DeWalt constructed a battery that modifications voltage once you transfer it between instruments

I’ve two battery fleets in my storage. Ryobi 18V packs run my drill and the influence driver, and my Ryobi 40V packs run the trimmer and the blower. Neither one matches the opposite’s instruments. That break up is regular throughout cordless manufacturers, and it is a huge a part of why the battery is the real business for all of them.

DeWalt took a unique route again in 2016 with FlexVolt, a pack that delivers 20V in a drill and 60V in a desk noticed with out you touching a factor. Slide it onto a unique device, and it reconfigures itself. The concept nonetheless appears intelligent a decade later, although the label hides some math that catches consumers off guard, and the design carries a couple of prices DeWalt does not promote.

One pack holds two batteries’ price of wiring

Fifteen cells, organized in three teams

A normal DeWalt 20V MAX pack strings 5 lithium-ion cells in a row to achieve 20V at full cost. A FlexVolt pack holds 15 cells, break up into three of these five-cell strings. How the strings join to one another decides the voltage.

Wire the three strings facet by facet, in parallel, and the pack nonetheless places out 20V, however with 3 times the capability of a single string. Chain them finish to finish, in sequence, and the voltage triples to 60V whereas capability drops again to that of 1 string. The cells are an identical in each circumstances. Only the trail between them modifications.

That’s the entire trick, and it is good previous electrical engineering at its greatest. What DeWalt added was a technique to make the swap occur inside a sealed pack, 1000’s of instances, with no enter from the particular person holding the device.

No change, no app, no setting to overlook

Nothing on a FlexVolt pack helps you to decide a voltage. DeWalt reduce the battery slot on its 60V MAX instruments to a unique form than the 20V MAX slot. Push a pack into the 60V model, and that form nudges the contacts inside over to sequence. On a 20V device or a charger, the contacts keep in parallel.

Because the device’s form does the selecting, there is not any technique to feed 60V right into a 20V drill by mistake. That’s a unique security downside than how DeWalt and Ryobi handle battery protection, nevertheless it follows the identical philosophy of placing the choice within the device.

DeWalt additionally sells 120V MAX instruments, similar to its 12-inch miter noticed, which take two FlexVolt packs directly and stack them to achieve corded-level voltage. It’s the identical packs with a 3rd configuration.

The label math journeys individuals up

A 6Ah pack can also be a 2Ah pack

FlexVolt packs are available in 6Ah, 9Ah, 12Ah, and 15Ah sizes. Those numbers describe the pack at 20V solely. Move the 6Ah pack to a 60V round noticed and it behaves as a 2Ah battery. The 15Ah monster turns into 5Ah.

The pack did not shrink. Multiply volts by amp-hours and also you get 120 watt-hours both manner, whether or not that is 20V at 6Ah or 60V at 2Ah. A 60V noticed attracts its energy with extra voltage and fewer amps, so the wiring runs cooler and a tough reduce bogs the motor much less.

Shoppers who evaluate amp-hours throughout voltages typically get this flawed. It’s the identical lure behind the battery game all three big brands play, the place one printed quantity not often tells you what the device receives. Watt-hours is the truthful comparability, and DeWalt prints it on the pack in small kind.

Where the design prices you

Heavier, pricier, and choosy about course

All these further cells add weight. Hang a FlexVolt pack off a compact 20V drill and the stability goes straight to the underside of the grip, which will get previous quick once you’re driving screws right into a ceiling. Plenty of DeWalt house owners find yourself with slim 20V packs on the drill and FlexVolt on the saws and grinders for precisely that cause.

Compatibility additionally runs in a single course. FlexVolt packs energy 20V MAX instruments, but abnormal 20V MAX packs will not run 60V MAX instruments in any respect. Anyone who buys a 60V desk noticed as a naked device and expects current batteries to work is in for a second buy, and FlexVolt packs sit on the prime of DeWalt’s value checklist.

Then there’s the pink plastic cap that ships on each pack. Carriers cap lithium batteries at 100 watt-hours apiece, and the cap retains the three strings disconnected so every counts by itself. Toss it and the pack turns into tougher to mail or fly with.

Ryobi house owners like me are nonetheless carrying two chargers

FlexVolt solves an issue I reside with each weekend. A useless 40V pack in my trimmer will get no assist from the six 18V packs on the shelf. Ryobi’s mixed charger tidies up the bench, however I’d nonetheless personal two units of batteries. With DeWalt, the pack that ran your drill all morning can go on a desk noticed after lunch. That issues most if saws, grinders, or yard instruments are in your checklist, so rely it once you decide a platform. Check watt-hours earlier than amp-hours, purchase a few small packs for the drill, and do not throw away that pink cap.