cordless power tools... voltages

[crgrove]

Hi all,

I've been building some shelving units for my small apartment to make the space more efficient. I'm using cordless tools for the most part.

I have a Kawasaki 19.2 volt cordless circular saw which I bought from Sam's Club and it works great. It is not as loud as my corded saw. However I'd like to have more batteries. There was a Kawasaki cordless drill to match but it is available with the new 21.6 volt battery packs only. The DISPLAY model, which looks the same as the ones on the shelf for sale, has the same 19.2 volt batteries as my saw.

It LOOKS as though the battery packs, though different in voltage, are physically the same package.

If I bought the Kawasaki 21.6 volt cordless drill can I use the battery packs between it and my Kawasaki 19.2 volt cordless circular saw interchangeably?? I suspect so since they are motors and motors aren't usually that picky but I wanted to be sure.

Can anyone confirm this with me please?

Thanks, Christopher Grove

[Joe]

What did Kawasaki customer service say when you called them? You did call them, right?

Joe

[crgrove]

If I wanted the reply "it will void the warranty" then I'd call customer service. What I was hoping for was knowledgeable and technical answers.

-Christopher

[Joe]

You'll never know what customer service will say unless you call them. If they tell you that 'it will void the warranty', then you are certainly entitled to ask 'why?' and if they waffle about it, ask to speak with a tech type, not a marketing maven. Who knows, they could surprise you with some enlightening info. Odds are the batteries are different by one cell if both are the same type. The higher votage will draw a bit more current, but since we're dealing with DC there should be no impedence mismatches as in some AC applications. IMO. ought to work fine.

Joe

[Red]

Actually 2 cells. Meaning there is a physical difference in the size of the battery packs so they may not interchange. Connecting the

19.2v unit to a 21.6v battery pack is overloading the motor by 12.5%. Personally, I wouldn't pay that much for a new tool and abuse it like that. Kawasaki makes great internal combustion motors but I don't know how much experience they have in the tool line.