5000 mAh Li-Ion battery pack for Saber

[Tim]

Anybody have any experiences with those 5000mAh packs that come out of China with an included charger?

Just looking for lighter weight, longer duration battery.

Thanks,

Tim

[Will]

You did not include a reference to the one you are talking about...
My Astro Saber could use a longer life battery.

[Tim]

Hi Will,

They are from China, and include their own wall-wart kind of charger.

They also have the 4 pins on the back, and I inquired as to whether they
were hooked up. Here's the reply:

"its dimention is 3.3x2.8x 1.2 inches.
the charging terminals on the back still active,but need to make sure your original charger is Li-ion battery charger.
A Ni-MH charger is can not charge li ion battery.
Kind regards,
sgzestore"

That 'may' mean that they can be charged with the NTN8831A tri-chemistry charger.... although not sure.

They are $50... including shipping. There are several on e-bay... here's one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Li-ion-Battery- ... 2a2158e4dd

5AH will go a long way!

Would be interested to know if anybody else has purchased one of these, and are they indeed 5000mAh.

Tim

[Will]

I looked at that EBay listing. The giveaway is the charger plugs directly into the battery. I think that says the charging circuit IS in the battery AND the wall wort.

[Tim]

I've ordered a couple of the packs. I'll give an update later next week when they arrive.

I'll also see if they charge properly on one of the Mot tri-chemistry (impres) chargers.

Tim

[Tim]

We got two of them, and they seem to be well built.

The biggest problem with them is that I can't remember when I put the battery on the radio - Both of them lasted about 36 hours - talking some, but mostly listening.

Have not tried plugging them into one of the tri-chemistry chargers.... probably won't, as the wall-wart charger does a good job.

Guess the only 'negative' would be the positioning of the charger hole - it's at the bottom of the pack, so if you set it down in some liquid, it would go into the hole.

Size wise, it is shorter than the largest pack for the Saber - this one is 3" tall.

FYI, YMMV

Tim

[WA6OXN]

Hey Tim,

Any followup on your experience with the li-on 5Kmah battery pack?

How has it held up?

-Steve / WA6OXN

[Tim]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for reminding me.

The packs seem to be working out pretty well. I haven't checked the actual mAh since using them for a couple of months, but they do appear to be holding up pretty well.

There is only one thing that could be quite annoying about the pack tho....if you charge the pack with the radio attached, they work great. If, however, you tend to swap batteries (keeping a spare in your pack/whatever), sometimes when you put the new pack on the radio and turn it on, nothing happens - no juice.

The pack isn't dead, the circuitry in the battery just doesn't want to let the power through. It only takes a momentary plugging in of the wall wart to 'turn on' the pack, but if you are on scene or in the boonies, this could be a real problem. I saw the same thing on some older/smaller Li-ion packs for the saber... the 'new' company probably reverse engineered the circuitry & it has the same problems.

But, if you don't ever switch packs, they work fine.

As always, your mileage may vary, but for the price, they seem to be doing pretty well.

Tim

[CircleBat]

have the same problem too.. the saber power ciruitry will shut down because the Li-ion Packs kicks out too much juice... I must admit the battery life is great on these packs, but the radio turning on is a big issue

CircleBat

[Tim]

Hi CircleBat,

Actually, I believe it is in the charging/protection circuitry in the battery. There's a small PCB with some pass FETs, etc on it (I had one blow up, so figured I see what's inside)!

I had a pack that was putting out 7.7v (well within the range of the saber), and it wouldn't work.

I plugged it into the charger for about 2 seconds, and it 'reset' the circuitry inside the battery, and I got the self test message.

Whichever it is, it's a pain! I tell the guys not to remove the battery pack under any circumstances.... (& only give them one pack)!

Thanks,

Tim

[CircleBat]

I find its the radio that shuts down.. did some fresh battery swapping and radio will not power up.. could be the battery circuit too? I think the saber radio internal circuitry is the same as the Intrinsically safe radio where if there is an excessive current, the radio will not power up.. who knows...

For the battery blowing up in the charger.. typical.. had that too.. Li-Ion really stinks when it explodes in a charger.. lol

CircleBat

[sjxts3000]

I have the same problem with other lithium-ion packs that were not the wall wart type. Ended up returning them all.

[SlimBob]

Sweet Jebus. 5AH on a Saber... imagine the possibilities....