A couple of weeks ago, Metabo announced a new 8-port battery charger, the ASC Multi 8, order number 627291000 (USA: 627301000). It’s an 8-port charger that can charge up to (8) Metabo 18V or 36V Li-ion battery packs, simultaneously.
Yes, so that means parallel charging of up to (8) 14.4V to 36V battery packs. A sales flyer promotes it as being:
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World’s first and only charger that charges 8 batteries at the same time. This becomes the power source [for] your cordless metal fab shop!
It features a robust aluminum case, wall-mounting keyholes, and air cooling for each battery pack. There’s a carry handle for easy transporting, and on/off switch.
An EU product listing says that the charger can handle the 680 watts needed to charge 8 batteries at once. The charge rate is 3.0 amps, meaning a 1.5Ah battery is fully recharged in 30 minutes, and a 4.0Ah battery pack in about 80 minutes.
Another source, the sales flyer I mentioned previously, says that it can recharge a 2.0Ah battery pack in 30 minutes, and a 7.0Ah LiHD battery pack in 120 minutes.
Price: See Below
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First Thoughts
This looks like a compact and tidy way to charge up to 8 Metabo battery packs. It looks like a great solution, and has some user-friendly features, such as the on/off switch and handle, which I can’t seem to find an image of.
It looks to be a convenient product for very heavy users of Metabo cordless power tools. It’s more compact than 8 individual chargers, and probably more efficient too. Maybe quieter?
The batteries are air-cooled, with “Ultra-M Air-Cooling technology,” which the sales flyer says “accelerates charge on hot batteries and considerably enhances the life of battery packs.”
The fact that it can handle multiple Metabo battery pack voltages is a bonus.
I was very excited about the new multi-charger. But then, in preparation for this post, I looked up the price. If you hadn’t clicked the Buy Now link above, I’ll save you the trouble. It’s a THOUSAND DOLLARS. $999, to be precise.
Update: On 8/23/2019 we noticed the price was increased to $1099 at some dealers.
A single Metabo charger is priced at around $60, sometimes less. Individual users might be better off coming up with a DIY solution. You can buy 8 chargers for around $480 or less, leaving a $520 or greater price difference for a mounting board or box, and some kind of cable management solution.
But I can’t criticize the price too much. This looks like a specialty made product made in low quantities, and it likely requires new custom parts and assemblies. That means it probably costs a lot more to build than 8 individual chargers.
For an individual user, the price might be ridiculous. But for a commercial user, the features and benefits might justify the cost. I’m playing devil’s advocate here because I know how pricey specialty tools and equipment can be, and how there are reasons a substitute – especially a DIY solution – cannot be used.
I’ve found that Metabo, like some other higher-end and specialty tool makers, doesn’t design around price, they design around functionality and quality. It seems that this is perhaps a strong example of that.
It’s a good-looking charger, but I’d like to see a lower price point. To be fair, I don’t think I have any need for an 8-port parallel charger; I think a smaller 4-port charger would be better suited for my needs.
I’m sure Metabo didn’t randomly decide to build this as an 8-port charger, and that commercial users who could use the charger close to its full potential wouldn’t mind the price so much.
As a final comment on the price – this could be why brands don’t come out with certain tools that users ask for. I guess I can appreciate that Metabo came out with a product I’m sure some of their users have been asking for.
I was shocked when I saw the price, and am expecting the same from many of you. But in finishing up this post, I’m drawn to a question. Would it have been better if Metabo decided NOT to offer this product based on price projections? I don’t think so.
In other words, if lower pricing simply wasn’t an option, would it be better if Metabo decided not to come out with this 8-port charger at all?
Update: Another product listing says it’s ideal for medium-sized and large industrial companies and large trade companies. Hopefully this puts the price in more perspective.
WAIT, did I just say the charging time would be 120 minutes for a 7.0Ah battery pack?! What 7.0Ah battery?
Oh, this one. The one that’s casually listed on Metabo’s website. I’m also seeing what’s described as a “Superfast” charger. More on this soon.
Jared Richael
I cannot imagine anyone ever needing this. Unless your build a house and have several employees all using several tools at once. Even then. I just don’t think it’s a winner idea.
Sam Stenerson
For a larger company this could be very practical, especially if everything is cordless. A four man framing crew I worked with had four chargers and were still using a fair amount of corded tools. A commercial crew or large shop can easily have several times that.
pk
Two dewalt inverters cost less than one of these and you will be able to charge 8 batteries at once and still have 2 inverters to use when the power goes out. $1000 is a crazy price for what you get
fm2176
This ^^
Though I suppose that this will fill a niche market somewhere.
Jason. W
Can someone tell me how to pronounce “metabo”
Aaron
Meet-aye-bow
Stuart
Met – ah – bow?
I’ve also heard it Met-abow, but it seems awkward to me.
Chris
In our shop we have always pronounced it “meh – ta – bow” with a bit of an emphasis on the second syllable.
Rob
It’s “Meh tah bow” around here, but I’ve definitely
heard “May tah boo” in some of their European promo videos.
Brand names get localized pronouciations just as most other borrowed words.
