The third tab is both a thermistor and a comms* tab. Here is the explanation and solution I’ve come up with. Posted in Tool Hacks Tagged 18650, adapter, charger, controller, cordless, dewalt, Li-ion, ryobi Post navigation After all, printing an adapter should be easier than whipping up a cordless battery pack de novo. While took a somewhat brute-force approach here, we imagine 3D-printed parts might make for a more elegant solution and offer other brand permutations. The video below shows the process and the results - Ryobi tools happily clicking away on DeWalt batteries. That meant simply transplanting the PCB from the adapter to the Ryobi battery shell would be enough. Luckily, the donor DeWalt line has that circuitry in the adapter, while Ryobi puts it in the battery. The tricky part came from dealing with the battery control electronics.

Mechanically, this was pretty easy - a dead Ryobi pack from the recycling bin at Home Depot was stripped down for its case, which was glued to a Dewalt 20-v to 18-v battery adapter.

’s solution is a pure hack, as in physically hacking battery packs and forcing them to work and play well together. Luckily, we live in the future, so there’s a third way - building a cross-brand battery adapter that lets him power Ryobi tools with his DeWalt batteries. Could he stay true to his brand and stick with his huge stock of yellow tools and batteries, or would he succumb to temptation and add another set of batteries and chargers so he could have access to a few specialty lime green tools? Even though he’s a faithful DeWalt cordless tool guy, admits to a wandering eye in the tool aisle, looking at the Ryobi offerings with impure thoughts.

Dewalt to royobi battery adapter