LiFePo4 Choices

Equipment
42

Can’t find anywhere shipping to UK with a 4200mAh rating (my preferred size) but [saw this on Amazon for a good price](link in OP)

I have a Lachy, same spec (currently unavailable). It’s brilliant, not too heavy (but I wouldn’t want to cart it up a fell) and lasts for ages with my K2, also used on QCX mini. I charge it with a normal car battery charger and it charges quickly.

When it is discharged, it seems to die but the fix is easy. It’s just the BMS doing its thing.

This info from Lachy and probably applies to other makes.

3. What should I do if the battery cannot be charged and cannot be used?

Our battery BMS has multi-protections to ensure safety: Short-circuit Protection, Over-current Protection, Overload Protection, Over-voltage Protection, Over-charge Protection and Over-discharge Protection. Once a protection triggered, the battery will be unusable temporarily.

Three Circumstances to Reactivate the Battery:

  • Normally, the BMS will automatically restart the battery after the abnormality is eliminated (about 30 minutes).
  • If the battery still can’t operate after 30 minutes, please try to recharge it at 14.6V to reactivate it.
  • If the normal charger can’t reactivate the battery, please check the battery voltage, the battery won’t be recognized by normal charger if its voltage is under 8V, now please use a 14.6V lifepo4 charger which support 0V charging mode then it will work.
1 Like
43

Hello
I use in my kx3 8 Lion rechargeble units available on Amazon . I’ m very satisfied : 11.9 v in RX and 10.5v in tx for hours.

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44

Hey guys,

I’m using now 3x 18650 batteries with this Aliexpress case.
Works great and is 200g lighter then my 26650 LiFePo4.
For more days or more then 5 peaks I’m taking 3 extra 18650.
They also fit perfectly in my LedLenser.

photo_2023-10-15_09-50-49

73,
Julian

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45

Hello Julian - could you post a link for the battery case please?

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46

Hello Matthew,

of course. There u go.

73
Julian

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47

You can buy them on eBay. Get the ones that don’t use coil springs for the terminals.

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48

This is a battery building forum isn’t it?

I am looking at building a LiFePo4 pack. My existing pack is 1500 mAh, 9.9V RC style. This pack lasts for at least 15 activations with my homebrew rig.

I have done quite a bit of ready through these archives, watched some youtube videos (most seem based around much bigger packs). I think I conclude the following:

  1. I balance charge with my battery charger. My rig has voltage monitoring and LiFePo4 discharge curves programmed so I don’t run the battery too low. My rig has a fuse and reverse polarity protection. Therefore, a basic BMS board isn’t going to add very much for me?

  2. A few videos I have seen use homebrew spot welders. What is the strong advantage of this over soldering? Less risk of damaging cell during manufacture? It doesn’t look like it spot welding makes a strong/robust a connection?

  3. I was looking at the following cells 18500 3.2V Solar Light 1000mAh Lithium Rechargeable Battery any other UK suppliers I might have missed for a 18500 1000-1500 mah (LiFe) cells?

  4. I was planning on holding the cells in a custom design 3d printed case, therefore, I am questioning what additional kapton tape wrapping would add?

Battery builders - Am I correct?

1 Like
49

Less heat needed to make a joint. They also tend to be much stronger and lower resistance as thick strips are used for the connections.

Is there a specific reason for 18500 sized cells over the more common 18650? Plenty of ready made 18650 holders available from Alibaba and eBay etc.

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50

Thanks for the reply. No strong logic for 18500 cells. I would ideally like to go smaller (for similar capacity). But it looks like I need to shift away from LiFePo4 to do this.

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51

My Zippy 4200 mAh LiFePo4 battery has just expired. The symptoms apart from appearing dead to the charger are it has physically swollen, with bulging sides.

However, I have two 2S 2100 mAh batteries so I made up an adaptor to run them in series. It’s half the capacity but should be enough for at least one activation.

The reason for posting this is because LiFePo4 2S batteries are still available here in the UK and hopefully elsewhere in Europe. They are not Zippy and some have different connectors but they do offer a potential route to make a 4S battery.

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52

ZIPPY Compact 8400mAh 4S2P 30C LiFePo4
Currently in stock at Hobbyking UK warehouse.

Ordered Monday and arrived today via DPD
They also have some smaller 2S and 3S packs, but not suited to my larger radios.

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53

Ordered one 3 hours ago. Only 5 left.

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54

Is your Tracer LiFePO4 pack no good any more Steve, or are you just looking for something smaller and lighter?

Mine is still going strong after what must be around 500 charging cycles over 10 years. It was one of the more expensive options for me at the time, but the quality of the product is excellent - and it appears I got good value for money.

If and when I need to replace it, I would splash out again and get the updated version of the same product - it now also has USB Type A and micro USB sockets. The 4Ah pack on the website, certified UN38.3 for flight, also looks tempting.

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55

Is not a LiFePo4, but a LiPo.

My Hobbyking-fu is weak and feable, I couldn’t see those available from the UK warehouse, just global warehouse. They’ve probably all gone :frowning:

EDIT: Hobbyking-fu restored (enable the disabled JS file) and I can see the UK warehouse and there are “less than 2 left”. I also saw one get sold whilst I was fixing my browser.

EDIT2: The price has dropped for me by £10 and there’s now “less than 3 in stock” :wink:

4 Likes
56

Tom, the tracer is still the dogs b*******s for my 857, however I bought this to power my Xiegu X90. I have the 4200 already but as the 8400 was in stock, I thought what the hell.

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