Custom Arizer Solo High Performance Battery Packs (Original thread)

That's amazing!

Especially since the Solo only has been out for a good year now..


Great initiative Centizen

when its done I would for sure purchase one.

Yeah I was reading on a translated Panasonic's research site they have some real 4000mAh 18650's coming out from the same NCR18650A range. When they are due out idk but here is the link.

http://tinyurl.com/cfnpgs2


By my calculations the 3100mAh should give you 2 and a bit extra cycles and the 4000mAh should give about 5 extra totaling up to 152 mins / 2.5 hours vs the standard 84 mins / 1.2 hours on the 2200mAh. Even until the 4000mAh batteries are out we can still get 3400mAh which should give 129 mins / 2 hours / 3 cycles more. Also id like to add that some of the new large capacity cells even have a higher charge voltage of 4.35v meaning that if used they will never top right off being only charged to 4.2v and as such will last well over 1000 recharges.

still watching this one, my solo is doing fine right now, it's not my daily driver any more, and I have been mostly using the AC adapter when at home using it. I do like the idea of being able to resurect my solo once the batteries do fail. Same goes with my Pax, using 1 18650 but it's soldered in at the tabs, so that's a bit trickier to replace.

This would be great. I love my solo and having an extra battery to bring along with me would be fantastic. Do you have any idea of pricing and when you might start selling these?

Both of those are really tough questions to answer at this point in time. I have only just gotten some of the supplies I have ordered and I am still in the early prototyping stage. I will be providing updates as soon as I get more information. I really wish things were moving faster but to keep costs on the down low I went for less expensive shipping options.

I wish that there was a way to append new data to old posts; but there isn't so a new post there is

I have gotten all of my initial supplies in and things are going very well in terms of testing. I've built a spot welding rig out of a super-capacitor to make better connections since solder can corrode and weaken over time. It was based off of this design, but changed a bit since I don't need to weld copper, just aluminum. I also have built a discharge testbed based off of this design to test the batteries and packs.

I think that as well as making these high powered packs, I will also let people order packs that use a cell which is more along the lines of the ones which came with the solo. There seems to be quite a few interested in a simple replacement pack and that is not difficult to take care of at all.

I'm hoping to have these ready to go as soon as possible. Thanks for all your patience guys.

Thank you for taking the time to do this right. I think offering a standard replacement pack as well as the high performance pack is a great idea. I'm not sure if I will ever need one, but I'm sure glad there's an option and I'll be watching.

As much as I dislike the solo itself, this is really cool that you are doing this and I respect the hard work it takes. Nice job!

Thanks for the link and I'd agree with you on the numbers. There's just one thing that is making me wary of using Panasonics new series of cells like the NCR18650B 3.4 Ah cell is that they require a special protection circuit to be used to that capacity. This causes an issue because using independently protected batteries in a pack is not a good idea, and my design uses a two cell protection circuit which I would have to put on top of the individual cells to get the symmetrical protection we need. This would not only render the extra performance null, because the top protection circuit would trip before the battery was fully charged; but probably also be too big to fit into the solo's very tightly designed battery holder.

Some of the cells from the new lines are already out, not the 4 Ah ones but the 3.4 Ah one is and is doing well in the flashlight community.

I just now saw this thread. I'm not trying to cut into your business and will only make and sell the ten packs I have purchased supplies for. Once you start ordering everything it really adds up. To add thermal and a charge/balance circuit adds to the cost. I am adding this to the packs I am making. Parts already ordered.

Elomuzz, don't worry about it. The greatest thing about FC in my opinion is that it is a place where multiple and even competing manufacturers/people can coexist and even cooperate on the things that they are working on. I am of the opinion that competition only benefits the consumer but in no way do I feel you are encroaching on my project.

If you are deciding not to continue on past the first ten units because of monetary or other concerns that is fine; but don't think that you need to stop on my account. I'm not really in this for a profit, just to address the serious need among solo owners for replacement packs.

Also I have to admit; I broke down and ordered those dealextreme NCR18650A's that you posted because if those turn out to be genuine cells then I will be very happy since the shipping options for them are so much better than what I'm currently using.

I'm not in this to make money either. I just thought it would be fun and useful.

This is the charge/balance/lvc I went with.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Protection-...840?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc799d348

The charge voltage is only 9v but that's not too much of an issue as it should still charge and click off ok using 12v. Also I'm not sure how many diodes are inside the solo between the charger affecting the forward voltage respectively.

Hey, now if you can make replacement batteries w/ tabs and lead wires soldered on them for the pax going too, you would pick up a bunch more business from that I bet, in a few months when everyone's Pax batteries start failing. They have to be soldered in for the Pax to work right, and I know what a bitch it is to solder on top of small devices, so to be able to wire in a battery, and just connect wires, rather than having to solder stuff close to the Pax internals, would be golden. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I thought I'd bring it up.

Hmm, thanks for tip! I will examine the teardown pictures in the thread and see if there is anything I can do for it.

I'll make you a video showing how I solder directly to the battery. Its easy with the right tools and knowledge.

what about these, I found on Amazon, they are already built with PCB. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Y2LJW0/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&smid=A3IAN4VN1Q26HU

I've used that exact pack in the past with my Solo, actually. That was the first one I tried and the one in the initial battery mod I did in the solo thread. The problem is Tenergy is really a hit-or-miss company and I do not trust them. While the pack I got worked, it was slightly too big for the battery housing area in the solo and required me to modify the solo to get it in.

I'd rather go with a slightly more reliable pack source than tenergy. But buying preassembled packs and adding the leads to them is probobly the better option in the long run.

yeah, I thought maybe it was a battery issue. I know there are better batteries out there, just wanted to see what you had to say about that pack.

The tenergy pack looks to be a great option. But you know the cells used are not top quality. But a great price if you can make it fit.

honestly, if I am going to the trouble of replacing the batteries, I don't want to put inferior batteries in there. I would rather know mine are the best available (at the time) and possibly even previously tested to be sure they worked before the instal.

They FINALLY came in...

Hello, I'm new to the forums and I came across this thread while looking to buy a new solo battery because I thought mine was defective (didn't get as many sessions as expected). I'm just letting you know that, when you do release these new high performance batteries packs, I will most definitely buy a pack.

I love my solo but I wish the battery would last longer

Everything but the batteries has arrived for me. Maybe Tuesday...