Ultrasound, recharge port, & Li-Ion?

[Lan-Ja Hamil]

Hello forumites,

Here is a mock up of a wiring set up I want to use. I've checked the forums and I can't find anything like what I did here. I might have missed it.

The big question is will this work or did I do it wrong? I've seen mention that you shouldn't recharge Li-Ions inside of a hilt. So I need to know if this I need to rethink my saber or not.

Thanks for all of your advise in advance.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm164/Ramfan1960/Lightsabers/soundboard-1.jpg

[beggarsoutpost]

The big question is will this work?...Yes...

[Novastar]

...I've seen mention that you shouldn't recharge Li-Ions inside of a hilt...
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm164/Ramfan1960/Lightsabers/soundboard.jpg
Where and who said that.

They are dead wrong, for the mostpart.

I've been using Li-Ion cells and charge ports in my sabers since late 2005.

Besides... when it come to rechargeable batteries--it doesn't matter WHERE the cells are when you charge them... only HOW you charge them.

They could be in bloody moldy old shoebox for all I care. You hook 'em up to an appropriate charge unit, and by George... guess what they'll do? They'll charge up. :)

[Lan-Ja Hamil]

Thanks guys.

Just a quick follow up, does this configuration also work as a kill switch?

[Kal El Rah]

Yes it will exactly the way you have in your diagram.

[Shadar Al'Niende]

...I've seen mention that you shouldn't recharge Li-Ions inside of a hilt...

I think what you are referring to is overcharging Li-Ions in hilt w/o PCB...

[Jay-gon Jinn]

I think it was xwingband and even Strydur himself that recommended not charging the Trustfires in the hilt due to the spring tension of the pack possibly causing damage to the built-in pcb's. Erv has also mentioned that charging individually protected cells together can result in an uneven charge between the two protected cells, shortening the charge life of one or both of them.

From erv:

- charging those as a pack isn't dangerous, however, since each cell monitors on itself, it's different than the protection PCBs designed for a 2 cell pack, which is monitoring both cell voltages separately (wiring the battery center wire isn't optional). This way it's not the overall voltage of the pack that is monitored, but each cell individually (VERY important on li-ion).
What can happen is that one cell goes off (prot pcb reached the low thresh) before the other, and the whole pack is cut since they are in //

- same will happen for charging

- hence if you start making a pack with a low charge cell, the pack will not last long. Conclusion, make sure you fully charge your cells prior making the pack. No cell are perfectly identical, so in any case, the pack might start becoming asymmetric and the only way is to take the pack apart and recharge individual cell.
You probably don't have to bother with this if you are using brand new batteries you get from DX or elsewhere, however, pay attention anyway. I started making one yesterday with batteries that were in my negotiator (making a recharge port version on that one, it's upgrade time) and the batteries were asymmetric.

Erv'

That may be where it came from. I have left them in my own sabers, though, for a month at a time, and not had any problems with damaged pcb's....at least, not yet.

[Lan-Ja Hamil]

Thanks Kal, Shadar, & Jay-gon. Now all I need to do is get the parts and dust off my soldering skills. I spent some time today drawing out the exact wiring lengths and connector locations.