Tag: lithium battery

3 Speeds Electric Rotating Display Stand Mirror 360 Degree Turntable Jewelry Holder Battery for Photography Video Shooting Props (WHL #62)

We haven’t had a stock product presentation for a while, so why not start 2021 with something new from China… [bitter 2020 stares from the crowd]

Well, for the PCB Tree I figured a 360° view would be nice. I know it does have some ugly holes, but every naturally grown tree has these. Why not get something that not only offers a spinning platter for stop-motion tricks, but instead rotates something on display on its own?

Bought on AliExpress on 12th of December, 8.73€ including shipping, delivered on January 8th – that was a quick one! […]


Bosch Professional GAA 18V-24 USB charging adapter 1600A00J61 1600A00J5W (WHL #49)

Something out of the ordinary for today, a brand new item, bought for disassembly and kind-of off-label use. A Bosch Professional USB charger which happens to have a 12V port also…

Contrary to my very first thought when I found this charger, it does NOT allow 18V batteries to be charged from USB or a 12V source. Maybe I should test that, but I doubt it. However, it does convert the other way – stick in a 18V power tool battery (ranging from 1.5Ah to 12Ah as of today) and get a USB charger with a lot of oomph, or a “heated jacked” power source with a lot of potential for baggy pockets. […]


Hacker Eco-X TopFuel 5000mAh 6S 111Wh 20C LiPo battery pack (WHL #31)

Hey! What’s the thing that this blog needs the most?

Yep! Another battery post! :mrgreen:

So, last one of the big lithium batteries today. We have a Hacker (nice brand name!) “TopFuel LiPo 20C-ECO-X 5000mAh 6S” unit. I think this could be the first item to carry an EAN number (4250320228615) on the label – and it very well might be the first one where the manufacturer that directly sells these puppies (for 93€ a piece) does not appear on the first 100 Google results on exactly this number. That’s a pretty shitty rank for a manufacturer AND a web shop, I have to say…

I’m also not sure about the technical details on the shop page. […]


Kokam Lithium Polymer 5S 4000mAh 30C battery (WHL #30)

Yawn. Another battery pack. But also new hardware for the electronic load, so testing conditions have improved :)

Today’s item is a Kokam SLPB 400030-0501K(9543140H5) battery pack. Kokam is one of the big players in lithium polymer batteries, and given the battery was purchased at the same time as the last item, I guess this one wasn’t a cheapie as well. No Wan Hung Lo this time, but after all, it’s not an item that I bought… ;)

It is clearly aimed at RC stuff, having 4000mAh at 30C discharge rate, 18.5V nominal / 21.0V max voltage, 8000mA charging current. […]


O’CELL 26650 LiFePO4 8S 3.3Ah battery pack with BMS (WHL #28)

Same thing again – but different manufacturer. That’s what you get when you clean up your new lab… ;)

I know, might be boring to see another battery pack with almost identical specs (3.3Ah instead of 3.2Ah), but trust me, this is like night and day – or like quality China and Wan Hung Lo.

Of course these two batteries were purchased at the same time for the same thing, and they cost around the same as well. But (spoiler!): These two units work fine.

Top view:

Nice shrink wrap, proper label (shout out to O’CELL and their caring but not nagging sales people). […]


26650 LiFePO4 8S battery pack with BMS (WHL #27)

This weeks article is another by-product of the ADC testing (WHL #26) from last week. Could’ve packed in there, but I wanted to share some remarks on Chinese battery technology…

So first of all, this isn’t a piece of kit that I bought myself. After testing two 12V/2.2Ah lead batteries from work that were sitting unused on a shelf for five years, I needed another victim. Those quality Panasonic cells were flat as Kansas – the LC-R122R2PG datasheets recommends 8.6V cutoff voltage at 3C = 6.6A or 9.7V at 1C. Fully charged, they delivered 1C at 7V or 1.5C at 2.5V at full charge – slow 10.5V discharging to 0.1C cutoff and recharging didn’t help much. […]


A beefy electronic load (#P4F2)

Hello again!

I’ve been asked: What do you do with this electronic load thing? Well, I‘ve been using it as a battery torture device, what else could you do with a variable resistance device…

For a crude first step in actually testing my unit and also classifying a newly harvested set of deeply discharged 18650 cells, I slapped together some minimalistic Arduino program and hooked the thing up in parallel to the battery under test. The electronic load was set to 2 Amps with another battery, which was monitored by the Uni-T 203A current clamp. […]