Nano Phosphate and Lithium Manganese batteries?

Lynxmotion
1

These seem to be some new batteries. searching around, it seems that they have been in use in some industrial / really high end cordless power tool applications, but not robotics (yet). They sound amazing, about twice the energy density of the NiMH’s on robotshop (and way more expensive). check out this page here. robotshop.ca/power-systems.html there is a couple links for Lithium Manganese and Nano Phosphate batteries. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with these and whether they are as good as they sound.

2

wow. i sort of thought that there would be some sort of reply…

3

Hi PrinterFace,

Zenta pointed me to some A123 single cells a couple of weeks ago. They could come in handy when there isn’t enough room to put a big battery pack. But no experience yet :wink:

Thanks for sharing your findings!

Xan

4

fell off the radar.

As I recall A123 are LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) chemistry. they have a lower energy/volume than traditional Li-ion cells and lower nom. cell V but are MUCH safer, have higher energy density than NiMH, and have much higher current capability than Li-ion. They have an interesting charge curve that can be used to more or less auto-balance large strings of them.

Li-Mn is a Li-ion chemistry based on Mn rather than Co. Less familliar with these but if I recall correctly they have the same safety issues as Li-ion but higher current output capabilities. Don’t know much about specifics of charging these as it hasn’t ever come across my desk yet.

5

I know most battlebot people are using Lithium Manganese. In fact my friend Brian Nave who has been the 220 lb RFL national champion uses them. That’s all I have. :stuck_out_tongue:

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hey sorry forgot about this forum, im back at it again though…

i guess i was wondering if any of these are good alternatives to lipo. i am making a rather power hungry bot and i hav to keep the weight down so energy density is important. i would also like it if it would be cheap.

7

if your goal is energy density, WHr/kg, then LiFePO4 isn’t the direction you want… probably Li-Mn or even Li-poly if you can protect them.
LiFePO4 is so that when someone crushes or punches a hole in your battery it doesn’t turn the rest of the bot into a pile of charcoal and slag.
:wink: