Zippy Flightmax / Turnigy lipo testing

[AussieJester]

Kim, don't ask Luke what size wire, or you'll end up with an extra 20 pounds on that cruiser. .

HAHA ..yup your probably right there Gary ... 10gauge wire & 4mm bullet connectors it is then No hurry at all with the boards/balancer mate at your leisure 8) batteries will be 3-4 weeks or so away (if they even have stock :: fingers crossed:: )

Thx mate

KiM

 

[liveforphysics]

Kim, don't ask Luke what size wire, or you'll end up with an extra 20 pounds on that cruiser. .

HAHA ..yup your probably right there Gary ... 10gauge wire & 4mm bullet connectors it is then No hurry at all with the boards/balancer mate at your leisure 8) batteries will be 3-4 weeks or so away (if they even have stock :: fingers crossed:: )

Thx mate

KiM

When I worked the wire losess on one of Matt's bikes, it was something like 2% power to be had from using 4awg over 10awg... 2% more power KiM! In the world of sportbikes, we pay $1,500 for a header that gives less than 2% more power.

 

[AussieJester]

HAHA Luke, if you could get away with it you would have wire as thick as your forearm wouldnt you mate wouldnt you, IIIIII KNOOOOOOW you would !!!!

KiM

 

[johnrobholmes]

On my next build I am using some 4 leg 220v 8awg multistrand cable for welder extension cords. It is nice and flexible and will allow either double 8awg or a set of ground, main voltage, 5v, and 12v rails.

 

[liveforphysics]

On my next build I am using some 4 leg 220v 8awg multistrand cable for welder extension cords. It is nice and flexible and will allow either double 8awg or a set of ground, main voltage, 5v, and 12v rails.

I went with silver plated extremely fine stranded copper 4awg leads with silicone jacketing. And I run 2 leads of them for each polarity. I like wire.

KiM- I've got a ton of very high end wire bro, if you want me to send you a care package of wire for grown-ups, I will gladly do it bro.

 

[methods]

If it's not hot - its fine :wink:

My days of spending 80% of my budget for the last 7% of performance are OVER.

-methods

 

[liveforphysics]

If it's not hot - its fine :wink:

-methods

Pshhh... Your ideas towards women don't apply to electronics methods.

 

[Hyena]

haha

I'm sure 10ga will be fine unless you're frequently pulling amps up towards triple figures.

2 lots of 4ga, damn Luke! For the same power to weight ratio (and probably cost!) you could run another 6 pack in series

 

[liveforphysics]

haha

I'm sure 10ga will be fine unless you're frequently pulling amps up towards triple figures.

2 lots of 4ga, damn Luke! For the same power to weight ratio (and probably cost!) you could run another 6 pack in series

I run 8P, so to run another 6s, it would require space for 24more cells, and a controller modded for 150v. Doesn't mean it won't happen sometime though

Batteries are not my weak-link right now. Neither are controllers. It's my damn ghetto hall-sensor mounting crap that hasn't been very reliable for me lately. I'm going to make a giant coreless pancake motor that can handle 30-50kw, and has proper sensors designed into it, and then maybe I will think about upgrading the batteries.

 

[AussieJester]

If it's not hot - its fine :wink:

-methods

Pshhh... Your ideas towards women don't apply to electronics methods.

hehehe too funny your so mean to Methods .. Cheers for the offer of wire 'for grown ups' to mate but ill stick with the 10awg buddy, it's what has been used on Mr Goodrum's magical boards of wonderment and i'm more than happy to use the same ...i shall grab 3-4meters of the silicone wire with my lipo order Thursday week along with bullet connectors. OH and i must order a 18 pin surface mount connector for the enclosure too, i couldnt find them at JayCar on Thursday when i went there they had alot of other pin counts smaller and larger but no 18 pin WTF

KiM

 

[liveforphysics]

If it's not hot - its fine :wink:

-methods

Pshhh... Your ideas towards women don't apply to electronics methods.

hehehe too funny your so mean to Methods OH and i must order a 18 pin surface mount connector for the enclosure too, i couldnt find them at JayCar on Thursday when i went there they had alot of other pin counts smaller and larger but no 18 pin WTF

KiM

I love Methy. I would do anything for Methy. We've just been playing like this for 10 years on various forums now. lol When he was into racing, he had a piglube (honda prelude), so I would always refere to him as "The Cruise Ship Captian", and always put it in italics like that. lol He had a few good names for me too... lol We both had nothing. Those were the good'ol days. Methy is a very close friend to me, and always will be. We just have a different way of showing affection. lol

 

[methods]

You know I have been thinking...

Maybe Luke is compensating for something with all that thick cable

-methods

 

[Hyena]

As much as I dont want to interupt what I think is about to become a string of methods vs liveforphysics posts... :lol:

I thought I'd mention PVC pipe as a good cheap enclosure for these lipo batteries to protect them from puncture or blunt force trauma.
After test fitting a few lipo packs in bunnings today (I must have looked like a terrorist making an IED right there in the isle :lol: ) I found the 100x50mm is exactly the dimensions of a 6S2P pack and the PVC has just enough give in it to squeeze the 10ga wires in there too. Alternatively if you're running banks of 5S there's a few mm to spare around the wiring so you'd want a thin piece of foam in there to stop them rattling around. Pity they don't make end caps for the rectangular stuff like they do the round, but oh well I'll make some out perspex/plexiglass.
Whack on a few coats of gunmetal hammertone and I reckon it'll come up nice.

