The Dewalt PowerStack 5Ah battery is on sale at Amazon for just $88.12, which seems like a fantastic price!
I checked other authorized dealers, and some have the battery priced at $169 individually, or $299 for the 2-pack. Another retailer has the 2-pack for $349, and you get a free Dewalt 12V Xtreme impact driver kit, which is valued at $99.
$88.12 is very good. Or, if you buy two, that’s $176.24.
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The Dewalt 20V Max PowerStack 5Ah battery, DCBP520, features stacked Li-ion pouch-cell technology.
According to Dewalt, the PowerStack 5Ah delivers delivers 50% more power, 50% more work per charge, and also has 2X the lifespan, compared to their other 5Ah battery built with cylindrical 18650 battery cells.
It’s definitely an upgrade.
At the time of this posting, Home Depot has the standard 5Ah battery pack priced at $99, and Lowe’s has the the 2-pack for $199. You can find it for less via 3rd party resellers.
The PowerStack 5Ah is considerably better, even if you only factor in its greater lifespan. In my opinion, $88.12 for one battery is a great deal.
* Correction, HD has the compact PowerStack 2-pack for $179. They have the 5Ah for $199 each of 2 for $349.
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NOTE: The discounted battery was sold and shipped by Amazon directly. Amazon is an authorized Dewalt dealer. 3rd party sellers are not. If it sold out, check back, Amazon sometimes restocks tools and batteries quickly.
Chuck
Thanks for the heads up! Grabbed one from your link.
Robert
Realistically, I don’t need more Dewalt batteries, I have about 10 from kits etc, including 2 of the 2 AH Powerstack. But I wonder if the price on these 5AH will be less during Black Friday.
DRT42
I realize this is semantics, but it is impossible for that battery to deliver 50% more work than the normal battery. Work is volts times amps times time duration. 5 Ah times 20 volts = 100 watt-hours. Both batteries can do the same amount of work, because they are both 100 watt-hour batteries. That’s all they have in ’em; 5 amps for 1 hour at 20 volts.
Marketing… (sigh)
Stuart
The fine print reads “50% more work per charge – “based on usable energy vs. DeWALT DCB205 battery, not in application.”
Consider an 18V 5Ah battery and a 6Ah battery, both built with 10x 18650 cells. The 5Ah battery has 90 Watt-hours of energy storage, and the 6Ah battery has 108 Watt-hours.
Can the 6Ah battery do more work? In theory, yes. In practice, it depends on the application.
The 6Ah battery would reach a thermal shutdown sooner than the 5Ah battery. Internal resistant usually goes up with temperature, and so you have higher losses that take away from the usable work.
PowerStack vs 18650 5Ah is a similar comparison.
In theory, an 18V battery with 5Ah charge capacity can deliver a 5-amp current for 1 hour. The delivery should be proportionate, where current delivery x discharge duration = total charge capacity and energy storage.
In reality, as the discharge current increases, the discharge duration does not always decrease proportionally.
Consider a different scenario, such as a 50A discharge current. 50A x 1/10 hour = 5Ah. But are you going to get 6 minutes of continuous runtime?
Or, for an extreme scenario, consider a 300A discharge current. 300A x 1/60 hour = 5Ah. Are you going to get 300 amps out of that battery for a full minute? No way.
When paired with a high demand tool and used in a high demand environment, a battery’s amp-hour and Watt-hour specs change.
We like to think of it as a fixed specification, but there’s a point at which it becomes dynamic and decreases.
Is it marketing? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean it’s untrue.
The user experience is going to largely depend on the tool and application.
Consider a 6Ah battery with 10x 18650 cells, and another with 10x 21700 cells. Even though the two batteries have the same number of cells, charge capacity ratings, and Watt-hour specs, the 21700-based cell will get more work done.
Dewalt designed their PowerStack battery to outperform their standard cylindrical cell-based battery.
That’s one of the benefits of pouch cell batteries – they can be designed and engineered to a brand’s specifications.
Saulac
I am struggling to believe that there no engineering measurements to quantify the differences.
