kornomaniac Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 Found something new online. Hitachi Presented a multi voltage battery in Japan much like the flexvolt. Can be either a 18v/5amp battery or a 36v/2.5 amps. A new impact driver and circular to benefit from the multivolt batteries in 36v modus. Seems they are completly compatible with everything. http://www.homemaking.jp/product_info.php?products_id=167033&osCsid=1a7f521fc2fbc6e167da0136d206cb05 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrich1 Posted August 25, 2017 Report Share Posted August 25, 2017 Awesome!Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 This is pretty cool. Love to see mean green head over this way in strength too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jronman Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 all tools get 36v power? or is there 36v specific tools that can work in 18v mode if needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousJoe Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Wish milwaukee would do something similar. They say they are waiting for new cells for their 18v batteries but doesn't that mean that whenever these new cells are abailable that someone like dewalt could also put these news cells in their flexvolt batteries and still keep the advantage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kornomaniac Posted August 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 1 hour ago, AnonymousJoe said: Wish milwaukee would do something similar. They say they are waiting for new cells for their 18v batteries but doesn't that mean that whenever these new cells are abailable that someone like dewalt could also put these news cells in their flexvolt batteries and still keep the advantage? DeWalt already has newer cells.20700. If rumours are true Makita and Milwaukee are waiting on 21700 cells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabee Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Love that they FINALLY decided to have a friggin' battery gauge on their batteries. Is this going to come to the US, though? Hitachi still has a LOT of higher-end brushless tools that have yet to become available in NA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jronman Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 9 hours ago, kornomaniac said: DeWalt already has newer cells.20700. If rumours are true Makita and Milwaukee are waiting on 21700 cells. 21700 would make flex even bigger than the 9.0 which would seem like a bad idea considering it is already big enough. I think DeWALT should wait for solid state battery tech. If Makita is going 21700 then x2 may start outperforming Flexvolt. They are already pretty close in performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jronman Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 3 hours ago, aabee said: Love that they FINALLY decided to have a friggin' battery gauge on their batteries. Is this going to come to the US, though? Hitachi still has a LOT of higher-end brushless tools that have yet to become available in NA. Most Makita tools have a gauge on the tool. Guess you have 2 ways to check battery life now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stercorarius Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 33 minutes ago, Jronman said: 21700 would make flex even bigger than the 9.0 which would seem like a bad idea considering it is already big enough. I think DeWALT should wait for solid state battery tech. If Makita is going 21700 then x2 may start outperforming Flexvolt. They are already pretty close in performance. Only by like 5mm at most Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kornomaniac Posted August 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Well in theory 3 mm higher and wider would be enough. Maybe the big flexvolt battery already has that 3mm spare inside the casing if DeWalt thought it trough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kornomaniac Posted August 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 13 hours ago, Jronman said: all tools get 36v power? or is there 36v specific tools that can work in 18v mode if needed? 36v specific tools it seems. The battery can fit either 18v or 36v but you can't fit an older 18v on the 36v tools I think I get out of the japanese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jronman Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 26 minutes ago, kornomaniac said: 36v specific tools it seems. The battery can fit either 18v or 36v but you can't fit an older 18v on the 36v tools I think I get out of the japanese so closer to flexvolt than x2 I guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kornomaniac Posted August 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Linda exactly like flexvolt but then in 'normal' size battery with a Max of 36v. Anyone have an idea of the flexvolt idea is patented in us/EU ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Surely you can only patent the name and not the tech? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwain Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 Sick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabee Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 On 8/26/2017 at 11:10 AM, Jronman said: Most Makita tools have a gauge on the tool. Guess you have 2 ways to check battery life now. Hitachi's premium brushless tools have a two-bar gauge. Better than nothing but still not as helpful as a 3 or 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 All manufacturers should use five bars, four green and one red. It'd cost nothing to implement and give far more accuracy on battery state. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jronman Posted August 28, 2017 Report Share Posted August 28, 2017 44 minutes ago, Tug said: All manufacturers should use five bars, four green and one red. It'd cost nothing to implement and give far more accuracy on battery state. would a readout of the battery percentage be possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted August 29, 2017 Report Share Posted August 29, 2017 8 hours ago, Jronman said: would a readout of the battery percentage be possible? Easily done, but far too expensive. Then there's the issue of durability, most people I know are quite heavy handed with their kit, I can't see screens on batteries lasting long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jronman Posted August 30, 2017 Report Share Posted August 30, 2017 On 8/29/2017 at 1:52 AM, Tug said: Easily done, but far too expensive. Then there's the issue of durability, most people I know are quite heavy handed with their kit, I can't see screens on batteries lasting long. could it just be made out of the same material as the fuel gauges are made of? That soft plastic stuff? Maybe it would have space for 3 digits like what you would see on a digital clock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted August 31, 2017 Report Share Posted August 31, 2017 7 hours ago, Jronman said: could it just be made out of the same material as the fuel gauges are made of? That soft plastic stuff? Maybe it would have space for 3 digits like what you would see on a digital clock. I guess that's possible, but they're always going with the cheaper option. I think you'd need at least one manufacturer to start including that and then hopefully others would follow suit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aabee Posted August 31, 2017 Report Share Posted August 31, 2017 I'm really excited for this as I believe Hitachi's as good an overall power tool manufacturer as anyone when you include their pneumatic tools and miter/table saws into their cordless mix (the Triple Hammer is the best cordless tool out there IMHO). This is like a hybrid of Makita's X2 and DeWalt's FlexVolt and will hopefully result in some fantastic new stuff from Team Green! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmz2084 Posted September 2, 2017 Report Share Posted September 2, 2017 On 8/26/2017 at 8:31 AM, kornomaniac said: Found something new online. Hitachi Presented a multi voltage battery in Japan much like the flexvolt. Can be either a 18v/5amp battery or a 36v/2.5 amps. A new impact driver and circular to benefit from the multivolt batteries in 36v modus. Seems they are completly compatible with everything. http://www.homemaking.jp/product_info.php?products_id=167033&osCsid=1a7f521fc2fbc6e167da0136d206cb05 The new tools include: An impact driver that has 10%+ driving speed and longer run time compared to the the 18v Triple Hammer impact(with 6ah battery) A 6.5" circular saw with twice the cutting speed of their 18v brushless circular saw. 4" and 5" variable speed grinders with nearly twice the power of their 18v brushless grinders. A 6.5" sliding mitre saw. More about the first multivolt tools here: http://www.hitachi-koki.co.jp/powertools/pro/multivolt/ https://www.youtube.com/user/HitachiKokiChannel/videos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMack37 Posted September 2, 2017 Report Share Posted September 2, 2017 On 8/26/2017 at 4:21 PM, Tug said: Surely you can only patent the name and not the tech? Likely patented the way of disengaging the 60v connection or the way of mechanically switching between voltages. I think they'd issue those patents but you'd likely not be able to patent differential voltage in a battery...but I've heard of more asinine patents getting through. It also is probably limited to the power tool category, so if there is a different industry that could benefit from the tech it should be free game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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