy to have it back.
My main line tool system is Makita LXT but buy adaptors to allow me to use my Makita batteries with other tool brands, typically Ryobi and Bauer. Sometimes I don’t need the more expensive Makita performance, and sometimes there is a tool Makita doesn’t make (like a cordless garden sprayer). Working for me so far.
It's not bad for a version 1. Perfect for the home user who aren't pushing it to the max as you said.
Used a CEENR/DeWalt battery for a couple years now. I have been satisfied, works well
Just ordered my Den of tools t shirt. 👍🏻
I’m in the Dewalt line and have an adapter to use with my ryobi string trimmer. That’s the only non Dewalt tool I own.
Mine sparked the second time I tried to use it and the battery is dead. Ceern was to send me a replacement and that was months ago now. My problem here is they do not offer the adapters I would need for anything else besides the Craftsman, so...yeah...interesting idea, but needs work. They sent me Bosch, Milwaukee, Makita which did not fit the ones I have here. Again, not clear on which models do and do not fit their adapters.
Hope your tests confirm, these to be a good substitution. Thanks for all you do!!!
Form a fan boy 😃
There are several Ryobi tools that are HP, but they don't use the extra terminals.
Harbor Freight was in a position to create different tool brands, with a common battery connection. Run cheap 90 day warranty Bauer and Warrior or 3yr Hercules batteries or they could have offered one brand of batteries.
I am running Ryobi, Milwaukee and Hercules. Ain't no tool going to hold me down.
Do you have to buy an adapter, or are the original batteries made the same way, where you could take the topp off of it? But thanks for the review and information! The Bear rocks!! 😃😃😃❤❤❤
Would be interested if they added Kobalt adapters as my dad has a bunch of Kobalt tools. Would also be interesting if they added adapters for Dyson vacuums haha (there's already some out there for replacing the dying batteries on like a Dyson v7 or v8 with your power tool batteries)
Thx for always having great content. Shine on!
I think a good way to market it would be to the dead battery platforms. I have my old Bosch radio 18v(postl that I loved but they don't make that style batteries any more and now I can only plug it in. I have a few other misc cordless tools that were niche and useful but the batteries have gone bad and it's too expensive to have them rebuilt.
I am using three battery lines right now. I am reluctant to add any more. I have long thought the lack of standardization of these power tool batteries was absurd. In the past two years I have come to a sobering realization, you need to have the best batteries possible for safety not performance.
I know two people that have suffered fires because of lower quality power tool batteries. One was an inexpensive internet sourced replacement battery for a Dewalt, and the other was a low cost tool kit that had a poor battery design. One of these friends lost a garage with two cars. The cause and origin investigations of both determined the batteries were at fault. The lawyers and insurance companies are telling them they will have little to no way to recover anything from the makers and sellers of those batteries. These situations have convinced me to avoid off-brand batteries.
Now there might be some replacement batteries that are well made, and have the appropriate circuits and protection you get from OEMs. And even OEM batteries could suffer a failure and burn. I understand all that. But I think it's best to be very careful with batteries.
Society seems to have forgotten how dangerous batteries are, especially Lithium-Ion ones.. laptops have been blowing up and/or causing fires for 20 years, not only are people storing their batteries on chargers INSIDE their $30,000 toolboxes at work but people are now driving CARS with battery-bombs right under their butt.
This is borderline insane.
I have mostly DeWalt tools but also have M12, Ryobi, Kobalt, Worx and Metabo HPT. I have some adaptors. Adaptors to run Kobalt on Ryobi (increases the performance too since it is 24v) and DeWalt to Worx and I think a couple others. Wish there was a good one for using Kobalt to DeWalt
I'm a Ryobi user that started off with a weed eater, blower, and drill. Didn't really need anything other than a bunch of 2Ah batteries to power them, and I could get them for cheap from the Factory Direct Outlet. I've since grown to an impact driver, a shop vac, the dual blower/inflator pump, and the 18v single battery mower. I wish you could get decent quality generic Ryobi batteries, especially an 8Ah or higher and at a decent price, so I could run my mower for a longer runtime between battery swaps. I'm not paying 1/2 or more the MSRP of the mower for a single 8Ah battery. For now, on a hot day and or really long grass day, I'll settle for waiting on about 1/4 of the yard unmowed waiting on a 4Ah battery to charge.
