Li-ion DIY?

[totalis]

Hi all,

after over a year and £500 pounds spent on robotics (which is a lot of money and effort when doing a physics degree aswell) i have come to the conclusion that conventional Ni-Mh batteries are not a perfect solution, with a 1hr usage time and a 24hr recharge time, they leave a lot to be desired. I happen to have worked at a computer centre over the summer. i have obtained ~30 Li-ion cells from spare battery packs.

My question: has anyone on here ever build their own battery pack from li-ion cells and made a suitable charger for them?

if so, do share.

i will share my results soon

T

[madsci1016]

I wrote this for a long distance friend a while ago.

http://www.billporter.info/?p=154

Didn't build my own charger, but bought a commercial charger for $20 something.

[billhowl]

This article discusses LiIon batteries and describes a universal Lithium Ion battery charger with a Smart Battery interface based on an Atmel ATMEGA8 microcontroller using GCC ver. 3.2
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/200210/lithiumion.htm

[codiak]

The batteries you yanked are 18650's Li-On's and most of the older models are unprotected wrt to over/under charge on their own.
You can find many discussions for safe wiring/charging at www.Candlepowerforums.com

[madsci1016]

The batteries you yanked are 18650's Li-On's

I'm aware.

and most of the older models are unprotected wrt to over/under charge on their own.

If you read my tutorial, you will see the PCB I attached to them protects the cells and balances charge across them.

[Asellith]

Hack-a-day got your tutorial Bill Hope you hostings good.

http://hackaday.com/2010/09/27/making-your-own-lithium-ion-batteries/

[madsci1016]

Hack-a-day got your tutorial Bill Hope you hostings good.

Yeah I saw! I use 1&1, the largest hosting firm in the world, and it survived the last two hack-a-day attacks, so it should be fine.