Battery Pack

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi all,
I am using a battery pack of 6 1.5 volt batteries (series connection) to power an arduino-based RC car. I am looking for advice my options for a smaller battery - one that is more portable. I have seen instances where a phone battery is used on the internet, but I am not aware of the details.

Thanks

2

Is Google broken today? There must be a thousand different batteries available for purchase online which meet your specification.

You did not give us a real specification. What voltage range, peak current and capacity are you looking for?

3

Power banks work if Your design uses a certain amount of current, maybe have a shield on it. That works for my UNO s.

4

Do you think some details of the 'RC car' would help us to give you better advice ?

5

Is Your crystall ball gone for service?

6

Sorry all, I should have clarified. I have the car working as expected with the 6 batteries connected in series. I am trying to find an equivalent battery in a smaller form factor.

7

the 6 batteries

What size of battery? Did you forget to drink some coffee this morning?

8

Any picture, dimension of the battory compartment?

9

So to answer the question above: I have 6, 1.5 V batteries connected together. So its about 8 Inches long - and held together by tape. This is too long and does not go well with an RC car. I have tried the regular 9V battery - but that does not work. Any help will be appreciated.

10

Look into LiPo batteries. There is a variety of sizes and capacities available and they are widely used for R/C cars, planes, and boats. LiPo's have approximately 3.5V to 4.2V per cell so you will need less cells for the same voltage. The energy density of LiPo is much higher than Alkaline or Ni-CAD batteries, so you can expect a smaller battery size/weight.

Please note LiPos require a special charger that monitors the voltage of each cell and they can burst/catch fire if mistreated.

Another option is A123 (Li-Fe?) cells. These are more tolerance and easier to work with than LiPos.

If you have a local hobby shop (R/C car, planes, etc...) go ask them for some advice, or there are many online retailers that sell LiPo packs and chargers.