Ebay has adapters for Hercules or Bauer batteries to Ryobi. Today I just bought 2 8AH Hercules batteries for $99.99 at Harbor Freight. So for under $120 you could have 2 8AH batteries for your mower.
@@siegelge But can you use the Ryobi charger to charge the Hercules batteries with the adapters? I always thought you can't do that. If that's the case, I'll consider this.
@@matthewjbauer1990 I don't know, I don't have a Ryobi adapter. I haven't tried it with the Dewalt adapter, I have 3 Hercules chargers so it hasn't been an issue for me.
Seems the most convenient way to use these would be to leave the adapter on the tool, and just pop the battery on or off as needed.
what i did 1st switched from snapon to milwaukee. had some older dewalt only one good battery left so i purchased the adapter from milwaukee to old style dewalt 18volt i can always keep a hot battery i never run down one before i can get one charged. i have a small automotive repair shop and use milwaukee 12 volt and 18 volt works for me. seems the milwaukee batteries last a lot longer than the snapon did several times had to wait for charging
do they make an adaptor for the old Bosch 24V ni-cad? the tools work great but i have to get aftermarket batteries that are not close to the original Bosch batteries. if not i will stick to what i have.
What about adaptors to fit main platform to secondary platform like Flex to Milwaukee or Dewalt to others
Ridgid and ryobi, corded and cordless, lawn care and power tools healthy mix of it all
Not a huge issue in the Sonoran Desert
You absolutely do need a high amp draw battery for a leaf blower.
Easy enough to label yourself. I might try a paint pen. If you were using this tool you could also factor in having only one charger as well and costs for that? I was shocked when it had a Molicel battery because those are really good batteries and one thing they are known for is very little voltage sag. I have an ebike too and the guys that hop up ebikes really like the Molicel batteries.
I just looked. No RIDGID!
All my cordless tools just won't work,
if I had these batteries.
steve
I'm on the Ryobi platform and have no need to change. But over the years i still have the old Ryobi blue tools kicking around and working, also have some of the latest, but for me this is a no fly deal. To many years of tools and since i don't rush out and buy the latest and greatest i will stick with what i have. Some of the tools will connect to the battery computer and some won't. So looks good but i am just going to stick to the one battery platform. Yes i will Pay more for the Ryobi BUT it will work in ALL my machines the way it is supposed to and if i wait for a sale then 2 batteries for $120.00 that will last for years for me is an ok deal. Besides i am not a contractor just a home user.
Wasn’t the EU talking about mandating cross compatibility at one point? I wonder where that is right now?
It is in place for 2026.
I want to know if there is voltage regulations built in somewhere. I committed to ryobi because of there commitment to their battery platform. It's my understanding ryobi is the only one that has voltage regulation built into the battery. Most power tool companies build it into the tool. This stops over draining the battery. Also picked ryobi for the variety of non power tools that are compatible with the battery platform. Like lawn and garden power tools. They had a large variety since before most even built lawn and garden power tools. Ryobi may not be the best at any category but they are good enough for most in almost all categories. I really would like a more powerful impact driver then my current ryobi one. This could solve a issue for me.
It does have a built in BMS to protect the batteries.
I see that this is a battery that has a very firm connection to the adapter so the whole thing can be easily swapped in and out if the tool...
I feel like a more useful setup, at least for how I'd use it, is to have adapters that firmly connect to the tool (maybe with a set screw) and the battery itself is a universal quick-disconnecting block with its own charger.
A system to make the tools universal (or all use the same battery), so I dont have to stop and change battery adapters every time I swap it to a different tool.
I personally use one company as much as possible because I hate having chargers all over the place. Mostly I use DeWalt, have lots of batteries and a four place charger. My exception is Stihl. I understand a Milwaukee or Makita may be better for a specific tool, but DeWalt is generally more than adequate. If I had started with Milwaukee or Makita (add any decent brand with good selection) the story would be the same. I go to a job site with several backup batteries, all that communicate perfectly with my tools, no worries of running out. This system may be decent, but I already have batteries and chargers for what I use, and they all interchange (exception is Stihl), so I’m not adding another charger. This is just my way, your mileage is going to be different. I would say that staying in one system, with optimal batteries, is going to give best service from your tools.
Aftermarket batteries never provide the amount of power needed, but there's always eBay If you want your original battery.
