Author Topic: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused  (Read 2760 times)

Offline hawg

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milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« on: Jul 04, 2020, 12:32 PM »
The more I research the more confused I get. I know the HO batteries have the new cells in them and I've watched a bunch of videos about the differences in the two cell systems. Some videos say that many tools won't work any better with the new HO line. For a Fuel drill and an auger, will the older Extra Capacity  or High Output work the best. The other mystery in this is when you look up pricing on reputable sites the price is very close, sometimes the XC's actually cost more. I thought the HO's were the latest and greatest, Is that true? I think I've read every post on this site about batteries but there are still a ton of contradictions regarding the topic.

Offline hardwater diehard

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #1 on: Jul 04, 2020, 03:22 PM »
This does a pretty good job with explaining the differences between the types ..note there are different chargers to boot

Give a man a fish he eats for a day .Teach a man to ice fish he has an obsession for a lifetime

Offline badger132

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #2 on: Jul 05, 2020, 09:27 AM »
The first order effect is the number of cell banks in parallel. The smallest batteries use 1 bank of (5) 3.6V cells. If you look at the batteries from any manufacturer, you will see sizes like 3AH, 6AH, 9AH, and you can infer that these have 1, 2, and 3 banks of 5 cells in series. Just like having 1, 2, or 3 horses pulling a wagon, you can get proportionately more peak amps from more banks of cells.
You can also get bigger horses, and put them in parallel, and pull even harder on the load. That is what the HO batteries are.

If I were looking, I would get the biggest capacity, and see if that performs for you. A large battery has an additional advantage, in that you probably won't cycle it as deep. Going from 0-100% charge ages the battery pack, and over 100s of cycles, you will lose some capacity. If you don't go to 0 every time, they last much longer. If you don't charge to 100%, even better. I charge to 3 bars out of 4, and still have 1-2 bars left on a 9AH when I get home.

If you have problems with cutouts and stalls, you may need the HO for even more pull, but I have not heard of issues. The worst case will be when the batteries are very cold, which decreases performance.

The other thing to consider is whether you want that fast charging. Pushing the power in faster generates more heat, and degrades the battery faster than charging slowly. Since for fishing we generally go home at night, 8 hours to charge is no problem. The new faster chargers would just put more stress on the battery for no benefit.

Offline Mancaveburnett

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #3 on: Jul 07, 2020, 11:16 AM »
xc 5ah or greater, cant go wrong. I have 2 5ah and i never run out. I usually use one with the milwaukee power source to charge my phone and only use one for drilling. I drill a fair amount of holes while im out as well.

Offline papadarv

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #4 on: Jul 08, 2020, 09:55 AM »
There are 2 lithium ion battery cells used in the "power tool battery pack" 18650 and 20700. 18650 invevted in 1998 & 20700 in 2017. Tesla recently released the 21700 but not yet incorporated into power tool batteries. All 3 output 3.7 VDC and charged to individual cells at 4.2vdc. ( reson why DeWalt states 20v battery pack) Power and amp hours is determined by battery cell size. 18650 is 18mm dia & 65mm length, 20700 at 20mm dia & 70mm length, 21700 at 21mm dia & 70mm length. Using a Milwaukee 2804 (1200 ip torque) drill and 8" K-drill or Eskimo pistol bit. the 2ah battery will drill about 3 or 4 holes in 20" clear ice. 5ah battery will give you about 15 holes and 12 ah battery (20700 cells) up to 45 holes. All M18 battery sizes work on the 2804 drill. Same applies to other tools, DeWalt, rigid, ryobi, makita etc. 700+ ip driills. Photo shows inside view & 2ah /12ah batteries and a bunch of 18650 cells. The PC board on the top of inside view is the heart of the battery pack for charging and drill power.


Offline cwavs1982

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #5 on: Jul 13, 2020, 09:56 AM »
Talked to a tool rep about the new batteries - here is the response from Milwaukee.

The HO batteries are the latest and greatest batteries for Milwaukee. In some tools the HO batteries will increase the performance but in others it will not. In the case of a drill you probably will not see a huge increase in performance like you would on a saw or grinder but will see an increase in battery life. The HO batteries use the new 21700 cells and the XC’s are using the 18650 cells, both types of cells are specifically designed for the batteries they are in and what tools they get packed with but the nice thing is that you can take a high performance battery like the HO and put it on a tool that doesn’t require one. Giving you a perceived increase in performance when it is actually an increase in run time.
I do hunt, and I do fish, and I don't apologize to anybody for hunting and fishing - Norman Schwarzkopf

Offline hawg

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #6 on: Jul 13, 2020, 08:44 PM »
Was that Blair?

Offline cwavs1982

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Re: milwaukee M18 XC or HO? Confused
« Reply #7 on: Jul 14, 2020, 08:27 AM »
Was that Blair?

Tool Rep at Acme Tools.  These are the guys that I buy all my tools from.  They have a huge online business and customer service is top notch.
I do hunt, and I do fish, and I don't apologize to anybody for hunting and fishing - Norman Schwarzkopf

Offline hardwater diehard

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