Battery powered chainsaw

WinterDeere · Oct 17, 2024

ultrarunner said:
Not keeping gasoline around made the Insurance company happy when they visited...

Great post, ultrarunner. And it all made sense to me, except this one line. Aren't these powered by Li-Ion batteries? While incidence of fire while charging is rare, I'd think it'd have to be nearly on-par with fires caused by gasoline-powered OPE.

My father had an electric saw and two or three gas-powered saws. Since he wasn't cutting super-frequently, we usually went to the electric saw first for firewood duty, it was just more convenient and always ready to go. The gassers pretty much only came out when it was time to go harvest wood. Back then, "electric" meant 110V corded, meaning you had to be within an extension-cord's distance of some power source.

ultrarunner · Oct 17, 2024

The insurance surveyor wanted to see secure dedicated storage for the gas cans.

Nothing said about the batteries... maybe batteries not on the radar last year?

I do think the quality of Lithium batteries varies... there were several after Christmas apartment fires from cheap electric kids scooters... often charged indoors with particular care.

I think Stihl is liability conscious and I'm interested to learn if AP series batteries have caused fires.

I too have a large and capable Stihl corded saw at the ready.

One year the tree farm bought 2 inexpensive small corded chain saws to try.

Quickly experienced cut or damaged cords and then there is something about electric power tools plugged in and used in the wet outdoors.

WinterDeere · Oct 17, 2024

ultrarunner said:
Quickly experienced cut or damaged cords and then there is something about electric power tools plugged in and used in the wet outdoors.

I never cut a cord with a chainsaw, or any OPE, but I have admittedly come close and gotten lucky with corded hedge trimmers.

My grandfather had an electric mower, which must have been from the 1950's or 60's. He had a Bolens garden tractor for most of his mowing, which he replaced with a Wheel Horse in the 1980's, but would use that little electric thing around the house and gardens. Always scared me a little to use that one, since there'd be a mile of cord laid out to avoid, but he had a system that always kept him "down-cord" of it.

Jstpssng · Oct 17, 2024

WinterDeere said:
Why? I cut a lot more than most, maybe as much as any non-pro you'll ever meet, and mine last decades

Probably because I don't know how to work on them. Also, they ride in a toolbox in back of the truck for 50,000 miles/year. Possibly because the shop I took them to makes more money selling new saws. My 254 lasted the longest, actually just about 15 years before the crank went. My 346 lasted about 4, again before the crank went and they told me it wasn't worth fixing. I cut about 250 cords with that, plus my firewood and did several dozen miles of property line maintenance.
My first Echo was a good saw for 5 years. Problem is that I kept it for 7. My 545 Husky never ran right from the start, it would stall every time that I let off the throttle; I then would have to hold the throttle and drop start it.. That's not really safe when you are walking up fir trees on snowshoes, limbing them.
Somebody here told me after I got rid of it that it needed to be reset by putting it into a log and holding it open for 5 minutes: the shop where I bought it didn't know that. I was using a Poulin because it ran better.

My 490 needed a carb after 3 years; and still doesn't run. Then my 590 started running like crap. I bought it 5 years ago this month. That's where I was at when I made the post you cited, and I was at a loss as I need a running saw and it was pointless to have one of the previous places work on it. Tuesday I dropped both saws off at a different shop where they seem to know what they are doing; hopefully I will have 2 running saws when I pick them up.
The two shops I had been going to are run by older guys who are used to older saws.

ernemats · Oct 17, 2024

I have 2 battery powered chainsaws that I use to cut my firewood, about 4 cords a year. A Ryobi 40 volt with 16 inch bar and a Greenworks 60 volt with a 20 inch bar, and I also have a Husky 396xp with a 24 inch bar for the larger trees. Very seldom do I use the Husky. The Ryobi is fairly light and I probably use it the most because of the weight, you cannot lean on it too much or it kicks off and will restart after you leave go of the trigger and pull it again. The Greenworks you can lean on it pretty good and it just keeps cutting, but it is a lot heavier than the Ryobi, so it gets used less. I have extra batteries for both saws so runtime is not a problem and besides I am over 80 years old and I cannot go too long cutting anymore. I really like battery powered as there is a lot less maintenance on them and they are easy to start. Battery power is not to the point of replacing gas yet but it is getting there for a lot of applications.

CloverKnollFarms · Oct 17, 2024

I suppose the only cutting I know is a small job being 3 hours and the average being 5, felling 60’ trees, limbing and then cutting logs. I’d never venture into that with my battery saw.
For small homeowner cleanup, it’s fine, but I’d never choose it if I had to process a 60’ tree.

Which reminds me, I need to sell my battery saw.

Jstpssng · Oct 17, 2024

ernemats said:
Battery power is not to the point of replacing gas yet but it is getting there for a lot of applications

I will say the same about corded power tools. Most of my lumber sawing is away from the house. I haven't even picked up my corded power saw since 2018. Until about 3 years ago all of my cutting was done with hand saws. Then one day I was talking to a friend as he was using his DeWalt circular saw and I said "I've got to have one of those."

WinterDeere · Oct 17, 2024

Jstpssng said:
Probably because I don't know how to work on them. Also, they ride in a toolbox in back of the truck for 50,000 miles/year. Possibly because the shop I took them to makes more money selling new saws. My 254 lasted the longest, actually just about 15 years before the crank went. My 346 lasted about 4, again before the crank went and they told me it wasn't worth fixing. I cut about 250 cords with that, plus my firewood and did several dozen miles of property line maintenance.

Holy carp! 250+ cords in 4 years!!! That's a whole lot of cutting. You're into wearing out bars and sprockets territory, there. Also, 346 is just a farm and ranch saw, not a pro saw, so you're really getting your money's worth out of that one.

Jstpssng said:
My 490 needed a carb after 3 years; and still doesn't run. Then my 590 started running like crap. I bought it 5 years ago this month. That's where I was at when I made the post you cited, and I was at a loss as I need a running saw and it was pointless to have one of the previous places work on it. Tuesday I dropped both saws off at a different shop where they seem to know what they are doing; hopefully I will have 2 running saws when I pick them up.
The two shops I had been going to are run by older guys who are used to older saws.

Yeah, you shouldn't be having carb problems after just 3-4 years, especially with the continuous use you're putting on these things. Carb problems are common with age and storage, not daily users.

Mine get used nearly every weekend for half the year, and then mostly sit half the year. I leave fuel in them for the half of the year I'm using them, but then drain them for summer storage. So far, no problems with that routine. But as much wood as I cut, I'm nowhere near your 62+ cords per year numbers.

Grumpycat · Oct 17, 2024

Semi-related to my EGo Chainsaw, power was out last night for nearly 3 hours. Broke out my EGo Nexus and collection of EGo batteries to power my CPAP not knowing when power would return. Display claimed I had over 24 hours of runtime. Dead quiet. No emissions in my bedroom.