Battery powered weed eater?

wh20crazy

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Oct 29, 2018
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Mods, delete if not allowed. It's time to replace my weed eater. I'm thinking about going battery (coal) powered. I need a two piece shaft so I can use my blower and hedge trimmer attachments.

I need it to be able to run 45 minutes minimum on a charge as I'm doing my yard and my in-laws' yard.

What do y'all recommend?
 
If you need a lot of power, I'd suggest looking into the Dewalt 60V system
However you will need one tool for each item as the blower, weed wacker, and hedge trimmer are all single units, however you'll find the units minus the batteries are pretty cheap.

For a 45 minute run time you need 3 of the 9AH batteries as they will last about 15 minutes each at full bore.

They are rather powerful and you probably won't miss your gas powered weed wacker or blower if you get the 60V ones

They also have a chain saw that goes on the same battery system as well.
 
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I went through this a year or so ago and ended up with Echo 56v trimmer. Does everything I need to do and impressed enough I also bought the Echo 56v chainsaw and blower. Haven't cranked the Stihl trimmer, saw, or blower since.
 
You guys probably all know this, but look for extra/replacement batteries online/fleabay. I finally got fed up with the batteries for my "off brand" drill/saw/worklight kit and bought a couple of Makita drills (tool only). I then shopped online/fleabay for batteries. I paid ~ $50.00 per battery, delivered. The same batteries that either Home Despot or Lowe's (can't remember which) were charging at least $120.00 a piece for. The Makita drills, with battery and charger were still pretty ridiculous in terms of price from HD/Lowe's. Everything I purchased was/is genuine Makita.
 
25 years ago, I threw away my last electric weed eater, and swore I'd never own another one. I wanted a gas powered one, but one I bought earlier, a POS Craftsman, never ran right. So I did some research, and I watched lawn service trailers while I was driving, to see what brand they trusted. 90% of the lawn service trailers used Shindaiwa. (The rest used Stihl or Echo.) I went to a local dealer, who also had a lawn service, and talked with him for a while. One question I asked him was how long the Shindaiwas lasted him, using them for his lawn service. He told me about 5 years. That's using it every day, all day, from March to October, for five years. I did a little calculating, and I figured a Shindaiwa should last me 60 years. So, I put down the money for a commercial grade T270 gas trimmer. Again, that was 25 years ago. I replaced the spark plug in it, for the first time, about 3 weeks ago, only because my son damaged it. Other than that, the only thing I have done is replaced the trimmer head. Summer, winter, it doesn't matter, it will, and always has, started on the third pull. I paid about $270 for it 25 years ago. It was the best money ever spent on lawn equipment. I plan on it lasting the rest of my life. About 2 years after I bought my trimmer, I bought a Shindiawa leaf blower. Same thing. I've never even replaced the spark plug in it. 23 years later, it will start third pull, every time. I will never use anything but Shindiawa lawn equipment. You want a chain saw, get a Stihl. You want a string trimmer, get a Shindiawa.

I know you didn't ask about gas trimmers, but I will never trust another electric one.
 
We picked up one of the RYOBI's at Home Depot last year with an extra battery. I can't lie, it does everything we ask of it. Done screwing around with the gas ones. They're problematic as hell and I hate cranking and cranking on them till I wrap'm around a tree.

my mom has a black and decker cheepie and im here to tell you it works great.
 
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25 years ago, I threw away my last electric weed eater, and swore I'd never own another one.

I know you didn't ask about gas trimmers, but I will never trust another electric one.

If your last experience was 25 years ago, the top of the line modern ones are nothing like the old ones.

If you have a smaller area to keep up more irregularly, the battery powered ones save a lot of hassle.

If you have a much larger area and do a lot more, then you'll like the gas ones instead.

In my case what I prefer with the electric ones is the much lower noise levels.
 

56 volt lithium ion batteries. I have the Ego lawn mower and snow blower and if I was looking for a weed whacker or any other thing that use batteries I'd buy another Ego product in a heart beat. My neighbor laughed at my battery snow blower until I cleared his driveway before he could get his gas powered POS started. He bought one after using mine at 4 am to clear snow and not wake everybody up.

Gas shit is for chumps.

VooDoo
 

56 volt lithium ion batteries. I have the Ego lawn mower and snow blower and if I was looking for a weed whacker or any other thing that use batteries I'd buy another Ego product in a heart beat. My neighbor laughed at my battery snow blower until I cleared his driveway before he could get his gas powered POS started. He bought one after using mine at 4 am to clear snow and not wake everybody up.

