Makita has released 18V LXT 4.0Ah Li-ion batteries in other parts of the world, but these batteries aren’t expected to be available in the USA until at least “summer 2014.”
As previously discussed, there seems to be a compatibility issue between the 4.0Ah battery pack and certain tools, but Makita USA declined to comment on the matter and said that more information won’t be available until the summertime.
Although Makita isn’t being clear about which of their 18V LXT tools aren’t compatible with the upcoming battery pack, international readers have reported that Makita’s 4.0Ah battery pack does not work with their LXT jig saw, high torque impact wrench, die grinder, cut-off tool/angle grinder, and possibly some of their earlier hammer drills. It’s all a vague and hazy confusing mess.
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Makita USA has not been very helpful in clarifying the matter, so I have been doing some research to see what kind of information I could dig up.
Here’s what I found:
Makita is releasing new 18V LXT grease guns in the USA and elsewhere. In Canada, the model number for the grease gun is DCG180. Taking a look at the owner’s manual (PDF), the specifications table explicitly mentions a BL1850 battery pack.
Makita’s battery pack model numbers describe their voltage and capacity.
BL1850 means that the battery pack has a nominal voltage of 18V and charge capacity of 5.0Ah. Similarly, their BL1830 battery pack has a capacity of 3.0Ah, and their BL1840 battery pack has a capacity of 4.0Ah.
Update: We have confirmed that the BL1850 5.0Ah Li-ion battery is currently in production. A few international distributors have already put up preorder pages, with mention of an April 2014 release. What this means is that international users will be able to get their hands on 5.0Ah batteries before the 4.0Ah battery pack even makes it to the USA and North American markets!
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So, in looking for information about their 4.0Ah compatibility, it seems I turned up the first indication that Makita plans to [eventually?] release a 5.0Ah battery pack.
Perhaps this explains why Makita has been pushing back the USA release of their 4.0Ah battery. Maybe they were hoping to be the first to release a 5.0Ah Li-ion battery pack.
A quick Google search turns up what looks to be an authorized Ukrainian Makita tool dealer which has an early product page up for the 5.0Ah battery pack. The image is wrong, as it depicts the 4.0Ah battery pack, but it mentions “5.0 Ampere hours,” the correct model number (BL1850), and notes a charging time of 45 minutes.
Makita’s 4.0Ah battery pack is said to have a 36-minute charging time. A 5.0Ah battery pack can store 25% more charge than a 4.0Ah battery pack, which should roughly correspond with a 45-minute charging time.
I wouldn’t trust the Ukraine Makita dealer’s site as a primary source, but it serves to corroborate the information gleaned from the mentioned product instruction manual found on Makita Canada’s official website.
The same Ukrainian Makita dealer also lists product details for a BL1820 2.0Ah LXT battery. But if it is true Makita is planning to release a 5.0Ah Li-ion battery, then there’s no reason why they would release a 2.0Ah battery for their compact line instead of a 2.5Ah battery (which would be designated BL1825).
Assuming Makita follows common practices, the 5.0Ah battery pack will be built with 10x 18650 Li-ion batteries each with 2.5Ah charge capacities.
A reader tipped us off recently that Bosch is planning to release an 18V 5.0Ah Li-ion battery sometime this year. The information discussed here suggests that Makita has similar plans.
Let’s just hope that, if Makita’s 5.0Ah Li-ion battery plans are already in motion, it’ll launch in the USA at the same time as the rest of the world, or maybe even sooner. A lot of American Makita users aren’t too happy that they still cannot get their hands on 4.0Ah battery packs.
Note: The battery capacity might not be 5.0Ah exactly, but that’s what we are currently expecting.
This all raises the same big question as before – who will be the first major power tool brand (after Hitachi) to bring 18V-class 5.0Ah Li-ion batteries to market?
As an aside, can you imagine popping two 5.0Ah batteries into Makita’s upcoming 18V XT LXT circular saw? It would essentially be a 36V circular saw with 5.0Ah charge capacity. 180 Watts-hours of power!
