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Rechargeable Batteries

Posted by Southern Ray on January 8, 2021 at 2:02am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

 Hey everybody!

 Trying to save some money and I am in need of some advise, leads, tips or what-have-you on AA, 9V, D and other rechargeable batteries and where to buy them. Applications vary from guitar amps and pedals that I will be building. Perhaps 3 18650s for 11.1 volts? 12v dry or gell cells... to flashlights and other small electronics. I need to do it as safely as possible, keeping in mind that some of these things like to mimic fireworks. Any help or thoughts would be most appreciated.

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Replies

  • Southern Ray January 16, 2021 at 12:36pm

     Thank you for that Timothy! Good solid info. I appreciate it.

  • Timothy Hunter January 13, 2021 at 9:20am

    18650 cells are 4.2V at max charge and nominal charge is 3.7V.  dont let them get below 3.2 and in most cases 3.5 is the safe cutoff. 

    so 3 cells series will have a max of 12.6V and recharge when the pack drops to 10.5V. This made me think i need to make a pack to drive my micro cube... mmm  got a few lying around if i use 6 in a 3S2P i should get a lot of life out of it between charges.

  • BrianQ. January 12, 2021 at 12:02am

    John, no browser is friends with this site anymore?

  • John Sawyer January 11, 2021 at 8:38pm

    I don't know why this site and Chrome aren't friends... anyway:

    18650 cells are awesome and quite safe, when used properly. A fully charged cell is 4.2v, and a discharged one is about 2.5. Go beyond these, and you permanently damage the cells pretty quickly. BMS boards are cheap and work well to manage the batteries.

    I've run the ever popular 9v Footnote amp on 3 cells for many hours, they're awesome on 12v!

    The other downside is don't solder to these cells.. the electrolyte is full of VOC's that shouldn't be heated up...

    • Southern Ray > John Sawyer January 13, 2021 at 2:01am

       Thanks for that very useful info there, John. I'll check that Footnote stuff out a little better. later. A quick glancing search showed a couple of mentions that they were getting hard to find.  Encouraging news on the 18650s and all the newly acquired info from all of you. Thank all of you. 

  • Southern Ray January 10, 2021 at 6:39pm

    I hadn't thought of that one. Thanks again! Lot of options.

  • Keith Rearick January 10, 2021 at 10:46am

    Another thought is the batteries for garden tractors, and are 12 volts. Would work well if for powering an 12 volt amp outside.

  • John Sawyer January 10, 2021 at 1:48am

  • Fergus Lester January 9, 2021 at 6:00pm
    I have ended up using a motorcycle battery for 1 to 20W amps. It's small enough to fit inside a small practice amp, is rechargeable and can delivery as much current as needed. For a less mobile solution in my shed I have 2 old car batteries wired to give me 12V or 24V at the bench.
    • Southern Ray > Fergus Lester January 10, 2021 at 12:44am

       Thank you Fergus, I had wondered about those little dry-cell or gel-cells. Thanks for that info. The mobile solution is the kind I like the sound of. Old school.

       Thank you!

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