Rebuilding 2 battery packs...

Hi,
I'm mid into rebuilding two Segway batteries. I've got one taken apart to see what cells are needed. The OEM cells are Valence Saphion 3.2V 1400 mAh IFR-18650EC. I'm going to need just under 200 cells for the rebuild. I called and talked to valence, but they won't sell the cells to anyone but Segway. It would appear I can get the exact replacement via China. That comes with risks. The alternative is buying an equivalent cell in the US. Batteryspace.com sells an apparent equivalent (http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo418650cell32v1500mah45arate432whullistedunapproved.aspx). Is this a quality cell? Anyone here running these?

Suggestions?
Should I go with the selection from battery space ($663 total)? Is there better domestic pricing available?
Is there a supplier in China that someone here has used and recommends?

I don't want to spend close to $700 on batteries and end up with junk.

Thanks for your feedback!!

No feedback?

I see that "TIANJIN LISHEN BATTERY JOINT-STOCK CO.,LTD." of china apparently has an office in Atlanta, GA. Lishen International Inc. is the branch office. Anyone bought from them?

Well, I bought from battery space. I'll see how it works out.

What did you end up buying from batteryspace? How did it work out?

when you replace part of the cells in the pack, the new cells need to be equivalent to the ones you took out in capacity and internal resistance to get the pack to balance.

not sure how randomly you will have to replace them but you should balance all the new cells together to the same voltage as the cells in the pack. i assume the old pack is discharged so you would have to match that discharged voltage of the old cells with the balanced voltage of the new cells, then let it balance on the charger for several days.

i use a big power resistor to drag the high cells down to match the new cells when they are off in a pack that i cannot balance otherwise.

last pack i rebuilt took almost 4 days to balance. part had been fully charged and part was discharged.

thickhead said:

What did you end up buying from batteryspace? How did it work out?

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I ended up buying just under 200 18650 cells from Battery Space to rebuild two Segway batteries. It worked out great. I had no real issues with the cells.... There were 2 that were partly discharged out of the box. Assuming that they all got charged at the same time, I considered them duds. I bought a couple extra just in-case.

would those two cells accept charge and hold it? how long did it take to balance the pack? from what you said i assume you never balanced them initially so i wondered how much dispersion there was in that group and how hard it was to get them all balanced.

dnmun said:

would those two cells accept charge and hold it? how long did it take to balance the pack? from what you said i assume you never balanced them initially so i wondered how much dispersion there was in that group and how hard it was to get them all balanced.

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I didn't waste any time with the 2 apparent duds. I think I just recycled them. Maybe I still have them? The rest were at 3.2v. Assemble and charge. The Segway's two controllers can handle the rest. Been working fine for...the better part of the year. I don't recall how long the first balance took. The indicator lights are a PITA to watch. No longer then normal.

bottleworks said:

I didn't waste any time with the 2 apparent duds. I think I just recycled them. Maybe I still have them? The rest were at 3.2v. Assemble and charge. The Segway's two controllers can handle the rest. Been working fine for...the better part of the year. I don't recall how long the first balance took. The indicator lights are a PITA to watch. No longer then normal.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info man, I'm in the US Im Looking to find 190 batteries for Segway x2, I'm looking for the extended life version currently it has the Valence Saphion IFR-18650EC WL1288 106516
ones they are the standard I want to get the ones with more capacity do you know where to buy them ? also can I replace them with a regular 18650 Li-ion