Marty I like your idea and would buy for myself but most people are not like us. They se a battery specification and say. I want 36v10ah. Then when time goes on that changes with the market.
Now 10 years later they want 500wh or even 800wh. The first thing they do however is reading the original size and quotes for the same new one. The customers reads the number not knowing too much behind the reason for the numbers. The same with chargers.
US and EU want different products than ASEAN countries.
What about other connectors than Makita? Are other things in development as your choice of Makita may be something else for me. I like Ryobi.
I'd recommend only the 36v Ryobi batteries as they are a slide, the 18v are a post type, and would make it impossible to fit with this guys setup, but I have experience with the Ryobi batteries, and they are complete rubbish in comparison to brands like Makita, DeWalt, Bosch (Blue) and similar, I have 6 x 36v, and only 2 of them still function properly, all are less than 3yrs old.
Every 18v Ryobi battery I have has died prematurely, along with the tools, every DeWalt and Bosch Blue batteries I have, have kept going longer than I have expected, in fact, none have died, I have some that are over 6yrs old and still work perfectly, same for the tools.
If you look on Aliexpress, you can buy a holder for most popular battery mounts, even Ryobi, the one used in this kit, looks like one of these low cost holders, you could either make your own kit, or buy this kit and swap out the battery holder for one of your choice, it also would be easy for the seller to supply the kit with a choice of multiple brand options, but I assume he is selling low volume and has pre purchased a quantity of the Makita mounts and most likely wants to sell those first.
I like the concept of this kit, being an easy install option, but it should be by default, 36v, so you should be running 2 x tool batteries in series or a single 36v battery, and I would also design and 3D print an enclosure for the controller and the batteries to make it a little more appealing, my setups hide the batteries inside an enclosure mounted on a rear cargo carrier.
Also if you look at some brands and the capacities you can find a sweet spot, in my location, a 12ah DeWalt battery is best value for a quality battery:
5ah = $100 AUD
8ah = $200 AUD
12ah = $220 AUD <- This makes a lot of sense
Yes a no name Chinesium eBike battery works out to be cheaper, but they cant be used to run your drill, torch lawn mower etc...
Also a quality tool battery is extremely safe, more rugged, has a built in BMS with temp sensors and have passed all sorts of safety regulations to even be sold to consumers, and can be purchased from any hardware store, so much easier to get replacements, I'm a big advocate for using tool batteries in these kinds of projects and are often overlooked.
I feel quite safe recharging these quality tool batteries in my house, I cant say the same thing about "insert weird name here" ebike batteries.
DeWalt are a good choice as they have 18v/54v switchable batteries, with 2 of these batteries, you can have a choice of the following if using the 15ah version:
18v 30ah when in parallel (when using the 18v mode)
36v 15ah in series (when using the 18v mode)
54v 10ah in parallel (when using the 54v mode)
