Over at Instagram, the fabulous Murray Kruger (@krugerconstruction) posted a short video of a Makita 18V 4-battery backpack.
The prototype backpack is loaded up with (4) Makita 18V Li-ion cordless power tool batteries, and can supply power to their 18V or 18V X2 tools.
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On the side you can see a built-in fuel gauge.
Murray says that it’s surprisingly light on the back, and I agree with his assessment that it will open up doors for longer runtimes!
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Neat, right?
Obviously, a cordless battery backpack power supply like this will have its uses. It won’t be practical, for example, to use it to power an impact driver.
When you’re dealing with multi-battery setups, swapping batteries from tool to tool can get tedious. A battery backpack like this can eliminate some of those frustrations.
Perhaps there will be future Makita technologies that can benefit from the combined power of (4) 18V Li-ion battery packs. A concrete breaker?
Not only does this add a cord to cordless power tools, it tethers them to your body. This will have benefits for some tools, but could be a hindrance for others. Outdoor cordless power tools, such as blowers or chainsaws, can possibly benefit from an off-tool power source configuration. An LED area worklight? Not so much.
I like that Makita is trying out new technologies, and am eager to see how they intend it to be used. What other new tools might they come out with that could tie in to this one?
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Evadman
It would be cool if you could just take the backpack off at the end of the day and plug it directly into the wall to charge those 4 batteries.
Joe framer
Excellent idea
Chris
Is that a 3D printed battery dock or injection molding?
I can make out what appears to be tooling marks but the picture doesn’t have a lot of resolution to work with (was it considered a super early prototype, or is this closer to the final product?).
I also noticed the taped on tool tag (makes me think it’s still early production), or it could be to hide information.
The dock also appears to be detachable from the backpack.
DLRC
It’s a prototype. It looks 3d printed. I’m sure if it makes production, it’ll be injection molded. Probably have rubber overlays. And have a little more “Flair”
Brian A
Weird… Useful maybe for some.
Crazy times we live in that we are turning cordless tools into corded tools….
Agree they would be idiots if the final product didnt plug into a wall to charge the backpack.
Nathan
I wondered how long it would be before someone made a thing like this. Stihl/husqvarna have their OPE version and I’ve tried it and mostly like it.
Dewalt should take notice of this for their OPE 40V system. (2 batteries not 4 but similar idea)
But Yes larger tools makes alot of sense. OPE, Rotary Hammers, Concrete saws, etc.
Might work for some smaller tools too though – like a Recip while doing a large demo job. Battery would outlast the blade or even 4 blades easily.
maybe not a drill or driver but you know – maybe. Say you want to do something away from easy power source. Keep this around as our overall back up.
I could also see a rescue unit using something like that and some of the more powerful handheld lights – for longer durations. Cave exploring with one of those bigger dewalt handhelds – and a setup like this – you wouldn’t worry about the battery dying for a long time.
MichaelHammer
Yeah like days. A 1 1/2 oz head lamp lasts 100 hours.
John D
They allllmost made it. The blower backpack holds two batteries… It makes me wonder why they didn’t add a third switch position to run them in parallel. Even without running at 80V you would benefit with parallel batteries. The blower really slows down halfway through the runtime with one battery.
fred
I recall that a few of us had speculated about putting batteries in a backpack, or on a tool belt to use with some power-hungry cordless tools. It might free you from needing “mains-power” at the jobsite – or a need to run an extension cord – or generator. It certainly beats trying o power a tool that you need to use at arms-length with something like a wrist-breaking 12Ah battery. Just another option – and having options are good. Bravo Makita.
Tony H
I just picture a cyborg with saw in one hand following it up with a vacuum in the other.
Nate Bezanson
Better to have the weight on my wrist than on my back, but really, I’d prefer to have the extra batteries sitting on a table somewhere!
I didn’t comment on the chainsaw thread, but if I had, it would’ve been something like this: With combustible-fuel chainsaws, a tank that supports all-day runtime doesn’t weigh that much more than a tank you need to refuel every hour or two, so it’s harmless enough. But a day of battery is enormous, and you’d be much better off keeping that much power in smaller packs, and swapping them so only a fraction of it is hanging from your arm at any given moment.
That exact same sentiment applies here.
To some extent, having more battery on the same tool lets the individual parts not have to “work as hard”, which (due to Peukert’s exponent and similar factors of chemistry) can actually get more energy out of the same battery. So going TOO small can be bad, not just because the tool feels underpowered, but because the battery’s overtaxed. There’s a sweet spot.
On the other hand, I feel like if you need 4 batteries to achieve acceptable power on a tool, the individual batteries are underpowered and you should move to a larger system. And I see Makita’s goal of having one battery that does everything, so people don’t need to buy into another special-snowflake system that’s incompatible in every way except color. So it’s cool if this lets you use the same old 18v packs for tools that we’d traditionally think of in the 36v/40v class. But I would not do it just for runtime’s sake, that just means I’m carrying extra energy and chemistry that could be holding down the floor until I’m ready for it.
As for an area worklight? Totally! Take off the backpack, slump it in a corner with the light, enjoy longer runtime without having to swap packs so often. That’s a fine use. Just so long as I’m not wearing the excess.
Nate Bezanson
Oh dangit, for an edit button. Flip the sense of the first sentence. Ah well.
Stuart
I don’t see the problem, but if you tell me exactly what you want changed I can edit it.
MichaelHammer
He meant to say he’d rather have the weight on his back than on his wrist.
