I’m currently building my first ever beefy electric longboard. One of the things that I’m curious about is the batteries. I’m looking at Multistar HV 14.8v 16ah batteries v.s. your generic 18650 pack. I’ve heard that the Lipos don’t last as long, but they give more of a boost. The 18650s are used by almost all name brand boards, last a lot longer, but don’t provide as much of a punch. Is that true. So far, I’m finding that a 18650 is going to run me more money (unless I build my own which I’ve no idea how to).
Basically, which one is better. I’m not running with a BMS so I’ll need a larger capacity (my original design was 950wh, but another was 500wh).
Thanks for the input in advance.
I suggest you read through the sticky threads. The nature of this question suggests that your understanding of the physics and the role of the different components is perhaps still not quite at the level where you will be able to produce a satisfactory design. We can answer your specific questions, but there are going to be lots of questions that you dont know to ask, that we cannot help you with, and that you really ought to be able to answer before starting to buy parts.
For battery packs of this size, the poor power density of 18650s is not a binding constraint, and so you can really take advantage of their extra energy density.
depends on your budget, other components of the build (including motor KV, gearing, total pack voltage, wheel material/pneumatics or PU), weight and a couple of other factors. That said, the multistar 12C is about the worst choice for high amp draw requirements, as it is meant for field charging drone batteries. A low amp application.
I agree with @telnoi
Those Multistar Lipos are not good for esk8 applications.
The only Lipos I know of that are comparable in capacity and can deliver adequate current are the Tattus
They are big, heavy and expensive.
Frankly if your needing a lot of range then the 30q Li-ions are the way to go.
Although building a dependable and safe Li-ion pack is not a simple task.
And buying a good prebuilt Li-ion battery is not cheap.
Smaller capacity Lipos like 5ah with high C ratings like 60C-100C, are good for delivering high current and short to medium range in a 10s or 12s configuration and allow you to have a compact, light weight and relatively inexpensive battery solution.
i once had an RC esc and my turnigy 5Ah with 20c constant and 30c burst could deliver 150amps, i even installed an wattmeter to read it out. So if you ride with an vesc and limit it why would those Multistar be weak?
It may be rated for 100A constant and 150A burst but running things at their rating may drastically reduce their lifespan or safety margins. The further under that you can get, the better.
yeah sure thats a given, i always aim to go 50% of constant ratings. but who is even seeing these values, excluding eMTB and people who live in the mountains.
Then again, if you use those lipos with a vescs you will not go near these values, i think.
Those multistar have a constant rating of 192Amps, lets say they can put up with 70-80 constant, thats still enough breathing room.
Am i missing something?
FYI i also use 30Q because of safety reasons and longevity.
The thing is those ratings are bs. If you tied to pull 190amps through a multi star battery you would get nothing but fireworks. They have been tested to only be around 3-4c in reality
It just depends on your setup.
I have made a 10S1P with multistar 5Ah 10C cells and a vesc with 25A max battery current and I have never had problems with them, just make sure the cut of voltage isn’t to low. I put them on 33V just to be sure and never had a swollen or hot cell.
What will be your setup? How much current, which battery config 12S#P?
I got a 18650 pack and it works perfect, you just need to be carefull with those lipo cells and make sure they can handle the current.
But damn 145$ seems expensive for those multistar packs?
Oh and btw it’s going to cost you the same amount of money to get that 18650 pack from @torqueboards as it would to get 3 of those lipos. I know what I would be buying
Feel free to disagree with me but I think multistars are an okay battery if you don’t draw at more than 4c. I’ve been running two 4s 10,000 mAh in series on my board for over a year at this point and they’ve been good for me. Again I’m not drawing more than 40 amps out of the 10 amp hour multistars and I imagine they wouldn’t be ideal if you need more power than that
That would make the choice easy. But I get a price of $95 from global warehouse. $285. shipping to the US aint gonna be cheap though. What is the price in the US warehouse I can’t see it?
I would still suggest be patient and save some more money and get the 30q pack from DIY. It will last much longer and be more resilient to user error.
DIY battery also has, a battery meter, an anti spark switch, a BMS, an enclosure and a friggen charger. Makes it look like good value compared to the Multistar bare bones packs.
I’m not sure the US price, but the Australian was about $200 each so thats 600 for 3 of them. The torqueboards pack was about $630 Australian and comes with bms, switch, lcd and charger.
In conclusion you will save more money just buying from @torqueboards plus you will get good help and support
I looked at the 30q pack from DIY, but there are 2 problems that I found. First, it is limited by a 50A output current by the BMS defeating the point of making this way overpowered. Also, it is only ~400Wh which will not be nearly enough. I’ll need something closer to 900 as I am putting 2 4100W motors on it. I know those motors are way to overpowered, but their about the same price and allows me to customize it to be offload later (plus who doesn’t want ridiculous power, even if you won’t use it). This is still all probably gonna change - I’m still not close to the building process yet.
