Titan Power Li-Ion Batteries.

[Cr0-Magnon]

Happy New Year All!

 

So yeah, despite the high price tag these appeal to me. I've ended up with a lot of lipo's, most of which I don't use on a regular basis and even if it's a slim chance, I'd rather there not be any risk of my airsoft batteries causing a fire. According to the description the ones I'm looking at are equivalent to a 1300mAh 20C lipo (which is what I'm using atm anyway).

 

Any cons I should be aware of?

 

 

[Iceni]

It's catch 22.

Li-ion is just as dangerous as Li-Po in some situations.

They still suffer from thermal runaway, and they still set on fire if they get pierced. 

The major difference in the 2 styles of battery is the outer casing. Li-ion is a rigid design and run as standardised form factors like the 18650, and are often skinned with a lightweight metal material. Li-po is often just a foil skin with a heat-shrink outer.

As such li-ion is generally a little harder to physically damage or pierce, but it is still a battery that deserves a lot of respect. Damaged wraps/dents on the batteries are still a major point of failure that may cause fires.



I take it you are looking at the 7.4v 7000mAh 10C nunchuck battery.

It's 4x 18650's. Average retail for those is about £5 each, bulk to a manufacturer less than £2. So the £55+ asking price is very steep.

The output ampage of 18650's is not rated in C. It's rated in amps based on the inbuilt fuses.

The 10 amps discharge of the 18650's is the maximum continuous discharge rating. You can draw more than that out of them, but it creates heat in the inbuilt fuses and skin of the cells. Too much heat and the fuses will just pop and render the battery scrap.

 

The C rating of a li-po gives you an ampage multiplier over capacity. 2200mAh 30/60C gives 2.2x30= 66amps continuous 132amps burst.
1300mAh 20/40C = 26 amps continuous and 52 amps burst.

A typical airsoft gun will draw somewhere between 10 and 20 amps depending on how well built the gearbox is. A baseline of 15 amps continuous is reasonable.

So you are going to be stressing those li-ion batteries all the time. Yes, they will cope, but not as well as a li-po will.



Li-po's only real flaw is the soft skin. If you use a good charger it will tell you to fuck off if the battery isn't safe to charge. Discharging them too low voltage won't cause a fire - Charging one that has been discharged too low will. You should never be able to stress a decent-sized lipo in terms of amp draw, And a decent mosfet will prevent shorts and low voltage issues. An inline 25 amp fuse will protect the battery and the gun.

Li-ion, on the other hand, has harder skin and it has inbuilt protection from short circuits, but you will always be stressing them and if you do get them a bit hot then you risk popping the fuses that will kill the battery outright. Over time they lose capacity and discharge faster just like li-po. An inline 25 amp fuse may still allow the battery to fail through heat.


If you drop either they need to be put aside and checked for heat buildup for a few minutes.

If you damage the outer wraps on either they need to be disposed of - A li-ion can be re-wrapped but you would have to desolder it if the battery wrap is damaged so it's not an option to re-wrap.


Personally I'd rather spend the £55 on a charger for Li-po that will tell me to fuck off and keep my £10 li-po's in individual cases, rather than spend £55 on each battery.

 

[Iceni]

I'm just adding something to this without an edit. Reason been you might have already read what was posted and if I insert it you might miss it.


There are 18650 cells that are capable of more than 10amps. 30amps is about the highest, and they have fuses rated for 30amps.

Unfortunately, those 30amp cells are also restricted on capacity with not a single cell been capable of the 3500mAh needed to create a 7000mAh battery pack.

The closest off the shelf battery would be the LG Chem 3500mAh 18650. MJ1

https://batterybro.com/products/lg-mj1-lg18650mj1-3500mah-10a

 

If titan had stated a different lower capacity then the amp draw could have been increased to beyond the 15amp airsoft basic spec.

LG Chem make a HG2 18650 with 3000mAh that would give a 6000mAh battery pack with a discharge of 20amps.

https://batterybro.com/products/lg-hg2-inr18650hg2-3000mah-20a

 

Sony also make an easy to source 18650 that is also 3000mAh and 20 amps with the VTC6

https://batterybro.com/products/sony-18650-vtc6


 

And Sanyo makes a Non-18650 (it's a bit bigger) capable of 4250mAh at 20amps. Those cells would give an 8500mAh capacity and 20amp continuous draw.

https://batterybro.com/products/sanyo-20700-b


Any of those battery choices could have been better than the 10amp one they picked. If they update the batteries in the future to give a larger amp overhead then titan might make a decent choice. Just not with the current line up.