18V power sources are pretty awesome. They’re smallish accessories that slide right into your Li-ion battery pack, and provide USB ports for charging your electronic devices in a pinch. They come in very handy.
Dewalt offers one, and so does Milwaukee, and now Makita has come out with one as well.
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The Makita ADP05 18V USB power source has 2 USB ports that can each deliver up to 2.1A of power, independently. In other words, the Makita 18V power source can deliver up to 4.2A of total current output when both ports are connected and active.
A belt clip on the top of the power source is a plus, and allows for easy portability. But, it also adds slightly to the size. I don’t think I would want to attach a high capacity battery pack to my belt, due to the weight, but it’s good to have the option.
One feature missing from this Makita power port is a built-in battery fuel gauge, which should have been easy to implement. Makita has only recently come out with batteries that have built-in fuel gauges, and so a fuel gauge on this power source would have been very handy, not only for when using it as a power source, but for checking the charge level of batteries on the go.
Even so, the lack of a battery fuel gauge doesn’t make this any less of a must-have accessory.
If you’re a Makita 18V user, you’ll probably want to pick this up.
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Adam
Not a Makita-boy myself but the dual 2.1A outputs is something I wish the Dewalt variant had.
Travis
I am in for one. I have yet to purchase the DeWalt variant but I could definitely use it. Not sure why I haven’t purchased it yet. I just looked up the DeWalt specs:
DeWalt DCB090: 1.5A of USB power, split between both ports. If 2 devices plugged
in each device receives roughly .75A of charging power. But it does have a fuel gauge. Come on DeWalt. Why did you go so cheap on us?
Makita ADP05: 2 USB ports that can each deliver up to 2.1A of power, independently but no fuel gauge. Win…Win for this device. Nice work Makita.
Rusty
I wish ryobi would come out with one.
Jon
Hey Ridgid, come join the charging party!
Ralf
Certainly wish the M18 line would step up to this as well. The M12 outputs 2.1A while the M18 puts 500mA! Seems a little backwards on the outputs…
James C
The Fall 2014 and later revisions of the M18 power source output 2.1A from the USB port. It was the previous revisions that were limited to 500mA. Milwaukee has done a poor job advertising this important change. But don’t take my word for it, read the back of the packaging or check out the most recent Amazon/YouTube reviews.
Ralf
They certainly have! Just found a pic on Ebay that was of the package and sure enough it lists 2.1A output. Checked on Milwaukee’s page and it still shows 500mA. Good to know though as I might pick one up now. Thanks!
Rami
Is DCB090 still the current model from DeWalt? I think they are coming out with a new model called DCB091 because I saw one on a fair last autumn. Maybe it was some kind of prototype because it had different model number and it also had a some kind of round port on the side which seemed to give 12v according to the label ( I am not sure what kind of portit was, I am not good with electronics)
Nick
That’s for the heated jacket.
Stuart
Nick’s got it right.
The DCB091 has the heated jacket power port, the DCB090 is the USB port-only device that’s sold separately.
The DCB091 comes with all of the heated gear and as far as I’m aware it’s not sold separately.
Jeff @ Tool Box Buzz
One of our other editors used this at the Makita booth yesterday because his iPhone was dead. By the time we were done talking to Wayne his phone was at 48%. It is a sweet little unit.
Nathan
thought the dewalt model did 1 amp per plug. not sure though. I suspect they might update theirs. Surprised Milwaukee hasn’t.
Equally surprised other companies haven’t jumped up on these. Every power tool battery family should have a version.
ALso for the cost – I bought one just for emergency use at home. IE major power outage. 18V, 3AH battery will change up my phone and the wifey’s phone at least 3 times without too much issue. and I always have my batteries in some state of charge over 50%.
Adam
I think it makes sense for each brand to have one, but I find it more useful for the other accessories to include the port. My Milwaukee M12 & M18 lanterns both have 2.1amp chargers on them. The M12 speaker has one as well.
A dedicated charger only would be smaller, but I’d rather have more utility out of the device. Maybe put an LED on the charger. Not like the lantern, but more like one you would find on a keychain.
Nathan
I’d agree with that too – but I liked that I didn’t have to buy some other device just to have a usb power port. it is small and compact and I keep one in the house. I do love that the charging stations now seem to keep a usb on them. I don’t need it but it’s nice to know it’s there
Mark S.
