On 1/18/2013 7:00 AM, wrote:
On Friday, January 18, 2013 4:27:09 AM UTC-6, cfinn wrote:

"As a user of SAFT VL41M cells, Lange Aviation is in good company.

SAFT VL41M are also used in most new European satellites, the
RQ-4B

Global Hawk UAV, the F35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Airbus A380 and
in

many other high-tech applications.

Next to being a great vote of confidence to SAFT VL41M cells, the

military implementations mean that the cells which are now being
built

into the Antares 20E will be available at least until 2031."

Charlie

A further advantage of LiFePo batteries is the higher current they
can take when charging. I charge my 8.4 Ah 4-cell battery with 4A on
a balancing charger. The fuse on the battery is 5A so I could easily
go a little higher. According to the spec sheet the charge current
could be as high as 16A (2C)

The Antares cells are Li-ion, in case anyone was wondering.

I like the idea of LiFePO4 batteries, but I'm not comfortable with the
commercial offerings, like those from Tenergy or K2. The data sheets
I've been able to obtain are incomplete compared to what I can get for
any of the comparable SLA batteries by manufacturers like PowerSonic,
Yuasa, Panasonic, and so on. The idea of paying 7 to 10 times as much
for a complex, poorly characterized battery is not enticing.

If I could buy a direct replacement 12 volt LiFePO4 battery from one the
major battery companies, with a full datasheet, then I'd think about it,
and would be much more comfortable suggesting them for other pilots.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)