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Old 09-22-2006, 10:21 PM
  #17  
dbgantt
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hillsborough, NC
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Default RE: A123Racing Battery Questions

Brian,

Spoke with Sid Kauffman today and he told me that A123 was represented at NEAT. Glad to hear you are speaking to the eFlight RC customers. I have a couple of questions...

Why doesn't A123 respond to emails with questions sent from the web site. Perhaps this forum will suffice.

Can you explain how the venting system works on the A123 cells. I had assumed that the dot on the back of the cells was the vent but apparenly that is not the case. Sid related that A123 stated that this caused potential safety problems with end to end cell pack construction. Especially when using systems like the Solderless Power Tubes from MEC. Details would be appreicated. Apparently the venting system is different from what many of us are used to with Nicad and NiMH cells.

Can you get A123 cells without the welded tabs?

I noticed the button on the negative end of the cells rotates on the A123 cells. Is this OK to rotate this to get the appropriate alignement on the tabs when constructing packs that have the welded tabs attached.

A123 cells can be harvested from Dewalt packs bought on eBay for about $10.50 per cell yet they cost around $16 per cell puchased directly from A123. Will the price of cells be coming down or will we continue to have to puchase and deconstruct Dewalt battery packs on eBay.

The current battery pack configurations aren't very useful for eFlight. The 6S1P an 8S1P configurations seem to really be the sweet spot for .40 sized eflight. Any plans on when these will be available? 4S1P is good for .25 size aircraft as well! I realize the existing packs can be daisy chained but it creates a bit of a hassle and extra complexity (read opportunity for error).

FWIW, I've been flying two home made 6S1P packs and one 4S1P pack and have been really pleased to date. I have about 15 flights on the packs so far.

Thanks in advance,

Dana