 

[liveforphysics]

As much as I dont want to interupt what I think is about to become a string of methods vs liveforphysics posts... :lol:

I thought I'd mention PVC pipe as a good cheap enclosure for these lipo batteries to protect them from puncture or blunt force trauma.
After test fitting a few lipo packs in bunnings today (I must have looked like a terrorist making an IED right there in the isle :lol: ) I found the 100x50mm is exactly the dimensions of a 6S2P pack and the PVC has just enough give in it to squeeze the 10ga wires in there too. Alternatively if you're running banks of 5S there's a few mm to spare around the wiring so you'd want a thin piece of foam in there to stop them rattling around. Pity they don't make end caps for the rectangular stuff like they do the round, but oh well I'll make some out perspex/plexiglass.
Whack on a few coats of gunmetal hammertone and I reckon it'll come up nice.

Good find Hyena!

 

[nicobie]

Thats a nice idea! Next time I think I'll try it.

I have been hot gluing formica then wrapping with strapping tape. Your way would be better.

.

 

[johnrobholmes]

Wonder if I could find that nice metric size here. What is it for, downspouts?

 

[Hyena]

Yep it's rectangular down pipe - like this . They'd probably have something similar up your way, look probably in 2x4" which would actually give a touch more space. They also have 100x65mm which would easily accomodate the 6S packs + wiring but I figured if I can squeeze it all in the smaller tube it cuts down on size.

 

[AussieJester]

Wonder if I could find that nice metric size here. What is it for, downspouts?

If you cant find any over there John ill buy some here and post it over if you like?

KiM

EDIT: i have funny feeliong to Hyena i have seen end caps for rectangular pipe, i just can't remember where...

 

[Hyena]

If you can find any mate that'd be brilliant. Lay off the herbal pain meds for a few days and your memory might come back :lol:
I thought I'd seen them in the past too but after looking high and low I've had no luck. I even rang a few plumbing places and they said they've never seen the rectangular end caps, only the round ones. You can get rectangular to round adaptors and then screw on the end caps but then you've got this huge round end which doesn't look the best. They'd be handy for mounting though, you could fix the end cap to the bike then screw the pack into the end cap.

Postage wise they weigh next to nothing but the length makes them pretty sizable which would make shipping OS more expensive than the pipe is worth. FYI I paid $30 for a 3m length, so $5 worth for a 18S2P or 12S3P pack. You may be able to get smaller lengths elsewhere but I guess it's meant to run from the roof of a house to the ground so the lengths are going to be atleast 2400mm.

 

[GGoodrum]

Wow, that is a great find. I'll have to have a look, and see if anybody sells PVC rain gutter drain pipe over here.

-- Gary

 

[voicecoils]

Nice find, might have to have a look at Bunnings myself.

Any ideas how to get a bit of compression on the packs then loading them into some rectangular downpipe that will keep some clamping force on them?

 

[Hyena]

The internal diametre puts a fair bit of compression on them. 2 packs duct taped together just fit - you don't need to force them in but they're not going to slide straight out either. Clearing the 10ga wiring makes it a really tight fit, to the point where you can't force the packs in - you have to put them in at an angle (wiring end first) and then sort of lever the PVC using the pack itself to slide the rest of it in. If that still ain't tight enough for you you could heat the outside to shrink the PVC a little, or put another layer or 2 of duct tape on the packs before jamming them in. If I can find an offcut of larger diametre circular pipe I'm going to try heating that up and deforming it to allow the packs to fit in. I have a piece of 100mm round stuff at home but because it squashes out to an oval shape I can't quite fit 2 packs in side by side. A 120mm piece would probably do the job though, at the expense of being a little larger overall and not having compression on all 4 sides.

I looked at many options before going with this PVC. Another thing I looked at was 50x50mm aluminium fence posts which perfectly fitted the batteries but had no room for the wiring. The batteries would have only fitted "single file" but looked cool in the black powdercoated finish. They were reasonably priced too at $25 for a 2400 length. I checked with a local steel place but they only had thick 4mm+ wall rectangular steel channel which weighed too much. I'll keep my eye out for an aluminium place, I might be able to get some rectangular al tube in the right size.

 

[methods]

Super duper!
Nice find

I have been eyeballing those fancy boxes the ebike kits come with.
I am thinking that now I want to do an enclosure for my packs
Maybe something modular so I can distribute the weight around.

-methods

 

[Arlo1]

I tried home depot today and could not find them. But They do look great! I want something like this to get the weight evenly distributed!

 

[methods]

I am thinking about doing a big lipo order....
I can put up the cash if we can figure out how to get a discount.

-methods