Mr. Mugen

I went to walmart today and bought a black and decker VPX pack and disassembled it. I found 2 of the A123 1100mah li-ion cells in it. I only paid 17.88 for the pack too! This is great news since it fits right into a mini-t perfectly and weighs only 86 grams (cells only). You can charge them in 15 minutes instead of the 1 hour charge time on lipo's. I will give a report on them as soon as I solder them up into a pack. I am going to race this pack this weekend too. I bet it proves to be the best pack to date. I love my lipo's but for 17.88 compared to 49.99 I'll make the switch. Also you can run these cells dead! All the way! Woo hoo....no lvc needed.

Kevin

CadillacDTS2001

I use them for my Receiver packs for my boats and they are 20 dollars here in Canada.
they are great!!, i put on into my micro M18 and it was awesome

creat cells, and you can runt hem threw a band saw if you need to ! LOL

Mini_Me

You do need a special charge mode though. The only multi charger that I can think of that does 123 as well is the Thunder Power high end one.

What amp rating are they marked for though is my question?

CadillacDTS2001

Hyperion c chargers i have all the Hyperion chargers and all of them do it.
my triton will do it as well i think

raptornut

My Feedback: (20)

my accu-cycle will also do lith ion, and 2 at a time.

raptornut

My Feedback: (20)

does anyone Know what the max discharge rate is on the VPX packs?

Mr. Mugen

Well I know their 2300 cells can be charged at 10a. I just charged mine at 3a and it was fine. It only took a few minutes to charge. I charged mine on my duratrax ICE and told the charger it was a 3000mah battery so it would let me charge it at 3a. Not sure about the discharge rate yet. Ask at the A123 forum...they'll know. I may beat you to it. Kevin

SavageSpawn

My Feedback: (2)

Can you post pics of the batteries?

Mr. Mugen

Just took some for you.

I just got back from my pals house. I ran it for about 10 minutes pretty hard and didn't notice much of a drop in voltage. I did not write down any info as I went but may this weekend at the race. It was impressive for sure. I forgot to mention I ran it in my 18b with a baja and a GT esc, stock gearing. Here ya go. The cells are 19mm W, 65mm L a piece.

Kevin

kent_man

What voltage are they?

kent_man

Nevermind they are 7 volts.

I just got a brushless so this could be good, I still need to invest in a charger though. Right now I can't charge lipo's.

discgolfer72

i dont know about thos but the sub c cell found in power tool bats are of verry low qualith and low discharge rate (meaning bad punch)

if u want cheap bats ive been running 2000 mah 7 cell 8.4 volt high output park flier bats they are like 25 $ and talk about punch

CadillacDTS2001

these arent sub C, they are M1 cells known to man as A123 li-ion, bullet proof fire proof and a very safe battery all around
read the thread before a post!

Mr. Mugen

disc golfer...these are not the same as you parkflyer packs. Those re nimh these and li-ion. There really is no comparison what so ever. These are the future of battery power. This pack has more punch than a punch bowl. I may make a 3s pack next then a 4 then.......

Metallover

when you charged it at 3000mah, it was the lipo setting, right? I'll have to make a 3s pack for my recoil. I just got a new super brain 977 pro so I cant wait to put it to work. Do you think a high end 1/18 brushless system (quark 33a + permax 400/4d) could handle a 14 volt 4 cell pack? I think it is rated at 12 volts.

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

All the reading I've done tells me that M1 cells are 3.3V, not 3.6/3.7 like other lithium chemistries. Seems to me that charging them on a lithium ion profile like the QFC MKII and Triton have @3.6 v is still overcharging them, even though they seem able to take it. A cheap option for the correct voltage charge would be the [link=http://www.slkelectronics.com/lipodapter/index.htm]Lipodapter.[/link]

combatman

Hi,

Are these cells the same thing as yours, Mr. Mugen?

http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=558

The dimensions are similar, but there are warnings on these regarding charging...these don't sound fire proof as Taylor Shaw was saying in reference to your A123s.

These are PCB protected against under- or over voltage:
http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp...OD&ProdID=1600

Are the above comparable?

discgolfer72

i was meaning that the regular sub c bats that are usually in most rechargable drills saws and such are low quality cel(iodnt know about these bats but) im pretty shure these are no diffrent the tech may be powerful but as a whole i would not use bats of any kind that came from rechargeable tools phones ar any other manfacutred device since most companys cut as many corners as they can and bats are really the first thing they cheap out on then its the pcb and then the other various componets

i deal with fixing computers and such and have seen first hand how companys cheap out on their products hp uses such bad motherboards its not funny (they could spend just a little more and get some quality parts but dont)

Mr. Mugen

There is no cheaping out here. These are authentic A123 cells. Let me make this clear. I charged the pack on the Li-Ion setting of the duratrax intellapeak ICE charger. Not a lipo setting. I also have a multiplex multicharger that handles them as well. I believe if I plug the Thunder power 1010C into the usb port I can update it to charge li-ions too.

Conbatman...Those are not the same cells as I have.

Mr. Mugen

For you's wondering how safe they are....read this.

http://www.a123racing.com/html/technology.html

These are the cells I have. In the 1000mah form.

This company rocks and all of you will most likely have them in your household eventually. Maybe even under the hood of your 1/1 car someday.

BuzzBomber

My Feedback: (4)

Mr Mugen, read the fine print in the specs section of your manual. If I'm wrong, that's good news for you, but I think you'll find that the lithium ion profile in the ICE is for the older metal cased flat Li-Ion cells as used in earlier cell phones--they were quite popular in parkflyers for a while--these use a 3.6V/cell nominal voltage CCCV charge profile, as opposed to the newer Li-Polymer at 3.7V/cell. These are intended to be charged to 4.1V and 4.2V per cell respectively. The round M1 cells A123 is selling use a completely different cathode material resulting in a nominal 3.3V/cell and are intended to be charged to a max. of 3.7V/cell. I know for a fact that the multiplex LN5014 uses a 3.6V/3.7V cell profile, as I have one and have been using it for a few years. Additionally, the ICE is basically a clone of the Triton software with some different features, and I'm quite familiar with the Triton, having had one for 4 years now. Using the Li-Ion charge profile in either of these chargers will still overcharge the cells, although they are robust enough that it will probably just shorten their useful life as opposed to killing them outright.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=525664 is a good place to learn about the care and feeding of the M1 type cells.

Mr. Mugen

WOW Thanks for the eye opener! I just did some reading and just got off the phone with our lhs owner. We had a long chat about these cells. I knew they had a nominal voltage of 3.3 but just assumed the charger knew that.... I will be ordering a new charger this weekend. Thanks again! Knowledge is power....in this case for much longer.
Kevin

-Inverted-

Kevin go with the Xtrema!
Nicest lithium charger on the market, and will be my next charger purchase.

OniRacer

Nice info here! Qustion though..What power tool is this battery for? I might just buy the tool with the charger and use that, unless its one of those slow 8hr chargers.

banzaij

My Feedback: (1)

Here you go: Battery and charger for $34

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=7081177

Just read a review of one of the tool kits which indicated a 5 hour charge with the supplied charger.