This Boring Product Could Change the Power Tool Industry Forever

What if you could use the same battery across every major power tool brand? For serious DIY enthusiasts, this kind of flexibility could dramatically transform the tool buying process by allowing consumers to pick the best power tool option across any brand instead of just the one whose battery is compatible with their pre-existing equipment.

The CEENR PDNation is a third-party 21700 battery that, on paper, may finally be the universal battery system power tool consumes have been waiting on.

What is the CEENR PDnation?

While some manufacturer batteries, including most notably DeWalt offer some interoperability with other power tools, often via a third-party adaptor, the flexibility of CEENR’s PDNation is in a class of its own.

As of right now, the “universal” battery can ship with a series of adaptors that allow it to connect DeWalt, Craftsman, Bosch, Porter Cable, Black & Decker, Makita, Milwaukee, Einhell, and Worx power tools. Though technically not “universal,” that list does represent a vast swath of the existing power tool market, with the only significant omission being Ryobi, as several Redditors have noted.

CEENR

The PDNation can also double as a portable power bank for charging USB devices like phones and tablets thanks to an integrated 45W USB-C PD3.0 Bi-directional charging port.

Based on recent thorough testing by the reputable Youtuber Torque Test Channel, the PDNation appears to deliver on its premise. It works with various name-brand tools and matches the power offered by the tool’s OEM battery. Its capacity also matches CEENR’s claims, which is rarely true with sketchier third-party power tool batteries.

What ABOUT DOWNSIDES?

Torque Test Channel came across a few issues during it’s test, though none of them feel like dealbreakers from our POV.

One simple issue is that the battery power level display lights appear to stay on while the battery is attached to the tool, meaning the battery will slowly lose power over time if it remains connected to a power tool, even when not in use.

The CEENR PDNation also appears to be slightly less efficient than OEM version of batteries offering a similar capacity, but not dramatically so.

Torque Test Channel‘s evaluation shows that while the battery works fine with small to mid-level drills, impact drivers, and other tools, it does struggle with high-torque and heavy-power drawing tools such as hand saws and heavy-duty impact drivers. At least while attempting to push these kinds of tools to their max.

Specifically, Torque Test Channel found that the battery would cut out frequently when used in these scenarios. To make matters worse, resetting the battery after it happened required reconnecting the CEENR PDNation to a USB charger.

Interestingly enough, Torque Test Channel believes part of this problem stems from CEENR’s somewhat overly cautious design approach. The internal high-performance Molicel batteries embedded in PDNation are capable of discharging amps at a rate based on the performance of other name-brand power tool batteries that feature the same components.

CEENR

However, CEENR has set up the PDNation to shut down or throttle power output if the battery detects a high load demand near a conservative preset ceiling that’s relatively lower than the battery’s true max potential.

As Torque Test Channel notes, this decision makes sense in some ways as a design insurance policy that can help prevent the battery from damaging power tools. However, future iterations of the CEENR PDNation could offer better performance should CEENR grow more comfortable with upping the PDNation’s preset limits based on real-world use data.

The other major downside is that these batteries can only charge up via USB-C, a slower process than the proprietary charging systems used by OEM batteries. According to Torque Test Channel’s trial, that translates to a full recharge time of well over an hour and a half.

HOW TO GET ONE NOW

While we recommend contributing to most crowdfunding projects with caution, CEENR has at least sold replacement power tool batteries in the past. This would explain why the estimated shipping date of initial orders is July rather than months or years out, as you normally expect with crowdfunding projects.

The cheapest backing option that’ll score the new battery is $109. This includes the battery and adaptors for DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Makita tools.

Hopefully, CEENR will figure out different purchasing channels beyond Indigogo after its initial batch is delivered.

Given the work Torque Test Channel did in evaluating this new release, we’d also encourage anyone interested in detailed evaluations of power tools to consider purchasing access to the team Lifetime Live Update Rankings spreadsheet on Etsy, which includes access to all of the team’s rankings from every tool they test. It’s an easy way to access valuable information and support a team of detailed product evaluators.

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CEENR PDNation Universal Power Tool Battery

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