Turnigy 4500mAh 3S2P 30C LiFePo4 Pack

 Kristian 6 points

You would probably need a pack with a higher voltage. My 500 sized helicopter runs 6 cells LiPo (22 V). Check to see if ESC and motor can handle such voltages

 ioanna 41 points

dont buy this battery very low power and mine almost explode and this is very weird beacause is a lifepo4 also toooo much weight

 CAlvarez 7 points

You can always run any battery in series or parallel to increase voltage or capacity, respectively. The batteries must be similar in voltage and capacity, of course, and the best results are with batteries that are of the same age.

 e-ransom 78 points

yeah you can just run them in series for 6s li-feo4 no need to cut packs open or tape together they will cool better as seperates with an air gap between them

 Paul 9 points

Yes, all you need to do is buy a series connector like this one to connect the two: www.link

 Kristian 6 points

Just connect to in series, and your problem will be solved

 ioanna 41 points

yes

 outlaw 63 points

Simple Black is negativ Red is Positiv

 Kristian 6 points

The black is negative and the red is positive

 ioanna 41 points

The black is negative and the red is positive for the balance plug the black it s negativ and the others are positive

 THE CRAWLER KING 11 points

Either solder them back on yourself, or take it to your local hobbyshop and have them do it for you. I hope this helps.

 outlaw 63 points

I have seen this issue on 1 of my packs as well They puff quit often

 Hamish 18 points

The esc wont recognise it it will just cut off before the pack is completely discharged you can turn the cut off off with LIFEPO and just stop running when the model slows down I use the castle Monster and sidewinder ESC's and just leave them on auto lipo beware they are tall packs compared to the equivalent LIPO

 eric 8 points

hello u have to setup your charger in mode '' life '' not lipo or lioi because they use 4.2O and 4.1O v but lifepo4 is use 3.65 volts for charge maxi ( ur charger will not detect how it could detect a full charged lifepo4 bat at 3.65 volts and a empty lipo bat at 3.65 volts ? it can detect by volts !! u have to do by yourslelf or use a charger special for lifepo4)
(if u don't want they become like a ballon )
i have pack of lifepo4 i can tell it's nice although they a little less volts than lipo their lifetime is better about 2OOO charge ,even 1OOO charge is well enough
good luck for your charge !

 mazdaprotege4 8 points

With Life you don't have to worry about a LVC, that is one of the advantages. You can turn the LVC off and run it until the model slows down.

 outlaw 63 points

On Castle ESC'S just go with custom cutoff On a 3S PAck i would use lowest 6,2 Volt total

 Kristian 6 points

Just turn the low voltage detection off. One of the advantages of LiFe is, that you can charge them all the way down

 sampc69 950 points

thank you all I managed this issue by using the voltage detector. As most of the ESC can not figure out the battery type (Life or Lipo) but I prefer the Lipo as it offers More Voltage and I need more power in my RC

 Hamish 18 points

just hook it up and run it LIFE cells wont over discharge run it till it stops and all your cells should be close in voltage then charge it up again
pack should be fine

 eric 8 points

balance should be 3.65 volts maximum at charge
and 3.40-3.5O volts when full charged
it's same lipo , don't worry ur charger can do it

 Bjarne K 99 points

thanks for the replies but the balance goes way off only way i get them to balance is to discharge to around 2 volts per cell and then balance charge but the capacity is ok.

 Kristian 6 points

I believe 6 cells in total. 3 in series and two groups of 3 in parallel

 Kristian 6 points

You can always but a connector and solder in on. On your charger you have to choose LiFe charging. LiPo charge and LiFe is not the same

 bastelspezi 232 points

dude.. no difference there to the lipos.. HXT 4mm gold and JST XH balancers. imax has alread the right balancer connectors. and as for the charge wire you could just use the chargecable with the clips. for the car: do some soldering yourself lets try the www.link or just look for "4mm hxt"

 3520Kramer 45 points

The little plug (balancer): you just plug it into the balance board on your imax, it fits directly. But you might need to change plugs on the battery unless you use 4mm gold plugs on your charger!
Now, i don't know which plugs you use on your rustler but you gotta make it match *)

 outlaw 63 points

2Volt per Cell is no problem But at around 2,5V per Cell will be a massiv Current drop So no limiter is needed !

