Not quite the 'maker spirit' but perhaps a little more pragmatic
How to charge the Ryobi 18v and 40v batteries directly from solar
- Thread starter Eric P
- Start date
namesgolden
Solar Enthusiast
Not quite the 'maker spirit' but perhaps a little more pragmatic
true, but I pick my battles. it would be a fun hack, but in the end it's not necessary.
Metalophile
Analytical Chemist
I have a Ryobi lawn mower, weed eater, and leaf blower. I have charged them from my modest solar system consisting of 150watts of panels, two 6v flooded lead acid golf cart batteries in series, an MPPT charge controller, and a 400w modified sinewave inverter. I read somewhere that the Ryobi batteries are actually 10s - so actually have a nominal voltage of 37 volts, and they should have a maximum voltage of 42. Beyond that I don't know anything about the charging circuitry. I do know that those battery packs are easily "bricked", so when I do yard work I only use a battery half way, then I take a break, put it on the charger, then grab the next battery (I have 3). I feel the batteries - if they are getting hot, I let it rest and cool and move on to the next battery. I think if you drive these things too hard - that is probably when they get bricked. I have heard some people have success taking bricked packs and finding some way to reset the BMS and get them to work again. It would be interesting to reverse engineer the chargers and figure out how to charge more directly off of solar.
namesgolden
Solar Enthusiast
I've been soldering leads to the main pos and neg and charging with a mpt-7210a
There's room enough in the case for a xt60 probably
Battery hookup has some 40v packs for $6 right now. Get a dozen and learn.
Attachments
Metalophile
Analytical Chemist
Yes, they're sold out right now. I saw them, but didn't buy any right away. Next thing you know they're sold out. Brand new those cost an arm and a leg. If they get these again you better believe I'll grab a dozen.
namesgolden
Solar Enthusiast
Keep checking I see them go in and out of stock often.
I snagged 78 different packs, maybe 15 of the 40v.
schmism
Solar Addict
100% have a normal solar system (pannels, SCC, inverter) and plug the off the shelf battery charger into it. The stock chargers have built in montiors for battery overtemp/under temp, for other battery faults. im not going to fuss over a few wasted watts and risk frying my $100 tool battery. If the few watt are that much of a concern, Id throw another 100w pannel at the system. its way cheeper than a $100 power tool battery.
I feel this idea that we have to try and skimp on every watt of solar we produce, this isnt the 80's anymore where every pannel output watt cost you $10 or $20. Stop worrying about a few lost watts and just add another pannel. (yes i understand there are times when this isnt possible, if your talkign about van/RV roof space, but that wasnt the use case here)
Chris Nafis
New Member
Here's an adapter for Ryobi batteries that I made to be 3D printed ( https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/39638-ryobi-one-18v-battery-charge-adapter-for-solar-pow ). I figured out how to put the Ryobi batteries into charge mode. I have used a Victron solar charger to charge them (
) and I have used the Megasolar folding solar panel's 20V regulated output to charge the battery directly (
)
pollenface
Solar Addict
I have a makita 18v brushless chainsaw in my camper trailer and 12vdc powered makita charger. Works a treat.
Ryobi has one too.
Ryobi P131 One+ Portable Dual Chemistry Lithium Ion or NiCad Vehicle Charger : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement
Ryobi P131 One+ Portable Dual Chemistry Lithium Ion or NiCad Vehicle Charger : Amazon.ca: Tools & Home Improvement
www.amazon.ca
pollenface
Solar Addict
Yeah I noticed that on the OP.
I have eight batteries for my Dewalt cordless tools. Most of them are 5amp with the oddball 4amp. Those are the 20v batteries. I have a 60v 9amp battery also. I charge them in my trailer using the Dewalt charger connected to my Xantrex 1000 watt MSW inverter. I do that during the day so that the solar is providing power instead of the batteries. I'll sometimes charge the batteries off of the inverter that came in my F-350.