Nathan
The part lost in translation is that the pouch cell battery tolerates more current throughput than the spiral cell. Often represented is coulombs per second.
The 5ah rating is a capacity not a amp output. Measured at ti e of application ie when the trigger is pressed.
So the power stack pouch application on application allows more current for the tool at time of trigger pull.
Put another way slightly flawed. Ever run a drill on a compact battery and then on a double cap battery. Where you go from 5 batteries in series. To 10 batteries with 2 sets of 5. And note the drill has more torque. That’s getting the instant advantage of more current at that moment. Now the pouch cell acts a bit like 5 batteries in parallel.
DRT42
Sure. 5 Ah is Amp-Hour, not Amp. The pack with lower internal resistance can deliver more instantaneous current to the tool. No argument there.
“Power” is a measure of effort and time. Volts times Amps times Time. I think Stuart has a good point about current draw influencing ratings. When PF ran the discharge test, the powerstack actually showed LESS available watt-hours than the cylindrical cell pack, but it was run at 1 amp discharge rate. The powerstack pooped out faster. In fact, the powerstack only delivered 81% of the watt-hours of the cylindrical cell pack. Expect +50%, get -19%. But that was at a 1 amp rate, with a duration of ballpark 20 minutes. That’s about how long my cordless string trimmer runs.
The lower internal resistance pouch cell probably comes into its own for higher discharge rates, but when and how much? It would require a high current dynamic test to tell for sure. Has anybody out there run an independent test ?
The PF watt-hour (power) test begins at 13:29
Stuart
That was a different PowerStack battery.
On paper, the 2Ah battery has 17.6% greater capacity than the compact 1.7Ah PowerStack.
Charge capacity should be measured via electronic load. 1 amp discharge is no problem. Testing at high discharge, or with curves that simulate heavy duty power tool usage cycles is more complex and requires very expensive equipment and thick cables, not to mention extreme care and safety protocols.
MM
There are, though nobody seems to quote them for some reason. This information is all in the discharge curves and the internal resistance of the cells used: how much current they can provide, both peak and continuous.
A good analogy would be a debit card with a daily transaction limit. The capacity of the battery (amp-hours) is how much money you have in your account. The daily transaction limit represents the type of battery. Tabless and pouch style batteries have higher current capacity compared to normal cylindrical batteries, it’s like comparing a bank account that lets you spend $1000 per day with one that only lets you spend $500, even though both accounts have the same amount of money in the end. One will let you spend it faster.
Saulac
I appreciate all analogies in all comments. Yes, it is simply A vs Ah, and I would love to hear if there is more than this. Brands need to start using Ah (instead of A) for capacity, and A for…well (max) amp. The typical household outlet is 20A current with infinite capacity (as long as you pay your bill). Some recent batterie systems have max amp so high that they can deliver more power than cord can, even at significantly lower voltage.
Big Richard
Simple analogy, two cars have the same size fuel tank but one car is 50% more fuel efficient (30mpg vs 20mpg). At the end of the day they both burned the same amount of fuel, but the more efficient car traveled 50% further, i.e. it did 50% more work.
eddiesky
Also more wear. And battery life is finite.
Would like a pair of Powerstack 2Ah batteries for that price as I don’t need another Powerstack 5Ah (its rather shorter but wider than standard 5Ah). Ah, Stuart, Amazon has pair for $95… would love a link to wink wink, contribute. Which the HD link has for $199… ouch.
Stuart
It’s sold via JB Tools on Amazon.
JB Tools says they aren’t an authorized retailer for all of the tools they sell. They says on their website, as a blanket statement:
There are enough promos on the compact PowerStack battery that I’d wait for a deal from an authorized dealer.
Nicholas Mukai
I find that the powerstacks discharge quicker than a normal battery.
MKY
The link for Home Depot shows 2 -1.7 AH batteries instead of the 5.0 AH – at least mine does.
Saulac
I saw the same thing. HD shows 1.7A. Dewalt has always claimed the pouch 1.7A is equivalence to the cell 5A. Maybe Amazon has the newer version which Dewalt has finally officially call it 5A? What make it even more confusing is Stuart said that this this “5A” pouch is better than the 5A cell.
