Milwaukee M18 & M12 Rapid Charge Station

[woodstockva]

Hey everybody

I just got done with the review of the new Milwaukee M18 & M12 Rapid Charger....this can charge 3 batteries at once, and also puts out a lot more juice than the other current chargers that they offer.

The main thing that surprised me is the size....it is pretty big.....over 15" wide, 9" deep, and 10" high. The pictures online dont give you anything to compare it to really, so I show it side-by-side with 3 other varieties of Milwaukee chargers so you can see what I mean.

They bumped up the amp output on this (which is why it charges faster) & the 18v ports are @ 6amps & the 12v ports are @ 4.5amps (vs 3amps/each with the other chargers). Basically this will charge the M18 batteries twice as fast & the M12 batteries about 50% faster than normal.

I thought that they would incorporate an internal fan system to cool the batteries off, but I dont hear any running & I assume that they fine-tuned the amp output so they arent risking overheating the M12 or M18 packs.

Check out the video to see it for yourself!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GALXYv4vQEo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Wizzard]

Isn't a higher amp charge rate generally worse for batteries? Just curious that is all.

 

[woodstockva]

Isn't a higher amp charge rate generally worse for batteries? Just curious that is all.

Too high would be....it would also create a lot of additional heat which would cook the cells. Makita's chargers are 9amps, which is why they are the fastest chargers out.....but they also have built in fans (and air passages in the batteries) to keep them cool while charging.

I have been in the battery lab at Milwaukee & they have a LOT of really really smart people and a lot of equipment to test every aspect of them. I am sure that they looked at every angle when making these & keep in mind that if these were going to cause premature failure....Milwaukee would be the one losing, since they have up to 3yr warranties on their batteries.

 

[Bremon]

Nice video woodstockva, I appreciate the size comparison. It's actually a fair amount larger than I anticipated! The price tag puts me off of one when the standard dual voltage chargers are a dime a dozen (everyone seems to have piles of them) but in a production scenario I could see the value. Thanks again!

 

[Ign]

Glad to see they made it wall-mountable, now I kinda want it.

 

[Mgnu]

Does Milwaukee not have a SMALL M12 12v cig lighter charger? That's what I'd want for camping, etc...

 

[dnschmidt]

I see no need for this. I have the six M18 sequential charger and I've never needed a spare battery any faster than that can charge them as I've got about 12 of the M18 4.0's laying around. I know why they made the damn thing so big. Since they didn't want to use a fan (as Makita did) they decided to use a very large heat sink. I'm pretty sure that's the reason for the huge size.

 

[Ign]

Does Milwaukee not have a SMALL M12 12v cig lighter charger? That's what I'd want for camping, etc...

Not sure what constitutes small in your question above, but they offer a 12VDC M12 charger that is the same size as a standalone 110V charger, yes. It's spendy though, around $70ish IIRC. I have it, I like it.

There was a thread on here back around Nov about whether these are better, or a cheap inverter w a regular charger. It depends upon your circumstance, budget, and penchant for specialty tools. I prefer the 12VDC charger as it can be carried to any vehicle w nothing else to make it "go." And I just like buying tools. Incidentally, the charger in question has a multi-plug that will plug into an AC wall receptacle or 12VDC power port.