 Fabio 14 points

Hola Lo recomendable es descargar la bateria hasta 2.8V por celda, y nunca descargar por debajo de 2.5V por celda, puedes ver mas informacon en www.link

 Kristian 6 points

How about this one: 3S1P 1800 www.link

 Benny 18 points

I successfully repacked a 6s2p into 2 packs of 6s1p. Because of the configuration you have to disassemble the whole pack into single cells. And then make the new pack. It's possible and not too difficult. These are no a123 cells, the cells are not cilindrical. These look like regular lipo's (although they have life chemistry inside). They are taped together cell by cell so you'll have to use a knife to slide in between the cells to sepperate them.
You will need a soldering iron if minimum 75W.
But if you repack them make sure you put an outer layer to the pack to protect the cells from the sun. I learned the hard way...

 outlaw 63 points

I have them, because they are 99% failsave They won't burn You can charge them with 22,5A Max Discharge max is 2 Volt per Cell (6Volt for 3s) But even you discharge them lower, they will not explode, like Lipos !

 bastelspezi 232 points

yup no thermal runaway, very stable, great technology. deep cycleling is no problem. just like it used to be.. you drive until the car doesnt go no more :-) no electronics needed for that part.

 Paul 9 points

Yes to both. The charger's manual should explain how to set the charger to life mode. No low voltage alarm or cutoff is needed, simply stop running the vehicle when you notice a drastic drop in power.

 Emaxx 1 points

Just be wear, that if you run the pack all the way dead the cycle time will be alot less buy like a 1/4. They say 1000 cycle at normal use, but taking them to dead state maybe 250 or less. But running them till you see a drop in power is the best way.

 Harry Harris 164 points

Even better would be to rewire it as 6S1P, provided that it is possible to access the terminals of the cells. Has anyone done this? I am very tempted to buy one and have a go.

 paulsdogjack 352 points

my battery came in today..quick del time..but when i checked it on my triton eq charger 5 cells where 3.60 volts one the number 6 cell would not go over 3.37/38 is this a bad cell?also i am useing a 80amp plush esc on nixx 45% cutoff..with auto detect.is this a good set up?

 Harry Harris 164 points

LiFe cells have a maximum voltage when being charged of 3.6V, and they won't go beyond this because of their chemistry. This is why they are safe compared with LiPo, which don't have a maximum charge voltage and continue to charge and heat up. The nominal charge voltage for LiFe is 3.3V, and if you give your battery a discharge cycle down to 3.3V everything will even up. Your battery is good.

I use a Turnigy Plush 60A ESC and programming card, but I set it up differently, with a medium cutoff threshold on Lixx. The nominal charge voltage for LiPo is 3.7V, and for LiFe it is 3.3V. The minimum voltage is 3.0V/cell for LiPo, and 2.0V/cell for LiFe.

For my 6S LiFe the charge voltage is 6x3.3 or 19.8 V, which the ESC sees as a 5S LiPo, which is 5x3.7 or 18.5V. The ESC beeps five times to confirm this just before the final long beep. The medium cutoff LiPo threshold in the ESC sets 2.85V/cell for the 5S LiPo that it can see, which is 5x2.85 (14V) when applied to the 6S LiFe battery. This is 2.3V per cell, which is just about right. LiFe will go lower, but there is not a lot of energy left at 2V.

If you are setting up the ESC for NiCd, then, if it works the same as for the LiPo setup, it will see your 6S LiFe as 16 NiCd cells (1.2V/cell). Does it beep 16 times to confirm this? That signal may only work for Lixx cells. The cutoff threshold that you have set is 45% of the initial voltage of the battery, or 0.45x19.8 = 8.9V. This is too low for 6 LiFe cells. The 60% setting is better, at 11.9V, but this is just below the minimum of 2V/cell. I think that it is better to set up in Lixx mode and get a threshold of 2.3V/cell.

 paulsdogjack 352 points

thankyou harry..that was rock solid info..will use your formual to set up..you also set my mind at easy with the volts concerns..thankyou again..p.s what charger and power supply do you use to get quick charges..i have triton eq..and it only charges at 2.1 at home and 2.8 at my car battery..doing my 6s life 4500amp battery

 Harry Harris 164 points

Jack, could you please let Paul know that he has a reply.

No worries, glad to help.

Sorting out the right charger to use starts with the battery capacity in mAh and volts. A LiPo battery can be charged at 1C, which means that (for instance) a 2000mAh battery, which is a 2amp hour battery, can be charged at 2 amps. If you charge it at 2 amps for an hour, you add 2 amp hours of charge to it. Therefore the basic charge time for a LiPo battery is one hour, charging at the maximum allowable current of 1C amps.

The charging rate is also limited by the available current capacity of the charger, and its power rating in watts, which is the product of amps and volts. A 5 amp charger is good for a 5 amp hour LiPo battery, provided that the charging power required is less than the power rating of the charger. A lot of LiPo chargers have a power rating of 50 watts, so a battery voltage greater than 10V will exceed the power rating (5 amps x 10 volts). If you charge a 5S LiPo (about 20V) with a 50 watt charger, the charger will reduce the charge current to 2.5V to keep the power at 50 watts. This will charge a 2.5 amp hour 5S LiPo in one hour, but it will take 2 hours to charge a 5 amp hour 5S LiPo (2.5 amps x 2 hours).