When I'm on the trail in my side-by-side, I bring my Dewalt sawzall and chainsaw with plenty of batteries so I don't have to recharge. Only once have I gone through all the batteries. There were so many trees blown down across the trail that it was going to take all day to clear a 1/4 mile of the trail, so we called it a day and went elsewhere. If we had a gas chainsaw we would have run out of fuel long before we cleared enough of the trail to make it worthwhile.
I like to keep things simple. More batteries. But I might get the Dewalt 12v Vehicle Battery Charger so I can charge from the port in my side-by-side. The charger would have been useless in the above situation since the temperature was in the 20's. The charger would have told me to pound sound if I tried to charge a battery in those temps.
When I'm on the trail in my side-by-side, I bring my Dewalt sawzall and chainsaw with plenty of batteries so I don't have to recharge. Only once have I gone through all the batteries. There were so many trees blown down across the trail that it was going to take all day to clear a 1/4 mile of the trail, so we called it a day and went elsewhere. If we had a gas chainsaw we would have run out of fuel long before we cleared enough of the trail to make it worthwhile.
I like to keep things simple. More batteries. But I might get the Dewalt 12v Vehicle Battery Charger so I can charge from the port in my side-by-side. The charger would have been useless in the above situation since the temperature was in the 20's. The charger would have told me to pound sound if I tried to charge a battery in those temps.
It has been great to see all the responses and ideas. I wanted to share what I was trying to do and mention a new product from Ego that might help. First, I ended up buying the Sherpa 100AC Power Bank from GoalZero.
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/sherpa-power-banks-and-accessories/sherpa-100ac-power-bank/
It has a 100-watt AC inverter that I was able use to charge my Ryobi 18v (9 Ah) and 40v (1 Ah) batteries using their respective AC chargers. The Sherpa battery needed at least a 50% charge and good sun for a few hours to make it work. I also had to upgrade to the Nomad 100 Solar Panel.
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/portable-solar-panels/nomad-100-solar-panel/
On a clear sunny day in direct sunlight the maximum I would get out of the Nomad solar panel was 62 watts. Charging my 40v 1Ah battery would push the Sherpa Power Bank inverter to its limit and the fan would run as it would get warm. Ryobi has at least a 7.5 Ah battery now and its charger uses several 100 watts so it would not work with the Sherpa Power Bank. I would have to upgrade to something larger.
Now Ego has their Nexus Power Station which looks interesting.
https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/
They also have a Solar Panel Charger that says is coming soon.
https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/
Ego also has a 10 Ah battery out now so you can connect 4 of them to their Power Station. In combination with their Solar Panel Charger, you can charge the Ego batteries directly from solar. There are two issues I see with the Ego Power Station. One, its kind of bulky. I wish they would make it smaller and lighter and easier to move around. Look at the Ryobi Power Station as a comparison.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/40v-1800-watt-power-station
Second, which is a much bigger issue in my opinion is that the inverter on the Ego Power Station cannot be used while its charging. That can be very frustrating especially when charging from the sun. Apparently, the software on the Ego Power Station can be upgraded with a Firmware Update so its possible that they could change this in the future if there is not a hardware issue that would prevent it.
The Ego Power Station is $499, and each 10 Ah batter is $449 so if you got 4 batteries that would be $2,295. It’s getting a bit expensive. Hey everyone needs a hobby right?
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/sherpa-power-banks-and-accessories/sherpa-100ac-power-bank/
It has a 100-watt AC inverter that I was able use to charge my Ryobi 18v (9 Ah) and 40v (1 Ah) batteries using their respective AC chargers. The Sherpa battery needed at least a 50% charge and good sun for a few hours to make it work. I also had to upgrade to the Nomad 100 Solar Panel.
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/portable-solar-panels/nomad-100-solar-panel/
On a clear sunny day in direct sunlight the maximum I would get out of the Nomad solar panel was 62 watts. Charging my 40v 1Ah battery would push the Sherpa Power Bank inverter to its limit and the fan would run as it would get warm. Ryobi has at least a 7.5 Ah battery now and its charger uses several 100 watts so it would not work with the Sherpa Power Bank. I would have to upgrade to something larger.