John
I bought into the Makita 18V line in the summer of 2010. Backwards compatibility with those tools (2 hammer drills, impact driver, impact wrench, grinder, circ saw, and recip saw) would be the only reason for me to even think about considering larger packs when my originals eventually die.
From what little I know about batteries, I thought the circuitry in Li-Ion tools was supposed to “smarter”. Unless something in the connector is physically changed from one pack to another what would preclude the new pack from working with my older tools? Would the tool recognize that it is getting too many amps and shut itself off?
Last I looked, the 3.0 batteries listed right around $100 retail. Any idea what the 4.0 and 5.0 units would be? It seems like there would be a point of diminishing returns when you weigh increased cost against run and recharge cycle times.
Stuart
I believe there is a physical incompatibility between the 4.0Ah battery and certain LXT tools. International readers reported having to cut off tabs to make the new battery fit with their tools.
Motor current draw goes up as application power increases.
In theory, protective circuitry in the battery or tool should protect the battery and tool if current draw becomes too high. But that won’t necessarily protect the motor from self-destructing, as demonstrated in the past.
Jonathan McDonald
Your right with having to cut a small plastic tab off on the older tools but with the older tools with the tab cut out you could do damage to the new battery’s.
I know the new batterys (the newer bl1830, bl1840 and bl1850) will stop sending a run signal to the tool through the third pin when the voltage drops to low and I’m guessing if it gets to hot as well. Sum of the older tools still have the low voltage cut out ie the grinder, die grinder but sum do not and you will just have to listen for a drop in performance and then charge the battery.
Phil
Hi, you may be interested to know, that Metabo in Australia and I understand in Europe as well, have a 5.2 Ah battery. Their new brushless range of cordless drills come with the 5.2 Ah battery. I have been using their 4.0 Ah batteries in my 18v cordless drill, which give excellent run time and are also lighter compared to some other current 3.0 Ah batteries by other makers eg Makita. My understanding is the 5.2Ah is the same size and weight as their 3.0 Ah but with 75% more endurance. Metabo’s 5.2 Ah is compatible with all their current 18 volt Li-ion cordless tools.
Marco
We finally have it also in the USA for a few months now. Limited suppliers but we got them. The new awesome work light and most of the new brushless tools also. I’ve been wanting to get a 5.2ah so bad just to see the difference.
Alfredo Huerta
Do you know about any suppliers that carry 5.2 amh metabo tools?
Stuart
I’m aware of the 5.2Ah batteries (https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/metabo-announces-18v-5-2ah-ultra-capacity-li-ion-battery-pack/%3C/a%3E%29, but haven’t seen any USA distributors yet.
Ryan
Metabo CPO has them. So do a couple of others like HardwareSales.com and Tools-Plus, but I’ve never ordered anything from either.
Here’s the strange part. Check out the price on the 5.2 battery. Not at all what I would have expected.
http://www.cpometabo.com/metabo-batteries-and-chargers/metabo-batteries-and-chargers,default,sc.html
Stuart
$50 for the 18V 5.2Ah battery? That does seems a bit odd.
Ryan
Just how awesome IS that new worklight? At $50.00 for the 5.2 batteries that give it 7 hrs of runtime, that would be tempting, even if I don’t own any other Metabo stuff.
Monte
there are some more new work lights on the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn10gv6zxaE
and the new 12 volt drill/driver:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDF9OMUdkA
and the new BL + 4 pole drill/drivers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0i9TiztMzM
A compact impact wrench with 400NM and a large one with 600NM are coming in march 2014.
kornomaniac
Do you have those ‘star’ marked tools in the USA ? With a star on the the connector plate at the bottom of the tool?
Here in europe it’s quite simple. If your tool has a star it can take the 4.0 amps batteries. If your tool doesn’t have a star it will not be compatible.
