Battery powered chainsaw

[Ledburyjosh]

13 hours ago, Cuttup said:

What sort of cutting time do you get out of the T540ixp on average work?

I like the idea of battery (not withstanding the deluge of E-waste we are going to be producing...)

In summer 2 batteries last a day. I reckon a 3rd may be needed for winter.

 

I do swap to a ground saw for larger cuts more frequently than when I used petrol climbing saws. Large cuts noticeable drain the battery

[Cuttup]

8 hours ago, StephenMews said:

In summer 2 batteries last a day. I reckon a 3rd may be needed for winter.

 

I do swap to a ground saw for larger cuts more frequently than when I used petrol climbing saws. Large cuts noticeable drain the battery

Interesting, thanks. Maybe a consideration for next saw.

[covex]

I am using HQ T536 LiXP (now renamed to T535i) for more than 5y, I've bought other equipment from HQ with the same batteries. I do almost everything including falling of smaller trees with T536 - the lack of fumes, vibrations and noise + no need to pull-start saves (my) energy. I dropped the saw few times, bought a replacement cover that broke and replaced myself - the repairs on electric is much easier than gas powered (no oil, gas, less parts, much cleaner work). There are some drawbacks compared to gas - size of the chain, power is still not the same, when overloaded it stops and requires re-pushing the "gas" - this is extremely annoying during backcuts, but one can learn to live with that. Some of my complains should be addressed with T540i.

 

However this month I met a weak point - a single point of failure - the charger. For some reason the HQ is out of stock for chargers and batteries here, my charger broke and suddenly all my equipment was useless. This is something that is still (very) unlikely with gas powered eq. From that time on I am considering at least a car charger as a backup. The other problem is, that you are locked to one brand...

 

I was looking into switching to Stihl, but Stihl has some delay in battery powered things compared to HQ. They finally made something to compete HQ T line - the MSA 220 TC-O but it is still nowhere to buy. I am also confused by their increased number of battery powered lines of equipment (AP, AI, AS, AK) - this is really a mess. HQ had the same battery format up to recent, when they introduced a tools that may work on full power only with premium battery lines, but you should be able to run all batteries in all equipment and chargers. However this may change too...

[pleasant]

Cordless stuff (like cars) has no way reached it's pinnacle, whereby the technology gets to a point where it will take a number of years to get to the next stage of improvement. Therefore, what is cutting edge for battery technology this year will be superceded by next years. When technology begins to plateau, you will find your latest cordless product will stay cutting edge for quite a few years before the next big leap. This is why there are so many constant changes to options and improvements today. I have a friend who is a car dealer and there is no market for first gen EV's as the technology is out of date already- who wants a 5 year old EV with a range of 150 miles when the newest models could do double that?

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by pleasant

[openspaceman]

26 minutes ago, pleasant said:

who wants a 5 year old EV with a range of 150 miles

Me as long as it is cheap

[Rob D]

On 12/09/2022 at 18:31, Squaredy said:

When I buy a microwave I try really hard to get one that simply has a ‘ping’ when it finishes not multiple beeps.  I think way too many devices have annoying beeps or tunes.  I do like the fact that phones now ring again, after a decade or two of ever more annoying other noises!

 

 

Haha yep it really bugs me the insistent meep meep meep when the dishwasher finishes - and then again if you don't open it 5 minutes later. Not sure why it bothers me so much!

[pleasant]

19 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Me as long as it is cheap

Precisely

[Rob D]

I have a couple of the Stihl MSA 120s running 1/4 .043.

 

Regardless of longevity issues I use them all the time - 1) it's much more relaxing not having to pull a saw to start it each time 2) lack of fumes 3) lack of noise 4) ref power usage - it doesn't use any when 'idling' - not a big deal but not sure that's been pointed out before

 

I would of dreamed of having a little MSA 120 with an 8" 1/4 .043 next to the chipper in the old days to reduce any branches that were getting stuck. I reduced a hedge the other day using a combo of MSA 120s and 8" bar and 12" bar - it was a delight.

 

I'm not sure about other applications but the more I use battery tools [for smaller work] the more I keep picking them up.

[coppice cutter]

37 minutes ago, Rob D said:

I'm not sure about other applications but the more I use battery tools [for smaller work] the more I keep picking them up.

Handiness I think is the key.

 

Simply being able to pick something up and use it (assuming you keep on top of battery management) with no fuel to fill and engine to start, or no lead to unravel and plug in, is in lots of instances a decent trade off for what may be a lack of out and out performance.

 

I've gone to cordless sheep shears in the past few months, and now a cordless blower, both working well but a fair investment in both cases.

 

To me cordless is certainly now worthy of consideration in many instances but by no means will always be the best option.

[Stubby]

9 hours ago, pleasant said:

Cordless stuff (like cars)

 

 

A corded car would be a handicap I suppose 🙂