Now Ego has their Nexus Power Station which looks interesting.
https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/
They also have a Solar Panel Charger that says is coming soon.
https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/
Ego also has a 10 Ah battery out now so you can connect 4 of them to their Power Station. In combination with their Solar Panel Charger, you can charge the Ego batteries directly from solar. There are two issues I see with the Ego Power Station. One, its kind of bulky. I wish they would make it smaller and lighter and easier to move around. Look at the Ryobi Power Station as a comparison.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/40v-1800-watt-power-station
Second, which is a much bigger issue in my opinion is that the inverter on the Ego Power Station cannot be used while its charging. That can be very frustrating especially when charging from the sun. Apparently, the software on the Ego Power Station can be upgraded with a Firmware Update so its possible that they could change this in the future if there is not a hardware issue that would prevent it.
The Ego Power Station is $499, and each 10 Ah batter is $449 so if you got 4 batteries that would be $2,295. It’s getting a bit expensive. Hey everyone needs a hobby right?
Yeesh...It has been great to see all the responses and ideas. I wanted to share what I was trying to do and mention a new product from Ego that might help. First, I ended up buying the Sherpa 100AC Power Bank from GoalZero.
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/sherpa-power-banks-and-accessories/sherpa-100ac-power-bank/
It has a 100-watt AC inverter that I was able use to charge my Ryobi 18v (9 Ah) and 40v (1 Ah) batteries using their respective AC chargers. The Sherpa battery needed at least a 50% charge and good sun for a few hours to make it work. I also had to upgrade to the Nomad 100 Solar Panel.
https://www.goalzero.com/shop/portable-solar-panels/nomad-100-solar-panel/
On a clear sunny day in direct sunlight the maximum I would get out of the Nomad solar panel was 62 watts. Charging my 40v 1Ah battery would push the Sherpa Power Bank inverter to its limit and the fan would run as it would get warm. Ryobi has at least a 7.5 Ah battery now and its charger uses several 100 watts so it would not work with the Sherpa Power Bank. I would have to upgrade to something larger.
Now Ego has their Nexus Power Station which looks interesting.
https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/
They also have a Solar Panel Charger that says is coming soon.
https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/
Ego also has a 10 Ah battery out now so you can connect 4 of them to their Power Station. In combination with their Solar Panel Charger, you can charge the Ego batteries directly from solar. There are two issues I see with the Ego Power Station. One, its kind of bulky. I wish they would make it smaller and lighter and easier to move around. Look at the Ryobi Power Station as a comparison.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/40v-1800-watt-power-station
Second, which is a much bigger issue in my opinion is that the inverter on the Ego Power Station cannot be used while its charging. That can be very frustrating especially when charging from the sun. Apparently, the software on the Ego Power Station can be upgraded with a Firmware Update so its possible that they could change this in the future if there is not a hardware issue that would prevent it.
The Ego Power Station is $499, and each 10 Ah batter is $449 so if you got 4 batteries that would be $2,295. It’s getting a bit expensive. Hey everyone needs a hobby right?
Sounds like just building the will prowse economy solar generator would be a far better plan...
mountainbuck1
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2021
- Messages
- 1
Very simple solution get the ryobi 40v battery charger. (not the rapid charger) Cut off the 110v power supply get a
MPPT Boost Solar Panel Battery Regulator Charger Controller 24V-72V $40 on eBay connect it to your solar panel and set the charge controller output to 41.7v connect the power supply cord coming from the ryobi charger to this adustable voltage solar controller output and you will have a Solar Roybi 40v battery charger.
Um… I do not believe this would work…
Short_Shot
Solar Addict
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2021
- Messages
- 1,823
Yeah 24-72 does not mean adjustable output.
I’m charging my 18v Ryobi directly from the sun, I’ll take some pics and tell you how I’m doing it.
For that to work, it would have to interface with the BMS in the battery.
I have a few of them disassembled if anybody wants to take a crack at figuring out the BMS communication…
or, I guess, you could directly connect to the main positive and main negative in the battery… but those are the explodey cells… and I do not think it wise…
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