Who using A123 batteries?

[T. Bob]

I love these 123 batteries; I have sold all of my ions and have never looked back. Let me tell you guys these things are going to revolutionize the hobby, move over 2.4 here come 123s.

[kregan]

Do I need a regulator with the A123's?

[Mark Davis]

	Quote: Originally Posted by T. Bob
	I love these 123 batteries; I have sold all of my ions and have never looked back. Let me tell you guys these things are going to revolutionize the hobby, move over 2.4 here come 123s.

Ditto, same here... Pulled all the Li-ion, Li-poly & Nimh batteries from all my planes and replaced them with A123... Everything from profiles to 40% stuff...

Anybody actually wired up and using a 3s1p A123 pack @ 9.9V on a Seiko PS-050??? If so, what switch, if any, did you use...

[Mark Davis]

	Quote: Originally Posted by kregan
	Do I need a regulator with the A123's?

No...

[macanaw]

I just switched my 42% TB over to a123's and the 43% PAU I'm building now is a123. Ignition is 2s pack for 2300 mha, and the receiver packs are 2s2p for 4600 mha.

[Jim Woodward]

I'm installing A123's from Smart-Fly / Sincity hence forth for new projects. My CA 38% and Dalton 300 MEL will get them for sure. My first setup is going with twin 2300 packs for the receivers, plugging directly into the Smart-FLy EQ10 Power Expander.
Thanks,
Jim

[mikedannielle]

I am thinking of trying the A123's. What is the best charger? Will two packs be way over kill on a 85" Katana? Will my DL-50 ignition need to be regulated? Do you really need the balance plug? Any suggestions comments welcome.

[airbike]

Why do I keep reading that the A123 cells cannot be checked using a loaded volt meter?

It does have a discharge curve and it is NOT flat. I mean don't try to check the voltage using an anolog meter with poor resolution. Any decent digital voltmeter that can put a 1A load should work fine. Check the voltage after each flight and jot it down.

I have logged about 66 flights on my H9 35% Extra 260 so I have a very good feel for how much capacity is left based on the voltage reading. Once you have your discharge curve then you will know where on the curve the battery is at based on the loaded voltage reading.

I'm running a single 2300 2 cell pack for the Rx and servos (6 x HS5955, 1 x JR8711, + throttle) and can get five 15 minute flights of agressive 3D + IMAC mixed flying.

When you know how the battery should perform, then the data you collected will become useful if and when things are not "normal". This is the primary reason that I log my battery voltage after each flight. It may alert you to a problem if you see unusually high discharge. Perhaps a servo pot going bad, damaged servo gears, or a linkage that is starting to bind, or even a bad cell in the pack.

I think most people know when they charged their battery and can remember how many flights thay had in a day. Personally, I use 6.3v under a 1A load as my no-fly cut-off point. Then I swap out the battery or recharge.

I'd probably use 2 packs on planes larger than 35% or if you want the redundancy for your application.

[samd]

	Quote: Originally Posted by airbike
	Why do I keep reading that the A123 cells cannot be checked using a loaded volt meter? It does have a discharge curve and it is NOT flat. I mean don't try to check the voltage using an anolog meter with poor resolution. Any decent digital voltmeter that can put a 1A load should work fine. Check the voltage after each flight and jot it down. I'd probably use 2 packs on planes larger than 35% or if you want the redundancy for your application.

I suppose that's my real question: What's the reason a person can't use a DMM with a load to ascertain where they are "on the curve"? In looking around on the FG site and seeing some of the discharge curves people have posted, it doesn't appear to me that A123 cells have a perfectly flat discharge curve with an immediate drop (knee). Oddly, a number of the curves weren't so unlike the curves I've seen on Nicad or NmHd packs in good condition (I have a CBA so I've done a decent amount of testing).

No doubt about knowing how many flights in one day you've flown. Unfortunately, there's often some monkeying around with everything turned on that gets forgotten- engine tuning, range checking- anything- Thus my concern about the notion that there's no way to get a quantitative "feel" for what's going on with the batteries.

I'm all for technology- I just want to know what I'm getting into. That said, I really like the idea of doing away with regulators and other possible failure points associated with Lipos (along with the extra weight of this stuff).

[djbullseye111]

FWIW a club member that I had a build batteries night with ran some test with a discharge program of some sort (I can get ahold of him to find out the details). By looking at the graphs the trend for all 10 2cell 2300 packs we made was that after about 1850mah the voltage cut off rapidly. We are going to stay under1600mah between charges to leave some buffer room. Near mid summer we plan to repeat the tests on the same batteries to ensure they are still performing like new.


DJ

[tl3]

Jim, your avitar is killing me . . .

[krayzc]

wow i am so behind what is going on with batteries.....