Let nobody say that owning and operating a toolbox, whether for personal crafting endeavors or professional contracting work, is cheap. Stocking your cabinet with name-brand tools like Makita is appealing from a functionality perspective, but as with pretty much any other business sector, name brands mean hefty price tags. Just getting a single rechargeable Makita battery pack will set you back $157, and even the cheapest Makita tools aren't exactly bargain bin deals.
A helpful solution would be to
use that high-quality battery in tandem with simpler, more affordable tools, such as those sold by the various in-house brands of hardware retailer Harbor Freight. Those brands use rechargeable batteries as well, so there must be some manner of connection. Unfortunately, due to legal, economic, and practical factors, Makita's batteries are not natively compatible with any of the brands sold at Harbor Freight. The only possible way to circumvent this limitation would be to use a third-party battery adapter, but putting a chunk of unlicensed hardware between your expensive batteries and tools may cause more problems than it ends up fixing.
Read more: 7 Harbor Freight Icon Tools That Are Worth Buying (And 3 To Avoid)
Makita's Batteries Cannot Be Used With Harbor Freight's Brands
Harbor Freight has a variety of power tool brands beneath its proverbial banner, including Bauer, Hercules, Warrior, and Atlas. Despite technically being store brands, each of these brands uses its own proprietary connectors and technology for its battery systems and tools. This, unfortunately, means that there is no interconnectivity between these brands, nor any other name-brand power tool system like Makita.
The chief culprit behind the lack of compatibility between these systems is the various power terminals and connector rails they use. Every brand's battery uses differently-shaped terminals to deliver power, as well as differently-shaped rails to lock onto a tool's receiver. For example, if you take a look at the top of a Makita 18V 5Ah battery pack, you can see its connector has a deep indentation, with seven small terminals delivering power in tandem. A Bauer battery, meanwhile, has a more traditional comb-shaped top with six notches separating its terminals. If you tried to plug a Makita battery into a Bauer tool, the terminals wouldn't even come close to connecting, and power wouldn't flow. Due to the stark differences between the connecting rails used by the two batteries, it's unlikely you would even be able to properly snap the battery onto the receiver in the first place.
There Are Battery Adapters, But Using Them Can Cause Problems
There are more than a few power tool users out there who aren't particularly satisfied with the exclusive nature of power tool batteries, whether it's Makita's, Harbor Freight's, or any others. For this reason, there's an entire unofficial sub-industry of third-party companies making adapter devices designed to facilitate a connection between two otherwise incompatible devices, with such devices sold on platforms like Amazon. If you wanted to use a Makita battery with a Bauer power drill, for instance, you could attach a specialized Makita-to-Bauer adapter to fully link the Makita battery with the Bauer tool's receiver.
However, all hardware brands are major sticklers when it comes to using genuine branded hardware, and it's not just for legal reasons or to keep you in their systems. Within every rechargeable power tool battery, besides the actual battery part, is a circuit board that helps the battery to deliver its power in a safe, optimal manner. If you attach an adapter to a Makita battery, that circuit board is bypassed to facilitate a power transfer, removing its safety protocols in the process. You'll get power, but it could be either far less power than that Harbor Freight tool needs to function properly, or far too much power, which ends up completely burning out the tool's motor.
Using any kind of third-party accessory is considered a violation of Harbor Freight and Makita's warranties, which would normally be one of the major selling points in Makita's case. As such, if your batteries or tools are damaged due to the use of an unlicensed third-party adapter, neither Makita nor Harbor Freight will offer you service or replacements.
Want the latest in tech and auto trends? Subscribe to our free newsletter for the latest headlines, expert guides, and how-to tips, one email at a time.
Read the original article on SlashGear.
