Thread: Super light battery

I like the idea!

Have you looked into charging them?

I ran LiPo (not LiFePo like these) for the steering/throttle servos in my RC car and they need a special charger.

A guy used to run an electric RC car on DeWalt drill batteries he'd rebuilt into packs, and that car absolutely hauled ass.

Originally Posted by RedRider

Check out Speedcell batteries...

Motowheels - Quality Motorcyle Parts and Products

SPEED CELL technologies supersport battery - 13x Forums

$160 or $14. the $14 is worth the shot first

Originally Posted by TornadoB8

After researching speedcell and other similar replacement “racing” batteries...

Originally Posted by RedRider

Check out Speedcell batteries...

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Originally Posted by luvtolean

I like the idea!

Have you looked into charging them?

I ran LiPo (not LiFePo like these) for the steering/throttle servos in my RC car and they need a special charger.

A guy used to run an electric RC car on DeWalt drill batteries he'd rebuilt into packs, and that car absolutely hauled ass.

These are basically the same cells that DeWalt uses in their packs. DeWalt uses 10 3.6v cells to make their 36V pack, but I only need 4. The speedcell comes in 4 cell (wired in series) and 8 cell (two 4packs wired in parallel) depending on your current requirements. They recommend the bigger pack for larger CC and higher compression engines.

Originally Posted by RedRider

Check out Speedcell batteries...

Motowheels - Quality Motorcyle Parts and Products

SPEED CELL technologies supersport battery - 13x Forums

Thanks for adding the links to the thread. I put one on my mod list for next season long ago. The first source I tried was out of stock so after reading on these things for about a week, and lots of good info out there, I decided to try my hand at building one.

Originally Posted by CBR929RE

$160 or $14. the $14 is worth the shot first

4 X $14 for my project, but still much cheaper than $160. Plus the satisfaction of DIY. Which I'm pretty confident I can.

few tips about pack building..

-1- Don't use hot glue to hold them together.
-2- do use a buffer material at the core of the pack even with insulated cells, if possible, thin cardboard like the back of a notepad works well but I recommend soaking it in water, placing between the pack and binding with rubber bands to form it, leave it this way till it dries.
-3- Whatever you're doing for terminals, use a good quality solder for attachment (ltl can probably recommend this) I would say something high silver content, but I think the heat necessary to do that might do bad things to the cells so I'll defer to him.
-4- You should be able to find heatshink large enough to go around the whole pack at a hobby store.
-5- Anderson powerpole connectors are your friends...score a set on ebay for short $ and you have a vibration resistant go anywhere pack.

My brother has been doing a lot of pack building for his RC stuff and has found giant heat shrink stuff that will go around. Hobby shops also carry some special high flow connector that is probably similar to what SSG is talking about.

For straight up RC stuff I always liked deans, but for more utilitarian purposes I've found the anderson stuff to be awesome.

Deans Ultra Plugs:
Deans - Plugs

Anderson:
Powerpole Connectors

Thing of the Andersons is they are shielded once in the connector so heatshrink is optional if you're good.

There is a guy riding a 07 600RR over here that did something similar. He ended up with such a small battery that he relocated it just over the transmission and was able to completely remove EVERYTHING from the subframe, I mean everything. The subframe was custom and only to old the tail section.

He did a custom bike stand as well, lifting the bike from the engine mount, allowing him to remove the front wheel without taking apart the calipers. Pretty sweet set-up he had.



FYI: I'm working on my bike too So don't you think you'll be flying away from me mister

If you're going to go touring though I recommend a bigger battery.

Originally Posted by SomeStrangeGuy

If you're going to go touring though I recommend a bigger battery.

Saying that Tornado has a touring pace on the track is a little rude SSG.

Originally Posted by Jetbdude

Saying that Tornado has a touring pace on the track is a little rude SSG.

If thats how he tours I'd hate to see him race, I think you would too

For solder in this app, stay the hell away from lead free as it likes to crack.

Your best commonly available bet is 63Pb/37Sn eutectic. No silver.

Essentially for vibration, the more lead the better.

Interesting, I always thought the higher heat + silver was a better bond , would the vibes disturb it much more (ie: brittle) or am I just way off altogether.

The bond strength is based on intermetallic formation between the base material and the solder. (Proper intermetallic formation is based on time above liquidous of the solder, and the metals system being used of course.) Here I'd consider vibration to be the likely cause of failure.

There are many types of solder out there, and "silver" solder doesn't mean too much.

If you take eutectic tin/lead as I mentioned above and replace a couple percent of the lead with silver (commonly seen silver solder in RS), the melting point actually drops 4ºC. If you buy a solder with silver in it not listed as "lead free" you're probably getting a solder that melts around 180ºC, just like eutectic tin lead. Nothing wrong with it, and in specific apps arguably the silver is helpful, but I don't think it's a big deal here.

The lead free stuff typically is made of a high concentration of tin with 3-4% silver and a bit of copper. They melt up around 217ºC, and the alloy is stronger, but far more brittle (the tin forms dendrites that are brittle as glass). Not good for vibration fatigue.

Thanks for the tips guys. I knew I could count on you.

JBD, you know you are the inspiration for all my go-fast projects.

Originally Posted by TornadoB8

JBD, you know you are the inspiration for all my go-fast projects.

And you are my inspiration for walking in the pits in really tight body armor

Modesty has rarely been a problem for me. :P

Are you planning a total loss system or will the charging system remain intact? If total loss, you may be headed for some unpleasant surprises as the fuel pump will eat even the speedcells within 10 laps (ask Scott Russell or Kevin Graham).

Knowing B8 he is just going for a reduced battery size, you know what they say about a guy with a big battery - he's compensating.

Originally Posted by abtech

Are you planning a total loss system or will the charging system remain intact? If total loss, you may be headed for some unpleasant surprises as the fuel pump will eat even the speedcalls within 10 laps (ask Scott Russell or Kevin Graham).

Speedcell has a battery designed for total loss systems that's quite a bit larger while still saving weight, but I'm just looking for a moderate upgrade at this point. Plus I like to run the GT and GP races that would require the battery to last a long time in a total loss system.