wilburpan Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 I have a Hitachi 4 piece cordless tool set, and one of the nice things about it is that it comes with a cord with one end that plugs into the battery charger and the other end that plugs into the battery slot on the tool. This way you can still use the tool in corded mode while a battery is charging. Corded mode also gives me a little more power. The Woodworking Show came to town this weekend, and I had a chance to look at the current Bosch, Dewalt, and Makita cordless tool lineups, and it seemed like none of them had this kind of adapter for their battery chargers. It seems like this would be a useful thing to have, as you may not want to wait until your battery recharges to use your tool, or your spare battery might be in use (think flashlight), or you could use the extra power at times. Does any cordless tool brand come with this sort of adapter today? And can anyone think of a reason why you wouldn't want this sort of adapter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryangel69 Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 That is/was a Hitachi exclusive design. I have never seen any other company attempt it. Nor do I believe Hitachi still makes manufactures that product. Might be wrong about that, but I have not seen one for sale in at least six years. It was part of a four pack combo kit with massive three amp hour batteries. This was bigger than any other company at the time. It is what forced Dewalt and Makita to upgrade their batteries. It was really good idea, but most of the ones I see still have that adapter in the original package. It plugs into their 20 min charger, and I speculate that is the real issue. Why pull out that massive cord when your battery will be ready in a few minutes. It was their first big attack at the "big boys". To get their name out there. They changed their battery design within about two years, and most of the newer batteries will not fit that sawsall and circular saw. It's like a history lesson that nobody really wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted March 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 Hi Chad, Thanks for the history lesson! Your description exactly fits my Hitachi cordless tool kit. My tool kit is a little over 6 years old, and has 3 amp 18V NiMH batteries, and charges a battery in about 20 minutes. The way I look at it, waiting 20 minutes is still waiting 20 minutes if your battery isn't charged. I have the two batteries that came with the kit, and sometimes I needed them both at the same time (using one tool and the flashlight). Also, there have been times when I was using the circular saw or the reciprocating saw and I appreciated having the extra oomph that corded operation gave me over running the tool off the battery. Of course, this probably means that I should just get corded circular and reciprocating saws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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