Mobile phone lipo cells...
 

Like many people, I've accumulated quite a few Sony Ericsson phone batteries like these.

They weigh close to nothing, but are rated at 950mAh.

Surely two could just be wired up in series and run in a car for a super-lightweight, hard-cased battery setup...

I six were used (three sets in parallel) that'd be a decent 2850mAh battery that weighs close to nothing and is more or less free.

Would there be big issues with regards to the current draw and/or overheating? (I'd be surprised if there would not be!) After all mobiles are designed to run for hours, where they'd be sucked dry in a matter of 2-3 minutes in an rc application.

Very curious...

Maybe they'd be great in mini-rc applications?

Any thoughts are appreciated!
http://www.oople.com/forums/attachme...4&d=1226170602

The cells themselves wont be rated for high rate discharge and anyway, connecting them togther in series you will cause each cells active cell protection module to activate in over-current mode.

These are sealed units and i wouldnt even think about modifying any , with all the good qaulity lipo packs availble there is no need to even consider using them.

any one wondering why there rated at 3.6 volts? that would make lipo 7.2 volt!!

Do you mean why 3.6V instead of 3.7V? Li-Ion technlogy was always rated at 3.6V, it is only over the past few years that some manufacturers use 3.7V as a badge voltage instead... but both are typical values at 0.2C discharge at +20°C.

At the end of the day it is the energy (area under the curve) that counts in portable electronic devices as most are constant power devices.

As Neil said above, it's all about power ratings.

Some of the tiny packs I put in my parkflyer RC planes are great, 11.1V and have plenty of capacity, but wouldn't be able to supply enough juice for a thirsty RC car (it's about C-ratings |click|).

I suppose it's analogous to NiMH or LiPo cells with 1/18th and 1/10th Scale. You can get baby 1/18th cells (2/3A for for nickel cells) for Micro cars, but these won't be rated high enough for a 1/10th car.

So yeah, I expect you could use them in mini/micro RC as you say. But if you know the websites, you can get great quality small packs of simialr size made for RC use for around £10 (http://www.giantcod.co.uk/cell-lipo-...7d98f2e11e89af).

Great thought, but I fear like the others it might not be best for RC.

If you go into their forum and read the customer returns/warranty makes for a very interesting read!!!