DIY Battery Box

Actually, it's a 587ci.  Is there a big difference between the 587 and 597?

Thanks for the great thread and ideas guys!!!   

I thought I would post up for what I did on my setup.
I am going to use the screw and strap on my adventure lid and fabricate velcro to hold the case to the lid.

AWESOME!  That's actually exactly how I have mine set up - same case and everything.  You'll be very happy.  Frickin love the blue brick.

yep its pretty schweet, only problem I had was finding all the damn parts. The 17 year old holiday helper at fry's electronics must have been using legalized marijuana before December 6th

Also if anyone is wondering about car chargers, I found one that is a 1200ma charger that is cigarette lighter powered.
Ill post up the info once i get it tested and it doesn't catch on fire....

I have a few "blue brick" setups and a couple times recently I've been out and had a fully-charged battery last only about 4 hours on me.  Originally, it lasted over 10 (tested using hour meter on finder).  Is this battery defective or do they lose their ability to hold a charge?  I only bought it late last year.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but Li-ion batteries are sensitive to overcharging.  Better to undercharge than overcharge and an "intelligent charger" is highly recommended.  My 9.8 Ah has been preforming well since installed about 18 months ago.  Probably 60 charging cycles since then, maybe more.  I set a kitchen timer for an hour less than the time it was running, then one hour at a time until the charger light changes from red to green.  I suppose an indoor light timer would work also. 

I'm not sure what the problem is, but Li-ion batteries are sensitive to overcharging.  Better to undercharge than overcharge and an "intelligent charger" is highly recommended.  My 9.8 Ah has been preforming well since installed about 18 months ago.  Probably 60 charging cycles since then, maybe more.  I set a kitchen timer for an hour less than the time it was running, then one hour at a time until the charger light changes from red to green.  I suppose an indoor light timer would work also. 

Hmmm...I charge with the intelligent charger:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intelligent-Smart-Charger-DC12-6V-1-5A-for-11-1V-LiIon-LiPo-Battery-pack-US-plug-/320879811549?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:US:1123

So you think it might be overcharging it?  Is there a "meter" I can get ?

Craig is the real expert with these things.

I used to check the state of the charge based on the current draw. When it had dropped to just under 1/10 the the starting current I would stop charging. (starting was about 1.2A, and i stopped at 0.1A). It turned out, this was just about the same time the LED went from red to green, so I stopped monitoring the current. 

I think the battery must be on for it to accept a charge.  I always plug in the charger with the battery off.  In this state the charger shows green.  When the battery is turned on the charger LED goes to red.

I do this because I found that when you plug in the charger the LED on the battery lights up, so once the charger is attached it is hard to tell if the battery is on or off.

Rory,
I would hook up a digital multi meter first to confirm what voltage your charger is putting out when not connected to your battery.   Then use it to see what the battery is reading when you see the LED on your charger indicate the battery is fully charged.

You can pick up a cheap DMM  from harbor freight for 6 bucks.   Granted I would check it on some power sources with a known voltage "new 1.5 and 9 volt batteries" just to  or compare it to readings from a quality unit if you can to confirm it is fairly accurate. 

Lastly,  I would set the problem battery up to run a couple  complete discharge / recharge cycle to "condition" it sort of speak.   Drain the battery to the point where it's built in Battery Protection Circuit Board breaks the circuit.   Then Charge the battery up completely.  I would meter to see what voltage it charges up to each time and compare.  A small incandescent 12 volt lamp such as a automotive dome light bulb works well to drain down the battery.

will do, thanks man!

Lastly,  I would set the problem battery up to run a couple  complete discharge / recharge cycle to "condition" it sort of speak.   Drain the battery to the point where it's built in Battery Protection Circuit Board breaks the circuit.   Then Charge the battery up completely.  I would meter to see what voltage it charges up to each time and compare.  A small incandescent 12 volt lamp such as a automotive dome light bulb works well to drain down the battery.

In my opinion, while the above steps are good for most nickel metal or lead based batteries, I don't think it is recommend for lithium. These packs state that there is a protective cutoff, but I personally wouldn't trust it. I wouldn't take it below 3v per cell; or 9 volts for the pack. LiPo batteries do not like to be completely discharged and will lose capacity if done so, and may even die completely. If you don't have a voltage cutoff on your FF, this may even be the root cause. Cheap LiPo batteries will lose capacity over time as well; so what you described could result from normal use as well.

One physical way to tell if the pack has vented is to squeeze the sides with your fingers, does it feel slightly soft, or hard like a brick? If a little soft, it has vented a bit and won't usually have full capacity. It will still work just fine, you just have to remember that you don't have the same duration.

If you take it into a hobby shop, they could hook it up to one of their chargers and tell you how much juice it's able to hold. You can compare that to the stated Ah and know a little more.

Hope this helps.

Interesting. Yeah I have been running it completely out with the FF. that could be the root cause.

Love all the interesting tid bits you can learn on this site.

The reason I suggested the cycling while monitoring the charge and discharge cut off points is to confirm the BPCB is opening at a fairly constant point.  That and to see that the drain time is roughly the same also.   The real battery guru's also toy around with the process, calling it "Batter Calibration".

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/battery_calibration


  If I trust that the BPCB will open to prevent overcharging with the stock charging transformer, then for me, it is no giant leap of faith to count on them functioning to prevent over draining.   

Here are pictures of a battery box I have been using for about four years.  I use male and female banana plugs I bought at Radio Shack to provide a waterproof connection through the wall of the box.  I chose banana plugs because they are big and rugged, should resist the ravages of water and sand pretty well, and they can be cleaned in the field.  I haven’t had any corrosion problems, but I haven’t been paddling in salt water.  I’m going to pick up some dialectric grease for the plugs.

The male plugs are soldered on, and I have a pair of spare male plugs with screw-on connections stashed inside the box, so if I manage to break a wire or rip a plug off the end of a wire I can replace the plug in the field.  That could save a fishing trip.  I also keep spare fuses in the box.