I am switching over to Harbor Freight brands. I have both and am continuing to buy tools for both. I was able to stick with DeWalt tools until last year and now am hoping that eventually somebody will make an adapter for either Bauer or Hercules batteries on DeWalt tools, or rebuilding the batteries with new cells till I can bleed the tools dry.
I got my adapters on Ebay. I run my Dewalt string trimmer and hedge trimmer on Dewalt or Hercules batteries.
Nice, thanks! Checking on it now. I've got a bad habit of not checking outside of Amazon.
Minor correction: Keep in mind that IANAL, but I do feel very confident in saying that reverse engineering is NOT illegal in the US. It may be a breach of contract IF reverse engineering is prohibited by a EULA, but...I do not recall ever receiving a EULA or anything like that with any of my powertools. Is that a thing?
I don't have a problem with them not having any markings to identify the brand. I'm sure it's a trademark issue and they can't. We can find ways to mark them. People should have a label maker anyway. they are cheap and they come in handy for all kinds of stuff.
Several years ago,, both my Milwaukee NiCad batterries were done. HD wanted $90 for one. Pretty p'oed at them....
I'm surprised that no one did this until now.
It’s not universal if you have to buy adapters for every brand tool. They already make adapters. I have adapters to use my DeWalt batteries on my Craftsman tools and Craftsman batteries on my DeWalt tools. If you’re smart, there’s ALWAYS a deal out there for batteries.
I totally understand why they wouldn't write it on the adapter or include labels. Litigation is expensive.
While I like the idea,.I think it falls a bit short in execution and price. Most people would be best served to stick to one primary battery platform. The reality of it is that the vast majority of people won't notice the minute differences in performance between two different brands at relatively the same price point. If you're on DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita, etc, they all have most of what you'll likely need and there's very little difference in performance or value from one to another, especially if jumping brands requires buying new batteries (vs tool only).
The only brand that stands out as having a noticeable expansion in tools offered is Ryobi. And there are plenty of battery adapters easily available on eBay or Amazon to adapt pretty much any tool battery to use in a Ryobi tool.
Would be a little easier to match the top part to the tool first before putting it on the battery pack. Then label them with a touch of paint etch a letter on it.
Here's what I'm getting: for this to be useful, I'd have to start buying these batteries exclusively. Then, if I wanted to switch between, say, Makita and DeWalt, THEN, all of my batteries would still be useful on the new platform. It would save me the headache of building up a battery collection LATER. But right now, I'd be buying batteries which require a clumsy adapter (and extra set of actions every time I got to make a battery change), and which may not communicate very well with my existing tool's electronics.
Just 3 battery platforms, it would be awesome to be down to that many…lol!!
That univeral one is a very thick battery for only having 5 cells inside. The real Milwaukee battery is much thinner. That is almost the thickness of Milwaukee's 8Ah battery that uses 10 21700 cells. I don't think DeWalt or Craftsman use 21700 cells at all and Makita only uses them in the XGT line which use 10 or 20 cells. It definitely won't be able to perform like a genuine battery of the same size.
they need to cut the price in half for it to really make sense, especially for a 4amp battery
I was able to get 2, 4AH Ridgid batteries,
with a charger, from Home D, for 50 dollars.
steve
They need to just copy the labeling approach that is used by lens adapter manufacturers. They use abbreviations. Dewalt would be DW, Black& Decker would be BD, Ryobi would be RY, etc.
As with tiny proprietary printer cartrideges,, forget the Cos. shedding proprietary interfaces.
Maybe you can mark it some how.
You can get a silver paint pen or a Warrior etching tool to label the adapters.
So I think in every pro-summer, there is a nice for this. At this moment I have dewalt, Kobalt and porter-cable on my garage. Let's say one of the batteries dies out. I'm going to order that kit! I would be a fool not to! But that will take a while all these brands have a good track record.
I have feigned from buying some well rated harbor freight tools just over this!
From what I have read and seen, this is a way to manage your batteries better, even if it's not a "great deal".
Who knows it might shake up the whole tool industry!
I hope you have a LOT more porter-cable than Kobalt.
They don't support Lowes (Kobalt) or Home D(Ridgid)
Since I have ALL Ridgid, I get free replacement batteries,
and don't need these.
Not going to work well with Kobalt (or Flex, for that matter, for exactly the same reason); Kobalt is a (nominally) 24V system, which means the battery packs have one more cell than their 18/20V counterparts.
