Discussions

10000mah Battery capacity - seriously?

Posted by peter christian on May 12, 2013 at 8:53pm

Hey all,

I've been considering the battery capacity/flight time/weight problem. While working my way through far too many threads on the subject I came across a few batteries of note.

This one from a sketchy looking website that is not LiPo:

4S 14.8V 10000MAH 15C nano lithium battery 770g for RC airplane

http://www.rc4y.com/4s-148v-10000mah-15c-nano-lithium-battery-770g-for-rc-airplane-p-623.html

This one from a sketchy site that is lipo:

Lipo battery 11.1v 10000 mAh 25C

http://www.fpvmodel.com/lipo-battery-111v-10000-mah-25c_p142.html

and this one from the less sketchy maxamps:

LiPo 11,000 3-cell 11.1v Battery Pack

http://www.maxamps.com/proddetail.php?prod=Lipo-11000-111-Pack&cat=360

Why isn't everyone using these? It seems like you double your capacity for much less than double the weight. The C value is low but if one is interested in flight time you don't need 50C, right?

Is cost the only reason no one is using these or is there something else going on?

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Replies

Ray Suave March 5, 2014 at 9:43am

Just bought (2) Zippy 6s 8000mah from Hobby King for about $90 each to use on an endurance quad build. I was looking at 10,000mah batteries but the cost versus maybe 2 or 3 more minutes of flight time was just not worth it at all.

Just wanted to put this out there for people searching for 10000mah battery options like I was.
- Euan Ramsay > Ray Suave March 5, 2014 at 9:51am
  
  You can now get 16,000mah versions, for a fairly significant weight saving, and semi-sensible prices.
  - Thomas Rutter > Euan Ramsay March 5, 2014 at 6:22pm
    
    Euan,
    
    It's a whooping 3 lbs, it is a brick. It's 6.75x3.75x2.75", or 600x300x200mm.
    
    That's a real close measure, as I double-stick taped fiberglass to the outside, and then covered it it in foam, and then wrapped it in gaffers tape. This one is a half-price crash replacement from MaxAmps, the first one got pierced by a small sharp rock, and $400 bucks went bye-bye. They replaced it, custom made, connectorized with whatever you want, and they even through in a new connectorized lead set for my charger.
    
    Those guys are great, call them, tell what you need, they'll come up with it. They usually sell the 135000 in 2 cell, I just asked them to make me a 4, and they did. Very cool.
    
    T
arashi May 17, 2013 at 11:57am

I can vouch for the maxamps ones. I have several 4S 11ah ones and they live up to the specs.
Dan Banks May 17, 2013 at 10:04am

The weight on the first one seems rather low compared to the batteries I'm familiar with. I would not believe the stated capacity unless I measured it myself. The two 3S batteries seem more plausible in terms of the stated weight and capacity.

I would also point out that you can find fraudulently labeled batteries all over ebay (I have some "UltraFire 3000 mAh" 18650 cells that are actually only 800 mAh), so it would not surprise me one bit if batteries that sound too good to be true are exactly that.
peter christian May 17, 2013 at 9:15am

This is great info. I am working on my thesis and have to figure out where best to spend my grant money. It sounds like I should spend it on more batteries and some carbon props.
Euan Ramsay May 17, 2013 at 2:17am

I was fortunate to get a maxamps 11000mAh 6S by mistake when I ordered my 3S.

I did a test fit on my heavy quad, and it fitted beautifully. It weighed a whopping 1.3kg...however...

My 2 x 4000mAh which fitted in the same slot was 1.35kg.

So it makes sense from a performance point of view...3000mAh more for 50g less weight. Practical too - only one battery, so no parrallel cable adding clutter, weight and complexity. No brainer, really.

Oh wait..the price...$402 with an XT60 connector. Holy ****....:-o
Thor Larsen May 14, 2013 at 7:05am

I have a MaxAmps 10000 4s lipo, and it works pretty well for my quad (3DR with 880kv motors and larger props). However, the flight time doesn't really double, as it takes quite a bit more power to lift it. I switched to a 5000, and can now "hover" for 10 minutes, with a hero3 in it's case, for 10 minutes using only 2750 mAh. The larger battery would run everything quite a bit hotter due to the increased throttle required to just carry that load. Just my observation.
Euan Ramsay May 13, 2013 at 1:27am

I have 11A max amps waiting for install. It was *frickin'* expensive, but it will give me 25-30 mins of flight time on my trainer quad. Being able to repeat patterns again and again, and being able to tune PID while its still in the air without having to stop for battery swaps was a price I was willing to pay. I didn't decide easily though...
marc.kulhavy May 12, 2013 at 9:36pm

Well, did you look at the price? 250 bucks is quite a number.
I use 2x 4S 5000 mAh batteries from Turnigy, I get one for the tenth of the price and get 30 mins of flight time. With one pack, I have 20 minutes flight time.
Personally, I didn't find any use for longer flight times than half an hour. If I need more coverage, e.g. for orthophotos, I use a plane.
Don't get me wrong, I know of those light and durable maxamps packs, but the cost/win ratio is a bit to high for non profit.
Regards
Marc