Any lithium battery gurus out there?

[Stigtheone]

Hello all, hope everyone's doing fine. Haven't been very active as I've been busy working loads lately so RC stuff has taken a back burner for now.
And also apologies if this is in the wrong place, couldn't decide where it should go so Mods feel free to move it if you need to!!!
So, I have been using the disposable Elf Bar vapes, and have collected quite a number of the old ones. I've disassembled one and it has a 13400 lithium battery. (3.7v, 550mAh, 2.04 Wh) and wondered what they can be used in. Anything like Xbox controllers? Or running a few together for the RC car side of stuff (car or transmitter)? Even TV remotes?
Or are they scrap and not worth keeping?

 

[WickedFog]

Welcome back man. I was actually wondering where you been!

Scrap em I say. Not worth the trouble of messing with since those batts are pretty cheap.

 

[Stigtheone]

Welcome back man. I was actually wondering where you been!

Scrap em I say. Not worth the trouble of messing with since those batts are pretty cheap.

Cheers buddy good to see you again too! I won't leave this place just as I'm self employed I've been working as much as possible trying to build up some money, buying a Recovery truck and saving for xmas/birthdays haha
but I was just thinking of using them as I've literally got about 30 of them haha seen a few things where people reused them so just thought I'd ask in here. May make a powerbank or something yet I'm a bit of a hoarder and can't throw away something if I think I'll use it at some point lol

 

[WickedFog]

Cheers buddy good to see you again too! I won't leave this place just as I'm self employed I've been working as much as possible trying to build up some money, buying a Recovery truck and saving for xmas/birthdays haha
but I was just thinking of using them as I've literally got about 30 of them haha seen a few things where people reused them so just thought I'd ask in here. May make a powerbank or something yet I'm a bit of a hoarder and can't throw away something if I think I'll use it at some point lol

Oh, well with that many you could build you a large power bank. Might be nice to have.

 

[Stigtheone]

Oh, well with that many you could build you a large power bank. Might be nice to have.

Seems a shame to waste them so I'll find something to make with then bud haha I'm really surprised there isn't some kind of industry based on reclaiming the lithium there must be millions of them getting thrown away

 

[Greywolf74]

You can technically use them in anything they will fit in but typically speaking Id say that theyre only good for custom made projects.

WB BTW

 

[Tunedfrog]

Welcome back @Stigtheone , good to see you.

 

[Stigtheone]

You can technically use them in anything they will fit in but typically speaking Id say that theyre only good for custom made projects.

WB BTW

Thanks Greywolf mate ill not leave this place you're all stuck with me now haha
Was wondering if an xbox controller would take them, I'm not electronically minded so will be a learning experience for me if u use them lol

Welcome back @Stigtheone , good to see you.

Thanks tunedpipe good to be back and see you all!!!

 

[Greywolf74]

Thanks Greywolf mate ill not leave this place you're all stuck with me now haha
Was wondering if an xbox controller would take them, I'm not electronically minded so will be a learning experience for me if u use them lol

Thats hard to say. I'm not familair with the xbox controllers. It looks like they use a special battery pack. Youd probably have to take the battery pack apart and see what kind of cells are inside of it and see whether or not those cells would fit inside the proprietary case.

 

[Stigtheone]

Thats hard to say. I'm not familair with the xbox controllers. It looks like they use a special battery pack. Youd probably have to take the battery pack apart and see what kind of cells are inside of it and see whether or not those cells would fit inside the proprietary case.

All I know is they take two aa batteries and that's 3v, but these cells are 3.7v so not sure if that would be a bit too much for the controller...

 

[Greywolf74]

All I know is they take two aa batteries and that's 3v, but these cells are 3.7v so not sure if that would be a bit too much for the controller...

Theyre going to charge up to 4.2v but 1.2v isnt likely to hurt anything. Most electronics have a tolerance of a few volts above what they are actually rated for. That being said I can't make any guarantees as I've never done it myself but if it were me, I wouldnt be afraid to give it a shot. Then again I'm not worried about buying another controller in the event something did happen either so risk vs reward is not a call I can make for you.