Curious if the DeWilt adapter will also fit HF Hercules?
I've got a few adapters for Hercules to whatever... works well enough for me, and the Herc batteries are high quality and quite a bit less expensive than Big Red or Big Yeller.
At work we tried to put the Hercules battery into a DeWalt and it just didn't
@bullithedjames937 yeah... it's very close, but not quite. Curious if they made these adapters to work on both...
@@BKD70 that would be awesome.
Does the adapter stay on the battery or the tool?
On the battery. You could leave it on the tool but it's not as easy to take the battery on and off.
@@denoftools Perhaps it would be better to make it to stay on the tool, this way there would be no fumbling for adapters.
It is still just one battery, yeah it can fit multiple brands, but you are getting a single battery.... when it dies, you cant just change the adapter and keep using it
They can get in trouble legally if they mark adapters with someone else's brand name (and it's important to note that they're going for the global market, which means they have to deal with trademark laws in a bunch of countries).
if they had adapters for orphaned systems Like the Sears Craftsman 24 volt max and the c 19.2 maybe i might us it. i would like something i could use in systems i have that are 20 + years old
My secondary tools ate Ryobi, I just put an adapter on it an use my makita battery. 16bucks
At first, I'd assume that they don't want to put those names due to trademark issues.... but they do it on packaging, so... I don't know.
Write on the adapter with a paint pen.
The idea is right. But the truth is in the power output. Torque test channel can do that
It's cool little deal. I don't think I would use it. I would rather have the correct battery for maximum tool power.
Now that's clutch❤
Still running all corded and pneumatic. Don't want to waste huge money on batteries, replacing batteries, worrying about battery generation, ect. If I was going to get battery operated, I can't fathom any reason why anyone would choose to go with more than one brand. The problem makes sense, and some people have it, but why? Poor planning or other reasons.
My only problem with this is that you can't use multiple batteries and adapters at the same time. Lets say you need Craftsman fan and a Dewalt Drill and a Dewalt impact, that's 3 batteries and 3 adapters. You would have to buy every adapter for every situation you could ever come up with a need for. It would be better to have a Dewalt fan and 3 Dewalt batteries instead of this Ceenr battery in this setup. Also, for the one off times you would need something like this, get a Chinese adapter. Invest in the battery meant for your tool and use it. If you intend to buy 10 tools and 10 batteries and 10 adapters because its cheaper, don't.
ryobi kobalt dewalt makita milwaukee flex bosch, Metabo , Bauer Hercules, and more
Not Kobalt or Flex (they're 24V systems, which means they expect a battery pack with 6 cells instead of the 5 that an 18/20V system has).
Could easily have just put an abbreviation for the different tools
Or even changed the color of the button to match.
It wouldn't be a good fit for me because I use multiple tools at the same time.
I use 2 drills, impact at the same time very often so I would need 3 of their batteries.
Because one drill has a drill bit, one a counter sink and the impact for driving of screws.
But it's the first of a kind. Always the first of something isn't the best or the cheapest.
I think I’ll pass on this. Not just that I primarily have Ridgid, but it seems problematic to switch adapters all the time.
You shouldn't need these batteries, even if they fit.
I've got all Ridgid, and a LOT of extra batteries.
Ridgid will replace batteries for free.
@@steveskouson9620 You are not wrong.
I only buy Milwaukee batteries for my Milwaukee tools and currently been switching to the forge batteries. I don’t trust battery adapters or adapters with there branded batteries
Please do a video on the EU mandate starting 2026 requiring all power tools sold in Europe to be on the same battery platform. Here's one video - search for: "Any Power Tool, One Battery: EU's Genius Plan"
They're doing it wronbg, it should be adapters you leave on the tool and the battery quick release. Sell the batteries as a loss leader and make money on the adapters. Getting people to buy 40 adapters and 4 batteries.
I buy Milwaukee batteries when they're on sale and adapter to my other tools
i know everyone gets this a white paint pen works great then like i do with any tool that has a warranty i put the date of purchase and the warranty time and place of purchase Harbor fright is the best just return , I am not in the skills and don't care my friends that are don't care anymore they can get any tool replaced if they need it and they don't as much as you would think. They just tell me that get new tools if they fail and the same day. There are better tools not so much better returns
Waitleys run about 85 percent to stated AMH
I don't like it because I would have buy more than one battery , so I can use more than one tool at a time. The idea is good but they need to make it more affordable to buy more batteries at a lower price if you buy it all together at the same time.
