BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Excellent choice

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

As perhaps a confidence builder, just this week I have checked the capacity of several of my A123 batteries. Some of these are at least 5 years old and still retain well over 90% of their rated capacity. No Nixx battery could ever come close to that.

My only concern with these batteries is knowing when to retire them. It was easy to know when Nixx batteries were ready for the bin, not so easy with A123. Excellent value for the $$ and most sources consider the cylinder cell, genuine A123 batteries to be as safe as Nixx.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

I agreed, since these batt are fairly new for the rc market its hard to tell when to discard them.

Trucker, how low do you discharge your packs? Also I know that counting is a way to now the capacity of the pack, any thoughts regarding the EDR NANO test from Electro Dynamics?

I also like some recommendations for a decent LIFE charger, I have a charge that can handle LIFE batts but I like to get a second one.

http://www.electrodynam.com/rc/EDR-207/index.shtml

Thanks

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Best A123 chargers are CellPro's

I dont trust any capacity meters, only counting flights and monitoring Mah put back in.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Truck, A123 batteries as safe as Nickel based? Sounds too good to be true. Let’s see now. Boeing just lost $800 Meg due to the two fires their Lithium based batteries started and those batteries were made by Yuesa. You can’t get better than them. They never did find the root cause of those batteries failing but the FAA had to stop the bleeding at Boeing and agreed to let Boeing put a fire resistant container around them. The next time you book a flight be sure to ask what kind of batteries are being used.

Here’s what Airbus thinks about it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...91E07V20130215

The US post office has put lithium based batteries on their hazardous material list so they are ground shipped only.
http://pe.usps.com/text/pub52/pub52apxa.htm#ep725700

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Dan, I'm not sure I want to start a discussion regarding A123 safety issues but I'm also not sure I would classify A123 batteries with many other Lithium types where safety is concerned. Regarding the airliner safety issues, I am very familiar with more of the story than is usually published in normal news outlet sources. There is far more to the story than just the batteries types used. And as for trusting Airbus and their opinion about the subject, ya sure, like they've never had any issues with their product designs.

Regarding LIthium battery shipments, it started out where they were only limiting shipments of certain types of Lithium batteries though now the limitations have grown for reasons I won't go into here. Frankly it makes no sense that you can carry just about any Lithium battery containing device aboard an airliner or even ship it yet you can't ship or carry on the battery itself. I believe this whole shipping Lithium battery issue will be an evolving issue for some time to come.

Regarding NiMh battery safety, when these batteries came into their own back in the 80's I was working with many different types of equipment that used these batteries. I designed around their use and used them extensively as even then, many different sizes of NiCd batteries were already becoming unavailable. At that time they were having considerable issues with fires being caused by these batteries. We experienced some of these fires or venting at my workplace. Had Lixx batteries not come on the scene and for the most part taken away the market, NiMh batteries would probably still be in the news today as being unsafe. There may be some cases, but I've never heard of a genuine A123 battery causing a fire. How about the Pb battery in every motor vehicle? These are very dangerous also with many exploding every year but yet most every one of us park our vehicles in the garage every night without ever giving them a second thought. Any energy storage device can be unsafe as I'm sure you well know.

I'm not an early adopter of any product and I did my homework well before I bought any A123 batteries. So far after just over 5 years using them I have nothing but praise for them. They are one of a few products that I can say have far exceeded my performance expectations.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

If its been invented since Elvis passed away there are folks that will be suspicious.

A123's, especially hardcase, are as safe or safer than any other battery technology today.

All Day Dan

My Feedback: (5)

Thanks, Dan.

CARS II

My Feedback: (7)

Got my 1600 mah LIFE batts today, exactly two business days, Fri and Mon, will go flying for the next three days.