Recently, I posted a reply to someone's post, the subject of my reply was LiFe battery packs.

I bought two of them, both 1800mah 2 cell packs. Since they are 3.3 volts per cell, the packs, 2 cell, are 6.6 volts, nominal. From everything I read, these are ok for a typical RC installation for receiver power (provided the receiver and servos will work with 6 volt packs).

One question that came up in a PM from a reader was the charger. From what I read, and my basic understanding was that pretty much any LiPo charger would be fine for these packs.

I have a Duratrax ICE charger as well as an older Triton charger. Both are capable of charging Lithium packs as well as many other packs.

Well, when the packs arrived, I read in their documentation that there were some pretty specific requirements for charging these LiFe packs, and I thought my Duratrax ICE charger would most likely be just fine. But, to be sure, I wrote to their product support department (Duratrax) and asked questions about my ICE charger and their capabilities to charge the LiFe packs, given the specific requirements I read in the instructions provided with these packs. I won't outline the requrements because you can read about them on either the web site for Hobbico (download the "manual") or do as I did and buy the cells and read about the requirements in their documentation.

I got several replies from Duratrax about the charger and, at first, they were pretty much supportive about charging that pack. However, I think they researched it a bit and sent me an Email telling me this:

Keep in mind that this reply came from Duratrax and not Hobbico. So, the reply has credibility.

Sooo... there is more to the LiFe packs that should be explained when using this product. Don't get me wrong, I am not badmouthing anyone here, I am just telling you that if you do get the LiFe packs, you really should do some research on the charging requirements for these packs.

I bought the Triton EQ2 charger. This seems like putting the cart before the horse, but the Triton EQ charger will pretty much charge everything I have in my battery "inventory". But, if you are going to buy these packs, be cautious about how you are going to charge them.

CGr.

CGR, thanks for the heads up. I've got a couple big planes in the works and I was considering them, the LiFe packs, but through a regulator as a couple of the servvos that I'm going to be using should have regulated voltage at a max of 5.8V per Futaba support. Looks like I'll need a new charger also.

Don

Yeah, Don. I ended up buying the Triton EQ charger just to support these packs. I was somewhat disappointed in the first Triton I bought, the menu system with that charger was a real pain to go through. So, I bought the Duratrax ICE charger and it was easier to use and program, so I've been using it and recommending it for LiPo support (as well as for NiMh and NiCd packs.. it will do them all).

I must admit. Duratrax was very up front and honest about their charger and it's support of the LiFe packs (that it will not do what is necessary to charge these packs). I was very impressed with their honesty and told them so in my reply to them. They could easily have said, "Sure, it'll do just fine" but they were honest and I certainly appreciate that.

But, as most things go in this hobby, as the technology moves forward, and capabilities get more progressive, so do the products that we buy and the support these products require. There is no chewing gum and bailing wire here. If we are going to keep pace with the products we use, I guess we also have to keep pace with the products that support them.

This ain't for the faint-at-heart, that's for sure.

CGr.

CGr. I just ordered the 1800 mAh LiFe battery and the Triton EQ charger for my new plane I am building, the Florio Flyer .60 with an O.S. .55 AX

Do you have to remove these batteries from the plane before charging or can you leave them in?

After you try them out, how about giving us a flight report.

Tim

Hi Wonder.

Well, the manufacturer recommends charging these as you would any Lithium pack. I guess that means removing them. They also recommend doing a balance charge. So, again, that means removing them.

The nice thing about high-capacity packs like this, though, is that you can pretty much fly all day and not worry about taking the plane apart to charge them at the field and save the battery pack for removal at home.

That's neither an endorcement nor a recommendation (legalese for do what you need to do, just don't blame me if your house burns down sort of thing... )

CGr

Got to share a charger story. We bought a Bissles Spot cleaner, a little battery powered vaccum with a pump for spraying the cleaner on the carpet. The orginal batteries were junk.After fighting it for over a year, i replaced the batteries with some NiMh 5200mah cells. Ismoked the charger board in the cleaner the first time I hooked it up. So, I bypassed the charger electronics and made a cord for it that fits my field charger.This has worked great until the other day. Igot the cleaner out and decided it was due for a recharge, it had been a couple months since it's last charge. Well I didn't move quick enough I guess. Later that day, my wife came in from her walk and the first question, "what are you doing, something smells hot" Nothing. Then she found the sorce of the Hot smell. She had grabbed the 12V wall wart for my AA cell charger and plugged it into the cleaner. 12VDCat 1.5A for I'm not sure how long. The cleaner was so hot on the bottom you couldn't put your hand on it. Another hour and I'm sure that we would have had a fire. I'm not sure how the batteries faired. They state that they should be charged at 1 amp maximum on a peak charger. When I turned on the cleaner, while it was still hot, it sounded as if it would pull the carpet off the floor.I've yet to cycle the pack to see what damage was done.

Iguess guns are not the only thing that should be locked in a house. With half our life controled by either battery chargers or wall wart power supplies, and only about three basic types of power connectors, using the wrong charger is just a mild brain fart away. Even on my PC, I blew out the keyboard port on my mother board when I plugged the Brother PCLable printer's power pack into the keyboard slot. It fit just fine. Didn't work so well though.

