Thread: After market 18V 6.0AH batteries for Makita LXT

Checking feedback on one of the ebay sellers and find this comment that worries me about trying the after markets in a lawn mower.

Poor quality battery. Can not possibly be 6ah. More like 2ah.Lasted bout 4mins in lawn mower. Get this - seller informed me I need to keep charging battery as it gets better/stronger the more u charge. Seller also said I had to use to different chargers and take photos as proof. I used different chargers and made no difference. Seller refused full refund . Offered me $15 refund for two faulty/useless batteries. Seller refused to accept low quakity/faulty battery and refused responsibility.

2X 18V 6.0AH For Ryobi One+ Plus P108 Lithium-ion Battery RB18L50 RB18L40 9.0ah

I know they are not quite the same capacity, but you may be better off with this twin pack from Mitre10 Makita 18V 5.0Ah Battery Twin Pack | Mitre 10.

My concern is that in a lot cases ebay seller are quite generous in overstating the capacities of batteries and I am also wary of the quality of the control board electronics. There may be some good ones there but 2 x 6amp batteries for $75 would be a risk for me.

Sometimes you can get a bargain. Very tempting to get this myself. 6.0 Ah for $70 + postage.
Makita 18V 6.0Ah Bl1860b | 050100178967 | Cash Converters

Sometimes I see 5.0 Ah for reasonable prices.

I’d avoid going for lower capacity batteries in a tool that has a high power requirement. The smaller batteries (all else being equal) cannot deliver the same current levels as the bigger ones. A 5Ah battery will delivery about 83% of the maximum current that a 6Ah battery can deliver. It makes more sense to go bigger rather than smaller, they are far less likely to overheat and shutdown due to that.

Just buy the originals, All my guys have tried those aftermarket ones, and none have lasted longer than a few months, waste of money.

Originally Posted by Colin62

I’d avoid going for lower capacity batteries in a tool that has a high power requirement. The smaller batteries (all else being equal) cannot deliver the same current levels as the bigger ones. A 5Ah battery will delivery about 83% of the maximum current that a 6Ah battery can deliver. It makes more sense to go bigger rather than smaller, they are far less likely to overheat and shutdown due to that.

They are both 18v and it is the AH (amp hours) that is different, so it just means the higher the AH the longer the battery will last before needing to be recharged, but the tool will still get all the power it needs from either battery while under load.

Based on what I observed at the mens shed the Dewalt aftermarket batteries were half the price but only lasted about half as long (both in terms of charge and overall lifetime) compared to the originals. Same with the aftermarket Canon camera batteries I've bought.

Originally Posted by Camelot

They are both 18v and it is the AH (amp hours) that is different, so it just means the higher the AH the longer the battery will last before needing to be recharged, but the tool will still get all the power it needs from either battery while under load.

It’s not quite as simple as that. Lithium ion batteries limit the current that can be drawn, to prevent overheating, and a higher capacity battery will be able to provide more current before overheating, so for a tool that approaches the battery’s current limit, you get better performance out of a bigger capacity battery, all other things things being equal.

That’s why some tools will only run on bigger batteries - my hammer drill requires at least a 3Ah battery, and won’t run on smaller batteries even for a while.

There are a number of protections built into lithium batteries. One of them is overcurrent protection that prevents a tool from drawing a current than the battery can provide. Another is over discharge protection that stops the battery from discharging when a specific low voltage is reached. So as long as the current draw of the tool is less than the battery capacity the tool will operate until the discharge protection voltage is reached.

In simple terms, on the same tool a 6Ah battery will out only perform a 5Ah battery in operation time and not as in power delivered to the motor shaft.

Originally Posted by apple8

So as long as the current draw of the tool is less than the battery capacity the tool will operate until the discharge protection voltage is reached.

In simple terms, on the same tool a 6Ah battery will out only perform a 5Ah battery in operation time and not as in power delivered to the motor shaft.

I was not talking about simple terms. I was specifically talking about when the motor and battery are pushed near the limit. I’ve quoted my own post below here and marked the important bit in bold.

Originally Posted by Colin62

It’s not quite as simple as that. Lithium ion batteries limit the current that can be drawn, to prevent overheating, and a higher capacity battery will be able to provide more current before overheating, so for a tool that approaches the battery’s current limit, you get better performance out of a bigger capacity battery, all other things things being equal.

Franklin, I’m guessing that your mower is self propelled as they are supplied with the 6Ah batteries. I recently went from a Ryobi 5Ah battery powered push mower that easily mowed our lawns twice between charges to a EGO self propelled mower supplied with 5Ah battery and a 2.5Ah battery by redemption. The 5Ah EGO battery doesn’t last long enough to mow the lawns twice which was expected because of the additional propelling motor and I use the 2.5Ah battery to finish off with no loss of power albeit for not as long as the larger battery. That is my experience and I wouldn’t have any concerns about Makita 5Ah batteries being adequate if you decide to go that way.

It sounds that your lawns are a lot larger than mine if your having to charge three times. I don’t know how long Makita batteries take to charge but a second set will help. My Ryobi battery would take hours to recharge whereas the EGO 5Ah takes only 40 minutes.

Thanks Apple8! My mower is a 460mm metal deck mulching push model and it came packaged with either 5 or 6 Ah batteries when I purchased. I opted for the 6's at the time just in case...

Probably my main mistake was the original turf selection. The front lawn is approx 75 sqm of TifTuf which is proving a good slow growing variety. The other end of the house is a batter slope down to Lake Orr and is around 95 sqm. When we turfed that I looked around for a low maintenance option and came upon a native variety called Zoysia Nara which purportedly was a non fussy, low maintenance lawn that could be left months without mowing.

As it turns out the Nara has been growing a thick 2 to 3cm a week over summer, not what I would call low maintenance. If it was all TifTuf I'm pretty sure I would get it all done on a single charge and less frequently. I can actually just manage to do it on a single charge now over winter (including doing the edges with the cordless line trimmer), but not this summer with all the rain.

By the time the mower quits cutting the batteries are fairly warm and showing just one LED on the fuel gauge and the recharge time is only about 30min on the supplied fast charger.

It's a slight quandary about whether it's worth spending another $300 on a second set of batteries or perhaps save the money and put it towards ripping up the Nara and returfing with TifTuf.

My only other battery tools are a Bosch Blue drill and driver set with obviously incompatible batteries.

Have a look at some other accessories that come with batteries like a line trimmer or blower etc. You might find that the who,e package isn’t much more than buying two batteries outright. They often have deals with additional items by redemption

I know where you’re coming from in regards to growth, we have 60sq of buffalo at the back and 100sq of couch at the front and there is a six week period in summer where I have to mow twice a week. Fortunately I’m retired so it gives me something to do.

As regards to replacing your turf it depends on how dominant it is. When we had the back landscaped, the couch was removed and area sprayed before laying the buffalo turf. It seemed all good for a few years before the couch reappeared, the buffalo is still dominate but there are mixed patches with couch.

You never know there might be Makita tool skin that you might need in future. Originally my Ryobi 18v batteries were for the line trimmer and blower but when I was looking for a lighter power saw I bought the smaller cordless Ryobi and it’s great. Now looking at their cordless angle grinder for a small job I have coming up.

Even if you returf there might still be the odd time that you can’t complete on one charge and a 30 minute recharge is an opportunity to stop for a cup of tea. Lithium battery life is also related to the number charges they get so an extra battery set could help there and allow the other batteries to cool before recharging.

Probably haven’t help your quandary much apart from the recommendation of brand name quality over no name brands on eBay.