# Forum Home Renovation Tools & Products  Makita non star and star batteries and relevance to some tools

## lazydays

Just about the two tools I use on every job is my Hammer/Driver Drill and my Impact driver. Its become a bit of a pain to drag out a lead and find on site power for a small grinding job so I have finally bought a battery operated grinder. I know they chew up the power but for the small jobs it will be a lot more convenient.
I did remember when reading a review that you must use at least the 3.0aH battery 
I bought it from Bunnings because I had a couple of gift vouchers from fathers day. Grabbed the box which I have since thrown out but couldn't remeber seeing any warning signs on it that it only operated on certain batteries.
I've now decided to make a case to hold all three tools together and when mucking about noticed that my smaller non star batteries would not fit but the star batteries fit is backward compatible.
Finally saw that the grinder skin has an extra little tab that stops the other batteries from sliding on....no big deal but I thought if the 3.0aH  battery died on a small job I could finish off with a smaller battery, but not to be. 
I even decided to read the Instruction Manual !!!!! Nowhere does it stipulate what battery must be used but confusingly it says....._NOTE: The overheat protection only works with a battery cartridge with a star mark.. _ Hmmm....as I'm typing this I investigated a bit further and on the battery range catologue I noticed the lower 1.5Ah battery has a N code on the end where my battery doesnt and this is the obvious difference to fit the newer tools and I found a youtube hack to make the batterys work. I'm not going to try this but it's annoying when you buy a dedicated brand to fit there dedicated range and they make slightly different changes to the models.
Went to the Makita site and I can't find what the N means...I'll take it as "New"_ _ Also note that the Impact driver is labelled 18V Star but it works fine and accepts the BL1815 battery.
P,S.  the hack is to just cut off the bit of plastic at the beginning of the groove.

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## OBBob

Hadn't notice the different batteries... I'll have to check my version.

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## Bros

Checked my tools and the drill, impact driver and vacuum cleaner have the star but the blower does not.

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## METRIX

Maybe the N stands for NOT WORK IN TOOL

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## cyclic

Phone makita and ask if the batteries you have are half life.
I bought a battery drill from bunnings in 2006 for $200 and turned out it had half life batteries (so the lady told me when I phoned makita) which explained why the batteries only lasted 14 months.
Never bought another makita tool again.

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## PlatypusGardens

Meh 
hack it and make it work

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## OBBob

Mine have a star.

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## lazydays

A bit more research and I wouldn't recommend the hack. It seems the smaller and lighter batteries serve the purpose of keeping the tools lightweight. When used in power hungry tools the power is drawn down too quickly and overheat the battery. Heat is the big enemy of battery life. Hacking the battery to fit will result in overheating and a greatly reduced life span.  *So here`s the basic`s,* *MAKITA MAKE DIFFERENT BATTERIES FOR THE 18 VOLT LXT LI-ION TOOL RANGE,*    *BL1815  -  A SLIM, LIGHT WEIGHT COMPACT 1.5Ah BATTERY* *BL1830  -  A LARGER, FULL SIZED, 3.0AH BATTERY* _The  first thing people assume is that because the BL1815 looks like its  just a smaller version of the BL1830 that it will fit all the 18V LXT  tools.
 This is not correct the two batteries are different and  BL1815 does not fit a lot of the 18 volt tools that makita makes.  This  is simply because a 1.5ah battery in one of the bigger tools, will  discharge very quickly and overheat too easily._ _  When batteries discharge they get hot.  When they discharge really fast they get really hot.
 Heat is the ultimate enemy of a li-ion battery, the more times you get  it too hot the less charges it will accept before failing.
 It`s  difficult not to discharge the 1.5ah battery really quickly since it has  such a small capacity, so not over heating them is a challenge and they  tend not to last very long.
 The BL1830 battery on the other hand  will fit all the tools in the 18 volt range and this is the battery i  recommend to people since it operates every tool and has the largest  capacity. 
 To put it simply the BL1815 is a light duty battery  designed to make some of the smaller tools a bit easier to use and  reduce the total weight of the tool for more precise or overhead work  where a lighter tool will be an advantage.  It couldn`t operate the  bigger tools for long even if it did fit simply because heat would cause  it to fail quickly as it will be regularly overheated.
 Yes i`ve  heard all about removing the lug to make it fit the bigger tools.  I  highly recommend unless you want to be forking out for new compact  batteries in a very short time, that you do not do that.  You will  reduce the life of the battery dramatically.  _

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## Bros

:2thumbsup:

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## Pitto

The smaller battery will cook itself if used with high drain tools such as the grinder and circular saw. Buy some extra 3ah batteries. Can never have enough

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## toooldforthis

sounds like this would apply to other brands too.