I wish Ryobi would do this, seems up their alley. I seem to recall they once had a charging radio similar to Dewalt or Bosch, think it’s been pulled or discontinued for about 2 years though.
Rusty
The small Bluetooth radio has a charging port but it’s really slow.
Randy
I have two additional Makita 18v products that have the USB feature; The excellent LED Latern / Flashlight, DML807, and the Heated jacket.
I do not know the power output of each. I have only used it conveniently on the jacket to top off my phone while carrying it In my pocket and it did charge surprisingly fast.
mizzourob
this is the one pseudo tool that was missing from the Porter Cable 18volt lineup before they killed that off for 20Volt Max*. I have been thinking of getting the 20VMax* DeWalt USB adapter and gutting it to retrofit into a 18v Porter Cable battery status indicator.
Creighton
B&D makes one that can be “nipped” to fix Porter Cable 20v max
Creighton
fit not fix*
Steve
I keep waiting for one of these brands to create a “power station” that takes an 18v battery and had both usb out and 12v out.
Jim Felt
I bought this months ago. It obviously works. I’ve never times it with my iPhone or iPad so I can’t address the recharging rate. Just one USB port. Not two though.
But it works and is darned convenient. Tiny too.
Bosch BHB120 12-Volt Max Battery Holster/Backup for Bosch Heated Jacket
sund
Metabo also have one which works on 14-18v.
https://www.metabo.com/com/en/machines/cordless-devices/cordless-power-adapters/pa-14-4-18-led-usb-600288000.html
Stuart
That’s really cool – it also has a built-in LED flashlight!
It also plugs into Metabo’s heated jacket. Metabo makes a heated jacket?
Sund
They do,indeed. A very European looking one :
https://www.metabo.com/com/en/machines/cordless-devices/cordless-heated-jacket/hja-14-4-18-m-657009000-cordless-heated-jacket.html
Adam
There are knock-off cheapo Dewalt USB adapters which claim to have 2.1A output. Not sure how confident I would be using one though!
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTA0WDE2MDA=/z/qZ0AAOSwHnFVoWRY/$_57.JPG
Chad
Once during a week long ice storm I needed emergency power to charge my cell phone. I used my meter to verify the polarity of my Dewalt 18v batteries and the terminal on my cell phones car charger. I used a couple of jumbers to connect the two and even though the battery supplied a couple volts higher than the car chargers 14-15v input it worked fine to recharge my cell phone a couple times during the outing.
Now, I have the Dewalt adapter so I don’t have to kludge quite so bad.
Benjamen
I don’t know if it’s a low sales volume for these type of devices, or if the companies are afraid if the price point isn’t high enough people will start thinking of their tools as cheap, but all of these type of devices made for power tool batteries are at least 2x the price they should be.
I’ve bought really good 4.2A (2x 2.1A) car chargers for less than $10 You can use almost identical circuitry for stepping down from 18V and the cost is probably less than $1 if your volume is in the 1000s. So pretty much 100% of the price is in the plastic molding, marketing, and profit.
My point is that these look attractive because they use the batteries you already have, but you can buy a USB battery power pack for a lot less and it’s going to be way smaller and lighter.
Brandon
I think the convenience is a factor. Most people (at least those who are reading this site) probably keep their power tool batteries charged up and ready to go. Then, in case of emergency, all you have to do is plug it in to your phone. With a separate USB battery pack, it’s one more thing to have to worry about keeping charged.
Stuart
Maybe it’s partly about volume, partly about what users are willing to pay.
Nathan
while true – where can I buy a battery pack that has 18V x 3 Ahr = approx 54Wh of power.
to do that with a 5V nominal brick pack I need at least a 10800mah pack. they exist sure. But I now have to keep it charged, I have to occasionally discharge and and check it’s ability.
I have 5 tool batteries in my garage most of the time – they are all in various states of charge but also in use rotation. I have at least one 3ah pack near full capacity all the time. IE I have them because I have the tools so they are a sunk cost.
Thus the usb adapters are a nice feature in general. Do I keep a Dewalt pack and the USB widget in the car at all times? No. I have one of those smaller battery pack devices – but it’s way less than 10800.
Nate
Don’t leave a battery plugged into the dewalt one when your not using it. It killed one of my 18v compact batteries dead, i could not revive it.
Nate
Correction, 20v
Chris
18v in the U.K… also you can ‘jump’ start these batteries again