A123 Packs for Savage Flux? - RC-Monster Forums

fastbaja5b · **A123 Packs for Savage Flux? -** 07.27.2009, 05:30 AM

Just wondering if these packs

http://cgi.ebay.com/A123-4600-Li-ion...d=p3286.c0.m14

Would suffice for the Savage Flux. Also is there much difference between the A123 branded and chinese unbranded cells?

Hope some of the A123 gurus can voice up. Would be looking at a pair of 2s2p 4600mah packs for 135amp / 270 amp combo. Anticipate it being slightly slower than 2 * 2s lipo and maybe pull 110 amp max down from 120 Amps on the lipos.

JThiessen · 07.27.2009, 09:03 AM

Yeah, a pair of those will run the flux. You should get close to 15-20 minutes of runtime. You'll need a charger that is capable of charging A123's.

From what I've read, the chinese ones are not up to the same level as the A123 branded.

fastbaja5b · 07.27.2009, 09:44 AM

Yeah my charger has a Lifepo / A123 setting so that's all good.

considering how my last rchopup A123 packs went, I doubt the chinese ones could be much worse lol!

JThiessen · 07.27.2009, 11:08 AM

Yeah, the problem with those were that there were typically a bad cell in each pack. So if you were comfortable taking a pack apart, it really wasn't that much of an issue to combine some packs. It still ended up being a decent deal on my end, but it was a hassel.

did you see that ARTK1 has some packs for sale? You'd have to reconfigure them to 2S2P packs.

timaneli · 07.27.2009, 11:45 AM

the chinese a123 are as good as any other plus they are really cheap...........
i have both brands or kinds of that cells and they are equal in specs.
i have a flux also and i will connect 2s2p from one side to 3s2p of the other this in serie.
it will be between 4 and 5s lipo.
with 4s2p you have less voltage that 4s lipo but try to get lipos with 30 to 60c discharge at that price and quality.
so as far as is my experience go for it. and put a bigger pinion and you will love that cells.

regards

fastbaja5b · 08.04.2009, 08:46 PM

Well got a couple of these "chinese" A123 packs in (2s2p for 4600mah and apparantly 30/60C)

Initial impressions, despite asking for 10 or 12awg they came fitted with 14awg... idiots..

Will post some eagletree graphs, and have fired off an email to the supplier stating I wasn't happy with piano wire leads.

fastbaja5b · 08.05.2009, 09:24 AM

Strange went to charge a pack up, start voltage was 3.41 / 3.38 , charge at 4.6 Amps, got to a stage where the cell volts were 3.71/3.41 so I shut it off thinking, bad cell? Chucked it in the Slash to see what it did, gave it a few minutes then unplugged and checked the individual cells, 3.44 and 3.37

What gives?

JThiessen · 08.05.2009, 04:07 PM

Was that the pack voltage or the individual cell voltage?

If its pack, I rip off the shrink wrap and check the cells.

fastbaja5b · 08.05.2009, 08:32 PM

Yeah they are shrink wrapped 2s2p packs with a JST balance connector. How hard is it to disassemble these packs? I know you have to solder to the tabs that should be on the cell and not solder directly to the cell. What voltage should I be getting? It's strange that on both packs Cell 1 is always higher than Cell 2, but that could be coincidental.

JThiessen · 08.06.2009, 08:53 AM

Its not that hard if you have a decent soldering station. Yes, there will be tabs that you want to leave intact if you can. Just removing the shrink wrap will give you the ability to use your meter (if you have one) to measure each individual cell's voltage (right now with the balancer you are getting the voltage of two cells). If I remember correctly, you should be seeing numbers of 2.9 or higher -anything below that and you have an issue.

I have in the past set my charger to Nimh, with a low current (1C), to bring an A123 voltage back up.