Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

The cells are high output rc cells.

Thanks for the info, I'm going to make it all clean now and try some testing in the next few weeks.

Lets say that there is going to be a Vagabond III and it is going to be a Li based product. What kind of pack specs would you want to see on it?
Would yo uwant the balancing in the charger and inverter box or in the battery box?
I'm playing around with some different setups to see what would be usable in the next gen systems.
Would people like to see the same wight and have a 11V 30Ah pack or a lighter 20Ah pack?

I guess I would rather see a lighter 20-AH pack coupled with an inverter similar to the VBii.

Does anyone know the weight of the LA battery in the VII?


What voltage would be best for the inverter they are using now?

We have narrowed it down to a few options so can someone chime in and tell me if these will work?

I have 11.1V and 14.8V setups. I know the VML can run on a car battery and many times the actual voltage from them can drop below 12 so would the 11.1 go below the threshold for the inverter?

I know the 14.8 means I could run it in parallel with the OEM battery in place but the 11.1 is a better form factor with the cells.

You would want to keep it at 12VDC nominal voltage. While it will work at slightly lower voltage, it will probably quit arount 11VDC. If you have 11V to start with, it will drop to 10. something relatively quickly.

The SLA battery voltage can drop to 10V or so during recycle is OK, But if the battery is 11V when not recycling, it's dead.

We also use higher voltage packs but I'm assuming that 18.5V would fry it.

Looking at the cells I have and the shape I want them in has narrowed it down a bit.

It's looking like it will be a packs bridge pack with smaller packs inside it.
Each small pack is 1.5Ah 14.8V with an 8C discharge. I am going to run 10 in parallel for a total of 15Ah, 14.8parallel and 160A. I am taking a balancing charger and mounting it within the pack. I believe that the 15Ah LiPo should outlast the 20Ah LA in useable energy but that will have to be tested.


I actually wish the amps were not so high but it's what I have to work with.

Any problems I should know about?

The input voltage of the VML is set to cut off below 9V and above 16V. 18.5V would probably shut it down. Most stock 12V inverters shut off at 11V and 14V.

If the VML inverter accepts inputs from 9-16V, then I think I may (too) have a battery pack to try with the VML. It's a lifepo4 battery with 12.8V, 20A capacity, and rated at 40A continuous discharge, that I use with an led light I built. I just need to make a custom cable to go from the battery (enclosed in a modified Pelican case) to the inverter. I may test this with a friend's VML while I stil am VMLess :oops: