tjason
10 mW
This is a message from Headway Head Quarters...
November 2011 Newsletter
Hello Recent customer,
This will be our first attempt at sending out, for lack of better term, a newsletter to which we will try and do every quarter to update what is going on not only with us, but also with some other little tid-bits of information that may or may not be of interest to you. We also wanted to let you know that future newsletters will not be as long, but will still have either some pictures, graphs or other visual stimulating bits of info just as this one has below. Also if you have any suggestions or ideas for future newsletters please let us know! SOOOO, if you would not like to be on the mailing list, please accept our apology for you receiving this newsletter/mailer and please let us know so that we can remove your email address from the mailer list or you can simply click on the unsubscribe link.
That set aside, we received information from Headway China that in August of 2011 they have become fully automated with the manufacturing. From our understanding they had been working on automating the chemistry mixing so that future cells will be more consistent in performance, weight and other specifications from one batch run to the next. The first thing that popped in our heads was a vision of many workers mixing chemicals in cauldrons with large wooden spoons that were going to now be out of a job, but obviously this was simply an over exaggerated figment of our imagination! We are happy to hear that Headway is making improvements with their cells and their manufacturing processes to continue to strive to provide quality cells in great form factors and at decent prices for, what we like to call, a mid-ranged LiFePO4 cell. Mid-ranged in that they are priced, perform and somewhat sized in-between the large prismatic cells (CALB, Winston, HiPower and others) and the likes of the ever popular A123, SAFT and K2 cells making them still a very good choice for the LiFePO4 chemistry to be cost effective and also able to deliver high current rates if necessary.
We also received word that the 40160SE 16Ah cells will no longer be available in the near future, but they have introduced their new cell, the 38120HP 8Ah cell which they classify as a High Power cell, hence the ‘HP’, and seems to outperform the popular Power cell (38120SP). This cell is on our site in a green casing which was sent to us to do some initial testing with, and we have sent some out to a couple of our customers who are familiar with and use the 38120SP cells to do a comparison on performance testing. In reviewing Headway’s newest catalogue, it appears that they have used our suggestion of using a red casing to distinguish the 38120HP cells from the 38120SP and 38120SE cells, so although on our site they are in the green casings; it appears that all future 38120HP cells will be in the red casings. Tests between the 38120HP cells vs the 38120P cells and vs the K2 26650 Power cells are below.
Although Headway in the last few months have discontinued the 40120SE 12Ah cell and now in the near future the 40160SE 16Ah cell, they will continue to manufacture the 38120L 10Ah, 38120SE 10Ah, 38120SP 8Ah, 38140SE 12Ah and the 40152SE 15Ah cells along with the 38120HP 8Ah cell.
We also have discontinued carrying a few products. The every popular SignaLab BMS with or without LEDs for the past 9 months or so have been giving us problems when trying to use them with the Headway cells along with their low charging current capabilities (8A for the 30A/60A and 15A with the 50A/100A). We have been working at finding a quality replacement BMS and think we have found one. They do not have the LED indicators, but are capable of discharging of 50A continuous, 100A maximum with an over current protection of 130A~150A along with up to 30A of charging capabilities. This, we believe, is a great thing to have since it will be able to handle the high current discharge capabilities of the Headway cells, will not interfere with a controller because of the high current limit capabilities, along with as a final fail safe able to shut the current draw off to keep from damaging the cells since the cut-off is at the maximum peak pulse limits of most of the Headway cells. We had one of our customers test it and was pleased with the results including a test where they had one cell out of balance compared to the others and within 6 hours of being on the charger the 48V (16S) battery was then fully balanced. Another customer has a 72V (24S) battery and is also very pleased, and from the sound of it when I was talking with him on the phone, very surprised at how well the BMS is working with his high performance system and his battery pack using 38140SE cells. Hearing reports like that back from those in both a controlled test environment along with real world situations is great to hear and makes us think that we may have a winner of a choice for a BMS.
Due to inquiries from a few customers who have GOPED© electric scooters, we put together a DIY mod kit for them which included the DB8 so they could get away from the Pb batteries and move up to LiFePO4 since ‘lead is dead’!. Although like the CellLog8S it is only capable of up to 8 cells in series, the DB8 is a great little tool which is a balancer if you do not want to use a BMS such as in the case of using the Headway cells as a starter battery. It can be attached to the battery and wired in place to monitor and balance during charge and discharge with up to 10A of charging capability with no discharge current limits. It can also be used as a stand alone balancer and attached to the battery to balance the cells, as in the case of using with a starter battery, while you are changing the oil or performing other maintenance on your ICE vehicle.
Being the month of Veterans Day here in the US, we wanted to thank all of you who have given of themselves to have served or are serving in the US Armed Forces and to all the families who also have sacrificed by having their loved ones away while serving. In addition, a great big Happy 236th Birthday to all of my fellow Marines!
Last but not least, we just want to thank-you every one of you for being our customers. We are truly grateful for being able to not only provide many of you with products that are beneficial to your company, educational needs or hobby, but also getting to know many of you through emails, phone calls and stopping by our little ‘shop’.
Sincerely,
Jim & Patricia Delgado
38120HP vs 38120P 4
View attachment 1
This graph is of a test performed with 16V (5S2P) batteries with both the 38120P (blue) cells and the new 38120HP (green) cells. The term 'Virgin' was used to indicate that the cells were brand new right out of the box and the term 'Burn-in' was used to indicate that the cells had gone through a charge and discharge cycle.
38120HP vs K2 3
This graph is of a test performed with 12V (4S) batteries, one built with the new 38120HP (38mm) cells and the other with the 'K2' 26650P (26mm) cells. The Headway battery was a 2P4S configuration and the K2 battery was a 6P4S configuration.