Gas shit is for chumps.

VooDoo

The guy at work that turned me onto EGO bought the snowblower before last winter. He loves it.
 
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He bought one after using mine at 4 am to clear snow and not wake everybody up.

Gas shit is for chumps.

VooDoo
You can bet if I'm up doing snow at 4am everyone's going to be up just hearing me bitch about it.
But yeah,electric tools have come a long way in a short time because of good battery development.
 
25 years ago, I threw away my last electric weed eater, and swore I'd never own another one. I wanted a gas powered one, but one I bought earlier, a POS Craftsman, never ran right. So I did some research, and I watched lawn service trailers while I was driving, to see what brand they trusted. 90% of the lawn service trailers used Shindaiwa. (The rest used Stihl or Echo.) I went to a local dealer, who also had a lawn service, and talked with him for a while. One question I asked him was how long the Shindaiwas lasted him, using them for his lawn service. He told me about 5 years. That's using it every day, all day, from March to October, for five years. I did a little calculating, and I figured a Shindaiwa should last me 60 years. So, I put down the money for a commercial grade T270 gas trimmer. Again, that was 25 years ago. I replaced the spark plug in it, for the first time, about 3 weeks ago, only because my son damaged it. Other than that, the only thing I have done is replaced the trimmer head. Summer, winter, it doesn't matter, it will, and always has, started on the third pull. I paid about $270 for it 25 years ago. It was the best money ever spent on lawn equipment. I plan on it lasting the rest of my life. About 2 years after I bought my trimmer, I bought a Shindiawa leaf blower. Same thing. I've never even replaced the spark plug in it. 23 years later, it will start third pull, every time. I will never use anything but Shindiawa lawn equipment. You want a chain saw, get a Stihl. You want a string trimmer, get a Shindiawa.

I know you didn't ask about gas trimmers, but I will never trust another electric one.

That may be true for lightweignt stuff, for trimming around your manicured lawn but if you need a more powerful unit, Stihl still rules the roost. I have an Stihl FS250 thats at least 15 years old and starts on the 3rd pull. Whats nice about it is I can put on a saw blade attachment and cut young oak trees up to 1.5" with one shot. They also make a poly cut attachment that will turn briar bushes into sawdust. Even the string will give you an really nasty cut if your careless. Its all in what you intend to use it for.
 
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I am not so sure about how the batteries would work in maybe a few rows of led's and a back pack of batteries to light them up could work
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But they will eat almost anything and with the right fixings they taste pretty good ... mmmmm gyro
 
Shindiawa got bought out in 2008.

I did not realize that. Did the quality go to crap afterwards? I hope not.


Mine will do all that too Maggot. I just don't have the need to clear brush with it.
I wasn't putting down Stihl. It is fine equipment. I have a MS 391 that I love. Like my trimmer, it will (hopefully) be the last chainsaw I ever buy. I was just stating my observation and experience with Shindiawa.
 
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Do you have cordless tools? Pick the one that can use the same battery you already have a bunch of.

Just got a dewalt 20v cordless. Bought 2 6amp batteries . Works good and if the 6amp batteries die before I finish I can grab batteries from the other tools.
 
Mods, delete if not allowed. It's time to replace my weed eater. I'm thinking about going battery (coal) powered. I need a two piece shaft so I can use my blower and hedge trimmer attachments.

I need it to be able to run 45 minutes minimum on a charge as I'm doing my yard and my in-laws' yard.

What do y'all recommend?
If you are doing "regular yard mowing" weed eating then I'm a fan of DeWalt 60v system. I've used various battery powered yard tools for heavier duty stuff (like taller weeds/brush clearing) and the batter powered ones usually don't last long enough for what I need them for. I personally have both a gas weed eater and a battery powered one. That way I'm not limited by the battery life (replacement/extra batteries can get expensive pretty quick).
 
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We picked up one of the RYOBI's at Home Depot last year with an extra battery. I can't lie, it does everything we ask of it. Done screwing around with the gas ones. They're problematic as hell and I hate cranking and cranking on them till I wrap'm around a tree.
It has surprised the hell out of me to. Got the 40v as it was on sale and had pro rewards coupons that needed to be used. My 20+ year old Husqvarna 322 is just weak as hell now. I bought it thinking it was going to go right back. I bet it's got the power of my 322 when it was new, I bet I get 30 minutes of continuous work out of the battery charge.
 
