Lithium Ion Batteries - Where do I get them?

Planiac01

Active member
At FliteFest this year my friend had a Strix nano goblin that ran off two 18650 Li-ion batteries. I’d heard about the long flight times and high capacity of those batteries for a while now, but I can never find where to get them for cheap. Does anyone know where I can do that?
 

FDS

Elite member
Ideally you should buy good quality 18650 brand name cells like Sanyo and Panasonic. Example Sanyo cell here. Example Panasonic cell.
The problem with cheap 18650 is that they are frequently re wraps of salvaged laptop batteries, which are not ideal for higher drain applications like planes.
The nano goblin pack is available separately, you could run an FT goblin on it if you built light and kept the motor and prop sizes close to the OG goblin ones.
You will also have to solder your own packs if you make them for other planes, ideally you use a Capacitance Discharge spot welder for that, they cost $$$ but don’t involve heat build up. Soldering lipo of any type is potentially dangerous, you don’t want to get them hot or damage the casing. You can use a soldering iron but you do so at your own risk.
Lithium ion cells are not suitable for every application, the Goblin is pretty efficient, generally a light wing loading pusher design with a small motor will work with them quite well. They are not capable of the massive discharge rates of pouch lipo cells.
 

FDS

Elite member
Those are sometimes unprotected LiCo batteries, like Trustfires, which are a max of about 4A.
If you buy at a vape store be sure to get 10A power cells and watch out for weirdly branded or suspiciously cheap deals. A reputable store should carry good cells.
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
Anything with "fire" in the name, stay away from ;) Decent vape shops carry good 18650's, good being Panasonic or Sanyo, Most of the "cheap" brands are just repackaged QC failures from Sanyo or Panasonic, and every single one of them lies about their capacity and discharge rate. Cheapos are fine for flashlights and goggles and such, but for any real load you want the good stuff.
 
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stereodreieck86

Active member
https://batteryhookup.com/ is the best vendor for used batteries, they are actually new sometimes, and they have more and better deals if you drop them an E-Mail.
Check out Jehu Garcia's Facebook Battery group and HBPowerwall on Youtube.

The only choice for (Europeans) is NKON in the Netherlands.
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
Always use Li-on cells WITHOUT battery protection when making battery packs for RC aircraft, and let the ESC manage them. If you use a cell with a protection circuit you run the risk of one cell going slightly lower voltage than the others and having the protection circuit cutting all power output. Rather risk a cell than have an aircraft with no power and no controls at all.