You can play with all sorts of combinations of battery size, battery numbers and charger size to arrange a battery size/charger capacity combination that will allow you to fly at the frequency you want to.

When it comes to LiFe batteries, it becomes a lot simpler. A123 cells have a capacity of 2.3 amp hours, and the Turnigy batteries have a capacity of 4.55 amp hours because they are based on two 2.225 amp hour cells in parallel. The great advantage of LiFe is that they can be charged at 5C, which means that basic charge times can be 1/5 hour or 12 minutes.

However, to get this charge time you have to be able to charge at 5C, with a charger that has this current capacity and a power capacity greater than 5C x battery voltage.

There are 10 amp and 20 amp chargers, which can charge A123 cells at 4C (4 x 2.3 = 9.2 amps), and the paired Turnigy cells also at 4C (4 x 4.45 = 17.8 amps). Charging at 4C gives a basic charge time of hour. At these currents a 6S1P A123 20 volt battery (which is what I use) needs a charger capacity of 182 watts (9.2x20=184 watts). A 3S2P Turnigy 10 volt battery needs a charger capacity of 178 watts (17.8x10=178 watts).

I have a iCharger 106B+ which is rated at 10 amps and 250 watts, so it is able to charge a 6S LiFe at 10 amps, and can even charge (but not balance) a 8S LiFe at 9.3 amps. Because the battery capacity is only 2.3 amp hours, I keep motor current down to around 35 amps maximum by using a larger motor, and get flight times that I limit to eight minutes. Recharge only takes 10 or 12 minutes, so I can get in lots of flights in a morning on only one battery. With two LiFe batteries the only limitation is the speed with which you can swap batteries between charger and plane.

I have also now ordered a Turnigy 6S2P battery, realising that I have now doubled the capacity, so my flight times are doubled, and my nominal recharge times will double to about 30 minutes. Whether another battery, or a 20 amp charger (perhaps the iCharger 206B) is the best next step I havent quite figured out yet, but the extra battery option looks a lot cheaper. Maybe I can work out how to unpack the battery and turn it into two 6S1P packs, so I dont need either another battery or another charger.

The ideal charger for the Turnigy 4.55 amp hour packs is a 20 amp charger, but for 3S LiFe you are not really challenging its power capacity.

For field charging you need an auto battery, because the input current required is 250 watts/ 12 volts or 21 amps. The i106B+ has a 5 amp 12 volt input as well, and I use a 5amp 14 volt power pack for charging at home. That means that I have to limit the charging current to 2.5 amps so as not to exceed the power rating of the power pack or this input.

 paulsdogjack 352 points

thanks again..now i understand the Principal idea now..electric is alittle too expensive when it comes to chargers and power supply,going back to gas..for the price of a charger and power supply i can get a DLE 30 gas engine.lol

 outlaw 63 points

Yes, they contain 6 2250mAh Cells

 Harry Harris 164 points

Yes Craig. 2P does not help. I am an A123 convert and fly 6S1P in the A123 cells (2300mAh), and by proper motor and prop choice to keep current to around 35 amps, I can get 7 minutes or so flight times and 10 minute recharges.. With 6S2P I could fly the same plane for twice as long, but be rather handicapped by carrying a brick.

The preferred configuration would be 6S1P or 8S1P, which can be charged by eg iCharger 106B at 10 amps, and still give acceptable flight times for 40 to 60 size planes, which can be very nicely powered using 6S. Lugging 900 grams in a plane this size is not an attractive option. If we want to go there we can do our own combinations.

So, HK, how about re-considering these configurations to give us a more practical choice? I can't see how 3S2P weighing 461 gm could ever be an attractive choice for a 3S powered plane.

 ttgraffx 79 points

This is a question for Harry
I do not understand your request "preferred configuration would be 6S1P or 8S1P". Isn't it 7S for the 6S users and 9S for the 8S users?
Thank you

 Harry Harris 164 points

Thanks ttgraffx

OK, I have assumed that a symmetrical pack (2 rows of cells) would be simpler to form up and package. The cells in the Turnigy batteries appear (from the photo, I don't have one in my hand) to be arranged side by side in pairs, rather than stacked one on top of the other as in a LiPo battery. Hence they would be convenient to supply in multiples of two cells. I use 6S LiFe as a direct replacement for a 5S LiPo, and that works well. I am adding a 2S LiFe to it to get noticeably more thrust from the motor I am using at the same sort of current. Adding just one more cell does not contribute all that much, whereas two more makes a real difference. And my charger can handle 8 cells in a non-balance charging configuration.

