Question on lithium batteries.
 

I was wondering what kind of Lithium batteries would work on a bit. What are the benefits of LiOn, and any downsides. I saw some at radio shack, but i wasnt sure, so i opted for some LEDS to put on my bit. any help would be appreciated. thx:D

lith lasts longer in the car, and controller than alk...thats only advantage...

cheeper......

Lithiums are lighter too.

that's odd, i use energizer max in my controller to charge up!

btw is the proper size replacement batt for the car 1/3 AA or 1/2 AA? I noticed that the 1/3 AA is a bit small - does that mean the actual size is the 1/2?

they are 1/3 AAA not AA,

Try CR2s. I'm gonna try using a single CR2 with a clone RX for my bitplane.:bdrop: :blift: :bdrop: :blift: :D

since this is in batteries anyway
I have wreaked my charging part in my car so is there any other battery I can put in it I want it too be fast too so are there any small battery packs that I can charge sepratly or even disposables If they are cheap
Does any one know if lithium batteries that we use for our lights would work to power a bit or even a couple of them because I can get them fairly cheap

how do u charge a lithium batt? i heard it's different compared to nicad's and NiMh's cuz i have a clone that with some modin i could put a 1/2 aa 3.6V in it

The lithium I was talking about was the disposable ones by the way

Lithium cells are single use, disposable. Lithium-Ion or Lithium-Polymer-Ion are rechargeable and *extremely* finicky about how they're charged.

The two types of rechargeable lithium batts require a 'smart' charger that constantly monitors the charge level (voltage and current) plus the temperature of at least one cell in the pack using a thermistor held against it.

Just lobbing electrons at a lithium-(polymer)-ion cell is a great way to ruin it by overcharging, or worse, light it on fire. ;)

The polymer types have a greater energy density than the other, but the internal resistance is higher so they take longer to charge and can't deliver current levels as high as non-polymer lithium-ion. (This has been improving recently!)

If you mod a Bit with a lithium-ion cell (3.6V), you'll definately need a custom charger, a thermistor in the Bit, and four terminals on the chassis- two for charging and two for the thermistor. Would be sad to see your car burst into flames, eh?

Bizzy, I realize you are new to the forums. Please look at the date stamp on some of the threads, this one is 4 years old.

Also, as far as lithium poly not being able to supply as much current as li-ion, that is completely false. Li-po batteries can have very high discharge rates, far superior to regular li-ion.

Just had a look' round the web, and it's only VERY RECENTLY that Li-Po batteries have been able to match the discharge rates and charge times of Li-Ion types. (Did you not see that I said they had been improving recently?)

Either type isn't suitable for these mini RC cars because they don't have the low voltage cutoff circuitry to prevent drawing them down too far and ruining the cells. They'd also need smart chargers and the other stuff I mentioned to prevent overcharging and fire.

So what if it's an old thread? I went through all 49 pages of the mods last night and didn't see much on lithium batteries, and this thread hadn't any post to clear up the difference between lithium primary cells and the two types of rechrageable lithium cells.

Well, if you are talkin in years, then yes, it's been "recent".You should browse around the forums more. Just cause they aren't "suitable" doesn't mean they haven't been used in micro RC cars many times. And, these days, you can get the battery, cutoff circuit (which many times is part of the battery in micro RC applications) and the charger for less than 20 bucks from another toy source.The setup is actually much simpler than this. I'm not sure why you would hook up a thermister when a auto shut off circuit and trickle charger can be retrofitted as a system. Say, the charger, and battery from a PicooZ. You slap the battery in your Bit, and charge it with the picoo charger. No worries or fuss. But, I suppose you could re-invent the wheel if you want to, lol.

That's exactly what I did.
I bought one of those cheap imitation Pico helicopters for $12 and used the build in charger and liPo battery for my 1/64 Lowrider RC car. Works like a charm and as soon as it start to slow down quite a bit it indicates to me I need to charge the battery so there's prolly no need for a LiPo saver led thingie.

The only thing I have problems with it that my small low/ slowrider drives too fast...most of you must be thinking this guy is crazy because we want our cars to drive as fast as possible..but my car needs to drive at a moderate speed so it can hop and drive nice.
Can I just use a resistor on of the motor leads to speed it down a bit or is there another trick I can use?