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I did not realize that. Did the quality go to crap afterwards? I hope not.


Mine will do all that too Maggot. I just don't have the need to clear brush with it.
I wasn't putting down Stihl. It is fine equipment. I have a MS 391 that I love. Like my trimmer, it will (hopefully) be the last chainsaw I ever buy. I was just stating my observation and experience with Shindiawa.
To be honest I don't know. I have never owned a Shindiawa. But they are owned by the same company that makes Echo and any I am damn happy with my Echo products. Shindiawa is marketed as a higher end brand so they should still be good.
 
I too have had shitty experiences over the years with battery operated power tools. I am talking 10 years plus ago (still have a drill from back then, but the batteries are all shit)

I have some friends that convinced me all is different now and to throw out any ideas you once had about battery op tools being under powered and too shitty to be useful like in the old days.

I found a dewalt 1/4" impact on sale, and bought it. This thing has mind blowing power and the batteries run a long time and charge fast. LOVE THIS TOOL

Then I bought into the Ryobi series, 7 1/4 circ saw, drill, brad nailer, air inflator, etc, etc, etc
They are all awesome!

The friend that talked me into going electric has an electric lawn mower and string trimmer etc etc all Kobalt brand from Lowes and they work great.

Pick a bigger name, with a good warranty, find a sale, get one and don't look back.

If my 2 stroke Ryobi string trimmer ever has an issue, I am tossing it and getting an electric one (either Ryobi or dewalt since I Have the batteries)

You can also buy certain adapters that will let you adapt one battery brand to another as long as the voltage is the same.
 
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10 year ago battery products are about like a 10 year old phone. Not the same now. My Ego battery snow blower? My first snow blower...my neighbors all have dual stage gas machines with powered rear wheel all that. My machine I can hang on the wall and pick it up and put it in the truck. Still it uses two 56 volt lithium ion 7.5 amp hour batteries and has quick on, quick off noiseless operation, LED headlights, and continuously variable speed of the rotors.

Seriously these guys laughed their asses off until I literally did the whole street and their driveways in a 2 hour non stop session trying to kill the batteries in a 10 inch snowfall. I wanted to kill the batteries and ended up crippling myself....12' Rooster Tail of non stop snow. It never lugs down. The electric motor just digs in and draws more when it needs more and never slows down.

Blows gas driven machines away *and* this shit is the beginning. Better software, better batteries, all that means more power and longer run time. Gas shit is simply obsolete with the new batteries and motors. My brother bought the chainsaw that uses the same batteries. Blows his gas powered Stihl to shit *and* never lugs down, spills gas, or misses a lick.

The new battery stuff makes the gas shit look like a WWII fighter - they were good in their day but now superseded. When my batteries are dead I grab two more and put the dead ones on the fast charger - one hour later I'm ready for two more hours of snow blowing. Lawn mower? I have 4 batteries now and the lawn mower can cut the lawn 2X on one charge. Same batteries run my 3000 Watt peak/2000 watt continuous Nexus power station that will run my home and fridge and micro for a whole day and can be recharged via solar. Fuck that gas shit. It's over.....

VooDoo
 
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I have a bunch of Ryobi 40V stuff. Little tiller/garden-weasel thing... line trimmer. All work great. But the best is my electric 40V chainsaw. I never thought one of those would be worth a s&*t compared to my Stihl's. But I don't have to mix anything... it runs at the touch of a button. Will cut and cut and cut on a single battery. Would I use one as a logger? No. But for trimming around the farm, limbing, etc. Holy smokes is electric the way to go!

And all the 5 batteries I have... work in all 5 machines. So whatever I am doing, I have enough batteries to never stop. Cigarette lighter charger in truck recharges batteries I am not using... in time for the ones that die.

Just my $0.02.
 
10 year ago battery products are about like a 10 year old phone. Not the same now. My Ego battery snow blower? My first snow blower...my neighbors all have dual stage gas machines with powered rear wheel all that. My machine I can hang on the wall and pick it up and put it in the truck. Still it uses two 56 volt lithium ion 7.5 amp hour batteries and has quick on, quick off noiseless operation, LED headlights, and continuously variable speed of the rotors.

