Harbor Freight's Bauer 20V 8 Amp Charger Can Charge Your Batteries 4X Faster

The biggest perk to any hardware brand that uses a rechargeable battery system is that you can always have a few juiced-up packs on standby to swap between while working. If you run out of packs, though, you'll need to place one on the charging cradle while you're working, and depending on the charger's efficacy, the battery might not be ready when your current pack runs out. It'd be pretty miserable to be stuck staring at the charger without any viable packs to use.

In an effort to remedy this hypothetical hiccup, Harbor Freight has released a new variant charger for one of its in-house brands, Bauer: the 20V Li-ion 8-Amp Battery Charger. This new charger is designed to work exclusively with Bauer's power tool system, specifically its 20V batteries, and according to its page on Harbor Freight's website, it's capable of recharging a pack at four times the speed of Bauer's standard chargers. If you wanted to be sure your next battery finishes charging while you're working, that would certainly be one way to do it.

The Bauer 20V Li-ion 8-Amp Battery Charger fits all 20V battery packs from the Bauer brand sold at Harbor Freight, linking up with the same connector rails the batteries all use. Bear in mind, this does mean that this charger will only work with Bauer batteries, and no other batteries, even from Harbor Freight's other in-house brands like Hercules, will fit.

According to its store page, the charger's "Ready" feature will swiftly juice up a battery pack to at least 80% capacity, then safely charge up the rest of the way. In addition to its 8-amp charging power, this charger is also equipped with a built-in microprocessor that monitors the overall health and state of whatever battery you plug into it. While the battery is charging, the charger monitors charge level, temperature, and the battery's physical state. This is all to ensure the pack doesn't overcharge, get too hot or cold, or attempts to charge when the internal power cells are damaged, in that order. As an additional layer of safety, the charger has an impact-resistant housing, which helps to keep it whole and functional even if you accidentally drop it a couple of times.