Say what you want about the current crop of mass-marketed consumer-grade cordless tools, but they’ve got one thing going for them — they’re cheap. Cheap enough, in fact, that they offer a lot of hacking opportunities, like this portable bench power supply that rides atop a Ryobi battery.
Like many of the more common bench supply builds we’ve seen, [Pat K]’s more portable project relies on the ubiquitous DPS5005 power supply module, obtained from the usual sources. [Pat K] doesn’t get into specifics on performance, but supplied with 18 volts from a Ryobi One+ battery, the DC-DC programmable module should be able to do up to about 16 volts. Mating the battery to the supply is easy with the 3D-printed case, which has a socket for the battery that mimics the sockets on tools from the Ryobi line. It’s simple and effective, as well as neatly executed. The files for the case are on Thingiverse; sadly, only an STL file is included, so if you want to support another brand’s batteries, you’ll have to roll your own.
Check out some of the other power supplies we’ve featured that use the DPS5005 and its cousins, like this nice bench unit. We’ve also covered some of the more hackable aspects of this module, such as an open-source firmware replacement.
That makes a lot of sense! I have plenty of DeWalt batteries and I’m constantly using them for other purposes than just powering my cordless drills. Here are the STLs and Sketchup files for the 3D printed mount: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/dewalt-dcb123-dcb125-cordless-drill-battery-connector
I’ve got a lot of them as well.
The Job sites that I have been working at are no longer supplying lighting in the rooms so I came up with the Idea of putting lights on the Batteries. Some of them will last about 4 hours But they are like having a 40w fluorescent light lighting up the room. I have made other lights that are great for lighting up the area that you would be working in.
The nice thing about these lights are the power and batteries are still coming from the contractor.
The benefit I get means I usually get to work longer because the lights are mine and if they lay me off all the lights I had made come with me. So then they have to use extension cords and trouble lights, that take time and man power so they end up lose money. So I get to stay longer.
But I do get into trouble with the Unions. And I am a Electrician. I do lend the lights out to the other trades as well but at a no money exchange for things.
I could not tell you how much these lights have helped me.
Great job on the power pack. I made one but it only puts out 12 volts. And it is use by my wife to light up her jewelry displays when she is selling her jewelry.
Not supplying lighting sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. I am no health and safety fan boy, but this might be an economy too far!
Hi, nice work! I also created a portable power supply like that:
https://hackaday.io/project/18546-portable-laboratory-power-supply
I added a 2x 5V USB connectors to power my development boards and i noticed, that 4mm bananajacks are in many cases useless. So i added spring loaded wire connectors from an audio speaker.
That modifications make the power supply to an universal powersupply.
Have a nice day!
Nice project. I wouldn’t say banana plugs are unuasble, if you need more than 2A they are very usable.
there are certain bananas where the spring section is tight on the receptacle but loose on the banana, so there is no pressure and the banana can rattle with intermittent contact. I think this is what he is referring to, the rubbish design of a typical banana.
The current project uses screw binding posts that connect bare wires in addition to bannana plugs.
Nickel strips for battery tab welding might perform better as contacts than 1oz copper at high amps and in long run.
The DPS5005 is buck only.
The DPH series (From the same manufacurer) can do both buck and boost.
So with the DPH3205 you can get output voltages up to 32V from a low voltage battery pack.
Combining these modules with a cordless drill batterypack is a niche combination.
But of course any battery pack available can be used, from your laptop with a cracked screen to a bicyle battery pack with a few dead / removed cells.
Combination with a battery pack for RC cars or equivalent seems more logical if you want to buy a battery pack.
True story, I used my 24v quad battery and later on a drill battery to jump start my car one day before work.
It actually does not take a whole lot of energy to start a car. Yes, you need a lot of current but assuming there is nothing wrong with the engine the amount of energy needed is surprisingly small. There are little disposable jump packs that are just filled with a bunch of AA that get enough charge into a battery to start the car.
Great project. I’d like to make something similar. Does anyone know where to source the spring contacts for the battery? I see he sells kits on ebay but I’m in the UK.
Maplins. But hurry!
That’s pretty slick. I just made a shitty box and stuffed a 6S LiPo pack inside with mine
Lol think bigger
Love those DPS modules. I’ve been meaning to build a power supply around it for awhile, my current bench supply is kind of clunky.
Here is a holder the cheapest batteries you can buy on Amazon.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2390620
Looks like you can print an Milwaukee battery to robete adapter to a Ryobi battery with this 3d printed part. I may make this to expand the tools I can use with the same batteries!
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1677812