18 v tool battery charger system

[blusnood]

I'm new here, thanks for the addition. I'm an old retired carpenter/woodworker etc. who has forgotten everything I ever knew about electricity except maybe some obsolete factoids so please bear that in mind. I'm currently on a single mission which is to find the most affordable way to charge tool batteries via pv. Specifically, 18 v Makita up to 6AH. My idea is it might be best to build a system that would run the 120 v makita charger. My simple vision is photo cells and an inverter but like I said I'm dumb as a box of rocks here. I haven't even looked at the amps required for the 120v battery chargers I have, forgive me there. Blazing speed isn't a factor but I suppose the 120 v charger has a bottom limit to be able to function? Maybe I'm dreaming but I thought I once saw a Makita factory set up for this but the price was remembered as astronomical. Any good advice and hardware specifics will be appreciated, thank you in advance.

 

[45North]

Dc- DC is best to save on conversion losses.
Mebbe Makita has a 12vdc "car charger"?
(Dunno, sorry. I'm a Ryobi guy)

 

[740GLE]

Unless you have a high speed rapid charger (or dual charger), they don’t draw more than 500w, so any 1000w pure sign wave inverter will handle a charger with ease.

Also the charger you have will have ac input and dc output spec listed might be current, but simple math will get you the watts.

Btw not to many stand alone inverters can handle direct Pv input. Now if your looking a small power station like Jakery or what not, those have Pv input, a small internal battery and a small inverter all in one little box.

 

[Andrewr05]

If you are unfamiliar with and don't want to learn too much about electricity, just pick up a $200 power station and get one or two 200W solar panel(s).

That will charge any and all tool batteries.

EcoWorthy 200W solar panel

Bluetti AC50B 448Wh Power Station

Total of about $270.

 

[blusnood]

Dc- DC is best to save on conversion losses.
Mebbe Makita has a 12vdc "car charger"?
(Dunno, sorry. I'm a Ryobi guy)

Makita used to have a 12v car charger at least back in the day, likely they have an 18v now, dunno but I'm leaning more toward pv at this point. Thanks!

 

[blusnood]

Unless you have a high speed rapid charger (or dual charger), they don’t draw more than 500w, so any 1000w pure sign wave inverter will handle a charger with ease.

Also the charger you have will have ac input and dc output spec listed might be current, but simple math will get you the watts.

Btw not to many stand alone inverters can handle direct Pv input. Now if your looking a small power station like Jakery or what not, those have Pv input, a small internal battery and a small inverter all in one little box.

I looked on the chargers and you're in range. Single battery charger needs 240w and 2 battery charger 470w. That's for a 15 minute normal charge rate which I expect is better for the batteries than high speed. I'm having to force my analog brain to want to learn this stuff but I'm starting to think maybe I'd be as well off to size a system for more purposes than just my original plan. I suppose an inverter needs a charge controller? I assume the 120 v chargers would require consistent input as well?

 

[45North]

It is for PV. You use it with 12vdc so you don't need an inverter.

 

[blusnood]

If you are unfamiliar with and don't want to learn too much about electricity, just pick up a $200 power station and get one or two 200W solar panel(s).

That will charge any and all tool batteries.

EcoWorthy 200W solar panel

Bluetti AC50B 448Wh Power Station

Total of about $270.

Once I was somewhat familiar with electricity but my reptilian brain doesn't willingly go there any more.. Stuff changes faster than my ancient brain enjoys. And, I hate to say, but tech stuff bores me pretty bad but then there's reality where I must deal with it, I can't afford to hire it out. That's a nice bit of specific hardware info, thank you very much. I'm already sensing the possibility where mission creep might be appropriate here, maybe a small battery set up for the household might be in order as well.

 

[MPPT Mike]

This has a PD 3.0 input/output:

Robot or human?

You can use that to charge the battery, and supply the charger with any MC4 to PD adapter

 

[teal95]

I've only dealt with them a minimal amount but a Jackery or Ecoflow, as someone already mentioned would probably work well for what you're after, as long as it's only for a couple of chargers.

If you have any thoughts of growth you probably should be looking at an AIO. Look at some of the portable builds that people have done that go on a hand truck or wagon.