Time to convert from small engine to battery tools?

[two_bit_score]

Ultra, I 100% agree on the Tanaka ‘brain’. It’s they way they should all operate.

 

[Hay Dude]

I am part way there with Dragonleggs on the battery tools.
I picked up a DeWalt 60v chainsaw and it is in the front of the toolboxes now. It is fantastic for limb clean up and I have cleared miles of brush with the lil guy. I have 3 60v batteries and keep charging them in my truck. The DeWalt jobsite blower is a joke. Maybe this one?
DeWALT DCBL77X1 6-Volt 3.Ah 175-Mph Brushless Lithium-Ion Handheld - MaxTool

Which brings me to a question: have a new RAM 5500 and it has a couple AC outlets in the cab. Would the standard DeWalt charger with electric wall plug overwhelm the outlet and blow a fuse? That battery charger is a beast. It has a fan built in it. The DC cab charger I presently use will charge the 60v batteries, but it takes a while it doesn’t have a fan, either. It plugs into a cig lighter.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The wife got the best of the 40 volt Lynxx line trimmer (single 0.060 line) after about 3 years this last week but the other 4 matching power tools (chainsaw, pole saw, blower and hedge trimmer) are going strong. The wife and daughter also wanted a push mower with electric start.

After much reading and learning yesterday we added to our Lithium Ion power tools since the son has been using more and more of the Lynxx tools. I went with Kobalt 80 volt line this time. Our 10 year old Kobalt Lithium Ion hand tools are still going after all of this time. I was interested in the new Atlas line at HF but the battery Ah rating options were lacking. While the 21 inch self propelled walk behind mowers are basically the same the Atlas is Gen I and the Kobalt is now the Gen II model that is more refined. The chain saws are basically the same. HF offers only the 2.5 Ah battery option.

Kobalt 80 volt self propelled 21" came with a 6 Ah battery and the fan cooled rapid charger (4 amp output). The 18" chainsaw came with the same charger and a 5 Ah battery. The leaf blower and twin line trimmer came with 2.5 Ah batteries and the 2 amp chargers without fans giving a total of 16 Ah of battery life. It was dark when I got home with the chainsaw so I have all of the batteries charged but not tested yet. The mower battery came showing no charge based on the test lights and the charger never tried to charge it. Thankfully the local Lowes had one more self propelled mower and the store opened it and swapped me that 6 Ah battery. First the guy brought up a 5 Ah battery but he had robbed it from a box without the self propelled feature. After all that I headed south 25 miles to a larger Lowes in Paris, TN.

The Murray Lowes had the same chainsaw on clearance for $285 but with the older version of the 2.5 amp battery. The 5 Ah version was marked down to $339 as they are changing models for 2021 but will still use the same battery slots I am told. Lowes sells stand alone 5 Ah batteries for $300 and 6 Ah for $360. On the same saw on was rated for 150 cuts of a 4x4 and 300 cuts if using the 5 Ah battery.

If the rain is light I may test them this evening. The manuals state the 2.5 Ah batteries weight 3.4 pound and the 5 and 6 Ah batters at 5.5 pounds and they are longer.

 

[Maxify55]

Time to convert from small engine to battery tools?

Maybe in your lifetime but not in mine.
Everything was working fine until SOMEBODY decided we needed corn in our gasoline!!

I've had the same Stihl FS-110 & Echo CS-510 for almost 15 yrs now.

I have changed over to battery impact drivers...Sadly

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Time to convert from small engine to battery tools?

Maybe in your lifetime but not in mine.
Everything was working fine until SOMEBODY decided we needed corn in our gasoline!!

I've had the same Stihl FS-110 & Echo CS-510 for almost 15 yrs now.

I have changed over to battery impact drivers...Sadly

It kinds of depends on physical health and where you live also. Everyone understands if starting gas engines is painful or not. Then there are some areas with laws preventing the use of gas powered weed eaters for example. I have friends with COPD so I to breath fewer hydrocarbons as time goes to reduce the risk of COPD.

Some like you should just stick with what you have/prefer.

There is no one right way to live one's life that applies the same to everyone. Corn in our gas will decrease as the world moves away from use of hydrocarbons.

After a storm I can place the chainsaw in the trunk in case there is a small tree that I can not get past. I do not have to mess with gas and oil or be jerking to trim mow and weed eat. Having an inverter powered by small lithium ion batteries to run my CPAP machine if the power is out is a plus.

It will be 2030-2040 before gas power tools all go away I expect. I did learn chain saw chaps do not work so well for electric chain saws because they have so much more torque that the fiber in the chaps can not lock up the chain like it will do with a gas saw.

I am going to get out and spin up some of my new tools since I have the batteries all charged up. Lowes one gives one 30 days to return these items so I need to push them hard over the next few cooler days.

 

[dragoneggs]

Well my gasser chainsaws are getting lonely in my shed. Took down this 70ft Fir this afternoon. Went exactly as planned. Was leaning a bit in the general direction but I was proud I dropped in the footsteps of the first photo so I would have easy access to buck it up. My only issue is I don't have wood burning fireplace anymore!



