Category:Makita LXT

Makita LXT (Lithium-Ion Extreme Techonology) is a battery system used by most high-end Makita power tools since approximately 2005. LXT batteries and tools use a slide-on format and are designed to work at 18 volts and some also at 14.4 volts. Chargers and batteries are common across the range of power tools.

The DC18RC and DC18RD rapid chargers have forced air cooling to keep the batteries cool whilst fast charging.

Fast charge rates on the DC18RC and DC18RD are as follows:

All batteries are electrically compatible, featuring two main connectors for power, a third connection for temperature sensing and charging plus yellow-coloured 8-way data connector used by battery chargers.

A standard battery pack capacity is 3.0 Amp-hours and usable across all tools. Physically smaller battery packs (1.5 Ah) have only a single set of cells, and can be used with low or high power tools.

Mechanical keying of tools and batteries is also used to ensure that larger battery packs (created using high-capacity low-tolerance cells) requiring active monitoring of the battery state (voltage and temperature) on only used in high-power tools when the tool features active monitoring of the battery state. Low-power tools are marked with yellow battery connectors, and high-power tools are marked with black connectors. Tools with active monitoring support are marked with a five-pointed star symbol near to the connector.

Capability of Makita 18v LXT batteries

		Low-power (yellow)		High-power (black)
Capacity	Cells	No star	Star	No star	Star	Reason
18v 1.5 Ah	5	Support	Support	Support	Support	Light-weight battery pack, with limited power output
18v 2.0 Ah	5	Question	Question	Question	Question
18v 3.0 Ah	10	Support	Support	Support	Support	Battery with good capacity and wide tolerance cells
18v 4.0 Ah	10	Support	Support	No	Support	High-capacity needing active monitoring by battery and tool
18v 5.0 Ah	10	Support	Support	No	Support
18v 6.0 Ah	10	Support	Support	No	Support

Batteries are constructed with multiple 3.6 volt 18650 Lithium-Ion cells in a series arrangement (18v = groups of five 18650 cells in series), or 14.4 volts (14.4v = groups of four 18650 cells in series). "18" meaning 18mm in diameter and "650" meaning 65mm in length. Just as the batteries themselves have different Ah ratings, the cells inside have different mAh capacity as well. Example being a 3.0ah pack would have 10 18650-1500mAh cells with 2 parallel rows of 5 cells each in series. Most LXT batteries contain a cell-balancing circuit within the battery pack. For 36 volt tools the a "dual 18 volt" arrangement with two 18 volt battery connectors on the power tools, and using requiring two 18 volt battery packs in series to provide the voltage.