But you could really mess up your brushless flashlight with one of these.😅
Clean room reverse engineering is not illegal.
Wrong approach to a real problem. They should not be selling batteries. I've already got batteries as they come with most tools I buy. They should be making what I call a shim. The first shim adapts the battery to a standard battery platform. The second 'shim' would adapt the tool to the standard platform. A user need only connect the shimmed tool to the shimmed battery. - and it's off to the races. Best of all the 'standard battery platform' could be say the dewalt platform, This would mean that if you want to use your DeWalt Battery on a Makita tool, then all you would need is the Makita tool shim (you would not need to shim the battery). I figured all this out 12 years ago, but I decided not to make this solution. Since no batteries are being sold, the battery shims and the tool shims should sell for $20 or less at retail.
I agree that they should only be also selling just an adapter/converter that works universally with the major batteries. That said, due to patent or copyright infringement, I don't think its possible. Those Chinese makers of battery adapter converters that adapt/convert battery brands to different tools just don't care about that. And some of them might even be straight wired without a BMS, making them a fire hazard.
@@matthewjbauer1990 I think the fear of copyright / IP infringement is overblowin. You are allowed to make a compatible part for a 3rd party item. One of the examples in my business law text book was: A manufacturer cannot make a lamp that only takes light bulbs by the same manufacturer. As you will note, the video shows that the company does make a specifict adapter for each tool they support.
Three different battery lines for me.😮
10 different ones for me my friend…lol! I’m an addict I know!
Most of the great téch is designed for the battery--in the first place
Batery tech is not likely to stand still, either.
If the best saves you key time and $, you're not likely to consider these.
I like the idea. Too bulky for my liking unfortunately.
I couldn't tell what screwdriver that was. I like the idea but I wouldn't use it. I can't imagine the major brands putting up with it, they'll do something to make it less effective. If you haven't seen it I'd watch the video Tools and Stuff did about these batteries. His video and the TTC video raise enough red flags for me to stay away.
Prices of turn off for sure now if it gave me the option to buy other bear tools from other brands ... Now that might be an option! Currently I'm rigid so it's pretty much a hard pass for me. But if they opened up the options to have that and include the option for the brands and a good price... Shazam!
Universal tool batteries! HAHA! The automobile has been around for almost 125 years, and the "modern" auto for about 75 and we still can't get a standard for batteries. With 8 cars only my larger Fords use a common battery but the two Subaru's, no and don't get me started on the Jeep. Yeah and I have many different tool family's in my shop, B&D, Milwaukee, Hercules, Sears C3, Einhell, Bauer, and one very vintage Makita. So yeah I'm not holding my breath.
WHAT!? Cars are going on 140 years in 2 years. And a common car battery? All cars have different requirements. This isnt apples for apples! You picked apples for elephants. Also why is 1950 your specified date for the "modern" auto??? Are you referring to the car going from 6v to 12v? Not quite sure I follow. For the batteries here I cant agree more... I wish they were required to be interchangeable!
Had me sold until i went to their site and see there’s no adapter for Kobalt
It’s an 18/20v battery. It’s not going to work with Kobalt or Flex because they are 24v.
so Lowes and Home D are not represented here.
They could make a adapter but the lower voltage would cost you power. If there's nothing built into the tool that prevents it from running at lower voltage.
Patience my friend, they will probably come out with one if the demand is there! So email the crap out of them asking for a Kobalt adapter…lol!
@@miketimmerman6336 If its 18v, then where is Ryobi?
Electric pencils are your friend....
Was gonna suggest etching pens or silver/chrome marker pens.
Mask off the top of the adapter and paint the bottom part whatever color the tool is.
I'll pass on it and just buy batteries in the platform I have which is Kobalt and Bauer
That would be a no for me
No they are terrible- they have already been tested.
No one said they were terrible. Did you even watch the video?
@@denoftools I saw another channel test then a few months ago. They’re inferior and they cost too much.
@@maxmotors9497 They are inferior, and they do cost too much BUT there is still a niche where they can be of value. Not "terrible" but certainly not perfect.
Why did they waste time and money for a craftsman?
Convenient but you still have ONE battery, no matter how many adapters you buy.