Hi,
I want to convert my stand on e-scooter from SLA to LiFePo4.
I have seen many Chinese batteries on e-bay, but I do not like the fact that they are 2C max discharge rate.
I am thinking of building my own pack, and would like to know if you have any suggestions for LiFePo cell suppliers.
There are A123 systems, but they are too expensive, and I need to disassemble Dewalt packs to get their cells.
I contacted LifeBatt, but they don't sell individual cells, only packs.
I know of PSI, but don't know where I can get their cells.
I found these guys on the web: http://store.peakbattery.com/lfp26.html, looks promising, I'll have to contact them.
Are there any other cells I should consider?
I've listed several sites here:
http://www.7gen.com/website-categories/lifepo4
http://www.7gen.com/website-categories/lithium-iron-phosphate
Depends on what you're looking for but I share the concern about maximum discharge rate.
In a couple weeks I'll be receiving a pack from Headway that's supposed to be pretty powerful. Will write up a report as soon as possible.
Some makers you did not mention are Headway, Yesa, and Thundersky.
- David Herron, http://longtailpipe.com/
All the manufacturers you suggested are Chinese, and they all suffer from the poor discharge rate that Ping suffers from.
The Headway look interesting. Where can I purchase them? How much are they?
There was a group buy a while back for headway, but I don't know if anybody bought some to resell. Over at the endless sphere there is a source for psi, or psi type cells on the buy sell section. But if you want high discharge cheap, good luck. Actually, if you build a big enough scooter, the 2c cells, such as Ping on ebay sells or yesa may be enough. But you will have to build them into your own pack for high amperage discharge, or do some paralelling of packs if 48v is enough for you. The thing is, if you are going to carry enough cells to have long range, they may not need to be quite so high discharge rate to supply all the amps you need. Without knowing what you are building, of course, I could be full of bull as to what will work for you.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
The problem is that the battery compartment in my scooter is too small for Ping's 20Ah battery, and the 10Ah pack cannot supply the amps I need.
I run a 500w motor that draws 30A on climbs (I want to remove the current limit so I can get better climbing ability).
My second problem is that I do not live in the US, so I am very limited as to what I can order off Ebay.
If I lived in the states then I would've ordered 4 DeWalt packs, and build my own pack, but most sellers in the US do not ship internationally.
The problem with the bigger cells (PSI,Thundersky,YESA ...) is that I am limited to how I can place them in the battery box.
With the smaller cells (A123) I can maximize the usage of the available space.
Yeah, now I understand the problem better. Just about all I can think of that would work for you would be a123's. If you went with a ping, you would need the 20 ah size to provide the amps reliably. The only other option I can think of would be some nicads or nimh cells, but I never saw them as being that much better than sla's in terms of power to weight and space. Maybe you need to look again at making the battery box bigger somehow.
Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global
FalconEV.com can fix you up, no problem
The LiFepo4 BattMan www.falconev.com