Bosch has announced that they will be launching a new wireless 18V battery charging system, which will debut in Europe starting in the Fall of 2014.
Bosch has had a very busy year, introducing a new line of 18V and 12V brushless tools, an 18V 5.0Ah battery pack, and new drills with accelerometer sensors that help reduce reactive forces that can twist your wrist. This new development is another way Bosch is taking to help increase user convenience and productivity.
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The new Bosch inductive charging system will include a charger, a docking frame, and a wireless-compatible 18V 2.0Ah Li-ion battery pack.
While only compatible batteries can be used with the new charger, those batteries will be completely compatible with all Bosch 18V tools.
The optional docking frame can be used to mount the wireless charger to stationary surfaces, such as workbenches or shelves, and also helps guide a tool or battery onto the charger for correct positioning.
How Does it Work?
An alternating magnetic field is created in the charger – the transmitter – which induces a current through a coil built into a wireless-charging-compatible battery – the receiver – that is placed on or in close proximity to the charger. Thus the Li-ion battery can be recharged without the need for a physical cable.
In order for wireless charging to work, you need a transmitter and compatible receiver. Because of this, you won’t be able to use the new charger with any Bosch battery, you need one built for wireless charging.
If it helps, think of inductive charging as an interaction with a friend. Let’s say you run into someone you know. You then smile and wave. If they know you, they will smile and wave back. If they don’t know you, they’ll make a face and ignore you.
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This is similar to how inductive heating works, but with inductive charging the developed current is used to recharge the batteries instead of being converted to heat. There will be some heating, but hopefully Bosch has found a way to minimize energy losses.
How Long Does Charging Take?
Wireless charging typically takes longer than wired charging, due to greater energy losses, but Bosch has said that
Initial press materials are a little vague, but it sounds like wireless charging will be accomplished in the same amount of time as Bosch’s conventional 18V chargers. We’ll know more as the wireless charging system launch nears and more details are available.
Why Should You Care?
Bosch’s new wireless charging systems offers a number of advantages compared to having to remove a battery and docking it to a charger for recharging.
First, you don’t need to remove the battery from the tool! It seems that you can, if you need to use the tool right away, but you don’t have to.
This means that you could partially recharge a tool anytime it would otherwise rest idly. For example, if a worker switches between a drill and screwdriver or impact driver for different tasks during an assembly operation in an industrial environment, each time one tool is put down it could be placed on the charger. This would allow batteries’ runtimes to be stretched throughout the day
Second, because charging is done without the need for a wired connection between tool and battery, there are no contact points that could be affected by water, dust, or debris. You should be able to keep the inductive charger out in the open in environments that would be unfriendly towards traditional Bosch battery chargers.
Bosch says that contactless energy transfer… eliminates the need for a second battery or expensive industrial charging stations.
According to Bosch’s European press materials, the company plans to add more components as part of their long-term strategy to grow their wireless charging system.
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First Thoughts
Initially, Bosch’s wireless charging system looks to offer the most benefit to industrial users. But as mentioned, this is just the tip of the spear, and more wireless charging components are on the way.
What I hope to see next is lower cost of entry where wireless charging tech is built into standard Li-ion batteries.
One thing that concerns me is that the battery and charger are said to have wireless intelligence, which is an electronic system that handles communication between the charger and battery. This is how the charging process is initiated and controlled depending on the charge level and state of a battery. The part that has me concerned is how this could be the deciding factor about whether we will see universal battery chargers in the near future.
Similar to how Bosch’s OIS oscillating multi-tool interface is now a standard that many brands adhere to, maybe it could be possible for Bosch to share and open up their wireless communication standard for other brands to use, possibly under license.
My Android smartphone recharges every night on a Qi-compatible charging pad. Users would absolutely benefit from a similar standardized communication protocol that would eliminate the need to match up multiple brands’ batteries with their respective brands’ chargers.
