Hey everybody...what batteries do you use to power your blimps? From searching around here, I see that Li Pol or AAA are two common choices. Chris mentioned something about having capacity for only about 300mAh with such a system. Is this generally agreed upon? What stops anyone from using 4 or more AAA in series. They seem to be pretty light, 7.6 g per energizer lithium, and provide decent mAh (1250 mAh ... yeah right). Other options, specifically rechargeable NiMH, like the rayovac ic3's, are quite alluring as well, although I assume these are heavier, potentially too heavy for the payload.So what am I missing?my setup is an arduino with two micro servos (one servo is constantly sweeping but this could be changed), a pyroelectric sensor (eltec 442-3), ultrasound, and two n20 motors. I would love to get at least ~1 hour of runtime off of a discharge of AAA's. I think Li Pol would better fit my desires however I would rather get the blimp up and running before I make that investment.I really appreciate it,Ari
I just purchased a thunder power 7.4V 480mAh and 350mAh 2S cells. They're both very light (20g) however the cell has one connector, a JST connector, instead of two, JST and smart balance. I also have an align rcc-4cx charger. does this mean that I cannot balance charge the thunder power cells? the charger has a jst connection but it is labeled "charge in series". I find this all very very confusing and I'm going to call the shop again tomorrow although they didnt seem too knowledgeable about these small batteries. Any ideas?
The 2S (7.4V) Lipoly pack I'm using on YARB weighs approx 40gm and is rated at 800mAh. Non-rechargeable lithium batteries have higher energy density, but I wouldn't recommend that approach.
It's really about the weight. Our 300mah LiPo weighs 20 grams. To get 5v you'd need at least 3 and ideally 4 AAAs, which weigh 45 grams. A 9V battery also weighs about 45 grams and has much less capacity. If you switch to lithium non-rechageables, you can bring that down to 30 grams, but it's still 50% heavier than our LiPo.
Our blimp has a total weight budget of about 120 grams, and we like to keep it below 100 grams so we don't need to inflate it to the max (since it leaks helium faster when the internal pressure is high). The board and associated motors and electronics weigh about 70 grams, so as you can see we don't have much room to play with.
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Our blimp has a total weight budget of about 120 grams, and we like to keep it below 100 grams so we don't need to inflate it to the max (since it leaks helium faster when the internal pressure is high). The board and associated motors and electronics weigh about 70 grams, so as you can see we don't have much room to play with.