Introduction

Half a year ago, we introduced a tool by DeWalt that charges via USB-C - the DeWalt USB Charging Kit. It simplifies the process of charging power tool batteries more than ever before and allows these same batteries to function as power banks for your iOS, Android phones, or tablets.

Today, we finally got our hands on one, so let's dive into testing the charging performance of the included charger and charging kit.

Product Appearance

PD 65W | Charging Review of DeWalt USB Charging Kit-Chargerlab

The packaging box continues DeWalt's signature black and yellow industrial style, with simple usage illustrations and warning instructions for the charging kit below.

Specs info is printed on the side of the packaging box.

Upon opening the box, you'll find the USB charging kit, charger, charging cable, instruction manual, and others.

The DeWalt 65W charger features a black PC casing with bright yellow "DEWALT" and "65W" power markings on the front. It has a matte finish and a square shape.

The output utilizes a USB-C port with a black plastic sheet.

Its output plug is designed to be fixed for added stability.

The specs info of the 65W charger is located underneath the plug.

The model number is 2AEK0655. It supports an input of 100-240V~50/60Hz 1.7A and an output of up to 20V3.25A, 65W.

The DeWalt USB charging kit adopts a similar design style with rounded edges for a comfortable grip.

And the specs info for the DeWalt USB charging kit is on its side. The USB-C input/output can go up to 20V5A DC, while with battery input/output, it can reach up to 20V/6A DC.

Its bottom features USB-A+USB-C ports, with the USB-C port supporting input/output as expected.

At the bottom is the battery charging compartment, adorned with warning stickers.

Upon closer inspection, you can see the specially designed blade-style charging pins inside, designed for use with their own batteries.

Its top is thoughtfully equipped with power indicator lights for indicating charging states and hot/cold delay.

The included charging cable is a black and yellow braided design, offering high-density weaving.

The connectors are imprinted with "DEWALT" and are relatively soft, providing better flexibility.

The USB-C connector utilizes a specially designed pin configuration, possibly enabling different functionalities.

ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM003C indicates that it supports 20V5A power transmission and USB 2.0.

The cable length is approximately 1m (3' 34'').

The length of the DeWalt 65W Charger is about 62mm (2.44 inches).

The width is also about 62mm (2.44 inches).

And the thickness is about 28mm (1.10 inches). So the volume is approximately 109.05cm³, with a power density of about 0.6W/cm³.

And the weight is about 136g (4.80 oz).

The weight of the DeWalt USB charging kit is about 115g (4.06 oz).

It's noticeably smaller than the Apple 67W charger.

Protocol Test

KM003C shows that it supports FCP, QC3.0, MTK, PD3.0, DCP, SAM 2A and Apple 2.4A protocols.

It supports five fixed PDOs of 5V3A, 9V3A, 12V3A, 15V/3A, and 20V3.25A.

Charging Test

Next, we will comprehensively evaluate this charger from the aspects of compatibility, full charging process, and standby power consumption.

Firstly, charging the original battery with the charging kit allows you to check the battery status via the charging indicator lights. At this point, KM003C measured the USB-C input power at 20.14V 3.29V 66.23W.

Additionally, since its USB-C port supports bidirectional charging, you can use the battery as a power bank for other devices under circumstances. As you can see, it can provide around 30W of charging power for an iPad Pro.

When switched to a 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max, its charging power reaches 88.87W, very close to the theoretical maximum power.

After fully charging the original battery, you can load it into a power drill for wireless operation.

Charging Compatibility Test

Next, ChargerLAB will conduct a comprehensive test on the compatibility of the charger's USB-C port. We will evaluating its performance with a selection of several products, aiming to cover the majority of users' charging scenarios.

For example, the DeWalt 65W Charger can provide about 14W of charging power for the Samsung Galaxy S23+.

When switched to the OPPO Find X6 Pro, the power slightly increases to 17W.

Summarizing all the data into a table, most tested smartphones can trigger a 9V voltage value, gaming consoles and tablets trigger 15V, and laptops trigger 20V.

Drawing a bar chart, the highest charging power is 63.88W for the 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max. From the chart, it's evident that the DeWalt 65W charger's charging power for the Apple Watch Ultra is noticeably lower than the original charger, and the realme GT Neo5 SE exhibits an abnormal charging power below 5W. Overall, its charging performance for Apple products is relatively excellent, with charging power for high-power devices like laptops exceeding 60W.

Full Charging Test

Next, we'll use the USB-C port of the 65W charger to fully charge the MacBook Pro M2.

The voltage is basically stay at 20V, and the charging curve can be divided into four parts. In the first part, the peak power stayed around 56W for the first 3 mins. Then, the power gradually drops to 37W, and 25W in turn. Finally, the final part begins at one hour and 30 mins, the power slowly drops to almost zero. It takes two hour and 36 mins to be fully charged.

We also turn it into another curve. The charger can charge the MacBook Pro M2 to 50% in 45 mins. And it can reach 80% in one hour and 28 mins, 100% in two hours and 36 mins. This is actually pretty fast for a third-party charger.

Standby Power Test

As for the standby power part. The power consumption at 220V 50Hz is 0.104W, and 0.023W at 110V 60Hz, which is about 0.911 and 0.201KW·h in one year, respectively. The result is pretty god, so you won't feel an increase in your electricity bill at all.

Conversion Efficiency Test

Next, we will conduct test on this product to assess its conversion efficiency under two different AC input voltages: 220V 50Hz and 110V 60Hz. The following chart outlines our test results.

The conversion efficiency varies from 83.75% to 90.77% at 220V 50Hz. The conversion efficiency varies from 85.91% to 88.77% at 110V 60Hz.

The conversion efficiency reaches the average among all chargers we tested.

Ripple Test

Chargers often rely on switch-mode power supplies, which means that the output from the transformer's secondary winding is not direct current and must be rectified and filtered by capacitors before being outputted. As a result, ripples can exist in the output signal. To evaluate the quality of the output, ChargerLAB employs an oscilloscope to test the ripple value of the charger's output. In general, the lower the ripple, the higher the output quality.

Firstly, let's check out its ripple without load. When the output is 12V 0A, the lowest ripple is 24 mVp-p. When the output is 5V 0A, the highest ripple is 55.2 mVp-p.

Then, move to the ripple test when loaded. The overall ripple is opposite to the ripple without load. When the output is 20V 3.25A, the highest ripple is 71.2 mVp-p. When the output is 5V 3A, the lowest ripple is 19.2 mVp-p. So, its ripple is not that good.

Temperature Test

We also put it into a 25°C (77℉) thermotank throughout the test. After an hour of 20V3.25A output, we got the maximum temperature.

Under 220V 50Hz, this side is 61.3°C (142.34℉).

And the other side is 56.6°C (133.88 ℉).

Moving on to the 110V 60Hz. The maximum temperature on this side is 66.7°C (152.06℉).

And the maximum temperature on the back is 70.7°C (159.26℉).

As you can see, it's lower than the IEC 62368 standard, but not by much.

Summary of ChargerLAB

After the test, it was found that the standby power consumption of the DeWalt 65W charger is around 0.104W, with measured conversion efficiency ranging from 83% to 91%. In a full charge test conducted on the MacBook Pro M2 2022, it took approximately 2 hours and 36 minutes, which is not significantly different from the experience with the Apple original 67W charger.

Overall, the DeWalt 65W charging kit, whether in terms of the charger or the USB charging kit, can efficiently store energy for batteries and other devices. For users who already own other DeWalt toolkits, it is a relatively good choice.

PD 65W | Charging Review of DeWalt USB Charging Kit