I am very optimistic about Bosch’s new inductive wireless charging technology. At the least it presents certain users with convenient advantages over traditional battery charging docks, and at most it could help open the door to universal battery chargers.
There are a number of good reasons why we won’t see universal or multi-brand-compatible Li-ion battery packs any time soon, but I cannot think of any good reasons why universal wireless battery chargers wouldn’t be feasible from a technological point of view.
jay k.
So awesome!!!
fred
Did I miss it – or is the battery-to-tool connection also inductively-coupled and contact-less?
I’m also not sure how this system meets Bosch’s claim that it eliminates the need for a second battery.
Hang Fire
I think the idea is that you’re not using the tool 100% of the time, so if every time you set it down it goes onto the charger, charging will keep up with use.
Stuart
Charging is done wirelessly, but the battery-to-tool connection must be physical in the same manner as with Bosch’s current 18V batteries.
The idea is that you could continue to charge a battery every time a tool is not in your hand and actively being used. The battery is run down and recharged by small amounts regularly. With a regular battery and charger, you run the battery charge down completely and then you must use a second battery while the first is recharging.
Mark
Really don’t see the use for this the the construction market. I need my tools on the move with me so setting them down on the spider box every time would be silly.
And on a industrial tool bench you should have corded and numatic tools with a high speciality for the task your completing over and over.
Confused on this one.
Hang Fire
Does it come with the usual pacemaker warning? (Not a problem for me, but some will need to know).
Stuart
Probably? More info will be available as the product launch nears in a couple of months. USA availability, which has not been confirmed, hopefully won’t follow too far behind the European launch.
mike
This seems like an interesting idea,althou I fail to see how this will benefit heavy users.
Pablo
Agreed. It’s cute, doesn’t really help anyone though. Great for phones with embedded batteries where you don’t have the option to hot swap a battery, but for power tools seems gimmicky when you can drain a battery in mere minutes and this takes even longer to recharge than normal.
sharon
Is it possible to charge that 2.0Ah battery in the conventional way ?
any details on price in Europe (England) ?
Tjorven
Hi,
Yes, you can charge in the usual AL 1860/1820(eu-names) charges as you do with your batteries today. All 18-V Bosch blue tools (exept for the newest Soundbox) can be used with the new batteries.
Here in Scandinavia it will be released with 2,0 AH in August/September, and the pricing is said to be the same as today. Charging time is said to be 45 min.
Realising in 2 Q 2015 a holder with a 12V cnnection that you can use in your car .
In 3 Q 2015 something i best can translate as a drawer for L-boxx will come. Put this vertical in the back of your car, plug it with 12V, put your L-boxx in it, and i will charge both your batteries while you go to work!!
Then it actually will be something for the Heavy users, as Mike’s asking for above.
The 2,0amps is just the start. All amps will come by time…
This is the most inovative I’ve seen since starting working with Power tools:)
(For those who wants multi chargeres for different brands, i’ll think you have to wat a while. Boch have taken patent to this solution…)
sharon
Interesting. Thanks.
Dennis
Let me start out by saying that I love inductive charging for my phone. Especially since I found a charger that works through a fairly robust case. And that leads me to a point you missed about inductive charging. No wear and tear at the point were before you connect the charger. This is probably less of an issue on beefier tool batteries than tiny USB ports on phones. But I have gotten into some wrestling matches with tool battery chargers that refused to release the battery because I wasn’t doing their “procedure” just right. Conversely inductive charging does cause the problem that you can’t mount the charger vertically, which you can do with a lot of manufacturer’s chargers. So upside and downside I guess.
That all being said, the thought of universal chargers, like the Qi standard, but for tools makes me giddy.
Stuart
I didn’t mention less wear and tear as a benefit because it’s a touchy point.
I am on my third Android smartphone, and in my almost 5-years or experience, I never encountered a micro USB port failure. While every now and then I had to wrestle to get the plug into the port, micro USB is a fairly robust design that can handle daily insertion and removal for years.
