RYOBI RC18115 ONE+ Battery Charger, 18 V, 1.5 A - 5133003589

RYOBI RC18115 ONE+ Battery Charger, 18 V, 1.5 A

RYOBI RC18115 (article number 5133003589) is a compact charger for the lithium-ion battery packs of the ONE+ 18 V platform. The manufacturer calls it the 18V ONE+ Compact Charger and a "compact fast charger", with a charge rate of 1.5 A. The ONE+ range also includes chargers with a higher rate, but the difference in time is smaller than the difference in amps suggests - see the comparison below. The article is the charger only: there is no battery and no tool in the box.

What it is for

The RC18115 does one job: it charges one RYOBI ONE+ 18 V Li-ion battery pack. It has a single bay and runs off a 220 - 240 V mains supply. The housing is small and light, so the charger fits in the bag next to the tool and travels with it.

There are three usual reasons to buy a charger on its own: the tool was bought in SOLO trim (the suffix "-0" and the word SOLO both mean no battery and no charger); a second charger for the other site or for home; or a replacement for a broken one. In all three cases the RC18115 works with the whole 18 V ONE+ line-up.

1.5 A versus 2.0 A - what the difference is in practice

RYOBI offers several chargers for the same platform and they differ mainly in charge rate. The RC18115 delivers 1.5 A. The RC18120A delivers 2.0 A and adds a "ready to go" indicator that lights up when the pack reaches 80%. The manufacturer calls both of them a "compact fast charger".

The practical difference is measured in minutes and is smaller than the difference in amps suggests. For the same 5.0 Ah pack the manufacturer publishes 200 minutes on the RC18115 and 180 minutes on the RC18120A - about 20 minutes, roughly a tenth. With smaller packs the gap is smaller still.

The conclusion is simple. The RC18115 does the job in most cases - especially if you mostly use compact 1.5 - 2.5 Ah packs, if you charge overnight, or if you want an inexpensive second charger. The RC18120A is worth it if you value the 80% indicator, or if those twenty minutes on the large packs matter to your day.

How long charging takes

These are the manufacturer's own figures: on the RC18115 product page RYOBI publishes 80 minutes for 2.0 Ah, 100 for 2.5 Ah, 160 for 4.0 Ah and 200 for 5.0 Ah, and the description adds explicitly that at a charge rate of 1.5 A a 1.5 Ah battery charges in 1 hour. The figure for 1.3 Ah comes from the model's manual:

These times assume a pack at room temperature that is not deeply discharged. A cold battery out of the boot, or a hot one straight off a grinder, will wait while the charger brings it to a suitable temperature before charging begins. That is not a fault - it is part of how the cells are protected.

The indicator panel

The black panel on the front carries a printed legend of five pictograms, with the charger's indicator LEDs beside them. In the manufacturer's own words, the indicator lights show the status as batteries are charged and maintained - that is, you can see whether the charger is powered, whether the pack is charging, whether charging has finished, and whether the charger has detected a problem with the battery. The exact meaning of each combination is printed on the panel itself and described in the model's manual.

Intelligent condition monitoring

RYOBI brands the series IntelliPort and states that the charger performs intelligent condition monitoring: it evaluates the battery's voltage and temperature while charging. The point is durability - the cells are not stressed when they are too cold or too hot, and charging stops when the pack is full instead of pushing current into a charged battery.

In practice this means you do not have to watch the clock while a pack is in the charger. Even so, it is better not to store batteries permanently in the charger.

The ONE+ 18 V platform

ONE+ is RYOBI's system in which one and the same 18 V battery powers the entire range - drill drivers, hammer drills, rotary hammers, saws, angle grinders, vacuums and lights, as well as the garden machines: trimmers, hedge trimmers, blowers and mowers. The manufacturer states that the RC18115 is compatible with all ONE+ 18 V lithium-ion batteries, including older generations of pack.

This is also why so many ONE+ tools are sold in SOLO trim: the buyer already has a battery and a charger and pays for the tool alone.

Technical specifications

The manufacturer does not publish a weight or dimensions for this article, so those rows are deliberately absent from the table. The figures found on retail sites contradict one another and are not reproduced here.

What is in the box

• 1 x RYOBI RC18115 charger, ONE+ 18 V, 1.5 A, powered from a 220 - 240 V mains socket
• No battery - the pack is bought separately (for example RB1820C 2.0 Ah, RB1825C 2.5 Ah, RB1840X 4.0 Ah or RB18L50 5.0 Ah)
• No tool - this article is the charger only
• No case and no bag - the packaging is a recycled cardboard carton

The manufacturer does not publish an official box-contents list, so only what is certain about this article is listed here.

Working tips

• Let the battery reach room temperature. A pack brought in from a cold boot, or taken hot off a tool, lengthens the charge because the charger waits for a suitable temperature.
• Do not run the battery flat. Lithium-ion packs have no memory effect and can be topped up at any time; full discharge only shortens their life.
• A second charger saves more time than a second battery. With two packs and one charger you still wait once; with two chargers both packs recover in parallel.
• Plan large packs for overnight charging. 200 minutes for a 5.0 Ah battery is easy to live with at night and hard at midday.
• Do not cover the unit. Charging produces heat and the ventilation openings must stay clear.

Questions and answers