who would be interested in Really Light Emag batteries? (take 3)

[sniper1rfa]

a'ight, heres the plan. I can make emag battery packs that will weigh 60% of the normal emag pack. These would last about half as long as a normal emag pack.

I may also be able to make ones that are like a third to a fourth the weight, though they will cost more, and only last about a 5th the time a normal pack does.

both packs will cost around the same as a replacement pack (maybe a tiny bit less), and be able to be charged by the current e-mag charger.

[Scooter/Cootie]

Intresting. I must have missed the previous threads on this. What kind of price are we looking at and exactly how long can a normal e-mag battery run? I've never ran mine dry.

Thanks!

[darklord]

Wow, awesome idea, I'd definitely buy one, any kind as long as it's lighter than the stock battery.

[PsychoBaller]

As always with me...... pictures pictures pictures! they do more than words by far...

Build a proto or 2 that work, hit up the forums with pictures, and I just may be interested

~da baller

[datapimp69]

I have done a TON of reasearch on this subject.

there are a lot of problems in doing this.

if you want pm me and we can talk about it.

or email or catch me on irc or aim=willkaufman48103

[sniper1rfa]

I have to see who is interested, first. i dont want to go through the trouble of building a prototype if i dont know what kind of response i will get. :-)


as for price, i dont really know. I suspect it will come to somewhere around 75 bucks, maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

scooter/cootie: there were none. this is kind of a "Hey, i can do that!" I have made many custom packs before, but i never though of making a smaller pack for the emag.

[Russ]

Dude,

build your prototype, test it. If it works, post the specs and the price.

I don't want to be the ginn-ee (how DO you spell that) pig!

[FutureMagOwner]

id rather have a rounder one and a little bit smaller then just shorter because its perfect height for me right now its just a little bit odd holding it

[darklord]

Originally posted by Russ
I don't want to be the ginn-ee (how DO you spell that) pig! I think it's Guinea, like the country.... I could be wrong though. :confused:

[Russ]

GuineaYeah, that's it. I must've typed 5 different versions...and none looked right!

The battery idea is a good one, but I want to know if they'll have the amperage to run the E-Mag, and for how long, before I'm willing to spend the money on one.

[athomas]

I'd want to know the C rating/instantaneous current rating of the battery pack as well.

[Major Ho]

Im interested...
It costs like 80 for a battery and casing from the AGD store. If its under 100 i think it would be a fair price. What kind of shape are we talking about.
Datapimp says theres gonna be problems, will there be by making these smaller ones?

[sniper1rfa]

nope, those issues have been resolved. and it has also made everything a bit more interesting...

originally, i planned to make the pack shorter, and just send a very lightwieght spacer with it. now that i think about (due to the higher than expected demand, even now), it wouldnt have been any more than 45-50 bucks for the battery. it would have used the original housing.

Russ: Amperage wont be a problem. Capacity is looking like it will be about a half of the stock battery. Overkill for a day of play, not sure exactly how long it would actually last though.

The smaller one is sketchy, im not sure if im going to do it or not. It will last a day, easy.


Athomas: im going to build in a little charge limiter (will be comprised of two diodes and a resistor) that will bring the charge rate down to like 1/5C. maybe less, depending on which cells i settle on.

[hitech]

Guys,

There are new batteries available now. Some of these weren't available less than a year ago. I'd be willing to bet the new batteries are quite capable.

Tom told me that he was considering using smaller battery cells (2/3 AAA). He was nervous about their reliability. Tom would consider it a big deal if an emag EVER fails to fire because of the battery (other than failing to charge it). He really worries about reliability. He want you to be able to file an emag at 20bps for hours straight without ANY problems.

[ChucktheMAGician]

I'm interested too, but does anyone know if they have guinea pigs on farms in Guinea, and if so is the meat considered ham?:rolleyes:

[Aliens-8-MyDad]

ok, does it weigh 60% less? or 40% less... and what is batery life 50% less or what?

[sniper1rfa]

it wieghs 40% less (roughly, i dont know exactly how much the emag pack wieghs, but i know how much just the cells wiegh). Depending on which direction this goes, it may be less, overall.

battery life will be pretty much half of the stock battery (50% less).

[Quiet]

I kinda like the sound of that, I'd definately be interested in something along those lines.

