Harbor Freight tools thread.

@cliffyk
@Speedytech7

Thanks for the tips and direction on replacing the batteries. I’ll look at Amazon batteries soon. A dewalt 18V replacement cost $89.99 /2 pack.

 

I got 1 that seems to work fine. I plug my chop saw, 4" grinder, n drop light in all plugs at once

 

Get the hf app. Has all the coupons n I get updates daily on new coupons

 

They're all rated at 15A

 

If it’s truly 12 gauge, it can carry up to 20amps. As you likely already know, longer runs will not carry the full load. Always check the cord to see if it’s getting hot, this is a good indicator that your cooking the wires and may cause a fire or burn up your saw.

It’s a good extension cord, I’d buy it right now.

 

Anyone on here have their electric impact? If so, how do you like it?

 

I have it. I like it. It's heavy.

 

Which one do you have?

 

The plug in or the battery?

The youtube mechanic i like to watch has been using the battery one for awhile now and has had nothing but good things to say about it. See it in a lot of his videos. If i was looking, id seriously consider it

 

I have been looking at both. Been trying to decide.

 

Anyone have experience with the Lithium Ion power pack?

 

They probably work well but I have always stuck with their lead acid 3 in 1 jumper pack. Why?

Because if my main battery 100% fails. I can pull the lead acid battery out of that jumper pack hook it up solely in place of the main battery and it on it's on will start the truck and be able to be ran for as long as needed

 

I've been wanting a portable jump starter to keep in my truck. Lithium Ion holds a charge better in the cold, and I live in a really cold environment. Also, these jump packs are much smaller than the 3 in 1's. There's a $59 coupon available for this jump pack and I've read good reviews. I'm curious if anyone here has direct experience with them.

 

I have one. It works better than the full sized jump b packs. It also has all sorts of adapters for many types of electronics.

I just used it last week to boost my snowblower.

 

Great thread! Along with politics and religion HF tools is not something to discuss at work or a family dinner ;-)

I bought the Deluxe Battery Maintainer & Float Charger a few days ago when they were on sale for $15 with a coupon. I attached the ring lug adapter to the battery on my lawn tractor and plugged it in. That battery was at 12.6 volts. The LED on the unit went from flashing red (not connected) to solid red (charging). After a time it went to flashing green (almost done) to solid green (charged/maintaining). The float voltage measured at the battery was right around 13.1 volts which s/b ideal. When I disconnected the charger the battery voltage settled in at around 12.9 volts, nice!

Then I hooked it up with the "alligator clips" to an Optima Redtop AGM battery that was sitting at around 11.6 volts. That's fairly well discharged according to the mfg website. At first it wouldn't charge at all; blinking red LED. As warned on the Optima website some maintainer/chargers won't work with a discharged battery. So I hooked up my old school "dumb" Schauer charger/booster and brought it up to 12.2 volts. Still, no go with the HF Maintainer. Went back and tried it on the lawn tractor and it worked as advertised. Hooked up the alligator leads to the lawn tractor and same thing; that is to say nothing but a flashing red LED. Turned out the alligator clip adapter was wired up reverse polarity! Fortunately the reverse polarity detection circuit in the "Deluxe" charger prevented any damage. Or did it? I reversed the leads on the AGM battery and it appeared to work. Cycled throught the LEDs but only went up to around 12.25 volts. Then it slowly drained that battery back down to 12 volts! Detach/re-attach and rinse/repeat; charges up to 12.25 volts and then in "maintenance mode" (solid green LED) slowly discharges back down. No idea how far it might have kept draining the battery.

I took it back and exchanged for another unit. HF has a great return policy. And hey, this is entertaining, right? First off I noticed that the alligator clip adapter had much more substantial clips than the first and the Item number was 63161 vs 62813. I have this hooked up to the AGM (after checking wiring polarity!!!) and after cycling thought the parade of LED stages seems to be holding a float charge of 13.1-13.3 volts. So far, so good. It's possible the later build is better designed/constructed. Also possible the reverse wiring on the first unit caused some damage though it seemed to still work fine on the lawn tractor (lead acid) battery.

So, is it worth it? Meh, if it does the job then yes. However, I would not trust any of the trickle chargers/maintainers from HF without first testing them and monitoring them. FWIW the cheap trickle chargers are on sale with a coupon for only $5 through February. These could be a great value if you live near a HF and are willing to test/return until you get ones that maintain the desired float voltage. But be aware that voltage will likely change depending on what vehicle/battery you hook it up to and may also vary slightly with ambient temperature.

 

Their nails are complete crap, their nailguns are actually pretty decent if you use Bostich or Hitachi nails in them. I use the 23 gage and 18 gage brad nailer all the time and never had a single jam but I never used the Harbor Freight nails.

 

This is good to know. I have one of their finish nailers, but have never used it.

BTW, I hate carpentry. I'm a metal fabricator.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write such a thorough review of your personal experience using the deluxe HF battery charger.

 

Yup i have 2 of the deluxe battery maintainers. Work like a charm for my motorcycles. Never had a problem with any reverse polarity issues with the clips.