Shopsmith Forums

jsburger wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 5:44 pm I have totally solved all the down sides of gas, corded and battery lawn equipment. I pay a person to do my yard.

That probably works for you because you are a nice guy. I'm an opinionated old SOB so nobody ever seems to do things the way I want. And, if you hire to do your yard, they don't want you there telling them how to do it.

garys wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 6:24 pm

jsburger wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 5:44 pm I have totally solved all the down sides of gas, corded and battery lawn equipment. I pay a person to do my yard.

That probably works for you because you are a nice guy. I'm an opinionated old SOB so nobody ever seems to do things the way I want. And, if you hire to do your yard, they don't want you there telling them how to do it.

Well, I suppose that might be true depending on who you hire. In my case that is not true. My guy is a one man show. He is the husband of the lady that has been cutting my hair once a month for almost 15 years. He does a better job than I used to do because I never liked yard work. He has done some landscaping to my wife's wishes and specifications. He also takes care of my sprinklers making sure they are doing their thing correctly. Best of all his prices are VERY reasonable. YMMV

garys wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 6:24 pm

jsburger wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 5:44 pm I have totally solved all the down sides of gas, corded and battery lawn equipment. I pay a person to do my yard.

That probably works for you because you are a nice guy. I'm an opinionated old SOB so nobody ever seems to do things the way I want. And, if you hire to do your yard, they don't want you there telling them how to do it.

Well I guess I'm in your group. IF I'd hire some one to cut my grass, it's going to be the height I want.

SteveMaryland wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 5:49 pm My understanding is that a battery recharge cycle is at best 50 percent efficient, meaning that during the charge process as much energy is lost as heat as goes into the battery itself. That is like filling up your gas tank but spilling a tankful of gas on the ground. HOW is that eco-friendly?

Steve,

Not sure where you got this from, but lithium ion batteries typically have coulombic efficiencies near 100% (the highest of all battery chemistries - even lead acid batteries are around 90% though). However, the energy efficiency is quite a bit lower from several factors, including heat. It will vary depending on the charge rate used, but I believe Tesla vehicles typically have energy efficiencies of around 85%. I haven't seen any data for handheld or outdoor power tools, but I have to assume they are somewhat similar. Maybe if you were using a NiCd battery on a linear charger instead of a switched mode power supply charger you would get down to only 50% energy efficiency, but that is fairly uncommon these days in modern electronics...

By the way, you compared it to a gas equivalent. Only the most efficient gas engines today approach 40% energy efficiency. I don't have numbers for it, but I would hazard a guess that common lawnmower/trimmer/chainsaw engines are probably no more than 25% energy efficient so a lot of energy in that gasoline is wasted. In comparison, at a system level, electric powered tools are far more efficient than their equivalent ICE (internal combustion engine) versions. Bottomline is that ANY battery powered tool is going to be more energy efficient than ANY ICE equivalent.


Definitions:
The coulombic efficiency is the ratio of discharged Ah divided by the charged Ah.

The energy efficiency is a measure for the amount of energy that can be taken from the battery compared to the amount of energy that was charged into the battery beforehand.

We purchased a Black & Decker SPCM1936 19-Inch 36-Volt cordless electric self-propelled mower in March 2013 while I was suffering from a torn rotator cuff and couldn't start our pull-start mower, and though we've since passed it on to our son and his family, it still gets used every weekend from Spring-Fall here in NC. If it ever dies I have my eye on the 80v Worx Nitro mower to replace it. https://amzn.to/3lQc5Im We have a bunch of Worx 20v tools and the 80v mower uses four of those 20v batteries, which is pretty slick. Scott

I consider battery powered TOOLS to be somewhat wishful thinking.

The "IN" thing today.

I have a corded drill that I purchased while I was in high school. I still use it.

I have multiple battery powered drills that are now unusable due to battery issues.

Short answer: corded tools are a bit of a pain due to the cord, but are have a much longer usable life span.

JPG wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 9:40 am
Short answer: corded tools are a bit of a pain due to the cord, but are have a much longer usable life span.

True. I only have a cordless drill driver and impact driver. But the choice here is between battery and gasoline, corded yard tools have serious limitations. First is running them within reasonable distance of an electric outlet. In addition, based on a random sampling of non-random people, I have determined that every corded electric lawnmower will eventually run over it's own cord. Not worrying about oil and air filters and fuel filters and spark plugs and starting is a big advantage of cordless yard tools that puts them in serious competition with gasoline engine powered tools.

I thought I posted this earlier but I can not find it.
I went battery route about 5 years ago. Have Ryobi line trimmer, hedge trimmer, and leaf blower all 40 volts.
I can do 300 feet of fence line, around the house around 400 feet with flower beds and 100 feet of pond frontage with line trimmer and still have about 2 bars of battery left. The hedge trimmer I love love love. It takes me less time to grab it and do the hedge than it did to get my extension cords out to do it with a plug in trimmer. Hardly uses any battery for about 120 feet of hedge. The blower works great but it does eat batteries. To do my drive and sidewalks will use a whole charge.

I would never go back to gas or corded electrical units. Using the battery units is so easy I use them each week which make their job easier and my yard looking better.

Incidentally be careful about which line trimmer you buy. Many have the motor in the cutter head right where all the dirt debris gets thrown up. This debris can block air cooling air flow and if you are like me my cutter head often gets dunked in the pond as I edge it.

Also Direct Tools outlet sells factory blemished batteries at a reduced price.

I might have the record here. I bought my B&D battery mower some time around 2005. I had to replace the batteries a couple of years later, but it's been trouble-free ever since. 24V from two lead-acid batteries.

I bought into the Milwaukee brand of cordless tools. I've eyed their new mower, but it's just too much mower for my needs. I'm hoping they'll come out with its little brother before my current mower dies.

I cant tell you if these hacks work but I have been told they do , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8mNCDD8zYU