Bout as good as they will get for now. Pretty bad ass in my opinion. I raced RC cars for a bit at which introduced me to a dif side of LIPO vrs the cell phone LIPO's. Last a hell of a lot longer and takes more to hurt em.
lipo I use RC lipo on my bike, great for cranking, light, overdischarge kills them, cheap, voltage is a bit high though.
Most of you knuckleheads will over discharge them and make them go thermal. Stick with A123's if you must be a cheap ass.
Over-discharge won't do anything but make them not take a charge again. Over-charging WILL cause them to cook off, and it's a fire most people aren't equipped to put out. I've been using LiPo batteries in R/C airplanes for a few years now and I have complete confidence in them WHEN USED CORRECTLY. They are absolutely unforgiving of user error in the charging process though. Lots of people have burned their cars, garages, and even whole homes to dust by charging them unattended with poor or incorrectly configured chargers.
Alien Motion 8-cell in my 600 for a year now, no issues going strong Shorai 8-cell in the my 1000 for 2 years now, no issues going strong Neither have ever been put anywhere in the vicinity of a charger. They have both sat all winter in my garage (climate controlled mind you) without starting and fired right up in the spring. Shorai says to store in a plastic bag in the fridge and they'll sit for a year and discharge 5-10%.
If you're going to store batteries over the winter, you'll want to get yourself a decent charger, and then charge or discharge the batteries until they're at 3.8v per cell. This is the optimal charge level for storage. If a fully-charged LiPo battery sits more than a couple days you're actually doing damage to the cells. I run self-made LiPos in my race bike, and after every race weekend, I pull the battery, and discharge it to 3.8v
A123 is bankrupt and parts of it were sold to Wanxiang Group. They changed their name (sitting down?) to B456. Funny part? B456 is a fire extinguisher.
Not the same stuff you would use in a motorcycle....the charger failed and they damaged the battery with caused the problem. Just like anything else.....if you break it.....it will break. Lithium-Ion is a generic term for any Lithium based battery that is rechargeable. There are approximately 80 different lithium based chemistries in common use and each has its strength and weaknesses. The best chemistry for use in a transportation environment is Lithium Ferrous Phosphate as a starter battery. LiFePO4. Over-discharge will NOT cause a LiFePO4 battery to go thermal. Correct - Because LiPO batteries are so unforgiving to charging and the fact that they can burn if punctured.....is why they are not a good idea for transportation use...and is not what is being used by us or any of the other leading battery manufactures. This is completely inaccurate for any LiFePO4 battery. I would highly recommend following the manufactures recommendations for charging and storage.
We have been building (and using) LiFePO4 batteries for a long time. We are distributed by Parts Unlimited in the US, Canada, and Europe and Gas Imports in Australia. We sold more than 40,000 batteries last year alone. The technology is proven and in common use. I am not sure why the media is obsessed with Li-ion technology, but the scope of its use is staggering. EVERY cell phone, tablet, lap top, e-reader, drill, and any other high tech electrical equipment has been using Li-Ion tech for years.....and they do not explode or randomly catch fire. The Boeing 787 uses a Lithium Cobalt Oxide battery made by Yuasa GS. The battery worked great and is still in use. The Battery Management System they used to monitor and charger the battery was wired wrong in installation.....but "BMS wired wrong causes fire." doesn't have the same ring to it. The fact is....if used correctly, the technology has real benefits and advantages. Matt - If you would like to try a battery....send me an email at [email protected]
