Anyone using HRB LiPo batteries ?

[TK5EP]

Hi all,
Has anyone bad or good experience with these LiPo batteries 14.8V 4S 50C brand HRB sold by Amazon ?

[DD5LP]

I haven’t seen HRB before, but just in case you don’t know 4S LIPO batteries are over 16 volts when fully charged so you will need some method to reduce down to 13.8v I guess.

73 Ed.

[TK5EP]

Good guess Ed !

Will keep that in mind…

[F5HTR]

Salut Patrick,
Cette marque en particulier, je ne connais pas, mai moi j’utilise un 3S, comme ça pas besoin de réduire la tension. C’est très bon bien sur.!

[TK5EP]

Merci Robert,

3S, donc normalement 11,1 V . A cette tension là, on ne sort pas grand chose… Du moins, mon QCX !
Quelle tension as-tu le pack bien chargé et quelle est la rapidité de décharge ?

73, EP

[F5JKK]

Bonjour Patrick,
First, many thanks for all TK references you give me at critical distance
Pour la question de tension pour le QCX peut-être relire sur le reflector SOTA? Qcx qrp rig
où ON7DQ parle de la tension et la batterie 4S qu’il utilise avec son QCX.
Ici j’ai 3 QCX 20m, 40m et un 30m en cours de montage que je veux utiliser avec une 4S (boite automatique et peut être un ampli de 10W)
73 Eric F5JKK

[F5HTR]

Bonjour Patrick,
11,1 volts c’est le minima, chargé elle est à 12,3 volts normalement. Donc pour le 817 ou le qcx ça doit faire l’affaire. J’ai aussi un QCX 10 Mhz à tester, mais là j’attends les jours plus chauds !
cordiales 73

[F5UKL]

Hi!
I have been using a LIPO Turnigy 4S battery for many years. I charge the battery up to 15.05v and the KX3 still works
Best 73
André f5ukl

[TK5EP]

Bob and André,

Thanks for the advices. 12.3 V is rather low, isn’t ? I would guess it’s closer to what André says 15-16 V, even more !
Putting one or two fat diodes in series that could be shortened would probably help to stay close to 13.8 V…

I’ve been adviced to look at hobbyking for reliable batteries. I will have a look…

73, Patrick.

[F5JKK]

Hi Pat
Another post here Testing 4S Lipo in SOTA EA2/NV-089 Lakarri about the Lipo 4S
73 Eric F5JKK

[ON7DQ]

See my post in this thread for a picture of what I use as a battery, a charger , and a “voltage reducer” for the KX3. Both my QXC’s (40m and 20m models) are happy with 16.8V.

LiPO Chargers

Still very happy using this small and lightweight charger For less than 10 Euros, I didn’t bother making one myself. It is slow (Imax is 1.5A), but as Andy says … maybe better for the battery life. I charge a commercial LiPo 5800mAh pack with it, as well as several homebrew Li-Ion packs via the balancing wires (I have 2S 3S and 4S packs in use, and not just for SOTA, e.g. my bike lights are also powered from a 2S Li-Ion pack hi) And it works on 12V in the car too, so I can…

73 Luc, ON7DQ

[TK5EP]

Thanks,
I ordered a 4S1P from Hobbyking.

Will see how it works and how i will manage the overvoltage. Not a problem with my actual QCX transceiver.

73, Patrick

[TK5EP]

Hi,

I received my battery pack from HobbyKIng. I bought a Zippy 4200mAh 4S1P.
It turned out to be LiFe cells, so the nominal voltage is 3.3 V / cell and not as i thought LiPo with 3.7V/cell.

That should solve the overvoltage problem… I don’t know the real difference between both cell types though.

They are loading and i hope to test them this week-end.

73, Patrick

[MM0FMF]

Make sure you charge it with a LiFE charger… the charge characteristics are very different between LiFE and LiPO.

[TK5EP]

Yep !

I have the famous imax B6 charger. That’s how i discovered that my pack is a LiFe, the charger was detecting only 3S while in entered 4S !!

Any difference in daily use for us with these LiFe vs LiPo ?

73 EP

[VE6VID]

I have been using the same but 3 cell battery for about 9 months now. Normally running my KX2 and amp. I can get multiple activations from it. For charging I use an Amazon generic charger labelled “B3 Pro”. No complaints from me on the battery at all.

Malen
VE6VID

[TK5EP]

Thanks Malen,

Is a 3S not too low in voltage ? With my 4S, i have 13.2 V nominal.
Your 3S should only give around 9.9 V…

I’ve done my first loading yesterday evening. I noticed a small voltage difference on one cell.

I have 13.5 V and it’s actualy feeding my QCX in RX position (about 110 mA).
I will see what happens.

73 Patrick

[VE6VID]

Patrick.
3 cell runs about 11.1 volts after about 1 hour running time. Never have had it below 11.0 volts.

Malen

[TK5EP]

OK Malen,

Will see how mine are working.

I’m mostly using banana plugs and i quickly made an adapter for the original 5.5 mm plugs.
I put some heat shrink tubing that overlaps the connectors… Just in case i’m crossing Murphy on a summit !!

73, Patrick TK5EP

[EA2BD]

I have the famous imax B6 charger. That’s how i discovered that my pack is a LiFe, the charger was detecting only 3S while in entered 4S

Hello Patrick,
apart of selecting the right number of Cells (4S as in your battery pack) don’t forget to select in your B6 charger that you are using a LiFe batt, not a LiPo type (select this in “User Set” menu).
You probably have done this already. Otherwise the charge program and voltage would be wrong…

As you see LiFe is a reduced voltage when compared with LiPo.

Main differences?
LiFe seems better to reduce the risk of fire
LiFe seems to achieve higher charging cycles (therefore longer life time)

Enjoy your new pack and take care,
73 de Ignacio