Using cordless tool batteries in a string trimmer

[Roger Feeley]

Our gas string trimmer has about had it. We trim maybe a dozen times a year around the house and it takes all of 10 minutes each time. My choice is to get a corded one in which case I will do the trimming or a cordless one so my wife will get out there.

At the same time, my old DeWalt 12V cordless drill has been acting a little weird and I wouldn't mind having a new one.

So I am wondering if there are any good cordless drills out there where I can take those batteries and put them in a string trimmer. I know volts are volts but I am guessing that there is no standardization in the physical attachment of the battery.

Suggestions?

[Charles Bjorgen]

After suffering through three two cycle gas trimmers I finally bought the Black & Decker Grass Hog 18 volt rechargeable trimmer. I also bought the companion chain saw (don't bother) which came with a single battery and then acquired the B & D cordless drill. They all use the same 18 V battery. My yard is not huge but the trimmer makes the edge cleanup easy and I always have a good supply of batteries ready to go. After about three years of use I believe the original two trimmer batteries may no longer hold the charge as well. I'll point out that two of my gas trimmers were Sears products but the last was a Stihl and I found it very frustrating to change line on the Stihl. Not so with the cordless. I would buy it again.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks,
You would think that some bright soul would come up with adapters for various battery connections so you can take your cordless tool batteries which you keep charged and in good order and use them in your garden tools. I would even accept something with a cord where I wear the battery on my belt or over the shoulder.

All I really want is something reliable (electric) that my wife will use (I am lazy). My fear with some proprietary battery is that when we want it, it won't be charged. Like I said, we only trim a dozen times a year.

Truth be told, I would be perfectly happy with no yard at all. Living in a warehouse appeals to me. Top floor for living, bottom 4 floors for shop. Seems about right to me.

[michael veach]

I have a Craftsman 19.2 volt that does a pretty good job. I haven't used the big one in long while.

[Steve knight]

unless you have Li ion batteries or charge them over winter they could discharge too much over winter and damage them. I bought a gas powered one for around 70.00 at home depot I use pre mixed gas I get at walmart. I use it two or three times a year for 30 minutes and the gas goes bad (after 2 years) before I use it all. hard to justify the cost of batteries compared to that.

[ray hampton]

Thanks,
You would think that some bright soul would come up with adapters for various battery connections so you can take your cordless tool batteries which you keep charged and in good order and use them in your garden tools. I would even accept something with a cord where I wear the battery on my belt or over the shoulder.

All I really want is something reliable (electric) that my wife will use (I am lazy). My fear with some proprietary battery is that when we want it, it won't be charged. Like I said, we only trim a dozen times a year.

Truth be told, I would be perfectly happy with no yard at all. Living in a warehouse appeals to me. Top floor for living, bottom 4 floors for shop. Seems about right to me.

being able to use one battery on any tools will be a BIG HELP
, which one of a tool go bad first the tool itself , the battery or the battery charger

[Erik Loza]

Roger,

Cannot comment on the cordless-thing but wanted to chime in because my wife I use the string trimmer a lot (our neighbors on two sides have chosen to landscape with an invasive vine called "Asian Jasmine", which laughs at Roundup and apparently finds our backyard more attractive than either of theirs'...) and she had a similar complaint with previous gas-powered ones: Too loud, too much vibration, too much work to get started, etc. My issue with the electric (corded) ones I either tried or borrowed was that they simply didn't have enough guts to spin the big 0.095" line that we need to use for aggressive plant removal.

Anyway, have you considered a gas trimmer with a four-cycle engine, as opposed to the more traditional two-stroke engine? Four-stroke motors run much more smoothly, take straight gasoline rather than two-cycle gas/oil mix, are (relatively) quieter and easier to start, and also do not give off the obnoxious blue smoke that two-strokers do. More importantly (to us) the power is still there. We have a Husky unit from Lowes but I'm sure there are others. Price difference over two-stroke was nominal. My wife can do the yard and no longer has the "rubber arms" when she is done.

Just some food for thought. Best of luck in your search.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Matt Schroeder]

Roger,

I have a Ryobi string trimmer and blower (from Home Depot, sorry to say), along with their cordless drill, all using Li ion 18 batteries. I am quite pleased. I am able to edge both sides of my 40' sidewalk, 75' driveway, and around several trees and flower beds, then move the battery to the blower to clean the driveway and sidewalk all on one charge for the full sized battery. The compact battery sometiems makes it, other times it dies before the blowing is done. Both batteries are less than a year old, and get used once a week for grass cutting during the season, plus in the drill all year around the house. The drill works fine, too. The Li ion batteries hold a charge between uses. The blower won't move a lot of material at once (don't expect it to blow leaves in the fall) but it does fine for dry grass right after mowing. The trimmer does fine on grass but balks at thicker stemmed weeds on the wooodline.

My father has the chainsaw and says it does great for things up to about 4". It is good for pruning or cleaning up after a storm, not for taking down and cutting up whole trees. He also has a Ryobi 4 piece tool set and swaps the batteries back and forth as needed (use one in the chainsaw while charging the other if a big project comes along).

We both went this route for many of the same reasons you mention--quieter, less maintenance, multi-function from the one battery type, and Li ion so they would be ready when we needed them without sitting on the charger all the time.

Good luck in your search,
Matt

[Matt Meiser]

Stihl makes a line of LiIon yard tools. But no drills or anything like that.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks to all. Although I didn't get the answer I would have wanted, I did get an answer and that sure beats no answer.

So there you have it guys. An opportunity to make a million bucks. Build a few types of adapters so people can put their tool batteries on their garden equipment.

[ray hampton]

Thanks to all. Although I didn't get the answer I would have wanted, I did get an answer and that sure beats no answer.

So there you have it guys. An opportunity to make a million bucks. Build a few types of adapters so people can put their tool batteries on their garden equipment.

if we build a battery charger that will handle any/all batteries and proceed from there , we will win the battle

[Steve Griffin]

For as infrequently he needs a trimmer, seems like corded would be hard to beat. More power, no batteries to horse around with.

If he had a bigger patch to trim, I'd join Erik in praising the 4 stoke. Don't even need ear protection and you don't get dizzy with the fumes. No mixing fuel and the engine outlasts 2 strokes.

I probably should get a mower someday, but I keep remembering the words of a fellow mountaineer: "The day you buy a lawn mower, your life is over."

[ray hampton]

why not buy goats to eat the grass ?

[Ole Anderson]

I hear what you are saying, but it is difficult to believe a battery trimmer has the guts to go toe to toe with any amount of heavy wet grass around my canal without wimping out, when compared even to a small 25cc 2 stroke pro like the Stihl FS80. I bought the edger head and now I can edge the drive and curbs as fast as I can walk, beats the pants off a 3hp craftsmen edger. That was a retirement gift to myself: a trimmer/edger that will last as long as I will. Goes nicely with my 2 Stihl saws and a Stihl blower.