One other thing to take in to consideration is that 2 double AAs are going to have a capacity of somewhere between about 1900mAh and 2500mAh depending on the brand so in order to get 2200mAh youd have to put 4x 13400 batteries in there to get the same capacity as 2x AAs. Additionally youd have to have some sort of charging board mounted inside the controller in order to charge them without removing them from the controller and I doubt theres enough room for that in there so you're looking at removing them and either charging them on your lipo charger either one at a time or making some sort of 4S charging cable for them. Just food for thought.

 

[Stigtheone]

Theyre going to charge up to 4.2v but 1.2v isnt likely to hurt anything. Most electronics have a tolerance of a few volts above what they are actually rated for. That being said I can't make any guarantees as I've never done it myself but if it were me, I wouldnt be afraid to give it a shot. Then again I'm not worried about buying another controller in the event something did happen either so risk vs reward is not a call I can make for you.

One other thing to take in to consideration is that 2 double AAs are going to have a capacity of somewhere between about 1900mAh and 2500mAh depending on the brand so in order to get 2200mAh youd have to put 4x 13400 batteries in there to get the same capacity as 2x AAs. Additionally youd have to have some sort of charging board mounted inside the controller in order to charge them without removing them from the controller and I doubt theres enough room for that in there so you're looking at removing them and either charging them on your lipo charger either one at a time or making some sort of 4S charging cable for them. Just food for thought.

Well I do have a controller I could sacrifice to find out. And the xbox controllers don't charge through the cable connection anyway so unless those battery packs have a charge port on then you'd have to remove them.
Could my sky rc charger I use for the rc car charge them OK, if so, do you know how I'd work out the correct charge rate? And I'm assuming I'd wire the 13400s in parallel to keep the voltage at 3.7 but increase the mAh rating? Sorry to keep pecking I'm a total noob when it comes to this kind of electronics haha

 

[Greywolf74]

Could my sky rc charger I use for the rc car charge them?

Yes

OK, if so, do you know how I'd work out the correct charge rate?

All lithium batteries can be charged at a 1C rate. So for a 550mAh battery youd want to charge at about .5 or .6 amps.

And I'm assuming I'd wire the 13400s in parallel to keep the voltage at 3.7 but increase the mAh rating?

Correct but dont charge them that way. You'll either need to charge them 1 at a time or in series with a 4S balance plug connected to the charger.

Sorry to keep pecking I'm a total noob when it comes to this kind of electronics haha

No worries. Happy to help when I can

 

[Stigtheone]

Yes


All lithium batteries can be charged at a 1C rate. So for a 550mAh battery youd want to charge at about .5 or .6 amps.


Correct but dont charge them that way. You'll either need to charge them 1 at a time or in series with a 4S balance plug connected to the charger.


No worries. Happy to help when I can

OK bud probs do them one at a time, getting into balance plugs and everything will be too far for me I'm guessing haha I'll get some connectors and just link them using those, and make a lead to plug into my charger +/- terminal. Already doing the lead acid batteries for my kids quad that way haha
Always appreciate the help from you lads in the RCTalk forums, wish I was more help to you lot haha

 

[Greywolf74]

The problem with trying to build a connector with a balance plug is finding a housing that holds that exact size battery. If you could find a battery tray that holds 10400 batteries then wiring it up to charge 4 in series is pretty easy.

 

[Stigtheone]

The problem with trying to build a connector with a balance plug is finding a housing that holds that exact size battery. If you could find a battery tray that holds 10400 batteries then wiring it up to charge 4 in series is pretty easy.

Whats involved in the balance lead then, as to me it seems it would be complicated... the housing can be sorted tbf, I'm not bad at fabrication. It's the balance part I don't understand lol

 

[Greywolf74]

Does this make it easier to understand?

 

[Stigtheone]

Does this make it easier to understand?

View attachment 154724

That explains it bud yes thanks! So if its a 4 cell would I just add the extra battery beside the 3rd and wire up like those, with the 4th cell positive?

 

[WickedFog]

That explains it bud yes thanks! So if its a 4 cell would I just add the extra battery beside the 3rd and wire up like those, with the 4th cell positive?

Yes, you just continue the pattern.

 

[Stigtheone]

Yes, you just continue the pattern.

Excellent thanks mate. I reckon I could manage that haha