In Fact, There Is a Way to Combine Batteries for Your Cordless Tools.

When choosing cordless power tools , it might seem like you can simply buy the best option that suits your needs. But there’s a major problem that makes this much more difficult (and expensive) than it should be: battery incompatibility. By design, you can’t simply insert a Ryobi battery into a DeWalt tool and expect it to work. Beyond engineering, using proprietary batteries allows companies to create a kind of mandatory brand loyalty, forcing you to stay loyal to their line of tools unless you want to buy a whole new set of batteries for each new tool.

If you’ve been building your cordless tool collection for a while, you might have accumulated four or five different chargers and numerous batteries cluttering your workspace. And this clutter can be costly , as you end up buying more chargers and batteries than you would need if the batteries were interchangeable.

But, as it turns out, this is partly true. In fact, you can use batteries from different manufacturers—you just need the right adapters.

Adapters allow you to change batteries of tools of different brands.

There are two types of battery adapters to consider:

• Adapters from different brands allow you to use batteries from one brand in a tool from another brand (for example, DeWalt batteries in Milwaukee tools ).

• Voltage adapters allow you to use a battery with a different voltage than the tool is rated for (for example, a 20-volt battery in an 18-volt tool ).

These adapters are a fairly simple solution to the problem of battery system incompatibility. For example, if you have a lot of DeWalt tools, you can buy a Milwaukee tool without a battery (which will be cheaper) and simply use the adapter to connect one of your existing DeWalt batteries.

Of course, these batteries weren’t specifically designed for these tools, so there may be some compromises. While the tools’ performance was generally similar (and some tools even performed better with different brands of batteries), some tools (such as grinders and some circular saws) experienced a reduction in power and performance when using an adapter. However, you may not notice this if you’re just doing simple DIY projects around the house.

Another important point: you may lose some functionality. Some tools are designed to interact with the battery to regulate power consumption and extend its life, and using an adapter will deprive you of this functionality. But then again, if you’re just using the drill for basic repairs, this may not be a big deal.

Universal adapters are a good solution if you have adapters from different brands.

If you own a lot of tools from different brands, buying multiple adapters may not seem like a big improvement over your collection of batteries and chargers. In this case, consider, for example, the Ceenr PDNation universal cordless system, which includes an 18-volt battery and a range of adapters for use with a wide range of power tools, including well-known brands like Ryobi, Milwaukee, and DeWalt.

For example, you can buy a battery with an adapter for DeWalt tools , and then purchase a second adapter for the same battery that will work with Makita tools . This means you can use one standard battery system for almost any tool you buy (it’s not a completely universal system, since you’re dependent on the range of adapters available, but it’s probably close enough to standard for most people).

As with other adapters, there may be some loss of performance when using a universal adapter, but overall this probably won’t be a big issue if you’re doing DIY work rather than working professionally on a construction site.

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