A123 Batteries Vs the Rest

[fubar447]

All

I have been doing some reserch on A123 Life Batteries :confused::confused:so whats the deal

[JeromeK99]

All

I have been doing some reserch on A123 Life Batteries :confused::confused:so whats the deal

Well... first off as they pertain to Losi... they don't fit... but they pretty much don't fit in any standard r/c car well without some sort of modification.

The voltage is too low.. might be ok for bashing or a newbie in novice class, but if you run them in stock or super stock you will be at a great disadvantage. Higher Voltage=Speed The A123 pack for an r/c car is 6.6v while compared to a 7.2v NiMh 6-Cell pack or 7.4v LiPo 2S.

LiPo technology is still where it's at for R/C cars... they've been around for several years now with R/C Planes... a couple of years now in serious R/C car racing.. All the early problems dealt with charging incorrectly or with planes, crashing in to the ground! All the name brand packs these days are hardcased... and I have never seen a crash in the nearly 20 years I've been actively racing that would break a pack to cause a catastrophic fire! The 1C charging rate is pretty close to the time you would have charging a NiMh pack.. though the newer LiPos are able to take 2C+ if you want.. but then you might wear them out a faster. The price is steadily coming down as well.

As for the A123.. well.. if you really really have to have that battery charged that fast.. your ADD kicks in.. well.. they do have that advantage.. and they are tougher..

Try them if you like... but I don't think we are there yet for these A123s to be a force in the R/C car world... Maybe in a year or 2.. who knows?

Jerome :cool:

[Neobart]

I think there is a future for them. They are not sensitive to deep discharge and more rugged then Lipo.

As a nitro racer I also find LiFe interesting. They are close enough to nihm packs in voltage that you can leave out a regulator.

[packhntr]

A123's are much more durable than any lipo on the market....they are an oddball size and voltage however. I managed to get a pair of 3s1p triangle packs into a XXXT CR (Desert Truck) chassis. It took a bit of work and some mods to the chassis.....the advantage....a LOT of power....can charge at 10amps and at 4600mah combined, pretty long runtime at 9.9v. You don't need to worry about over-discharging the packs or such either. A123 is working on packs/cells that are like the ones offered by Maxamps. They're just not ready for the public yet. Personally, If I can find a way to stuff A123 cells into the car/truck etc, I will!

[JMW]

As mentioned by the others the A123 cells are physically bigger and have wierd voltages compared to Nimh and lipos but they are certainly robust and dont get anywhere near as hot.
I have 9.9V packs aswell as a 6.6V 4600mAh pack that I run in my XXX-T but they just dont have the punch that even my cheap lipos do - they seem to talk them up a bit too much - maybe in another year we will all be moving over to them but not at this stage.