Seriously these guys laughed their asses off until I literally did the whole street and their driveways in a 2 hour non stop session trying to kill the batteries in a 10 inch snowfall. I wanted to kill the batteries and ended up crippling myself....12' Rooster Tail of non stop snow. It never lugs down. The electric motor just digs in and draws more when it needs more and never slows down.

Blows gas driven machines away *and* this shit is the beginning. Better software, better batteries, all that means more power and longer run time. Gas shit is simply obsolete with the new batteries and motors. My brother bought the chainsaw that uses the same batteries. Blows his gas powered Stihl to shit *and* never lugs down, spills gas, or misses a lick.

The new battery stuff makes the gas shit look like a WWII fighter - they were good in their day but now superseded. When my batteries are dead I grab two more and put the dead ones on the fast charger - one hour later I'm ready for two more hours of snow blowing. Lawn mower? I have 4 batteries now and the lawn mower can cut the lawn 2X on one charge. Same batteries run my 3000 Watt peak/2000 watt continuous Nexus power station that will run my home and fridge and micro for a whole day and can be recharged via solar. Fuck that gas shit. It's over.....

VooDoo

Which battery mower are you using?
 
Milwaukee.

Tti industries owns Ryobi, Ridgid, Milwaukee. Ryobi is light use, Ridgid a step up, and Milwaukee is prosumer/ light professional.

I refuse to buy DeWalt because of their stupid marketing. 20v tools are not better than 18v, they're just advertising fully charged voltage instead of nominal. The 60v stuff adds a lot of complexity, and does nothing. Watt hours are what determines run time and that doesn't change with voltage.
 
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I refuse to buy DeWalt because of their stupid marketing. 20v tools are not better than 18v, they're just advertising fully charged voltage instead of nominal. The 60v stuff adds a lot of complexity, and does nothing. Watt hours are what determines run time and that doesn't change with voltage.

I have both 20v nominal and 60v nominal tools from them.
The 60v nominal ones generally have significantly more powerful motors, especially on things like the blowers, chainsaws, weed wackers etc.
 
I have both 20v nominal and 60v nominal tools from them.
The 60v nominal ones generally have significantly more powerful motors, especially on things like the blowers, chainsaws, weed wackers etc.


The voltage doesn't make them more powerful though. The extra cells and current discharge capabilities are what allows the tool to draw more power.

My M18 stuff has noticeably more power with the 6.0, 9.0, and 12.0 batteries vs the 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0's still at 18v. More cells and ability to discharge them quicker allows you to get more out of them.

If the tool motor draws 200w, the 60v should theoretically be running about 3A, while the 18v will run 11A. If the batteries are both 1200W/hr they will run for about 6 hours.

All the tool batteries are just 18650 cells packaged with a charge and balance controller. I refuse to buy into dewalts "more numbers is better" marketing scheme. Their batteries need to switch cells from different series/parallel configurations in order to run both voltages. This switching makes them more failure prone vs a simple 16-20v pack that is one fixed series/parallel arrangement.
On the plus side dewalt can use lighter gauge wire inside the tool on the higher voltage to save that extra .01 on manufacturing.
 
Mods, delete if not allowed. It's time to replace my weed eater. I'm thinking about going battery (coal) powered. I need a two piece shaft so I can use my blower and hedge trimmer attachments.

I need it to be able to run 45 minutes minimum on a charge as I'm doing my yard and my in-laws' yard.

What do y'all recommend?


My wife just got a Dewalt 20V and she hammers the shit out of weeds on our Ranch... Never used a battery powered eater before but I guarantee you, I'll find out if it's worth anything after the first week of her using it. Main reason she got it, was because we already have a couple Dewalt impacts, drills and sawzall that use 20V batteries, so the run time can be as long as she needs with the 10 or however many batteries we have.
 
We used strictly DeWalt stuff at work doing mega lugs on water pipe then we had a bad batch of impacts.
We had 20 or so snap off,DeWalt wrote a letter explaining the reason.( improper heat treatment)
I have two of their 20v grease guns that greased 18 pieces of heavy equipment several times a day for two years without a failure.

I have a 18v Ryobi drill and impact that has been beat to hell and back since 2010.(consumer uses)

Makita ,they pissed me off in 1990.
I bought a cordless drill and at the time they were the only game.
I spent $400 on that drill,the battery took a shit in 3 months,they were like tought what do you want us to do?
 