Don

life packs will not explode, they will just leak/spill goo everywhere if you screw them up. (at least the drill, aka circular life batteries will)

the turnigy charger from hobby city will charge them (and everything else), its only 30 bucks plus shipping.
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...lancer/Charger

Great story, Don. I guess you are absolutely correct. We have so many battery powered devices in our homes that we pretty much take them for granted. Hey, consider cell phones.. they have LiPo packs, right? Yet, we consistently charge them using wall wart chargers on the table top!!! What happened to the safety considerations about charging LiPo packs outside?

I guess we get selective about that sort of thing.

CGr.

Cell phones and Laptops have LiIon packs, which are a little different, but there have been issues with fires and such. Just a couple of years ago Dell had a big battery recall for their laptops. But yeah, it makes you wonder.
C

There was an articlein Model Avaition not to long ago where a guys van went up i flames as well as some damage to the pitts because he was charging a battery in the back of the van and they lit up.

I've been on OX at night for a year now, and I recently got a portable OX concentrator to take on plane trips. The kids are on the east coast and I'm on the west coast. This thing has two 14.4 v 6270Mah Li-ion batteries. They, the pair,are good for about 6 hours of use, but on a long flight, I would need something like six more to meet the requirements to allow me to board with it. It is kind of strange, as there is a limit on the amount of "ltthium" you can carry on board a plane. I think a trip to Australia would be testing one of these two conflictiing rules. Icharge this concentrator in motel room, actually run it off room power which charges it at the same time. I also run it off car power which also charges it. I expect that it is totaly safe. Ialso think that a lot of the Li-po blow ups are more related to either charger issues, or to damaged cells. Just a guess though.

Don

cell phones/mp3 players have lipo battery packs (square not round batteries)
laptops have liion batteries
either one will explode into a big fireball so it really doesnt matter

JJ,
You're right, I just took the battery out of my Blackberry, hadn't realized it was Lipo. But you're right, they can have a thermal runaway no matter what their chemistry.

I do believe that the charger has a lot to do with the fires. Those that don't properly balance when charging, I believe, risks the life of the battery.
Curtis

Update.

I contacted Duratrax about my ICE charger. We swapped several Emails about this charger and it's capability to charge these LiFe packs. The last Email I got from them stated that I should NOT use that charger on the LiFe packs. They recommended that I purchase a Triton EQ charger or the Triton EQ2 charger, based on the recommendations from Hobbico.

Oddly enough, Hobbico produces both the LiFe packs and the Triton charger. I guess the logic of moving to a lighter pack has it's drawbacks.

CGr.

im going to try making a life pack out of these http://www.all-battery.com/3-2v1100m...lebattery.aspx
ill report back when i get the results, the price will be around 12 bucks w/ rx/balancing connectors which isnt bad at all.

Are there any instructions about connecting these things? Solder tabs? How do they react with solder heat (if no solder tabs)?

Interesting.

Meanwhile, I got the Triton 2 EQ charger today. I put the LiFe packs on it and charged them. The menu system was much easier than I recall with my old Triton charger. It seems to flow much more intuitively. Easy to "program" and operates from either 12-15vdc input or 115/250 50/60 hz AC. It took me all of about 5 minutes to figure out the charge sequence. The first pack was fully charged in about 20 minutes. The second pack is on it now.

Next step is to install them in a plane and see how they work out.

CGr.

Thanks for the update. I just received my Triton EQ and LiFe battery today.
I have not had a chance to read the instructions yet and this is my first cycler type charger, so it may take me awhile to get on to it.
I normally use the wall charger at home or the Hobbico Quick Field Charger at the field.
Keep us posted.

Tim

The LiFe packs have the balancer lead attached, and it connects up with the balancer adapter nicely. That plugs right in to the balance jack on the charger. I have a set of heavy leads (large gauge wire) with deans on one end and banana leads on the other, red to + and black to - to connect to the charger.

I set my charger up for LiFe, 6.6 volts (3.3 per cell, two cells, 6.6 volts nominal), 1.8 amps charge current (1C) and let it go. Worked just fine. Note, 1800 mah packs = 1.8 charge current or 1C. Press and hold the rotating knob until it starts to charge (about 2 seconds) and let it do its thing.

CGr.

it has a solder tabs option when you buy it, im going to use the tabs.
they also have the balancing lead http://www.all-battery.com/jst-xhv23...2cellpack.aspx
if you dont know how to hook them up, the red / black goes to the positive and negitive (of course) the white one goes on the solder connection that connects the batteries in series
they also have plugs and shrink wrap to finish it up

a few other things i found at all-battery.com that can be very useful
3 plug switches (the standard rc switch) for 1.50, i bought 5 of em to see if they are any good, if they arnt ill use them in noncritical applications http://www.all-battery.com/receiver-switch80183.aspx
and a dc-dc regulator w/ adjustable voltage so if my glow ignitor dies i can use it to drop my voltage down from a 12v (or 14.4v starter battery)
i can also use the thing to convert battery power directly to a laptop/cellphone/charger/ect without useing an inverter.
http://www.all-battery.com/tenergyun...ontrolnew.aspx
its only 20 bucks so i figured id give it a try, their are so many applications for it.
ill let you know how each one worked out, if the life and/or switch workes as intended that could mean some good savings.