It was tallest of five firs in a row along the lower portion of our property that started to block the point across the water. The one just to the right will probably be coming down soon as well. This saw is amazing. Got it limbed and 2/3rds bucked and still had 2 of 4 bars left on the battery but 'I' ran out of gas. :laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

Looks like a lot of average you've got there.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The Kobalt 80 volt self propelled lawn mower is awesome. No blade turning to move the mower under power makes it safer. We have some real steep slopes.

 

[dragoneggs]

The Kobalt 80 volt self propelled lawn mower is awesome. No blade turning to move the mower under power makes it safer. We have some real steep slopes.

Please share more details and pics if you can!

 

[Diggin It]

Both of my push gasser mowers are flaking out, but both have close to 10 years on them. One is a frankenmower with an old style HF Greyhound engine. I've considered one of the battery push mowers, but I keep seeing tools where batteries are no longer available. If a gasser mower dies, you plop a new engine on for $100 or less. If a battery dies (which they tend to do) and the brand dies off to where parts are no longer available, where are you?

Yes, there are places that claim to be able to crack the plastic housings and replace the battery guts, but at what cost?

 

[Industrial Toys]

HAY DUDE. It's not rocket science as they say. What's the current or wattage rating on the Inverter Recept on the RAM and what are the requirments of the chargers?

My friend installs inverters for Utility Vehicles by the hundreds if not more. Mostly to charge tools. Seems really backward to me. Why don't all the big tool manufacturers sell mobile DC run chargers? Why convert DC to AC and then back again. Just so a bunch of MOSFETS can eventually go snap, crackle and pop?

 

[cqaigy2]

Well my gasser chainsaws are getting lonely in my shed. Took down this 70ft Fir this afternoon. Went exactly as planned. Was leaning a bit in the general direction but I was proud I dropped in the footsteps of the first photo so I would have easy access to buck it up. My only issue is I don't have wood burning fireplace anymore!

View attachment 664978 View attachment 664979 View attachment 664980 View attachment 664981

It was tallest of five firs in a row along the lower portion of our property that started to block the point across the water. The one just to the right will probably be coming down soon as well. This saw is amazing. Got it limbed and 2/3rds bucked and still had 2 of 4 bars left on the battery but 'I' ran out of gas. :laughing:

Hmm, that looks interesting. Most of my trees i'd be looking at make firewood are in the range, some maybe a bit bigger but in a good location as far as safety goes so not interested in taking those down

 

[ultrarunner]

HAY DUDE. It's not rocket science as they say. What's the current or wattage rating on the Inverter Recept on the RAM and what are the requirments of the chargers?

My friend installs inverters for Utility Vehicles by the hundreds if not more. Mostly to charge tools. Seems really backward to me. Why don't all the big tool manufacturers sell mobile DC run chargers? Why convert DC to AC and then back again. Just so a bunch of MOSFETS can eventually go snap, crackle and pop?

I have two Makita tool charges that plug into cigarette lighter.

Also have invertors in the truck and some tool chargers don't like square sign wave

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm guessing switching supplies don't like square wave power.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

HAY DUDE. It's not rocket science as they say. What's the current or wattage rating on the Inverter Recept on the RAM and what are the requirments of the chargers?

My friend installs inverters for Utility Vehicles by the hundreds if not more. Mostly to charge tools. Seems really backward to me. Why don't all the big tool manufacturers sell mobile DC run chargers? Why convert DC to AC and then back again. Just so a bunch of MOSFETS can eventually go snap, crackle and pop?

That is a good question. I charge my 400 DC volt Leaf battery (40 kWh when fully charged) using 240 volts single phase grid power to the onboard charger. To drive the motor an onboard inverter converts the 400 DC volts to 3 phase AC giving 100% torque off of line that could bark the near slick tires on it when I got it even with the battery compromised by 35%. Some golf carts have DC drive motors and other have AC drive motors.

The 80 volt power mower does not use a heavy blade as a flywheel so it spins up and down very fast. When turning the blade by hand I can feel the magnets grabbing. The very thin blade I expect will weight no more than a 1/3 of a gas mower blade so mowing gravel is hard on them.

 

[Diggin It]

If you're interested in trying a battery walk behind lawn mower, check your Lowes store. Mine had the 80 volt Kobalt marked down to $260 from $499, but there were only a couple left.

 

[bigtiller]

I sold my Stihl 291 with a 20 inch bar.

And bought a 10 inch Makita. Oooh what a difference a few pounds make.

 

[dragoneggs]

I sold my Stihl 291 with a 20 inch bar.

And bought a 10 inch Makita. Oooh what a difference a few pounds make.

View attachment 668900

I never used to concern myself with weight of equipment. Heavier meant better. Now moving to electric tools beyond the easy on/off, the light weight is a blessing.

 

[Wagtail]

I sold my Stihl 291 with a 20 inch bar.

And bought a 10 inch Makita. Oooh what a difference a few pounds make.

View attachment 668900

QUESTION! :wave:

Spare chain and/or bar availability? Can a comparable size Stihl or Oregon bar//chain fit or are you 'locked in' to a Makita bar/chain?

(I've been secretly coveting one of these dual battery saws :drool

 

[bigtiller]

QUESTION! :wave:

Spare chain and/or bar availability? Can a comparable size Stihl or Oregon bar//chain fit or are you 'locked in' to a Makita bar/chain?

(I've been secretly coveting one of these dual battery saws :drool

It came with this Oregon chain in the box, but I found some Makita chains for it on Amazon for $18 each.