Ryobi now offering Lithium batteries

[JThiessen]

Originally Posted by BrianG

I think you should pick up a pack and do some exploratory surgery. Or, better yet, just wait until someone at rcgroups does it...

I would, but I'm like a bull in a china store when it comes to soldering electronics! I can weld almost anything, but for some reason when it comes to electrical stuff, I fall flat on my face.

Serum
but 18V is halve the power of 36V; that 99 bucks, is that for a charger AND the battery?

Its for (1) battery and (1) charger. So hopefully, just the batteries will be quite a bit cheaper. I doubt if they will have A123 quality, but until they are tried, one never knows.

I do see one potential problem for Ryobi in this venture. They are making the new batteries backwards compatible with the old Nimh/Nicd tools, meaning the new Li packs will plug into your existing tools. Which also means the batteries will also fit their old chargers - which arent intended for Li charging......

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by JThiessen

I would, but I'm like a bull in a china store when it comes to soldering electronics! I can weld almost anything, but for some reason when it comes to electrical stuff, I fall flat on my face.

lol, I guess that would be a problem. Not too many people weld their batteries.

Originally Posted by JThiessen

I do see one potential problem for Ryobi in this venture. They are making the new batteries backwards compatible with the old Nimh/Nicd tools, meaning the new Li packs will plug into your existing tools. Which also means the batteries will also fit their old chargers - which arent intended for Li charging......

They probably incorporate a circuit in the pack that simply cuts the charge at the end of the CC phase eliminating the CV phase. Similar to how the lipodapter works.