On one hand there’s less hassle if you don’t have to physically connect the battery to the charger. On the other hand, with inductive chargers you have to line up the coils in order to achieve optimal charging. There is some tolerance for misalignment, but when I place my phone on my charger I have to do it in a certain way. That’s also why the new Bosch charger comes with an optional mounting dock, as the dock will help guide batteries into the correct spot for charging.
There is the potential for universal chargers, and my hope is that everyone at the major brands reads this and explores the idea.
My thoughts are that Bosch, or another brand, would have to be willing to create the charging and communication protocols that other tool brands would need to adopt and comply with. There might also be other limitations or hindrances that I’m not aware of.
Dennis
I like the optional mounting dock idea. I have experienced the heartbreak of a misaligned phone not charging. Afterwards I pondered building some sort of mounting dock for my Qi charger to sit in that would align the phone for me. Leave it to Bosch to come up with good design right off the bat.
While I agree that micro USB is a robust standard, for some reason on my latest phone it was a pain to plug in. It seemed like no mater which side of the cable I positioned up, it was always opposite from the way it was supposed to be plugged in. That coupled with my love of hearty phone cases through which you had to maneuver the cable, lead me down the Qi path. Plus it’s super cool and makes me feel like I’m in the “future”.
Mark
You must be very dainty with your phone charger and never charge in the car if you have never had a problem with micro USB. I go threw cords way to ofen. To the point I wish my note 3 had a standard tip and ring cord for charging as that is a mush move robust cable connection. I find it takes very little bending pressure can break micro USB.
Dennis
That’s precisely why I love inductive charging, no worries about connection points.
Joel
I hope this comes over soon if at all. This will definitely be the upgrade I get from my Milwaukee stuff.
Steven B
Micro USB is not a robust standard 🙂 I think Apple got it right with lightning. Instead of having a plastic shell in the cable and a tiny pin, they reversed it and had a large reversible pin.
That being said, the magnetic charging pins are my favorite design. They’re very robust and tolerant to small kids, clumsy coworkers, pets, etc …running into your cable. Full disclaimer…I hate Apple. I’m a Linux/Android fanboy, but I recognize their superior hardware.
I’ve had both micro USB and regular USB pins snap on me regularly. I’m as gentle as can be as well. I think the micro USB pin will be the first thing to go on my phone.
That being said, this tool battery is exciting, but I’ll never buy it. I honestly say this about everything Bosch and not just because I am a DeWalt fanboy. It’s also because they have interesting innovations, but they never seem to be any use to me (at least enough to drop money to replace a perfectly good tool).
This is a nice option and will allow better weather sealing (although the battery connection isn’t the weak point on any of my tools). For me, I’d rather not waste electricity in the charging process and simply buy an extra battery. I only do hobby woodworking in my own house, so battery drain is not an issue for me.
Obviously one thing to consider is that frequent charging is a death sentence for a battery. You won’t have to disconnect it, but it’ll last 1/4 as long. I imagine your tool will start dogging within a year if you take it on and off the charger 20x a day to the point you can drill one large hole hole and you’ll drastically lose torque and have to put it back on the charger.
Garrick
I can only see the convenience if you are able to place the charger beside where you are working, and have 110 volts nearby. Then you will need to be using it a lot to justify it at that.
I will always need at least a pair of batteries anyway for when I’m not able to have the charger nearby, so the idea of saving on batteries is mute.
I have been using li-ion chargers since they came out, and the ones that are hanging on the wall in my very dusty shop have not failed… Albeit, I have made duct tape flaps to cover the connections.
Also, keeping a li-ion on the charger all the time will significantly reduce it’s lifespan. They live 3 times as long in a partially charged condition.
Adam
It’s a good I dear , but I can’t really see the point, you would still need to use the drill, wile it’s charging, so you may as we’ll charge the battery as usual, and use the second battery that you have, so you can keep working, in less you want to stop working. If your English that might work quite well,