MM
Same here.
bg100
I was suspicious at first, thinking it might be a knockoff, but I was able to buy from Toolup’s Amazon listing, indeed at that price. Pretty dang good deal and a big thank you to Stuart!
Also, the HD link shows me 2x 1.7Ah batteries, not 5Ah.
Stuart
Thanks – I made the correction.
I’m not sure what happened there. I used the model number but didn’t notice HD sent me to the wrong page.
I was so excited about the Amazon pricing I didn’t notice the HD link was wrong.
MM
HD’s search tool is incredibly frustrating. You can search for a model number SKU and even if HD has the exact product you’re looking for it will rarely be at the top of the search results and you have to go digging to find it.
Big Adam
$86 this morning!
Stuart
It looks like Amazon sold out directly, and the new price is via a 3rd party seller/reseller.
Big Richard
I also saw they have the official press release for the new framing nailers that they debuted back in Jan at WOC – https://dewalt.mediaroom.com/2024-04-22-New-DEWALT-20V-MAX-XR-R-21-Plastic-Collated-Framing-Nailer-and-30-Paper-Collated-Framing-Nailer-Help-Minimize-Downtime-Between-Shots-with-an-Innovative-Flywheel
eddiesky
Wish they’d offer a trade up from my original framing nailer. Nice gun but sucks at 45 degree shots…always have to follow up with a framing hammer…which the point is NOT to need a hammer.
Big Richard
These new models were supposedly redesigned specifically to be better at toe nailing, i.e 45 degree shots.
I’ll probably sell my current one, if I can get $80-100 bucks for it that’s as solid as any trade up offer imo.
den
These batteries are not refurbishable, meaning, when they die in 5 years, you will have to buy another one. Packs with 18650 are easy to replace or repair. Also, it is crazy how unreasonably expensive the batteries are. Very similar to printer’s ink business model.
Jared
Who is replacing batteries every five years? I suppose if you’re taxing them daily they might wear out faster, but many of my batteries are at least 8 years old and don’t show any appreciable signs of deterioration.
I keep them in an unheated garage in Canada, regularly discharge them fully, often forget them on the charger for multiple days – hardly ideal conditions.
Also, when you’re doing the calculation, Dewalt says the pouch cell batteries have twice the lifespan of their cylindrical cell counterparts. How many times would you have to rebuild the cylindrical cell packs before that math works out?
MM
I have mixed feelings about this, specifically with the subject of power tools. On the one hand I hate the idea of “throwaways” and I would much rather buy things which can be repaired or repurposed when they eventually wear out or fail rather than just chuck it in a landfill and buy it again. On the other hand, power tool technology has been advancing so fast that many times I’d rather replace an old tool with new technology rather than buy the same ‘ol thing.
A couple personal examples: I have a DCD990 drill, it’s starting to get worn out and I don’t think it will be long before something needs repair. Many parts are still available for that drill and I’d have no problem doing the repairs myself. But does it make sense? Instead of buying a new drill for a couple hundred I could drop, say, $50 and some of my time to replace whatever part broke. But my drill is still mostly worn out, it just has a new motor in it now. It probably won’t be long before I have to replace something else in it. More time and money. And in the end it still performs like a 12-year-old drill. Let’s say I buy a new one instead: Total reset on the clock for longevity and warranty. New power and features may be available. I don’t really need any more power out of a drill but I’d love kickback protection, that’s a big safety improvement I wouldn’t get fixing my old drill.
How about batteries? Battery tech advances even faster than tool technology. I used to be on the old Dewalt 14.4V Ni-Cd platform. I could easily have put new cells in those old packs. That would have saved me money in battery costs up-front compared to switching to 20V max, but it would have meant a huge long-term productivity hit.
Right now I have a few 4ah Dewalt batts which are 12 years old and still kicking but are clearly losing power compared to when they were new. I could put new cells in them, but I’d much rather pick up a couple the new Powerstacks instead. I already have a couple of the 1.7’s, which I absolutely love. The additional productivity these batteries provide is well worth the cost savings compared to re-celling an old pack. And thinking towards the future: in 10 years when these batteries crap out there will probably be some entirely new tech which is even better.
