24hrdoorrepair Posted December 10, 2012 Report Share Posted December 10, 2012 I am looking to convert a milwaukee vacuum that can operate on a 20 volt dewalt battery. I own all of the 20v line from Dewalt. I have eight batteries and always have them charged. It is more practical to keep everything the same. I repair store front doors and need to clean up broken tempered glass at times. I picked up this 0880-20 18 volt vacuum with intension to modify to accept the dewalt 20v. I noticed the two companies batteries are similiar but are slightly off. Was gonna take a dremel to the milwaukee or get a female Dewalt battery socket to accept dewalt 20 volt. What other mods will be needed. I see both batteries have 5 terminals. Looks like outer terminals are positive and negative. I am assuming inner three monitor battery from being drained too far or monitors charging. Any help with this. I know it seem like a lot of bother. But dewalt does not have a 20v vacuum out yet. this vacuum has compartment to fit dewalt 20v no problem. This vacuum will accept two different style slide batteries from milwaukee. If there is a will then there is a way. Need some answers. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjf2 Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 I know this is an old thread but I thought I would put some new info into it regarding the Milwaukee vacuum and its conversion.I am in the process of adding the ability to use this vacuum on 120vac with a power cord. Reason being? My batteries are all shot and I have just stopped using my V18 Milwaukee tools (2 drills, vacuum, flashlight, circ saw, 2 recip saw" and gone to Bosch. The V18 batteries are just too damn expensive - even for simple ni-cad packs and it even costs too much to rebuild them. So here's my conversion story. I checked the vacuum and it appears to draw between 8 and 10 amps. I went looking for a 18vdc power supply and found several. I picked one that had an output current of 40 amps or 720VA (watts) for $50 on eBay because I thought I would use my conversion to power my other tools as well and I figured if any of them have a stall current of more than 40 amps, I'm using them wrong. Of course I had lots of bad batteries so I took one apart and used the top cover which is about 1/2 thick and has the power connector built in. This is my method to connect to the vacuum and other tools and I'm going to make one with a short cord to use with the vacuum and one with a long cord to use with the other tools.. I also found parts for the vacuum on eReplacementParts.com and I bought the "vacuum bottom" for about $15. I havent finished the whole project but I am going to install the power supply, which is about 8.5" x 4" x 2", into the vacuum bottom and, after trimming the sides down, I will attach it to the bottom of the actual vacuum using the same snap latches that hold the real vacuum's bottom on. I'm also going to seal the power supply into the modified bottom so that I can use it as a stand alone supply with my other tools. I'm using a 15 amp 120v twist-loc connector set to connect the adapters to the power supply unit and I'll make the cords out of a 14AWG 120v extension cord - cutting off the ends. I will have to see if this 15 amp setup will work with the other tools. If not, I will have to think about upgrading the plugs and cords. I hope not. **Meanwhile** To address the OPs project... You can find lots of "bad" 20v Dewalt chargers.on the net (eBay?) offered as "for repair or parts" or bad 20v tools in the same condition - this will provide the connector you need to connect to the Dewalt battery. You can also find lots of bad V18 Milwaukee batteries in the same way - this will provide the connector you use to connect to the vacuum.. All you have to do is connect the stripped-down Milwaukee battery top cover to the Dewalt connector removed from a tool or charger. You only need to connect the battery leads which are the two outside pins on the Milwaukee and probably the two outside ones on the Dewalt - a meter will tell you that. By doing things this way, you don't have to hack-up the vacuum and you can still use Milwaukee batteries if you get the chance. This probably won't help the OP but perhaps someone else might find it useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMack37 Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 The one thing you do have to worry about is that I think they have a circuit in the tool and maybe the battery that can tell if it's a Dewalt/Milwaukee battery/tool being used...but yeah, that's how I'd do it. I've seen people use wood as a way to connect the clip portion to the plug portion. Sounds like a nice conversion for your plug-in tool, What's the amperage on the vacuum? I'd be worried about heat if it's drawing near max amps, you could probably use the air coming out the back to cool the power supply with a heat sink if it's an issue. Post some pics when you're done, I know I'd like to see how everything came out. It's nice to see I'm not the only one rigging things up. I had a customer bring in an old radio that didn't work and it needed a power supply. I had to make the plug out of a mono stereo 3.5 cable, then the power supply was a little high in voltage so I had to solder a couple of diodes and a resistor so I didn't burn up any of the electronics. This radio was the customer's Father's radio, he remembered being a kid and listening to baseball games with his Dad...was awesome to help him relive those times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheng Liu Posted February 3, 2016 Report Share Posted February 3, 2016 Can you not just buy a Dewalt vacuum? It's not like they don't make one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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