While it seems like a good idea, it's actually pretty dangerous. If you'll notice, the charger and battery both have additional contacts that mate when the battery is in the charger. The purpose of these are to monitor the individual cells of the battery and the internal temperature of the battery. Lithium Ion batteries have special charging conditions, unlike lead acid and Nickel Meta Hydryde batteries, and they're pretty complex. Also, the fan in the charger isn't to just cool the charger, it also runs air through the battery to cool it while it is charging.
Yes. The small yellow plug is used for balance charging. The charger will be detecting a faulty cell. It could be benign, or it could start a fire. Lithium battery fires are very difficult to extinguish.
The cooling fan isnt needed when charging multiple batteries at once. They share the power with 5 batterys each only got 20% of the amperage no fan needed with that little power.
I dig it. If you are worried about safety of doing this to a full charge, usually a battery will not charge on the charger because of a 18650 cell in the battery below normal cell voltage. If you do this for just a minute or two, the problem cells are usually charged enough to insert back into the charger and charge by themselves again. Clever with the electrical plates for buses.
Untwist your panties guys. The failure point to the Makita battery is they have a circuit that counts the time it has been over discharge. When it counts three times it won't charge it. You can buy a new circuit board and solder it in to recover it. The real danger here is that the charger can't monitor the temp while charging, but the batteries will charge slowly in this configuration so it's not that big of a deal.
This is not the only problem. He is paralleling all the batteries at different charge levels which means there will be very high amperage moving between batteries that they are not designed to withstand. And some of the batteries are damaged which means the undamaged cells in that pack can charge at significantly higher voltages than the weak or defective cells. This is interesting to see someone think is a good idea but not recommended at all, not a good idea at all. If you want to charge your Makita battery that will not charge you can try to bump the voltage off a good battery and then try the factory charger or you can try a third party hobby charger and make sure to watch the charge from a safe distance and monitor the temperature... ONE AT A TIME. Best practice would be to break the battery down and find the low cell and make sure it is only out of balance with the others and charge that one cell to same level as others before pack charging. If you don't know what you are doing there can be fire. Expect it, plan for something bad to happen. Have somewhere to dispose of a smoldering or battery fire. Don't throw water on it. Bring it outside and away from anything flammable and don't throw it in the trash because you can burn down the garbage can or garbage truck.
@@danielcoig1179 Mostly accurate, except for "undamaged cells in that pack can charge at significantly higher voltages", they are all charging at the common (bus) voltage.
Ryobi do a big multicultural charger. You put SIX batteries in it & they get charged in sequence. It also charges the old NiMh cells as WELL. It will still detect & reject any duff Batteries I. The set. It is possible to repair & upgrade battery packs, but you need a bench power supply, to re-ballance cells that have become totally flat. A You-Tuber in Denmark does it.
Bad idea. The battery charger is confused if the cell in battery pack is well balance charge or not. The one mounted will be charged normally but the other pack without sensors of each cell will not charge all the cells balanced. Might damage the cell of the battery pack if charge and discharged continuous
@@thesaltypaultard1271 hey) yeah I chargerd mackita but I have Milwaukee broken battery one of cells is foocked i guess and I just tired to to the same but it didn't change other battery ((((
Great idea, thanks man. I made this this afternoon after seeing your video but only had enough metal to make a bus for two batteries. It worked a treat.
On first sight this looks awesome, ....then on second thought you realise it's amazingly stupid, dangerous and a massive waste of expensive batteries when you destroy them all ....then on third thought, i wonder if Makita have protected the battery packs from over charge, over load, over discharge, and over temperature and protected the charger from over load - This might actually work and might not actually destroy everything - maybe.
Read Ville liske comment and our conversation a month ago. I think he describes potential problems the best. Thanks for participating. Have a great day.