PHILIP JOHN
All very good points. But I dont agree about the light. I believe Milwaukee and dewalt with 2 larger bats that slide on and hybrid is a better option for a light.
And of course 1 bat on the tool is better.
curtis
One small battery on a light is good if it gets moved a lot but the option to set a light up on a scaffold or something similar with longer run time and no long cords is great as well. We don’t all work in areas with good light and the more options we have the better especially if we are all fighting for mains power on a job. Makita also has an AC/DC light that is more compact.
Adam
I believe it is Still that has a similar setup for their cordless platform this year. It was a video from the fall I watched and all the tools looked super powerful with the backpack setup.
Austin Werrmann
I see this as pretty useless. Who wants to make their cordless tools corded again? Not me. That would make things more cumbersome and heavier. Also their batteries are quite small. I would rather have 2 spare batteries within reach and change them out when a couple are dead. Also I would bet dollars to donuts you would get better run time that way. There has to be some power loss in that backpack.
MichaelHammer
Think about efficiency. You’re paying a guy to blow leaves or edge trim a lawn or jack hammer a basement slab for a new footing, do you want them running back to the truck every 45 minutes for a new battery? Oh, while they are there they’re going to just check their phone “real quick,” update Facebook and shoot out some texts.
JL
Looks cool but inwould have preferred an ac adapter
Alick
Is there anyone around old enough to remember when (I think it was ) Black & Decker Professional sold a drill attached by a 6 foot cord to a rechargeable lead acid shoulder carried battery pack.
This was 40 odd years ago in the day when NiCd cordless drills were just appearing but had lousy power and runtime.
This looks like history about to repeat itself. I wonder what will come along in a few years and leave us laughing at Lithium battery tech 🙂
Boggsy
It’ll be powered by our blood, and we’ll eat all the dust. Robots will get a kick out of it.
Axeman
Is a Backpack power supply really necessary? Out of all of my Makita cordless tools, the only one that I really desire longer runtime is the brushless X2 Blower. However, that possibly could be resolved with a pair of six-amp batteries…
Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of having a four battery power supply, but not as a backpack. I still prefer the DeWalt design, with the integrated fast charger and the compatibility to mount it to their Tough System lineup.
Gordon
This is directed at their “big tools”. People wondering why they need it aren’t using the tools that could benefit from this. Think OPE tools and the new concrete drills.
The Makita blower is really nice but it suffers from runtime issues at max power. Putting 4x 5.0ah batteries in a backpack not only doubles runtime, but it also removes the weight from the tool which should help with wrist fatigue. Ditto for the trimmer, especially a split shaft with the different attachments.
John
It’s a cool idea but seems like a poor implementation to me. All that and you save yourself one battery change? If you look at the backpack, the majority of the volume is taken up with plastic housings, not actual battery cells. What would make more sense in my mind would be to have a backpack with one giant fixed battery. That way it could either have a much, much larger capacity or be more compact. You’d lose the ability to swap batteries but swapping 4 batteries is already ridiculous.
Nate Bezanson
Or a way to use some other system’s 40v batteries on the 2x18v tools…
MacLean
Wonder how that will affect the balance of some of their tools.
I wish Makita would stop throwing more batteries at tools and do what Milwaukee did and make one battery better…
Tuhi
Makita just needs to make larger batteries. Milwaukee is up to 12AH batteries. Makita is still on 6AH! Far better idea. Lighter and 2x12AH would outlast 4x6AH due to the cell design and better run time.
Joe framer
If your in the Makita line, it makes sense. Since they don’t have large ah batteries yet….. Diehard 18v only battery people don’t know what they are missing out on.
Luke Bittner
Only makes sense for a tool you would be using for hours, nonstop. To put the tool down you need to disconnect and carry extra weight on your back for no reason, or take the pack off. Faster and more efficient to change batteries when needed.
The What?
It’s a limited edition Ghostbusters makita battery backpack! And it comes with a corded cordless cord adapter for battery powered tools which is supposed to be cordless but its not. Is this supposed to give you 24ah of battery life? I don’t see the point of this when all makita has to do is make a 12ah battery. Why would anyone want to wear this all day while drilling holes in concrete and then have to take it off to hammer anchor bolts or rebar and then have to put it back on and repeat this process? Talk about a PITA! And having a hard plastic block pressed against your back isn’t comfortable at all. And there’s no telling how much it will weigh. What a great way to make hard work even harder. As if wearing a 20lb tool belt all day isn’t bad enough. They better make sure to include some kind of wheels to go with this or a cord long enough so you can set it on the ground and use it. Nobody is gonna want to wear this thing while working. I’m sure that this will cost considerably more than what you would pay for two 12ah batteries from Milwaukee or Dewalt. And I’m sure that the special adapter isn’t cheap either.
Steven
If they are trying to bring the “cord” back. Why dont they make a corded adapter to power off 110….and not make it cost $200.00+
Nobody wants to carry any more weight on there shoulders than they have to….quite frankly what “cordless” tool would truly require that much battery? Four makita coffee makers!? Hahahah jk
Doresoom
They also have a patent for a 10 battery version that fits in one of their stacking toolboxes:
https://patents.google.com/patent/JP2018174144A/en
It states it can be plugged into the wall to charge in the patent text. Surprisingly it doesn’t include a provision for supplying AC power through an inverter.
JeffE
“Surprisingly it doesn’t include a provision for supplying AC power through an inverter.”
Exactly. I’d buy into their system if they had the equivalent of a Dewalt power station…hopefully at less than $300+.