I've had an Echo 30cc two cycle trimmer for about 15 years now. Zero issues, lots of power. I get the "lithium battery trimmer" if you don't have a need for an arsenal of 2-cycle chainsaws and blowers. Just dump the fuel at the end of the season. Most of my Stihl and Echo saws are 10 yrs old, all run fine, my property is full of trees.
 
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We used strictly DeWalt stuff at work doing mega lugs on water pipe then we had a bad batch of impacts.
We had 20 or so snap off,DeWalt wrote a letter explaining the reason.( improper heat treatment)
I have two of their 20v grease guns that greased 18 pieces of heavy equipment several times a day for two years without a failure.

I have a 18v Ryobi drill and impact that has been beat to hell and back since 2010.(consumer uses)

Makita ,they pissed me off in 1990.
I bought a cordless drill and at the time they were the only game.
I spent $400 on that drill,the battery took a shit in 3 months,they were like tought what do you want us to do?

I just had a buddy send me a snapchat trading all Dewalt's in for Milwaukee's, he works for a large power company, said they get better run time on the batteries and better longevity on the equipment... I wouldn't know as I've only used mostly Dewalt power tools.
 
I have both 20v nominal and 60v nominal tools from them.
The 60v nominal ones generally have significantly more powerful motors, especially on things like the blowers, chainsaws, weed wackers etc.
I don't know specifically about battery powered tools, but the higher the voltage, the faster the attainable speed. Which, can be reduced down through a gearbox, increasing torque by the inverse of the speed reduction.
 
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I don't know specifically about battery powered tools, but the higher the voltage, the faster the attainable speed. Which, can be reduced down through a gearbox, increasing torque by the inverse of the speed reduction.


You realize the standard brushless 18v drills are already running 25000+ rpm? And they're actually AC motors.

The speed has to do with windings and poles. I can make a fast motor with torque on either voltage, current will just change.

I've personally had better longevity with Milwaukee. I broke 6 gearboxes out of 1 DeWalt drill in 12 months. Switched to Milwaukee and it took me 3 years to break 1. Drilled faster too.
 
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You realize the standard brushless 18v drills are already running 25000+ rpm? And they're actually AC motors.

The speed has to do with windings and poles. I can make a fast motor with torque on either voltage, current will just change.

I've personally had better longevity with Milwaukee. I broke 6 gearboxes out of 1 DeWalt drill in 12 months. Switched to Milwaukee and it took me 3 years to break 1. Drilled faster too.
No, they are not running at 25K RPM. They are variable speed and may have the capability of running at 25K RPM, depending on trigger position, available maximum voltage, design and manufacturer's specific characteristics.

Take two identical motors. One is connected to a power source that is higher voltage than the second identical motor. The mechanical loads are fixed/the same. The motor that is powered from the higher voltage source can run at a higher speed if commanded/higher voltage applied. This also assumes that the motor's torque requirements are less than or equal to the motor's capacity as well as the power source's ability to deliver current (produce torque). ie; the motor is not overloaded mechanically.
Yes, torque is proportional to current in both/either case(s). And yes, maximum attainable motor speed is dependant on number of poles, maximum applied voltage and winding design.

Older battery operated hand tools were of DC Brushed design. They had/have brushes, commutators and windings on the armature and typically, permanent magnets on the field (or stator, in the AC motor vernacular). Larger industrial DC Motors were of "wound field" design. Both large and small DC motors were/are more expensive to manufacture, prone to wear (brushes, commutator bars, etc.) and less reliable than their more modern AC counterparts.

With the advent of AC Brushless motor technology, the armature contains the permanent magnets, there are no brushes or commutator and the field (again, stator in the AC motor vernacular) contains the windings. They have fewer moving parts, are much less prone to wear, more reliable and much less costly to manufacture. With the advent of micro inverters (very small, compact packaging and high efficiencies), the hand power tool market has greatly benefitted from their implementation. The primary challenge of implementing AC motors into power tools had been that of speed control. Older technology, DC speed control had been the norm for decades. With the introduction of AC variable speed inverter control and complimentary AC motors have been combined to produce today's current offering of power tools.

And finally, one of the biggest reasons for the newer, higher voltage tools is to reduce the overall detrimental effects of inherent IR (Voltage) drops and their resulting inefficiencies within the sytem. On a higher voltage system, the fixed IR voltage drops represent a smaller percentage of the total delivered power, as compared to lower voltage offerings. The result being that of typically longer runtimes between charges, due to less energy being wasted on losses (and more power being utilized for work).
 
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