Well, it would be racially offensive to make such a device :) Ok, I am really joking, no offense meant. But such technique of connecting the batteries is known as parallel connection, it keeps Volts same across while splitting the capacity (Ah) across. I use it widely to charge the classic Ni-MH Batteries through a C-type or D-type Adapter, makes it able to charge 16 or 12 at once instead of 4. However with Li-Ion it can really go bad, as those are much less stable and you will bypass the sensor feedback completely, which includes battery internal temperature. Thus there is risk of fire and destroying not just batteries, but also the charger. I would not touch this method, but it was pretty interesting from technical standpoint and I agree that Makita device design could be improved immensely by that.
No problem you bigot lmfao. I have thick skin. Glad you like my ergonomic suggestion. Agree on danger of my technique. If I could influence Makita I would make every charging port "smart" for safety sake and arrange the charger like I did. Have a great day.
@@thesaltypaultard1271 right and wrong. The battery itself has a charging and protection circuit. It is ok for safety. Wrong is the charging won't be as fast as it was designed for charging 5 battery because the charger may not be strong enough to support the constant current mode for five batteries.
Nice idea but The 4 wont charge faster than one by one because the output of the charger is still the same and you don’t have a cooling fan blowing true the battery that’s there for a reason ;)
You can rebuild with new cells but it still won't charge if of the battery is locked. That's the problem with makita is you have to have a new chip to communicate with the charger after the charger locks the battery pack.
lot of makita reps warning not to do this in the comments 😂. come on guys, like we hear about all these instances of portable tool lion batteries burning up from something like this. WE DON'T. quit with the mommy energy.
@@thesaltypaultard1271 hahaha I saw few of them and don't want to read and get upset because of those idiots) Steven dont get disappointed from them. I really think its great idea) if anyone don't like it dont use it)
Not a good idea if you know about batteries (its fine on lead acid but not li-ion), only the other hand a few $12 adapter plates and a basic multi battery delta V monitor you can do it safety. Or best option buy a decent digital battery charger and it does it all for you and does a better job than the OEM ones cause will tell you if a cell if faulty or not
Def risky n dangerous and I'm def no spark I love improvising don't get me wrong but if my charger is telling me my battery is not quite right then I'd simply replace the cells inside with new 18650 cells or I'd buy a new battery
Yes. The cells in these single stacked batteries are in series. Not sure how the factory charger balances batteries in series without monitoring each cell. I have disassembled several manufactured batteries never seen monitoring of individual cells
Why? The cells in these packs are not individually monitored. Every time a single pack is put on the charger you take the chance of doing it yourself. Take one apart I did.
What your effectively doing is putting approximately 500A fuse (give or take - the capacity of the cover plate you used) between 5S battery terminals. If there is even a 0.2V difference in pack 1 and 2 that means that the moment you connect them in parallel you'll have pretty much unrestricted flow of current from pack to another where the one with higher voltage charges the one with lower voltage. Calculating the charge current is pointless. I can tell you that it's way too hight for any cell in Makita batteries. No point calculating the discharge current either, even if that would be alarmingly high it's no-brainer compared to the equal amount of charging current that you're putting in the pack with lower voltage - cells have somewhere 1-2C charge and anywhere from 2-8C discharge, so you'd be frying your batteries by charging harder while you're frying your batteries by discharging.
@@thesaltypaultard1271 I've built from kits and replaced cells in many different battery packs using 18650's in my life. And unfortunately so many of them does not balance individual cell's. Many of them just rely that the cells in series that are not individually available to the battery pack's logic nor the charger are close enough in capacity and current handling characteristics. Makita's 14.4v and 18v batteries are one of those packs that have more than one cell in series. But yeah, I've opened "one" more than a dozen this year only.
@@VilleLiski your the first comment that talked about discharge rate. Help me out honestly just one more time. What is the worst possible/probable situation that can occur?
