14500 Lithium Batterie

[Escape]

Hello everybody !
I would like to use two 14500 in my Saber but i have no experience with lithium batterie ! What kind of parts I also need for this setup and witch recharger do you prefer ?

Thanks for Help

Phil

[Azmaria Dei]

personally i like to use unprotected Lithium Ion cells with a single PCB for whatever voltage you wire the battery pack for (sold here in the store), a recharge port, and the Li-Ion charger that's also in the store.

unless you mean actual Lithium batteries. those aren't rechargable.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

the charger you use depends on the type of Li-Ion batteries you use, as Azmeria mentioned....the Trustfire batteries sold here at TCSS are individually protected and need to be charged in the Trustfire charger. the other 14500's, the Tenergy brand L-Ions, are not protected by a built-in pcb and require the use of the separate pcb like Azmeria and several others, myself included use, and those require the Tenergy Li-Ion hobby charger. to use those batteries, you can make a pack and hard -wire it into your saber, and charge them using a recharge port like the 2.1mm one sold in the TCSS store. you'll need an adapter wire also sold in here to use the charger.

The Trustfire individually protected 14500's can be used in the 2-AA holder, and should be removed from the saber to recharge in the Trustfire charger.

The type of set up you use may depend on what you plan to use your saber for. if you only like to use it a few times a week, for a couple of hours a day, then the Tenergy hard-wired set up might be for you. If you plan to use it as a costume accessory at conventions where you will be using it for several hours, without the opportunity to recharge it, you might want to use the removable Trustfires instead, so you can swap them out for a fresh pair when needed.

[PhoenixReborn]

Jay, i've used the protected 14500s in packs of 7.4V and 14.8V. They charge just fine with the charge port.

the charger you use depends on the type of Li-Ion batteries you use, as Azmeria mentioned....the Trustfire batteries sold here at TCSS are individually protected and need to be charged in the Trustfire charger. the other 14500's, the Tenergy brand L-Ions, are not protected by a built-in pcb and require the use of the separate pcb like Azmeria and several others, myself included use, and those require the Tenergy Li-Ion hobby charger. to use those batteries, you can make a pack and hard -wire it into your saber, and charge them using a recharge port like the 2.1mm one sold in the TCSS store. you'll need an adapter wire also sold in here to use the charger.

The Trustfire individually protected 14500's can be used in the 2-AA holder, and should be removed from the saber to recharge in the Trustfire charger.

The type of set up you use may depend on what you plan to use your saber for. if you only like to use it a few times a week, for a couple of hours a day, then the Tenergy hard-wired set up might be for you. If you plan to use it as a costume accessory at conventions where you will be using it for several hours, without the opportunity to recharge it, you might want to use the removable Trustfires instead, so you can swap them out for a fresh pair when needed.

[Azmaria Dei]

Jay, i've used the protected 14500s in packs of 7.4V and 14.8V. They charge just fine with the charge port.

and as it's been explained several times by several people, this will cause power imbalances due to differing charge rates and cutoffs, which over time will damage your batteries. and if you ever did hook it up to a non-smart charger, they WILL be damaged. you have 2 PCBs protecting individual cells while the charger sees them as one and that isn't a good thing in the long run.

[Jay-gon Jinn]

Jay, i've used the protected 14500s in packs of 7.4V and 14.8V. They charge just fine with the charge port.

Well, obviously, you can do what you want, but I'll perefer to listen to erv's advice on the matter, and will repeat it to new members as often as is necessary:

a followup (and not necroposting) about that post. That's the second time I get some nice fail on those pack, I know why (from the beginning) but I wanted to see how durable it could be.

Points are :
- yes, ultrafire & clones (well, clowns) are getting worse everyday. Still, they are a cheap alternative for cheap project and I'll keep using them but quality is worse than in the past).
- Cells get unbalanced very easily. So even if you pre charge the cells individually, you'll get issues, and I'm betting I'll have to replace the pack in my E11 in a year or less. I synched the battery cells before making my pack but I can't reach 8.4V after a charge

Again, that's NORMAL. You have 2 individual protection PCB monitoring the voltage on each cell, so if one is reaching the max before the other, it cuts the circuit and the other cell can't keep charging.
This is WHY you have a middle point on a 7.4V protection PCB. It's MANDATORY to use it.

Last time I got the issue, one cell leaked during the charge.

If you want to keep using those to make your packs, it's ok but :

- remove the heatshrink.
- cut the strap that is over the piece of high-temp tape (beware, don't make it touch the body of the cell, neither the cutting tool you use). Keep a long piece of the tab you cut
- unsolder the PCB at the bottom, keep the tab.
- use the tabs to put the 2 cells in serie
- cover the cells with high-temp tape (yellow, check DX to get some cheap rolls)
- wire up a protection PCB designed for 2 cell packs. I got mines at battery-junctions. Wire the B+ to the positive of the pack, B- to the other end, and BM to the middle point.
- export the wires from the output of the protection PCB
- wrap with new heatshrink (use some real one, not the crappy PVC shrink used for R/C models, it reacts too much to heat and melts when glued with hot glue).

it's possible that you'll get no voltage out of it the first time, by default the PCB is in protection state. Connect the pack for a few seconds to your li-ion charger then remove it and check the output voltage, you should read something.

Just to be accurate. It's NOT a Prof. Erv' EE blabla, I *strongly* advise you to stop using that individual cell technique for the packs or you will have sabers coming back shortly (dead packs, leaking packs or ridiculously short runtime). Issue will happen even with high end cells like AW, it's just a matter of time. R/C hobbyist know that issue very well, it's called unbalanced li-po. Most chargers charge cells individually to avoid that.

[Escape]

Thanks for these helpful replays !

Ps.: Jay-gon ,I love your Sabers and your youtubevids !

[dgdve]

Ok... you can do things one way(which some of us have done) but please DO NOT ever tell someone to do something dangerous or potentially harmful (and is at the very least bad advice).. guys dont do this...

NEVER make battery packs out of protected cells and NEVER make a pack without the correct PCB.. remember these days you can get good run times and brightness out of the single 3.7/18650(its a decent safe option with a recharge port(sweeeet)

[jvidamins]

How much run time would you get if you're running a P4 and an 2010 Obi-wan econo board off a single protected cell 14500? Just thinking you could use the speaker mount/2-AA battery holder. Would use with the Tenergy li-ion smart charger with in-hilt charge port. I was gonna go with a single 18650 with the same setup, but wouldn't be able to use the battery holder as a sled (w/sound board on top) in my 1.25" sink tube, right? Then there's 2 unprotected 14500's in the sled with a PCB... which one would you guys recommend? I'll only be using the saber to beat my... I mean play with my kids with. So maybe only need 20-30 min at a time tops, then I could charge them right up.