V-LFP batteries

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1

Can I use V-LFP batteries for hexacopter?

2

What are V-LFP batteries? Do you mean lithium iron phosphate batteries (LiFePO4 batteries)? I don’t think I’ve seen LiFePO4 batteries referred to as V-LFP batteries before.

LiFePO4 batteries have some pretty cool properties and it would be nice if they could be used in UAVs. After investigating this a bit, I think I’ve come across a few problems when using LiFePO4 batteries in UAVs.

  1. (Probably the biggest.) LiFePO4 batteries have a lower energy density than Li-Ion or LiPo batteries. You’ll have reduced flight times when using LiFePO4 batteries compared to LiPo batteries.
  2. LiFePO4 batteries generally can’t produce the same about of current as LiPo batteries. LiFePO4 batteries have a lower “C” rating than their LiPo conterparts.
  3. Another issue with LiFePO4 batteries is keeping track of how much charge you have left. LiFePO4 batteries don’t have the same discharge curve as LiPo batteries. You need to monitor the current when using LiFePO4 cells to compute how much power has been used. You can’t simply measure the voltage of LiFePO4 batteries to get an idea of how much power you have remaining.

It might be possible to use LiFePO4 batteries in an airplane which doesn’t draw a lot of current but I think the C ratings on LiFePO4 batteries would make them inappropriate for quadcopters or hexacopters.

If you’re not asking about LiFePO4 batteries, then what sort of batteries are V-LFP batteries?

3

There has been a mistake. I was talking about LiFePO4 batteries. Thank you for the information.

4

They’re interesting batteries. I’d really like to use them to power UAVs myself but as I mentioned before, I think the batteries would only work well in a low current application such as a long range airplane.
LiFePO4 batteries would probably be a good solution for a lot of land based robots. I purchased a bunch of 32700 cells which I hope to use in a rover. I might try using them to power an airplane.

Batteries
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5

I’m waiting for your results if you try :slight_smile:

6

I’ll try to remember to post an update here when/if I get around to doing this.

I’m by no means an expert on the subject of these batteries but based on a few videos I’ve watched, I believe these require specialized charging circuits.

I purchased two of the “4-6S NCM LFP LTO” boards from this seller:

Apparently these balancers don’t don’t waste as much power as other balancing boards.