@@thesaltypaultard1271 Sorry :D the comments came out in wrong order. I somehow messed up one big comment and had to re-write the latter part (beginning with "I've bui.." That sould have been before "What your (oh shit, a typo there also, should have been "What you're") So worst case scenario is that every time you attach batteries in parallel they are killing eachother. First two are fighting just against themselves. But the last battery pack you are attaching in the pack of five has four other batteries against it. So if the last battery you're attaching has the lowest voltage it's charged as fast as the wiring + cells physically allow And that is pretty fast as four batteries in parallel have "unlimimited current" Well not really unlimited, but in this scenario more than even needed to charge one battery. Charging li-ion cell faster that manufacturer have designed it will damage the cell. Every time you see a spark you can tell that something went wrong. So with this trick you're doomed to kill your cells in those batteries way faster than regular mishandling, (charging too hot cells, somehow discharging too much or drawing too much current)
Why don’t you email them, oh wait I’ve emailed them before with a good idea and I get the same response every time Makita USA doesn’t take any suggestions nor do they have the ability to send your suggestions to the company it’s pretty sad... you think of A great idea something simple and easy outside of the box and they look at it as a failure because they didn’t think of it.
Thanks for the comment. I was charging batteries where the control side of battery had failed in a way these chargers won't charge. When the cells inside the battery are good and the monitoring circuit fails
A beep does not indicate a faulty battery. You can change from silent to beeps to several tunes. Read the manual. There are also videos on YT about it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XTQkeLgn6bU.html
Silly me. I have two double chargers cause i have the leaf blower and a single charger that came with my drills. All i had to do was leave two gang covers with current ran through with four batteries on my work bench for 3 hours. I would take this video down if your garage ever catches fire, your insurance company will use it to deny your claim. I have however used 10 gauge wire to jump a battery i lost behind a shelf that the charger didn't read and that actually worked pretty well.
yep you can charge 5 batteries it take 5 times longer, if not longer due overheating charger and unequal battery voltage putting charger into trickle recovery mode. smart thing to do is charge on battery at a time, then you can use one while second charges and so on.
Jeez Louis why did it take Mr Salty Paultard 10 minutes to explain something that could have been explained in 1 minute? All he had do was say "covers for electrical boxes are electrically conductive and just happen to be about the right thickness for sliding into Makita battery terminals. Because they are square, that is, because they each have 4 sides, with only 2 of them can connect 4 batteries in parallel. Plus using the Makita charger itself, you can connect a 5th battery. That's all I would have needed to hear to envision this setup. I would point out that his method for attaching the wires to the terminal on the charger, doesn't seem very skookum. Oh yea, one last thing. How long is it going to take to fully charge 5 batteries this way? Is it going to happen just as fast as charging one battery? Is it going to take 5 times as long as it takes to charge one battery? I'd bet on the latter.
be very carefull, muliple cell lithium batteries have precise charging requirements and the chargers are designed to monitor the groups of cells or even singular cells and charge them to a set voltage. These batteries do not handle overcharging at all, and can explode or catch fire quite violently. The reason the charger is not able to charge the other batteries is either the cells are too far out of balance with each other or are at too low a voltage. It is possible to bring battery voltage up enough by carefull charging from a nicad charger setup then completing the charge with the balanced charger. If a cell has died it will probably never charge from the charger.
superbly awesomely idiotic invention.. do you know what the hell are you doing? ... it is the worst idea ever.. please brother charge them one by one!!!
I hope your batteries don't explode. The chip in the battery prevents you from charging batteries with voltage which has dropped too low, which would be from it reaching the end of its life. Open it up and pack new lithium cells in there.
@@thesaltypaultard1271 that part is sold by multiple vendors. Your voltage looked very strange and I think a few individual cells are bad. You shouldn't have to change them all out, but you'll have to check the voltage of each one, remove, and then resolder the bad ones. Newer batteries have a plastic plug covering the screws on the bottom. Some cells are in parallel, others in series. Keep track of the voltage and Amp-Hours you are dealing with.