And yes it’s only a small tab you can file away to make it work but if you use the new 4.0 amps batteries on an old tool ( without the star marking ) you take away the protection from over heating / over discharging and overloading thus perhaps problems with guarantee.
cody Robertson
Hitachi already has 5.0ah batteries
cody Robertson
And Metabo has 5.2ah batteries
cody Robertson
If the makita tool has a star on the bottom of the tool it can be used with a 4.0ah battery
cody Robertson
The makita tools with a star on them have a extra terminal on them for over load protection
LORDDiESEL
I’m pretty happy with the 4.0AH run time. If the 5.0AH is the same size and weight, that would just be awesome.
KenZ
Comments…
A. I bought into makita LXT back in 2006 when I worked for a LiIon cell manufacturer. We instrumented battery packs so that we could use any pack on one tool (we chose DeWalt for consistency), and thus could do runtime, power, etc comparisons pack to pack to pack for drilling, sawing, etc. The Makitas at the time were CLOSE to the best for runtime and absolutely the least $/Wh.
B. While I still like the variety of tools from which to choose, there is no way in hell I’ll change out my tools if the new batteries don’t work with them. I will certainly buy a new battery or two, but WILL return them if they don’t work in my tools. Makita is going to have a nightmare of a time with returns on this fiasco.
C. Already run my 36V Bosch circular saw off 2x 18V Makita batteries. That thing is awesome. It ain’t a corded saw, but it’s pretty close…
D. For my main 18V tools, the ones I care about (hammer drill, recip saw, etc) I have the makita tools. But for the ones I use infrequently, I buy Ryobi and made a Ryobi-Makita battery adapter. That way I still use my Makita 18V batteries (one battery to rule them all…) but buy super inexpensive, admittedly not top of the line, Ryobi stuff to fill in the niches (e.g. die grinder- I just don’t use it that much, sander, second hammer drill, etc). Did the same for B&D garden tools, so I have an 18V chainsaw running from the Makita.
E. I will say in hindsight, if I were to back in time, I’d have bought Milwaukee instead of Makita, but at the time (2006) Milwaukee’s 18V lineup was pretty sparse. Perhaps I need to make a Milwaukee-Makita adapter, and start switching over..
Matt
Ken – do you mind sharing how you made the Makita to Ryobi battery adapter?
Garrick
Some of the high power drawing 18 volt Makita tools have tabs that prevent users from using 1.5 amp batteries. The tabs are easily ground down. I have not used any of the “3.0 amp only” tools in heavy applications for long periods and have had no problems with the 1.5 amp batteries.
I wonder what modifications they did to the new 4.0 amp so they won’t fit, and why? Are the high amp batteries more delicate?
Pete
Makita you’ve become a leader in the cordless tool market with your huge range of options. BUT your falling behind everyday. I see less and less reason to stay with you. Step it up, you need to be the leader lol instead you let hitachi beat you to a 5.0ah battery
Tim
I don’t think coming out with bigger is better says it all. A 5.0ah battery takes how long to charge, upwards of 1.5 hours?
Jonathan McDonald
With a makita rapid charger it takes about 9mins per Ah so 5 x 9 = 45min and thats only if it is flat.
fred
I se that Makita is offering an extra one of their “older” batteries free with the purchase of selected bundles:
http://www.makitatools.com/en-us/Satellite/EmailSupport/Promotions/ImpactOrBattery201401/ImpactOrBattery201401.html
Greg W.
Why does europe get the good batteries before the USA???
Stuart
Some of the time the reverse is true. Products are sometimes released in the USA before they hit international markets.
SVEN M.
Gday everyone in the US,here in Australia we are able to buy 5 amp batteries already now, the thing with battery compatibility is that the “B” series (2013) use 3 amp batteries and the” D” series(2014) can use 4 amp batteries,and some like the new weapon DHP481 hammer drill can use 5amps.It should say on the Makita website what the capacity of the tool is. Here a 5 amp battery goes for $179. A lot more than the others(Bosch,Dewalt,Hitachi,Milwaukee)
Bruce M
I bought a 5.0ah Makita battery the other day for $149 AUD ($139 USD). It fits almost all of my tools but will not fit a couple such as the Recipro saw (BJR181Z) so I just use my 3.0ah batteries on those.
