Saying hello-- OKR's, Lipos, etc

[thisislame]

Ok so I've been reading around here for a little while now, but I'm getting tired of this little notice telling me to come in here and post. So since I've got some questions floating around anyways, I might as well ask them here.

I'm mostly interested in building mechs and step-down mods. However, I've recently become curious about using Lipos.

From what I've read, I can assume that 3.7v lipos would be fine for mech mods as long as the discharge rate is high enough.... but I'd like to find some more info on that.

Applying what else I know, it seems as though a 7.4v lipo or a series of 3.7s would work with a step-down chip. However, that brings me to my next problem / question: How do I get these suckers to charge above 5v? I've seen people wire a switch to set them to parallel for charging and series for vaping, but I want to avoid that.

So my main quandaries at the moment are:

1. What kind of lipo do I look for, and where do I find it?
2. Are lipo's OK for mech mods?
3. Can I wire in a series of lipos (or a higher voltage lipo) to be charged appropriately with the standard 5v charger?
4. This one's simple-- where can I find a nice, tiny USB charging chip, and how do I wire it up?

Lots of questions-- and I'm sure the info is available if I look a little further, but hey, I've gotta hit my 5 posts anyways.

Thanks guys

 

[Robino1]

WELCOME TO ECF

Welcome!

I don't have the answers for you that you seek. Others will be along, I'm sure, to help you out. Just wanted to welcome you

 

[WattWick]

Hold your horses! Lipos are not in ANY conceivable way suited for mechanical mods.

Lipo is the battery equivalent of a stick of dynamite. Treat them wrong and they may take body parts off and leave shrapnel in what remains.

Don't go there! The only people who should possibly consider using lipos for vaping are those who have prior experience, knowledge and a healthy dose of respect. And then, and ONLY then, in protected (!!!) mods.

Dealing with multi-cell lipos requires further knowledge about safely balance (!!) charging. You will need a dedicated 'intelligent' charger for this. You should not mix individual cells in series.

Again, don't go there!

ETA: Just realized you just got the welcome from hell. Sorry about that! Welcome aboard.

 

[Warpigs]

Welcome to ECF!

 

[Frenchfry1942]

Welcome to ECF!! It is a VERY good place for info.

In the New Member Forum there is a sticky as to posting requirements, but you can read most anything.

Hope helps

 

[wshanncap]

Welcome aboard. I have some questions about batteries myself. But until I can get/give better answers to my questions I stick with batteries that say "IMR" and I use a LUC 4 charger...just to keep things simple. Sorry I can't really answer your questions. But I'm glad you decided to join and post.

 

[WattWick]

I have to apologize for the somewhat intense welcome. Was just picturing someone (in slow motion) inserting a lipo into a mech. Felt I had to do the bodyguard move and jump in front of the bullet. Hope you didn't take it the wrong way.

 

[tj99959]

This is a lipo cell, would you want that to happen anywhere near your face?



There is an actual reason that lipo bags even exist!
Amazon.com: lipo sack

Type "worlds most dangerous battery" into your search engine and see what comes up.

 

[Sniperfolk]

Hello Everyone

 

[rodeo302]

The mvp uses lipo batteries along with some of the vaporshark dna boxes so they are somewhat safe but i would never recommend someone to build one after i asked the same question a while back.

 

[1mouse3]

From what I've read, I can assume that 3.7v lipos would be fine for mech mods as long as the discharge rate is high enough.... but I'd like to find some more info on that.

Applying what else I know, it seems as though a 7.4v lipo or a series of 3.7s would work with a step-down chip. However, that brings me to my next problem / question: How do I get these suckers to charge above 5v? I've seen people wire a switch to set them to parallel for charging and series for vaping, but I want to avoid that.
Thanks guys

the people above want me to say, if doing a okr build it be best to use 3x 14500 aw high drain baterys (the new one) for 11.1v and keep them paired. a 4 aa battery box would be a handy for that or you could go up to dual 18650 box that are out there. If doing stacked lipo they must be charged with a lipo balance charger and there is no usb charger that can be used. dont know why other post got deleted for being Erronious and dangerous

 

[thisislame]

Hey no apologies needed! The reason I'm not sitting at my desk soldering up a time bomb right now is because I'm aware that there are lots of dangers involved with high-discharge batteries, and that Lithium polymer cells are arguably more dangerous than the "standard" lithium manganese cells. I was under the impression that they were more similar than different, but apparently I'm way off-base.

But.... don't people use lipos? I know I certainly didn't come up with the idea. I don't mean to be argumentative, but if there's knowledge to be had, I'm open to hear it. I'm building pretty typical mods with 18650's, and I'm in no hurry to change. I'm more curious than anything.

Keep the comments coming!

 

[readeuler]

I know one of the new 260W mods uses lipos, but they're really not that common.

It's my understanding that a lot of ICRs were used initially, and things have shifted to IMRs almost entirely. You'll find an odd lipo here and there, but I've only seen the one I mentioned.

 

[tj99959]

Hey no apologies needed! The reason I'm not sitting at my desk soldering up a time bomb right now is because I'm aware that there are lots of dangers involved with high-discharge batteries, and that Lithium polymer cells are arguably more dangerous than the "standard" lithium manganese cells. I was under the impression that they were more similar than different, but apparently I'm way off-base.

But.... don't people use lipos? I know I certainly didn't come up with the idea. I don't mean to be argumentative, but if there's knowledge to be had, I'm open to hear it. I'm building pretty typical mods with 18650's, and I'm in no hurry to change. I'm more curious than anything.

Keep the comments coming!

It's all in the protection circuits installed in the PV. Innokin (iTaste) seems to be doing a good job of it with their PVs, but I personally wouldn't want to use lipos with an OKR.

 

[nyiddle]

I know the Vicious Ant Variant uses lipos, as well as some other regulated mods. But for doing an unregulated mech style device, a lipo battery would DEFINITELY not be safe, advisable, etc.