24V Liitokala 26650 build

So, a while back (on 11/11) I bought some liitokala 26650 cells off of alibaba for a custom battery I wanted to build for my stealth bomber clone. Instead I’m planning on building a battery for my kid’s dirtbike as he always runs out of battery before me and he could use a little more power. I want the finished battery to be smaller, lighter, and maybe even double the range as the lead acid pack it had.

The first mistake I made was ordering the wrong cell holders. If you plan on using cell holders from ebay, get the ones that are listed as “smaller” because they’re referring to the ID of the holder. To solve this problem I wrapped the top and bottom of the cells with kapton tape until they were a slip fit into the cell holders.

Anyway, the spot welder is from lee here on the forum, there is a thread in this section (MiniSpotA welder) that has some info on the welder, overall, it’s an impressive little welder. I paid $75 with shipping and it came in like a week and a half. Spot welding was a breeze after getting the welder setup. I have the pack half done and it didn’t take long at all. I wanted to be safe as far as the welds are concerned, so I’m welding the same spot twice before moving onto the next one, just to be sure.

After looking at how small the overall battery is I may add another cell in parallel for more power/range. I’ll try and document as much as possible for anyone interested. The goal is to get some good experience for future packs. More progress pics and testing to come.


Cells: https://us.gearbest.com/batteries/pp_663613.html

Welder: https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=98854

Nickel Strip: https://www.ebay.com/itm/132622480537

Cell holders: https://www.ebay.com/itm/18650-26650-battery-Spacer-Frame-Radiating-Holder-Plastic-Bracket-for-DIY-pack/312411666297?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=611103976410&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

BMS:https: //www.ebay.com/itm/25-6V-29-4V-7S-45A-Lithium-ion-Li-ion-Li-Po-LiPo-Polymer-Battery-BMS-PCB-Board/153301953242?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

so how did this project turn out?

curious because of some reports of problems with liitokala cells in the past.

Yo, thanks for the interest/kick in the ass to update this thread. It turned out quite well actually. I don't remember how many cells I ordered, but after checking them one cell arrived dead out of the batch. I ended up making (3) 24v 10ah packs (with some cells to spare). One pack for my kid's dirtbike, and (2) 24v 10 ah pack for my cruiser that I use to get around SF for work.

Performance:
These packs are only 2P so I got 35A BMSs for them as they can discharge 20A continuous or at least that's what the're advertised as. I have a watt meter on my kids bike and the max current his bike pulls is 18A with a total wattage of about 500w. My packs may not be the best candidate to speak for these cells as far as performance. I have cycled his pack about 15 times with no issue, solid performance in this configuration thus far.

My cruiser is the same thing. It is only pulling about 20 amps so the 20ah pack works well even on the long SF blocks (full throttle 2 min easily). There isn't sever sag, and the pack is big enough for me to make it around SF without having to charge all the time.

Issues: There haven't been any issues other than the one cell showing up dead. I think if you stay under 20A per cell they will perform well.

I originally got them to make a bad ass pack for my eeb, but don't think they're the best candidate for the performance I want. I think Andy Kirby got a lot of people pumped up about these cells (me included) but I'm not too sure how they perform in the high discharge packs. I'd love to hear from other that have built at least a 20s6p pack to see what these cells can really do, and how much sag can be expected. But for my kids dirtbike and the cruiser/parts runner they're sweet!