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## phild01

I think you become aware of an undersized battery, I strictly use a 4Ah battery in the planer, rather than the smaller batteries.  The power drain is too quick and adverse to battery life.

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## PlatypusGardens

Arrrrr I didn't read the post properly...thought he was talking about them not fitting in the charger, 
oops my bad  :Blush7:        :Tiptoe:  exit stage left

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## lazydays

FYI....Bunnings and Makita 
1) I bought the Hammer/Driver/Drill from Bunnings about 10 yrs ago. I was also doing an annual overseas charity trip and my mate is a manager at Bunnings and got it for me at wholesale price and the two 1.5Ah batterys came with the drill and are still in active service to this day.Can't beat 10yrs service from two small batteries. 
2) The Impact Driver was bought last year when I was sick of buying replacement Ni-Cad batteries for my Bosch Driver. I shopped around and supported my local Makita Distributer who had it at the same price as Sydney Tools and Total Tools but was only 5 minutes around the corner plus I bought the 3 Ah battery off him $5 cheaper than Bunnings. 
3) The Angle Grinder was a no brainer to buy from Bunnings as I had some Fathers Day Gift Cards. I've also noticed that when I first got my Bunnings Powerpass card that it was hit and miss whether you got 5%, 2.5% or no discount at all. Lately I seem to notice that I get constantly 5% discount of just about everything. Even 5% discount of the Makita Grinder.

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## Marc

Don't buy power tools at Bunnings unless you know the model number and it matches with the model number sold at tool suppliers like total tools or sydney tools. 
As opposed to drills and impact drivers that have worked extremely well for decades, the battery driven grinders are a joke. May be OK to cut a nail that is in the way but not for metal work and not for more than 5 minutes. 
Eventually they may make one with a decent motor and a 10A battery but so far, no go.

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## OBBob

> Don't buy power tools at Bunnings unless you know the model number and it matches with the model number sold at tool suppliers like total tools or sydney tools. 
> As opposed to drills and impact drivers that have worked extremely well for decades, the battery driven grinders are a joke. May be OK to cut a nail that is in the way but not for metal work and not for more than 5 minutes. 
> Eventually they may make one with a decent motor and a 10A battery but so far, no go.

  Whilst I know they aren't comparable with corded models and not useful in your heavy metalwork situation, I don't think they are a joke. Mine gets heaps of use for an array of things ... it's particularly good for cutting tiles with a thin diamond disc. The circular saws lack the oomph of a corded unit too but in many situations they are just fine.

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## PlatypusGardens

I can definitely see myself getting a cordless grinder...... 
So many times I need to cut "that bolt" or something else, somewhere away from the shed and powerpoints.....
Would be very handy to have indeed.

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## Whitey66

> As opposed to drills and impact drivers that have worked extremely well for decades, the battery driven grinders are a joke. May be OK to cut a nail that is in the way but not for metal work and not for more than 5 minutes. 
> Eventually they may make one with a decent motor and a 10A battery but so far, no go.

  Have you tried the Bosch Blue grinder with a 6Ah battery?
If you haven't, give one a go, it might surprise you.

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## OBBob

> I can definitely see myself getting a cordless grinder...... 
> So many times I need to cut "that bolt" or something else, somewhere away from the shed and powerpoints.....
> Would be very handy to have indeed.

  They have their place. Whilst they lack the torque, for some tasks it's refreshing not to have to deal with the start-up kick every time too.

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## Pitto

I think you will find the brushless cordless grinders from the main manufacturers have the grunt and combined with a 5-6ah battery. They are hard to beat

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