Nathan
I will disagree with the statement of it being a well designed charger but I’m going on the semantic of design vs engineered. It looks like someone took a ready made AL parts box then shoved some electronics in it and then tacked some plastic receptacales on it. As oppeosed to it looking like a custom made, built device for consumer sale. (had it been yellow, Red, or Blue it would have been rounded and angled and molded to look like one piece.)
failing that sounds like a well engineering product for a large outfit that uses a number of tools. I could see some contractors might want that on a truck/van for the job site.
Does this also turn around and power corded tools – doesn’t look like it does but looks can be deceiving. Does it charge faster with fewer batteries attached to it? IE it’s current limit is X so if you had 4 of the 4.2AH batteries on there it would charge faster than if you had 6.
And I think they should consider a 4 port version for the people that think this is too much but need to charge a few packs at once.
Between ideas I have to say I prefer Dewalts answer because it’s more useable to me. And I could see it being more useable to a shop/contractor on site.
ca
I was going to say this looks like something someone cobbled together in their basement.
Stuart
True , but how much heat is this putting out when all charging bays are connected?
It looks like the charging ports are new moldings.
It might have been too costly to go with a custom plastic or metal enclosure.
I have nothing wrong with brands using off the shelf parts where it makes sense to do so.
ca
For $1000 dollars I expect a little more. They could’ve just bolted 8 of their $60 charges to piece of aluminum plate and essentially had the same product.
Chip
My southern insticnts tells me it’s mu-tah-bo…..cheereo lads!
taras
For pronounciation, think “METABO-lism”.
Alick
For applications, think of an industrial fabrication shop with half a dozen guys all cleaning up large castings or dressing the welds on structural steelwork using cordless grinders.
In a production setting, you may not want the clutter of separate chargers, extension cords are bad news and H&S means that the cost of someones time to make and test a one off is way more than a couple hundred dollars.
fred
Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but we had a whole line of chargers on shelves in a tool room of a workout center. They’d be charging batteries overnight for the next day’s work. If Makita had made an 8-port (or even more) charger – we’d likely have bought some.
Matt
Agree with Alick. A shop with 10 guys, welding/grinding/welding/grinding all day long. You don’t want to have 16 chargers lined up on a wall. You will also need 16 outlets- causing guys to walk all over the place in order to find a full battery.
One guy unplugs one charger to fill up his iPhone- oops, sorry for the dead battery!
The wall/desk real estate saved, the outlets freed up- they all add up to more production time in a shop. At our work sites we will often have 6-10 chargers going to keep batteries fresh, but finding 6-10 outlets when in the field can be next to impossible at times. This would definitely be worth the money for an industrial shop. Yes, we could engineer our own, but our engineers are paid to do other work, and their time is worth way more than the 1k here.
Stuart
Great insights, thank you!
Iron-Iceberg
The real question to me is not price just for the unit, but rather the fact if I read this right it would draw 24 amps. Most home or even business circuits are 15-20 amps. So you would need a dedicated circuit with at least 25 amps to run this. Just more to add to the expensive case.
Stuart
3A at 18V (or 36V?) is the output.
One listing I found said 680W total, which would be a little over 6A on a 110V line. Giving it a 30% cushion, that’s still just 8A.
Iron-Iceberg
Ok, I just thought that is why the Milwaukee chargers, charge in sequence. The 6 battery one I have 48-59-1807 really only charges 3 battery’s at the same time and I thought that was because of the amp draw.
Jim Felt
We’ve build similar looking devices, all with hard wired countdown timers for auto shutoff, several times to organize charging “stations”. Sometimes wall mountable sometimes for benchtop use.
But we have two or three folks who love to build odd things for odd uses.
And I can’t pronounce it either. Maybe if they sold more in the states?
Stuart
That would be pretty sweet – to combine some chargers and add in a visual display of charging cycle.
Even nicer would be a DIY version of this Metabo charger, but with each one being a different charging bay!
None of that would likely be passable on an OSHA-overseen jobsite, but might be an interesting challenge.
I sometimes trip up in pronouncing Metabo too. I default to Met-abow, but am pretty sure it’s Met Ah-bow.
JoeM
I thought Ryobi released an 8 port charger for their One+ system a few years back?
https://www.ryobitools.com/power-tools/products/details/18v-one-plus-6-port-supercharger
(Okay, I was wrong, it’s 6 ports, but still… it’s not “The First” here..)
If not for the MASSIVE lawsuits I’d incur in doing so, I would love to buy a few different DeWALT Li-Ion Max System chargers, and do exactly this with them. 4-8 12/20/Flex ports, 2-4 8V Max ports.
But, if I did that, I’d probably get sued by DeWALT. Don’t like that. Don’t like having 4 different chargers either, but, to make a charging station is cost-restrictive right now.
Stuart
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/ryobi-18v-6-port-battery-supercharger-p135/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
That Ryobi charger only charges 1 battery at a time.
JoeM
Ah… My bad again… I should really shut up and stick to my DeWALT stuff, shouldn’t I? All I know is there’s a Dual-Port charger I want from DeWALT, and I’d love to build a total system charger for myself at some point. IF I knew DeWALT wouldn’t sue me for doing so.
Raoul
I opted for 5 DeWalt yellow fast chargers on a single outlet 20amp circuit. These draw 4amps and put out 8amps each and are by far the fastest way to charge DeWalt batteries. The only reason I would opt for a single multi bay charger is if it had the ability to charge faster. 680 watts shared for 8 batteries just isn’t going to cut it.
jet
What color is it.
Stuart
Green and silver?