Li-Ion Battery Packs

[psab keel]

I had another set to work with and started from scratch. I got it to work! Red charge light lit up. Turns out that I'd accidentally torn a trace off the PCB when I installed it. No big deal, like I said, I'd purchased extras just for this very reason.

Thanks for your help everyone!

: )

[nikk777]

Would a battery for a Nintendo ds lite be protected or raw? Here's a link to what I bought.... http://cgi.ebay.com/Rechargeable-Bat...item336a8fd40a
I soldered 5 together in parallel to create a 3.7v 18,000mah pack for use on a cell phone used for gps tracking. I used a pcb protection board (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT) but after reading this, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have as they might already be protected.

Also, do cell phones have protection circuitry in them so the pack doesn't need it? or do they not? If the cell phone has the protection and the charger is a smart charger with the protection, the battery packs could be raw....correct?

What kind of charger would be best for my pack mentioned above? or a pack made up of 5-10 18650's in parallel? or one of these... http://cgi.ebay.com/One-3-7V-10000mA...item588f4556c2 ?

when in parallel, do they have to be balance charged or is that only for battery packs in series?

I'm sorry for the newb questions but I've been reading a ton and think I understand but nothing has directly answered my questions and your post has come the closest to what I'm looking for. I appreciate any help.

Background: I've been the victim of several thefts and have investigated different methods of tracking devices as the cops could care less about locating thiefs. An effective and low cost method uses older motorola phones on the boost network but the phone batteries do not last very long so I'm trying to build larger battery packs to give myself several weeks worth of charge vs. a couple of days. there is a motion activated system that I have bought but can't afford to buy several of them at $250 each so larger battery capacity seemed the lowest cost option.

[Sunrider]

Batteries in parallel don't need the single PCB. I would guess those have a PCB in them but idk. Open one and look. The only 3.7v smart chargers Ive seen are 1-2 amps and would take more than a day to charge that monster pack.

[Skottsaber]

I'm 80% sure that to get that capacity with that size cell (single cells are 1600mah right?) they aren't Li-Ion cells. Probably something like Li-Po or similar.

[Azmaria Dei]

cell phone batteries are generally a different type of low output, high life Lithium formula that doesn't need a PCB. if it does, it has one built in.

[Marco]

1. Is it correct to assume that the less gauge a wire has, for example 18 gauge wire, has a better current capacity or current-carrying capacity than thinner, for example 28 gauge wire?

2. Moreover that the thicker the wire is like the lower the gauge value the less heat it will produce?

I just want to check because if Im going to build a pack I want to make sure to get the best wire for it...

Thanks in advance,

Marco (:

[Sunrider]

2 seconds on google.

http://www.firecommunications.com/dcamps.html

Spoon is in the dishwasher now.

[Marco]

haha nice thanks

[nikk777]

So neither the ds lite batteries nor the 18650's perrformed as expected... Basically I'm only getting power from a single cell it would seem. I have all the positives connected and going to the positive wire, then all the negative's connected and going to the negative wire. To charge the packs, is a balance charger setup required? I have the charger, just no plugs yet...

I have 4 3k mah 18650's wired together for 12k mah total and then to a pcb for 3.7v batteries. I charged it with a charger that is used for another large 4000mah pack I have and it has the LED indicator to show charging vs. charged.(red/green led) In the phone the pack lasted for about as long as what I get out of the stock 1500mah cell phone battery.

thoughts? errors I made possibly? Oversights? dumb screw-ups? I'm new to this so help me learn please.

[Sunrider]

How does 1 batt compare to 4? do they read 4.2v after charge? What kind of batteries are they?