New Greenworks Pro 60 volt outdoor tools

[tom3]

Also note that most credit cards have removed any buyer protection coverage that the premium cards used to offer, no chargebacks, no airline protections, no extended warranties. etc. Dog eat dog out there with merchandise these days.

 

[MowerMike]

So, now Greenworks has introduced another 120 volt AC/DC hybrid tool that uses two of their 60 volt batteries connected in series. This time it's a wet/dry vacuum that looks a lot like my old ShopVac from the distant past. I've decided to try one out, but I'm buying it this time from Lowe's rather than Greenworks because of my experience with my credit card getting stolen from their website. Yes, it's a lot more expensive this way, but I've got peace of mind knowing that my card won't get stolen from Lowe's and if there's a problem I can just return it to the nearest Lowe's for a refund.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Greenworks-Pro-60-volt-ACDC-Wet-Dry-Vac-TO/5000061501

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

cool!

I have a smaller Ryobi w/d that uses their 1+ 18v w'ever. Very handy for cleaning the car. Noisy and an energy hog but, lasts long enough to give the car a decent vacuuming.

I wish there was a household stick vac or small upright, similar to our excellent Hoover Lynx, that used the 40v GW batts.

I don't car much for the physical size of the 60V batt cases, they feel like they have a lot of air inside and , for me, are more clumsy to handle.

 

[MowerMike]

I don't care much for the physical size of the 60V batt cases, they feel like they have a lot of air inside and , for me, are more clumsy to handle.

Well, that's because they use the same size case for all their different capacities. The larger capacity 60 volt batteries have twice as many cells, so the smaller ones fill only half of the case. The newer 40 volt Elite batteries are also made that way, with a single size case for all their capacities. You also have to accept that larger voltage batteries will be larger and heavier, just as the 40 volt batteries are larger than the 24 volt batteries.

 

[MowerMike]

Today's news is not about another 60 volt tool, but rather a series of new single and dual port rapid chargers. When Greenworks first introduced their 60 volt lineup, the largest capacity battery was 4 Ah, and it took two hours to recharge it with the standard 2 A charger. They have since introduced 5 Ah and 6 Ah batteries, such that it now takes 3 hours to recharge the highest capacity battery with the standard charger. It was time for faster chargers. Also, some tools such as the larger lawn mowers have a dual port design and are kitted with two batteries, such that a dual port charger was needed.

Well, they have finally answered the bell. Some of these new rapid chargers are being kitted with some tools, but they are not yet available individually from the greenworkstools website. They are, however, available for a significant price markup from Home Depot. It seems that the Greenworks 60 volt lineup has migrated from Lowe's to Home Depot, while EGO has moved from Home Depot to Lowe's. Anyways, the unfortunate consequence of this is that Home Depot is price gouging the heck out of these tools, especially when they are not available directly from Greenworks. In any event, here are the three new chargers:

Greenworks PRO 60-Volt 6 Amp Rapid Battery Charger-2951402 - The Home Depot

Conquer all of your projects with ease, from the home to the garage to the yard with 1 battery. Designed to work specifically with Greenworks 60V Series batteries, this Rapid Charger works quickly to get your battery packs powered up and ready to work. Backed by a 4-year warranty to protect your...

www.homedepot.com

Greenworks PRO 60-Volt 6 Amp Dual Port Rapid Battery Charger-2928702 - The Home Depot

Our 6.0 Amp hour (Ah) battery charger is designed to charge all Greenworks 60-Volt tools. Charges includes a diagnostic LED indicator communicating current charge level, battery temperature and indicate

www.homedepot.com

Greenworks Pro 60-Volt Dual Port 10 Amp Charger-60DPC10A - The Home Depot

Our 10.0 Amp hour (Ah) battery charger is designed to charge all Greenworks 60-Volt tools. Charges includes a diagnostic LED indicator communicating current charge level, battery temperature and indicate

www.homedepot.com

Looking at the Operator manuals for the rapid chargers and comparing them the the standard charger, the charging times for a 6 Ah battery are as follows:

Standard 2A charger - 180 minutes (3 hours)

Rapid 6A charger - 60 minutes

Rapid 6A dual port charger - 60 minutes for a single battery and 120 minutes for two batteries

Rapid 10A dual port charger - 60 minutes for a single battery and 72 minutes for two batteries

I've placed an order with Home Depot for the rapid 6A charger, and should receive it by February 18. I would normally wait for it to appear on the greenworkstools website for a lower price, but as explained in previous posts I'm no longer ordering anything directly from Greenworks, since I had my credit card stolen from their website.

 

[dougmacm]

Very interesting.

Doug

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

I've never been sure what happens to Lowe's returns, but I think HD returns get palletized and sold on 'wholesale' auction sites, and eventually end-up on Ebay. So, maybe some of those chargers with 'missing instruction manual', or 'no box' w'ever could be acquired that way.

 

[MowerMike]

Well, I never received my order for the rapid charger. It shipped via UPS, but then was placed on shipping delay due to severe weather, and that's where it has stayed for a week now. The last update was a week ago, so it is probably lost. I've just gotten Home Depot to refund my payment and Greenworks (Sunrise Global) has requested that UPS return the package. If they can't, then I guess Greenworks files a claim with UPS and Home Depot gets their money back from Greenworks. I'll wait for the Home Depot refund to appear on my credit card account before re-ordering.

Things have been really crazy here the last week with power being out for nearly two days with arctic temperatures. Fortunately, I've had no broken pipes, and have plenty of bottled water to drink. The good thing is that I don't have to worry about mowing my lawn (snow) any time soon.

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

glad you're OK. WE were lucky (and we tried to prepare) and experienced no outage of services or boil water warnings etc. Not busted pipes. I did make sure my 2 60V batteries were charged in case I needed to try to use them with the inverter I bought for my MIL's O2 concentrator or nebulizer.

it was -2* F tuesday , 76* F today.

 

[MowerMike]

So, I reordered the 60 volt 6 Amp rapid charger, plugged it into my AC outlet and it immediately alarmed my computer UPS, indicating a significant voltage drop in my house circuit. Didn't actually trip the breaker and was only momentary, but this beast pulls some serious power when first plugged in.

Anyways, I started reading the manual, and was initially perplexed by the charging times for the different capacity batteries. The 6 Ah battery recharges in 60 minutes, but the 2 Ah battery takes 30 minutes, which should be only 20 minutes assuming a 6 A current flow. Except that this is not how these batteries work. The 2 Ah, 2.5 Ah and 3 Ah batteries consist of a single assembly of battery cells connected in series, whereas the 4 Ah, 5 Ah and 6 Ah batteries consist of two assemblies that are then connected in parallel. Therefore, a 6 Ah battery is actually two 3 Ah batteries, and the 6 A charging current is split equally between them, such that each battery sees a 3 A charging current. However, a 2 Ah battery would see the full 6 A charging current, and apparently Greenworks has determined that this would be an excessively high charging rate, so they reduced the charging current to 4 Amps, resulting in the 30 minute charging time. The same thing applies to the 2.5 Ah and 3 Ah batteries, which recharge in 37.5 and 45 minutes respectively.

The same principles apply to the dual port chargers, such that the 10 A charger never delivers more than 4 A to the smaller capacity batteries and 6 A to the larger capacity batteries with two internal battery assemblies, which see only a 3 A internal charging current. Therefore, the fastest you can ever recharge a 2 Ah battery is 30 minutes and the fastest you can ever recharge a 6 Ah battery is 60 minutes.