LIDL transmitter batteries (almost)

[Phil_G]

I've always wondered about the safety aspect of plastic-cased transmitters living indoors with their internal LiPo batteries. I'm a huge fan of the much-safer metal-cased, cylindrical 18650 size cells, and LIDL have a "Parkside" 2Ah, 21v Li-ion drill battery on offer for £12 at the moment. Its a 5S pack of good quality cells, ideal for making 2S tranny power packs. Its not difficult to dismantle the pack, harvest the cells then reassemble them into a couple of 2S batteries - and a spare
They're 4.2v charge so can be treated just like the usual 2S LiPo, and I've wired mine with a centre-tap, not to be truly authentic to the bad old days but to allow balance charging. You'll need a stardrive as apparently there are "no user serviceable parts inside". Wrong!

Alternatively, Componentshop have ready-made 2S 18650 packs for £8.95:
https://www.componentshop.co.uk/7-4v-15 ... -pack.html

[Wayne_H]

Good one Phil

For the true(?) Yorkshire men who don't want to part with their hard earned reddies, I've "re-purposed" many 18650's from cordless vacuums & laptop batteries that have suddenly failed, normally due to one dud cell. I always cycle every cell (after dis-assembly) at about 1A which gives plenty of margin over our uses in a Tx.

I then routinely monitor their capacity, as I do with all my packs (LiPo & Nimh). Doing this, I've not (yet) had a failure in service!

[Shaun]

This is what happens when you can't be bothered looking for stuff you think you may have. I needed some 18650 cells for my new NRF tx.. Couldn't remember if I had any left so went to Lidl and bought the drill pack Phil recommended. Stripped them down then went looking for some heat shrink and guess what I found... Some 18650's I bought at the start of lockdown... Still at least I still have some spares in stock..

Shaun.

[AndyS]

Has anyone used the cheapo 18650 2s balance charger boards found on eBay/Amazon:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234394964482 ... SwSv1Xlkd8

It would seem to me that the use of these would enable a 2s 18650 pack + charge board to be installed within a transmitter for example and the charge connector (a simple voltage supply) to be used. The advantage being the pack not being needed to be removed from the transmitter for charging.

Having obtained some 18650 cells I feel they can provide a better source of power for our converted transmitter than NiMh.

I would be interested if anyone has done this with any success.

[bluejets]

I don't normally bother with the BMS although it would be an added advantage for discharge level.
Instead, I just use a usb charge module, not often the cells I use get run down anywhere near the cut off level.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/403552595939