Lipo vs lithium-ion?

[Flatty]

Can someone explain the difference to me? I am looking at these batteries and they are totally confusing to me. I want to buuy a new battery this week, and don't want to upgrade to a lipo setup (too much cash). I am running a Tazer ESC, or a stock AXIAL ESC.

Thanks
Dima

 

[Boos Boy]

From what I understand the ions are a much safer version of lipo's; much more expensive too and not many chargers work with them yet; so be careful.

When they come down in price I expect many more people to be using the ions; that is unless another new battery/power source comes out.

This may help too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_ion_battery

 

[Joat]

Ions have a faster charge rate, safer, most chargers that charge lipo will do li ion,but if you can adjust the voltage it's better, the triton is tried and true but a bit dated, then you hyperion, and the new icharger seems to be really good too.
Either should always be balanced more so with lipo.

 

[bigflex]

just get a good lipo charger and you will be ok. I have li-ion's and they work great. And as far as them being more expensive! Man all batteries sells 7.4v packs for 20 bucks all day long and 11.1v packs for 40. Those will even have a BCP in them to protect the cells. And for those of you that don't know what a BCP is, it is a little chip board that your cells are wired to that keeps the cells from being over charged as well as being discharged to far. The BCP stands for Battery Current Protection."thumbsup"

 

[Flatty]

Where can I get the li-ions?

thanks
Dima

 

[bigflex]

heres a link!http://www.all-battery.com/index.asp

you can get 7.4 and 11.1 packs with no plug. Then all you have to do is add deans to them and your good to go. "thumbsup"

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Generally Li-ion are low discharge rate. Hobby use needs high discharge rate, which is where li-poly fits in.

 

[fwilly]

Old Li Ions explode more violently than lipos. The new lithium (A123) packs coming out in power tools aren't quite the same as the old Li Ion. They are the ones that are safer than Lipo. They can handle extreme charge and discharge currents.

I know guys who charge 3 cell A123 packs connected directly to a 12v car battery with 10' of 18ga wire. Takes about 10 min.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=747911&highlight=zip

 

[Chris_The_Battery_Man]

Also dont let some of the lithium Ion's fool you. They are getting there ratings in un usable fashions... not real time. This is the same blind fold alot of places out there pull over your eyes to sell there stuff. We tested and carried the A123 cells for a while and were very un happy with the results. If I remember they were testing down to 1 volt which in a 2 or 3 cell pack the car will stop moving WAY before it goes that low. Thus translating real time into way less capacity and C rating than what they claim. So beware.... There are also alot of companies in the Lipo and Nimh world doing the same thing... So do some research before you buy. Holmes, and Castle Creations are 2 great places to refer you to a reputable brand of battery

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

Very good point about the a123. They rate them 60C burst. At 80 amps they hit about 1v cell when operating at room temp, which isn't even 40c. At the 30C rated discharge they hover dangerously close to the 2v cutoff.

 

[EGRESSor]

http://www.rc-raceboats.de/wbb2/attachment.php?attachmentid=18375