[ShotgunTuna]

Should make a Li-Ion batery pack youll have more capacity and smaller size, less weight,

i would waiting in line for one

[Aliens-8-MyDad]

oh whats this litium ion? more life smaller and less weight!? i want one now! id pay 40-65 for that

[sniper1rfa]

aliens, actually, you would pay 150+ for that. :)

Li-Ion would probably be a bad idea, for several reasons. First and formost, i would still have to use 5 cells to get the proper voltage, and that would be sketchy in and of itself, since Li-Ion dont like working in series. also, when each cell costs me 10-15 bucks, i would have to charge and extraordinary amount of money. add to that the charger (Li-Ion are picky about chargers, too) and you would have to drop quite the large chunk of change for one. and you wouldnt even gain much over NiMH, when all is said and done. :)

oh yeah, it would be hard to get the profile right, too.

[athomas]

Most Li-Ion batteries don't have high enough C rating to power the emag. That's why NiMh batteries are used. Now if we can find smaller NiMh batteries that have a high enough C rating then we can make a smaller, lighter battery pack.

[Aliens-8-MyDad]

oh :(

[sniper1rfa]

that is REALLY wierd. This thread keeps bumping to the top, only nobody is posting anything new...

oh yeah, athomas: the cells im building a prototype with are rated at 3C, they are 370 mAh. you asked... :)

[darklord]

Originally posted by sniper1rfa
that is REALLY wierd. This thread keeps bumping to the top, only nobody is posting anything new...
The thread is bumped each time someone votes in the poll, too :rolleyes: ;) :cool:

[sniper1rfa]

i feel dumb now...
;) :D

[RobAGD]

Something I was looking at was not using the standard recharable batteries in teh housing. I was looking at a way to try and use the E2 Lithium Photo Batteries. I have some 750mAh aa's NiMH that are begging to be tinkered with as well as some AA 1900 mAh solder tab deals.

any way I have a little intrest in battery packs.

I would also kind like an easy way to swap out bad cells as that seems to be the biggest problem with Emag batteries is that 1 cell died and then teh whole pack in pooched.

-Robert

[sniper1rfa]

I personally believe that the high mortality rate of the emag packs is due to the charger. the green light cannot be trusted, so people leave the battery on overnight. this is very bad, as NiMH are very sensitive to overcharging. the way it looks now, mine will be coming with an overnight charger at 35 mAh, which means you could leave the battery on for a year without much damage. (continuous overcharge = 1 year at .1C with no visible deformation or leakage).

[SeeK]

Shock to the battery pack could cause damage to a cell and killing the pack. You could do a good business just collecting dead packs and rebuilding them since most of the cells are most probably good.

[omni]

Ok ... so I shouldn't trust that little Green light!!!?

I don't want to cook my battery, so I should watch it when I charge it?

On the way to skyball I let it charge on my Lap and the sucker got soooooo hot, and the red light was still on.

I stopped it and left it as is and it was fine for the week end.

[sniper1rfa]

dont let it get even moderately warm. batteries DO NOT GET HOT when charging, unless you pumping energy into them when they cant hold any more. The pack getting warm is extra energy being dissapated as heat. If a battery starts getting warm when charging, its done. the exception is a battery on a 15 minute charger, they get a little warm. but not much.

[athomas]

Originally posted by sniper1rfa
this is very bad, as NiMH are very sensitive to overcharging. the way it looks now, mine will be coming with an overnight charger at 35 mAh, which means you could leave the battery on for a year without much damage. (continuous overcharge = 1 year at .1C with no visible deformation or leakage).

NiMh batteries like to be quick charged. Most NiMh batteries are able to be charged to about 90% in one hour. Then they are finished by trickle charging. This gives maximum life to NiMh cells.


Over charging is definately bad for batteries. They will heat. If the battery pack is heating it is done. A good charger will shut off when it senses the voltage drop due to over charging. The charger has to be specifically designed for the battery pack it is charging in order to sense the proper voltage drop.

[sniper1rfa]

maximum life, maybe, but only if its done right. the best way to rapid charge is with both the voltage meter and a temperature guage. however, since no one will buy it if i charger 100 bucks or so for a good charger on top of everything else, its better to do the overnight thing. cheaper, with the least worries of me having to replace cells. i figure itll get 600 cycles easy, which is plenty.

[Major Ho]

Are these still gonna be available soon. I would very much like to purchase one, make my very own ULE mag... :D

[sniper1rfa]

not likely to be very soon, but soon enough. im testing the prototype at AO-NE III, and it will go from there.