Are Nano-Techs worth it?

[Crash Machine]

I am finally going Lipo. Not really in the pursuit of speed but range. I've been wanting to build a long range pack for quite a while now, say 75 to 90 Ah or more for my long distance road trips. I will have to get a bigger bike if I want to stay with LiFe. I am only going 12s, that way it will be as small as possible. So it's time to spend the money. Like I said I don't care about speed, I will probably never go above the stock 40 amps. What attracts me to Nano-techs is the ability to charge fast. Are the Nano-techs even worth it? Or should I just go with the regular 20C Lipo?

 

[dogman dan]

For your application, I wouldn't pay a lot more for nano. But my experience with 40 amp draws on 10 ah packs says that getting 30c instead of 20 may be worth it. But once you start drawing really low c rates with 20 ah or more, I don't see a lot of point in spending for more c rate.

As for charging rate, you are still limited by the free range plug you find, which may have an ice machine, coke machine, and lots of lights on the same circuit. So much more than 5 amps of 110 AC draw may be enough to pop that plug at the Mcdonalds or gas station.

So you are looking at not much more than 600w of charging, maybe less anyway. Spread that among a big pile of 12s and you are charging much slower than 20c can handle. Even if you could get a plug that pulls a 15 amp of AC charger, that's still only 1500 watts. If you have a 12s 20 ah pack, That's only 200w per pack. No big deal for 20c lipo.

 

[Ypedal]

Well...... over the past few years i've tried the 20, 25, 30C ( 5ah cells ) turnigy an zippy... this year i've been using the Nano ( 25~50c 4.5ah cells )

The 20c packs had many duds, may be just earlier times but it seems i had to repair and monitor/ballance the 20c packs more often than the 25C + cells.

say 75 to 90 Ah or more

Ok.. now... exactly what type of " vehicle " do you plan to use this on again ?...

that wire harness will be a son of a bitch to build.... using 5ah cells..

 

[andrew.box]

+1 on the difficulty of building the pack and wiring harness using 5AH sub-packs. Have you looked into the large capacity prismatic A123 cells?

 

[arkmundi]

The A123 AMP20 prismatic cells are what I used for a pack ... see saga thread. I'm quite happy with it. I believe I did considerable due dilligence prior to to chosing a path and recommend the same. While the expert opinion found here is helpful, it can not replace you own understanding, evaluation and selection process. In this regards, I made extensive use of http://en.wikipedia.org/ and http://batteryuniversity.com/, as well as technical data sheets on the cells I was evaluating. The RC lipo versus nanophosphate debate on this forum I'm sure will continue, but can often be as confusing as it is helpful.

But, what do you mean by "worth it?" The effort of making a pack? Certainly that's a factor. The prismatic cell format and Agniusm's kit greatly simplified the process of building a pack and that was a factor in my selection. Also the current low cost of these cells from Victpower's salvage. So, my out-of-pocket expense and investment of time were both significantly reduced. Best

 

[mvly]

No

 

[liveforphysics]

For your application, it seems you don't need the chief benefit the nano's offer, which is monster power capability from a tiny battery.

 

[arkmundi]

For your application, it seems you don't need the chief benefit the nano's offer, which is monster power capability from a tiny battery.

Well, its all aspects of a rechargeable battery: high-C discharge rates both continuous and burst, fast charge (with a good charger that is), increased cycles for battery longevity, safety & non-compustibility, low & high temperature tollerance range, recyclability and environmental, etc.

 

[nicobie]

I'd look into the 10s lipo for ease of building your pack. HK also sells 8 Ah packs.