Steamboat
Looks like Australia is getting the 5ah batteries before the USA. The Makita.com.au website lists the BL1850 on their site. http://www.makita.com.au/product-page/item/bl1850-18v-li-ion-battery
The makitadtools.com/en-us (USA) site has a press release dated July 17th, 2014 that announces the 4ah BL1840 and 2ah BL1820 batteries and teases us with the comment “And there’s more battery innovation on the way in 2014”. http://www.makitatools.com/en-us/Modules/Company/PressReleases.aspx?ID=312703
Paul Craig
I have just bought 2 x 5Ah genuine Makita batteries ($279 for two) specifically to use on my angle grinders, impact gun, and blower. They don’t fit any of them as there is an extra guide piece on the batteries but the Aust Makita site states it should fit all of them.
See link for impact wrench
http://www.makita.com.au/product-page/item/dtw450rfe-18v-mobile-impact-wrench
Unbelievable!!!! The whole point of high capacity and expensive batteries is for the high load tools
For a faithful Makita lad with 12 18V tools its an incomprehensible screw up on the manufacturers part to sell an incompatible battery. At a minimum they should highlight EXACTLY which tools they work with or they will lose even more ground to genuine competition like Milwaukee
NERemodeling
Makitas 5ah is scheduled to hit the US this month, Nov 2015
Darryl
Hi just bought myself 2 5amp makita batteries they run my 36v rotary hammer drill beautifully, but alas i need them to run my angle grinder, recip saw, jig saw etc etc. i have over twenty makita skins thats a lot of money and makita have thrown compatibility out the window, i have shown loyalty to makita but this makes me want to sell it all on ebay and buy milwaukee with 5year warranty. i did contact makita but never got one sensible reply obviously they are all budding politicians.
Paul
Well i just went over to Makita from dwalt and batterys dont fit some of the tools because of a pin, Shame on me for this going back to dwalt. BIG mistake on my part for thinking Makita finaly got there shit together,did some research on this just the fact they are not inner changeable there fired ….piece of shit what pisses me off is this isnt said on any of boxes or nothing said and no .one in the store knows about this.
Paul
I still don’t see why people get so worked up over this. Cut off the little tab on the bottom of your older tools and the new batteries work. Plain and simple. What other company can give you new state of the art batteries that work just fine with 10 year old tools? No one can. The fact that we can use them in the old Makita tools by just cutting off a little tab is great! Quit whining! The new batteries are a huge improvement over the pre star batteries. Thanks Makita!!!
Adam
They get worked up because something so simple & prevent so much aggravation, isn’t widely known. I was always under the impression they wouldn’t work until your post.
I cant remember exactly what I was working on, but I had o call the company for assistance. The rep responded so nonchalantly to “just do this, and it will work.” Well it did work, but why couldn’t whatever I asked that this person knew off the top of their head, just be included in the manual. No phone call, saved labor, happier customer.
Either Makita should sticker items that may potentially be a problem if they don’t want people modifying their tools, or explain to people the modification.
mattman
The tab is, as mentioned above, to avoid older tools without some of the electronic safety feature being used.
I cut off the tabs but i guess i should only use the 5 amps while i charge up the 3 amps as batteries are not cheap.
But thats not what annoys me. What annoys me is that makita put the tab there years ago in preparation for this. How did they know they were going to have better batteries in future ??? because they planned all this years ago.
ShockingDave
I fully agree with you, Mattman. I have the old style Makita toolset that I used when I was an electrician. I am now retired and continue to use my tools in woodwork and other hobbies. I feel that Makita is trying to force me to buy new tools even though they are still running.
Well I am looking at a Makita 4Ah battery at $168. The 4Ah means the battery can deliver 4 Amp hours of current at 18Volts for $168. Now there is an aftermarket 3Ah battery made to fit the old style non star LXT Makita power priced at $29. OK now do the math, 4 amp hour for $168 or buy 2 aftermarket 3 amp hour (total 6 amp hours) at $58. And I do not have to cut the tabs either.
OK my bank account likes it and Makita gets nothing.