The voltage equivalence of LiFe and LiPo batteries is not precise. If we take a steady operating voltage of 2.9V for LiFe and 3.7 for LiPo it goes like this:

6S LiFe = 17.4 V, 5S LiPo = 18.5V, which is close enough
7S LiFe = 20.3V, 6S LiPo = 22.2V, so a 7S LiFe is halfway between a 5S and a 6S LiPo
8S LiFe = 23.2V, 7S LiPo = 25.9V, so 8S LiFe = 6S LiPo
9S LiFe = 26.1V, 8S LiPo = 29.6V, so 9S LiFe = 7S LiPo

So, with these operating voltages, a 8S LiFe would be a replacement for a 6S LiPo, which is why (along with the convenient configuration) it would be a preferred configuration for me.

 ppxav 1214 points

No it's too heavy
you CAN rebuild this pack as two: 2250mAh 3S1P
this Will suit a 450 size with 3700kv motor and 12t or 13t pinion
cheers

 boris 207 points

Can you please tell more how to do that?

 ppxav 1214 points

hi boris
to do this you have to desolder everything and solder the lifePo4 sacs in series of 3, to do 2 packs. clear enough ?
cheers

 unseenmagik 53 points

5C
So 1C = 4.5amp
5C = 22.5amp

 ppxav 1214 points

Correct, assuming your charger is lifepo4 compatible and CAN produce 22Amp *) dont forget a good power supply for this demand.

 boss-fet 265 points

Are these new cells like Thundersky cells that can be charged to 4.2v per cell or charged on the standard lipo setting?? HobbyKing??

 boss-fet 265 points

Continued.. Or set charger on Lilo setting to charge to 4.1v per cell for a buffer... Very interested to get some info.

 sikeston34m 64 points

Lifepo4 cells require a 3.6 volt per cell charge cutoff.

 boss-fet 265 points

Yes I understand that traditional Life cells need cut * 3.6v but there are new Life cells on the market that can be chaged to 4.2v by Thundersky. My question is are these the new stlye cells? (remember not 2 long ago you couldnt charge lipo past 1C? Now there are lipo cells that can charge over 5C. So HK are these the new style cells? Anyone..

 ppxav 1214 points

NO the particularity of lifePo4 is the low voltage 3.6V per cell instead of 4.2V for lipo, there is NO lifepo4 on the market at 4.2V at the moment ( as far as i know,if you have such an information please share a link...)
the other particularity is the quick charge ability, but recently lipo reached the 5C rate also.
and finally longevity,with lipo you can count on 100cycles compares to lifepo4 1000 cycles(at least A123 style,time will tell for flat lifepo4)
cheers

 boss-fet 265 points

Here is one link to the Thundersky life with a charge graph with many opinions. www.link

 ppxav 1214 points

thanx for the information
have you seen the size/weight of those cells ?
they are HUGE,not applicable in RC, the charge rate seems to be limited to 3C max
imho not interesting for us
cheers,xav

 boss-fet 265 points

Actually the weight will be a good thing for land use as weight is usually added for stability while jumping, turning, etc. An example would be a heavier race truck will land better and have a more powerfull presents while racing around a track. It wont get pushed around as much by other trucks. (to a point)

 cr@att.biz 41 points

boss - I like a123 and all, but adding weight makes a car handle better. I have yet to see any form of racing where weight is touted as an advantage.

 boss-fet 265 points

I raced sc all summer. We never ran without adding at leaset 4-5oz to the trucks. Some tracks more. A slash with no weight and a 2 cell lipo is like a kite. Some of the sc10 guys were adding much more.

 britinoz 51 points

G'Day Guys Any idear as to the ESC settings for these batteries??
Chris........

 boss-fet 265 points

britinoz.. You dont really need lvc for life cells. They can be ran to about 2.0v per cell but 2.5v is best. * about 2.4v per cell they will barly move an rc truck.

 arakari 13 points

Hello, I would like to know if this pack will fit a Savage Flux, any experience?, that's my doubt before buying, I don't have the Flux yet either.

 slumberjer 496 points

Please make for trex500 pack please...

 ferretslim 13 points

yeah it will fit the flux its a little snug with wise i recomend an added velcro to keep the compartment closed and battery safe

 outlaw 63 points

5C = 22,5Amps ! I charge them with 10A on my Junsi 106

 Pasan 109 points

I know there's a 8mm height difference, but has anyone attempted to fit one of these into the e-revo battery compartment sans modification?