Battery Life: Booster vs Regulator

[sgtdisturbed47]

Truthiness lol wow, that was a few years ago and still gives me a chuckle

I guess I'll try out those IMR 14500 batts and see if that makes a difference in battery life.

I'm curious though, if they don't have a protection circuit, are they really considered safer? I mean, if a batt short circuits, it can be dangerous with any battery. I'm thinking that I should look into some sort of protection for the batts if they don't have it built-in. I have a couple of ideas, I'll see which works the best.

 

[Java_Az]

From my research yesterday there are three types of li ion batteries. The safest being the lifeP04 but those have a nominal voltage of 3.2 volts. The IMR or liMH are the second safest. From the battery data sheet i read they are not supposed to vent under any conditions. But you can decrease there life span by taking then past the recommended max charge and discharge voltages or possiable pop them. They basicly just pop slightly when they go terminal. The li ion cobalts the ones mainly used that have the high MAH rating will vent very hot gas when they go terminal. If they are in a air tight case you just made a hand grenade, a good reason for vent holes. So thats why the IMR's are considered safe but you still might want to protect them if they are in a application that can drain them pasted the max drain voltage. It is more of a not killing your battery protection then a safety one like with the cobalts.

Having said all that i dont think your going to see a increase in battery life switching to IMR's in most cases they are rated 1/2 to 1/3 less mah as cobalt li ions. But i guess there is one way to find out try them and see what happens

 

[addisdaddy07]

Personally, I am about to try some nizn in series, proprietary atty and maybe boosted. I have heard vague references to them being used, but no hard facts. But two aa 2500mah each running 1.6v each boosted might be something. Found a deal on them at big lots charger and 4 batts for 8 bucks, about to go scoop some up if they still have them. Oh yeah, the advantage is non flammable, and completely recyclable.

 

[utak3r]

Just check (before you buy them) how much current (compring to their capacity) they can give you. That's one of the params in which all of these akkus are different.

 

[addisdaddy07]

The fun thing about these is they are supposed to have a current output better than the li-ons we use, here's hoping! I am picking up a few tomorrow then I will hook them to my breadboarded boosters and regulators. I have all the stuff rigged, just a matter of designing the circuit and putting it all on the board.

 

[utak3r]

Around what elements you're setting your rig?

 

[addisdaddy07]

first will probably be a simple box mod with a lr atty to test, then the sky is the limit. I will probably go with a brass tube, side by side with an isolated circuit, probably a mechanical switch to keep resistance down. don't know right now, have to test the setup. Boost will be with ptn04050c, I know it wants 3.3 minimum, but figured I would give it a whirl. TI builds very robust chips, and My boost would probably be to 4.5v max since I will use either a custom ohm atty or possibly a e2 r4, that has been my vape of choice for the past while.

 

[utak3r]

Nah, it says 2.95-5.5V for Vin and 12W of power! Sounds like a nice chip then.

 

[addisdaddy07]

I have liked playing with it. It is very robust(as I said) but a bit finicky about current, just hope these batts can keep up!

 

[utak3r]

The biggest problem with this kind of switched converters is their efficiency is high at the highest output voltage - but lowering it it drops... Now I'm reading the specs of my chosen chip and I can see it can drop to even around 80% for about 5V - while at 8V it has even above 90%! On the other hand, what is better for us - this efficiency is highest also for highest acceptable currencies

 

[sgtdisturbed47]

Boost will be with ptn04050c

That's the chip I've been using and referring to. I think you need more voltage to meet minimum specs though.

Anyways, with batteries and efficiency being the subject, does efficiency change with the battery mAh? As in, the higher the mAh, the more efficient the battery? I'd like to try some 10440 batts in one of my mod prototypes, but the low mAh has me wondering.

 

[Nuck]

The mah doesn't affect efficiency directly but the battery has to be able to put out the required current. If you stress smaller bats, the bats will have greatly reduced life so choosing the right battery is very important. No 10440 puts out anywhere near the current to drive atties (typically from 7w to about 12w) with a booster.

I found the best bats are quality 18650 but you can get away with 18500 or alternatively you could use smaller IMR. As a rule of thumb I used batteries capable of sustained discharge of 4 amps or better.

Good luck..the PTN04050 is a great board. It's damn near indestructible.

That's the chip I've been using and referring to. I think you need more voltage to meet minimum specs though.

Anyways, with batteries and efficiency being the subject, does efficiency change with the battery mAh? As in, the higher the mAh, the more efficient the battery? I'd like to try some 10440 batts in one of my mod prototypes, but the low mAh has me wondering.

 

[utak3r]

mAh tells you how much current it can give to you, as it's always a factor of its capacity. And how much is this factor? It depends on the producer, they're still making them more and more powerful. There're, for instance, cells which can give you as much as 25C - this would make 22,5A for 900mAh cell!

 

[addisdaddy07]

Well, first try was a dud.... First just an e-2 with a pair of the nizn's, fired, but weakly... what I expected. Then I hooked the 4050 up and that sucked hard. was putting out the 5v... almost no amperage though. As soon as I loaded a carto onto it, the amps dropped to unreadable levels on my little multimeter. The cells were straight out of the package, so I will charge them and try again with maybe a couple of different configurations. Probably gonna try some different ohm atty's on it. maybe rig a couple of test super low ones just to see what I get.

 

[sgtdisturbed47]

So the 10440's don't pack enough punch. What about some other smaller batts? I'm sure there must be a size that has enough power to satisfy but small enough to make smaller mods with.

 

[utak3r]

14500? It's of AA size and is quite a nice aku

 

[sgtdisturbed47]

14500? It's of AA size and is quite a nice aku

14500's are the batts in question (originally). The AA size is nice, but I would like to go a bit smaller. I guess the 10440 AAA size is not enough amps, but maybe there's a batt that's smaller in height than the 14500 but with enough power to run a booster.

 

[rannox]

anyone know or test if a high drain 16340 (cr123) from AW would handle a booster board? They arent far off from the 14500's in mah.

 

[Gummy Bear]

anyone know or test if a high drain 16340 (cr123) from AW would handle a booster board? They arent far off from the 14500's in mah.

I have been wanting to try that on a small side by side steam punk mod.

 

[sgtdisturbed47]

If a smaller-than-14500 batt has close to the same mAh, then I am totally willing to try them out.