Li-Ion Power Tool cells work great for RC!

thats a good deal wish i could buy some :(

I think I might try these tool batteries sometime.

Last night on Monster Garage, they put two 12 inch GE electric motors into a '62 Bel Air powered by 400 or so litium tool batteries.

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mo...pisode_77.html

[MetalMan]

Those Milwaukee V28 batteries use the same cells as the Makita packs I linked to in the first post. All those batteries that were used could put out 880+ horsepower!

[starscream]

It would be nice to be able to utilize the same battery case/connection design for a vehicle. This would allow a "quick swap" configuration by locking and unlocking the battery from the vehicle. Great for racing when you need a quick pitstop for new batts.

[MetalMan]

It would be nice, but only if you want to use 5s or 7s. And, you'd have the extra weight of the case and the raised CG of the stacked cells. It would be cool if they made a thin case that would have all the connections and would allow the lowest CG possible.

[starscream]

I agree, the lower cg would be a big plus. I wouldn't think that the plastic case would weigh that much though.

Too bad these cells aren't using the M1 technology yet...
I like to charge my Li-ions in 5 minutes :027:

[MetalMan]

I'll bet you also like to pop circuit breakers ;).

So........is this Li-Ion tool battery in a rc car thing still feasible? Would the Milwaukee ones be a better choice than the Makita ones, or are there some better ebay ones?

[MetalMan]

It is still feasable, as long as you can pay for the batteries (unlike me right now). The Milwaukee and Makita packs use the same exact cells, but the Milwaukee is 7s and the Makita is 5s. These packs can be found cheapest on Ebay.

Would I be able to charge these on my multiplex?

I would think so, it has the Li-Ion mode, but wouldn't know what rate to charge them at.

Ok I got my Makita 18v battery back yesterday.

The first thing if you this route be prepared to take every cell out and resolder them, they come in a big brick form that wont fit in too many places.

They are 3000 mah packs alright but they are 2p. So there is 10 1500 mah cells in each pack.

To make a 6000 5s pack you will have 20 cells 5s 4p.

They fit nicely in an e maxx if you only use 4s 4p that is what I am going with.
They cells are easy to work with but a pain to take apart.

[MetalMan]

Daniel, you would charge them as LiPo on your Multiplex charger. The Li-Ion setting is for the older Li-Ion technology which only charges to 4.10v/cell, instead of 4.20v/cell.

fishmasterdan,
so each 26.5mm x 70mm cell is only 3.7v 1500mah?

So, what would I have to do if, say I wanted put one of these batteries in a 1/8 buggy powered by a M-troniks truck controller?

[MetalMan]

You'd have to break down the pack(s) and rebuild it(them), like you would with sub-Cs, except that these cells are longer so you'd have to make them into a stick/shotgun format instead of side by side, unless you want to do custom battery mount (like I have done on my buggy).