I see the logic but not the sense ! You say near the end about having the charger or sorry your multipule charger tell you wether to charge the battery or not but earlier you say about a suicide charger and the single charger has already told you at least two of the batteries are "not safe to charge" ! For me you are bypassing the chargers safety features , makita make a 4 port charger already but unfortunately its far too expensive and only charges 2 batteries at a time before then charging the next 2 and it's also a slow charger ! but they also make a dual charger at a competitive price thats A) safe B) buying two dual chargers is cheaper than buying one 4 port charge C) with two dual chargers you can charge four 5ah batteries in 40-50 minutes ! still an interesting video 👍
suggestion to make this a bit safer of a dangerous process and potentially fix the issue.... 1) find out how long it takes to charge 1 battery alone, charge the batteries using your method half of that time.... 2) find something that uses some electricity like a small fan or 2 in series, hook that up to the battery and let it sit there running a day or 3...... this should in theory rebalance the batteries a bit 3) try charginging them individually as normal, they may work:) 4) avoid fully discharging lithium ion based batteries; if these have a battery meter I suggest recharging when they hit half to a quarter charge:)
I LOVE IT !!! SUCH A GREAT IDEA, THINKING " OUT-OF-THE BOX"....YOU ARE GREAT INSPERATION. And as it said befor - ..I enjoy everything you DID & take your time to show us! I think u are awesome!
Makita sell a 4 battery charger (DC18SF) and a dual battery charger (DC18RD). Also those battery chargers will charge newer LXT batteries much faster than your old charger. Your method does not blow a fan on your 4 batteries to cool them when charging which will reduce their lifespan.
@@avinaftali8595 Not entirely correct. The fan(small squirrel cage) blows directly into the opening of the battery. Possibly to cool pcb inside each battery. Possibly the cells as well.
The makita 4 port charger has a couple of issues ! A) its a slaw charger so a 3ah battery take 1 hour to charge B) it only charges 2 batteries at a time and then when the first 2 are charged it then charges the second two batteries automatically , so it takes 2 hours to charge four 3ah batteries c) its more expensive than buying two dual chargers a dual charger will charge 2 two batteries at the same time and will charge a 5ah or infact two 5ah batteries in 40-50 minutes so you're better off buying two dual chargers
I wouldn't recommend this at all. I see a few comments that this is not a good idea which is great, even if it works in what seemingly is "charging" the battery. A few things mentioned that are concerns are, overall charging levels between different packs. IE, the charger is a "peak" charger and will shut off when detecting the single battery has reached capacity. With multiple batteries, in this fashion, that cannot work correctly which could result in some batteries being exposed to overcharging and some undercharged. This is certainly, other than possibly as a "proof of concept" I would avoid especially with expensive tool batteries and particularly lithium batteries since they can be extremely volatile. Now, I likely think that internally, each cell in a pack is monitored and charged independently. In the RC hobby, this is called balance charging. This helps get the most of each battery charge and also gives the best lifespan of a multicell-pack. I would think it's likely this also is part of the charging process for tool batteries, but I do not know that. I also don' t know, if it is, it might be part of what the circuitry in the battery is for, again I do not know. At any rate, IF BALANCE CHARGING is part of the process and the charger is responsible for monitoring the balance this "proof of concept" also bypasses that circuitry. Basically, unbalanced charging over time will result in the cells voltages varying between each other, again leading to cells that will be overcharged and cells that will be undercharged.
Guy had a point and he showed it which frankly was something “ridiculously-great”, but i’d never relate to that, is there anyone out there would do this n plug’em batteries on buses on a daily basis? Imagine ur self in garage working on this thing and u got ur drink spilled off on it while ur battery herd plugged on that bus! 🤣🤣 situation will get weird! And the main wires attached to the mother battery terminals were loose and literally just pushed n tucked in both terminals. P.s Li-ion cells r very hazardous more than Ni Cd or Ni MH would explode on you or catch fire