Saulac
I wish batteries with replaceable cells, without soldering, exist. Must take regulations for brands to do this. And as such, if it ever happens, it will happen in EU first.
Stuart
Safety guidelines specifically recommend against this.
They don’t want consumers handling loose Li-ion cells. Encased cells, such as Milwaukee RedLithium USB seem to comply with safety recommendations.
MM
And for good reason. Matching cells with similar discharge characteristics is important. If there’s one cell that isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just has a different internal resistance than the others, then that imbalance will create heat when the tool is in use or when the pack is charging. This is even a concern with alkaline batteries too, notice the packaging will always caution against mixing brands or old-and-new batteries. But with alkaline batteries the consequences of mixing batteries are low. But not so with modern Lithium batteries, especially big ones meant for high current draw like a power tool. A screwup there could easily mean a battery explosion or fire.
Even the risk of a simple short is a concern. Let’s say someone sticks an alkaline C cell in their pocket or toolbox and it shorts out against their keys or some screws. No big deal, they probably won’t even notice, maybe it might make a small spark or get warm. Try that with a modern lithium cell and it’s a small bomb waiting to go off. People have been injured by even tiny lithium batteries in E-cigarettes or small portable electronics failing. It’s a lot worse with the kind of cells that go in power tools.
Saulac
Good point. I overlooked this.
Bonnie
I got one of these as a “free” add-on with another tool a couple weeks ago and have been thoroughly impressed with the performance. I’m sure they’re fudging their numbers as usual, but there is a noticeable improvement over a regular 5ah battery.
Marc
I used the link and it brought me to an Amazon page were it was sold by a 3rd party. I then clicked on “Other Sellers on Amazon”, and on that list was a new battery “Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc” for the same price. So I was able to buy a legitimite battery from Amazon. Unfortunately that particular listing is no longer there.
But thanks for the heads up and the link
Marc
Now I’m wondering if I made the right decision. Amazon.com Services, Inc is a subsidiary of Amazon.com, but is it an authorized Dewalt dealer?
Interestingly, when I went to the Dewalt website and used their find a retailer, Amazon.com was not listed as an retailer.
Hunh?
MFC
When it says that something is sold by “Amazon.com Services,Inc.” it just means that Amazon has a third party vendor’s product sitting in their warehouse and Amazon is the one shipping it out.
Case in point. I just bought $1100 worth of suspension parts from Amazon, Home Depot and Ebay.
Three out of about eight items from “Amazon Services”, came in AC Delco boxes, but had generic knock-offs inside. The two HD parts were genuine MOOG and two items off Ebay, out of about six were the same as the Amazon parts in that they came in AC Delco boxes, but had Napa parts inside.
Amazon had me return two of the parts and refunded me, and then let me keep one of the parts and refunded me even though I didn’t want it. They just said to donate it. Anyone need a generic Pitman arm (Probably Detroit Axle)? Lol. The two Napa parts in an AC Delco box from Ebay I had to return and that process was more difficult, but still got done.
Check and verify everything, from any seller, anywhere.
Mike
I had an extremely lightly used, 2 year old 1.7 fail to charge – at least DW was good with the warranty claim.
MFC
I just sold an extra 5ah powerstack battery on Ebay for $80.99 after it had sat there at $90 for a long time. I think it came as a bonus to a kit and I just wanted the tool. It was in a clamshell, so not just a free floating battery.
If you need batteries, look on Ebay. A lot of us sell batteries we don’t need there at much better deals than what can be found in a store or anywhere else. Lots of non-oem batteries too. Stay away from those.
MM
Just a heads-up, Amazon now has the 2-pack of 1.7ah Powerstacks for $95.99
Nicholas Mukai
That’s an awesome deal. I got the two 1.7 for $52 on home depot deal of the day a couple months ago. I love em for drinks, sander and heated jacket.
Nicholas Mukai
Home depot has 2 1.7ah powerstacks for $179, and a single 5ah powerstack for $99. If you want the two 5ah pwerstack for $180 deal its only on amazon.