November 2011 Newsletter
Hello Recent customer,
This will be our first attempt at sending out, for lack of better term, a newsletter to which we will try and do every quarter to update what is going on not only with us, but also with some other little tid-bits of information that may or may not be of interest to you. We also wanted to let you know that future newsletters will not be as long, but will still have either some pictures, graphs or other visual stimulating bits of info just as this one has below. Also if you have any suggestions or ideas for future newsletters please let us know! SOOOO, if you would not like to be on the mailing list, please accept our apology for you receiving this newsletter/mailer and please let us know so that we can remove your email address from the mailer list or you can simply click on the unsubscribe link.
That set aside, we received information from Headway China that in August of 2011 they have become fully automated with the manufacturing. From our understanding they had been working on automating the chemistry mixing so that future cells will be more consistent in performance, weight and other specifications from one batch run to the next. The first thing that popped in our heads was a vision of many workers mixing chemicals in cauldrons with large wooden spoons that were going to now be out of a job, but obviously this was simply an over exaggerated figment of our imagination! We are happy to hear that Headway is making improvements with their cells and their manufacturing processes to continue to strive to provide quality cells in great form factors and at decent prices for, what we like to call, a mid-ranged LiFePO4 cell. Mid-ranged in that they are priced, perform and somewhat sized in-between the large prismatic cells (CALB, Winston, HiPower and others) and the likes of the ever popular A123, SAFT and K2 cells making them still a very good choice for the LiFePO4 chemistry to be cost effective and also able to deliver high current rates if necessary.
We also received word that the 40160SE 16Ah cells will no longer be available in the near future, but they have introduced their new cell, the 38120HP 8Ah cell which they classify as a High Power cell, hence the ‘HP’, and seems to outperform the popular Power cell (38120SP). This cell is on our site in a green casing which was sent to us to do some initial testing with, and we have sent some out to a couple of our customers who are familiar with and use the 38120SP cells to do a comparison on performance testing. In reviewing Headway’s newest catalogue, it appears that they have used our suggestion of using a red casing to distinguish the 38120HP cells from the 38120SP and 38120SE cells, so although on our site they are in the green casings; it appears that all future 38120HP cells will be in the red casings. Tests between the 38120HP cells vs the 38120P cells and vs the K2 26650 Power cells are below.
Although Headway in the last few months have discontinued the 40120SE 12Ah cell and now in the near future the 40160SE 16Ah cell, they will continue to manufacture the 38120L 10Ah, 38120SE 10Ah, 38120SP 8Ah, 38140SE 12Ah and the 40152SE 15Ah cells along with the 38120HP 8Ah cell.
We also have discontinued carrying a few products. The every popular SignaLab BMS with or without LEDs for the past 9 months or so have been giving us problems when trying to use them with the Headway cells along with their low charging current capabilities (8A for the 30A/60A and 15A with the 50A/100A). We have been working at finding a quality replacement BMS and think we have found one. They do not have the LED indicators, but are capable of discharging of 50A continuous, 100A maximum with an over current protection of 130A~150A along with up to 30A of charging capabilities. This, we believe, is a great thing to have since it will be able to handle the high current discharge capabilities of the Headway cells, will not interfere with a controller because of the high current limit capabilities, along with as a final fail safe able to shut the current draw off to keep from damaging the cells since the cut-off is at the maximum peak pulse limits of most of the Headway cells. We had one of our customers test it and was pleased with the results including a test where they had one cell out of balance compared to the others and within 6 hours of being on the charger the 48V (16S) battery was then fully balanced. Another customer has a 72V (24S) battery and is also very pleased, and from the sound of it when I was talking with him on the phone, very surprised at how well the BMS is working with his high performance system and his battery pack using 38140SE cells. Hearing reports like that back from those in both a controlled test environment along with real world situations is great to hear and makes us think that we may have a winner of a choice for a BMS.
Due to inquiries from a few customers who have GOPED© electric scooters, we put together a DIY mod kit for them which included the DB8 so they could get away from the Pb batteries and move up to LiFePO4 since ‘lead is dead’!. Although like the CellLog8S it is only capable of up to 8 cells in series, the DB8 is a great little tool which is a balancer if you do not want to use a BMS such as in the case of using the Headway cells as a starter battery. It can be attached to the battery and wired in place to monitor and balance during charge and discharge with up to 10A of charging capability with no discharge current limits. It can also be used as a stand alone balancer and attached to the battery to balance the cells, as in the case of using with a starter battery, while you are changing the oil or performing other maintenance on your ICE vehicle.
Being the month of Veterans Day here in the US, we wanted to thank all of you who have given of themselves to have served or are serving in the US Armed Forces and to all the families who also have sacrificed by having their loved ones away while serving. In addition, a great big Happy 236th Birthday to all of my fellow Marines!
Last but not least, we just want to thank-you every one of you for being our customers. We are truly grateful for being able to not only provide many of you with products that are beneficial to your company, educational needs or hobby, but also getting to know many of you through emails, phone calls and stopping by our little ‘shop’.
Sincerely,
Jim & Patricia Delgado
38120HP vs 38120P 4
View attachment 1
This graph is of a test performed with 16V (5S2P) batteries with both the 38120P (blue) cells and the new 38120HP (green) cells. The term 'Virgin' was used to indicate that the cells were brand new right out of the box and the term 'Burn-in' was used to indicate that the cells had gone through a charge and discharge cycle.
38120HP vs K2 3
This graph is of a test performed with 12V (4S) batteries, one built with the new 38120HP (38mm) cells and the other with the 'K2' 26650P (26mm) cells. The Headway battery was a 2P4S configuration and the K2 battery was a 6P4S configuration.
.. you had me puzzled there for a moment with those discharge graphs !
