Can You Use Harbor Freight Batteries On DeWalt Tools?
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The DeWalt hardware brand utilizes its own series of rechargeable battery packs for its various power tools. These batteries are meant to provide the optimal delivery of power to the tools you plug them into, which helps ensure the tool's longevity and effectiveness. Of course, as with any other name-brand product, these battery packs can be on the expensive side. Even the simplest 20V battery pack from DeWalt's MAX system will run you at least $100 at Home Depot.
By contrast, the battery packs used by the in-house brands of hardware retailer Harbor Freight, like Bauer and Hercules, are far cheaper. For instance, a 20V pack from Harbor Freight's Bauer brand of comparable power to that DeWalt pack would only cost $67.99. The obvious solution would be to just buy a Bauer battery and use that on your DeWalt tool, but unfortunately, that won't work. DeWalt's batteries and power tools are specifically built for one another, using connecting rails to facilitate a flush connection; no other battery would fit properly. Technically, this limit could be circumvented through the use of third-party battery adapters, but using adapters presents risks to both your personal safety and the health of your DeWalt tools.
Batteries from Harbor Freight's brands are not natively compatible with DeWalt tools
As nice as it would be to just slap whatever rechargeable battery packs you want onto your DeWalt tools, life is rarely so accommodating. While a battery pack from one of Harbor Freight's brands may have comparable voltage and capacity to those employed by DeWalt, there's a major hitch preventing their usage: the connector rails.
DeWalt battery packs, along with just about every other brand of rechargeable power tool battery pack out there, have wholly unique connector rails on their tops, which are used to connect and lock them to a tool. DeWalt tools have corresponding receivers that only fit those exact connector rails. While the connector rails on a Bauer battery pack look similar at a glance, there are a variety of both internal and external factors that would keep them from making a proper connection with a DeWalt tool. These include plastic divots in the casing, the precise positioning of electrical connectors, and more. If a battery pack can't make that perfect connection, power will not flow.
The reason for these little distinctions is twofold: first, ensuring that you can only use DeWalt batteries for DeWalt tools is better for legal purposes, as it means you can't use any battery that the brand hasn't personally inspected. Additionally, it helps keep you in the brand's ecosystem and only buying its products.
There are unofficial battery adapters, but using them isn't a good idea
If you feel dissatisfied with DeWalt's lack of cross-compatibility, you're not the only one. There's an entire unofficial industry for third-party battery pack adapters that cross between hardware brands, even between major brands like DeWalt and Makita. There are adapters available that allow you to circumvent the physical limits preventing you from using that Bauer battery with your DeWalt tool. In theory, this is a perfect solution; the top of the adapter attaches to the battery connector on the tool, and the Bauer battery is hooked onto the bottom.
However, there are several potentially big problems with using battery adapters. Firstly, DeWalt battery packs are optimized to be used with DeWalt tools. It's not just about delivering power, the batteries communicate with the tool electronically to ensure a safe and consistent flow of electricity. Using a battery adapter eliminates that line of communication. Power may still flow, but it could do so in a highly unoptimized way, with the battery either not providing enough power to meet the tool's needs or shunting an excess of power into the tool. This could respectively result in underwhelming performance from the tool or, more concerningly, an overload on the tool's motor, which could cause the motor to burn out.
These concerns bring us to the second problem: if anything does go wrong from using a battery adapter, DeWalt won't help you. Using a battery adapter is a violation of DeWalt's warranty; you used an accessory that wasn't officially checked and certified by DeWalt, which means any resulting failures are entirely your own fault. DeWalt will not service or replace the tool, which means you're out potentially quite a bit of cash.