rechargeable tool battery compatibility

In general yes, to keep you bound to their tools.

There were a few manufacturers that tried to form some sort of battery-pack alliance, but guess what? the others didn't want to join (see above)

Interesting.

Pity electric car manufacturers didn't all use the same batteries so we could drive into a fuel station and swap fresh batteries for flat ones.

it's all a bit rubbish. If they were all state owned we woudn't have this problem :-)

Has anybody had any sucess canabalising batteries out of, say, an Aldi and putting them in a Makita?

It probably makes sense for tool makers, where cordless aren't their major products, they can just buy in an make the odd tool that fits the system.

There are adapters, but don't some manufacturers have the battery protection in the tool, others in the battery?

Makita is in the tool. I think the Aldi Ferrex system has it in the battery. Video teardowns show what's inside.

So Aldi battery in a Makita tool is probably fine, but a Makita battery in an Aldi tool is risky - the Makita batteries can brick themselves if they detect the voltage has gone too low. I think some of the Chinese knockoff batteries have the circuit in the battery, which means they're fine to use with adapters and generic fittings (like lights, USB chargers etc) but not for the genuine Makita batteries.

It does make some sense to have it in the tool, since there's likely a motor controller circuit in there anyway - when the battery is low you just inhibit the motor drive. That saves having to have some chunky MOSFETs to cut power inside the battery. I'd guess the knockoffs have it in the battery because some of the knockoff tools are incredibly basic inside - almost no electronics.

Theo

Possibly. I've got an adapter which allows me to use DeWalt batteries in Ryobi tools without any problem.

You mean something like this?

Richard

Once you see how they shape the battery pack to make use of all the space they can, that really doesn't seem a practical solution for domestic vehicles.

However, if you have a truck, it could be another story:

Chris

That would be better if it was correct:

Chris

Aḩ The Trabant EV. 20 miles on one lead acid battery, and then wait for your electricity ration next week

Yoiu can recell most of te old NiMh tools that use sub-Cs.

I wouldn't go that far. What we really need is some written standards that apply across the UK market for the benefit of consumers and also to make it simple for importers and retailers. Now I think of it better still if they were international standards, maybe Europe-wide.

If only there was some organisation which could legislate for these things and we could join it.

TW

For the benefit of consumers, yes.

for the benefit of consumers ...

Yes, wouldn't that be wonderful.

Indeed. Sadly I cant see such an organisation anywhere. Apropos of nothing in particular, I see the European wide outbreak of serious food poisoning has been traced to a kinder chocolate egg factory in Belgium.

Gotta lurve these 'standards' What was it last time? lethal beansprouts in Germany

The whole link doesn’t work (as it only has ‘htps:’ rather than ‘https:’). I dare say if you only copied from the ‘www’ it would work though.

Tim

Mad Cow disease in Britain

Dealt with very very quickly, source identified, meat destroyed, standards changed AND ENFORCED.