South Bend, IN

[Sean McEntee]

Anyone live in the South Bend area?  Looking for some assistance. Thanks!

[Sean McEntee]

Thanks for the messages and the help folks!

In the ongoing pursuit to make Free Flight models lighter, I came across some TINY 3.7V lipo batteries at Hobbytown.  However, like all good things, they aren't made anymore.  I got a line on a bunch of them the Hobbytown in South Bend, but initially weren't willing to ship to me.  Dave Seigler (thanks again Dave!) was working on coordinating with his son to pick them up and get them out here, but I finally begged and pleaded with the Hobbytown folks enough that they're going to drop them in the mail to me.

So case closed.  Thanks again!!

[Tim Wescott]

If you really want to get into it deep, remember that hobby batteries are what fell off the truck at some consumer goods factory -- possibly headphones in this case, or those stupid smart watches; those look too large for earbuds.

So you can always look for a source of the bare cells, and learn how to attach connectors to them.  I know there were guides to how it is done back in the early days of LiPo-powered RC, before there was a dependable supply of cells for "big" planes.  It's a matter of taking the weird-ass conductors that come out of the cell (aluminum, I think) and getting wire to stick (silver-filled epoxy may work, too).

They should go all the way down to hearing-aid (or earbud) sized, so if you're ambitious enough to learn how to handle them, the sky -- uh, your manual dexterity -- is the limit.

I found these people after searching on "Lithium Polymer Batteries" -- I'm sure there's plenty more: https://www.all-battery.com/polymerli-ionbattery37v26mah360817-30093.aspx.

[Sean McEntee]

If you really want to get into it deep, remember that hobby batteries are what fell off the truck at some consumer goods factory -- possibly headphones in this case, or those stupid smart watches; those look too large for earbuds.

So you can always look for a source of the bare cells, and learn how to attach connectors to them.  I know there were guides to how it is done back in the early days of LiPo-powered RC, before there was a dependable supply of cells for "big" planes.  It's a matter of taking the weird-ass conductors that come out of the cell (aluminum, I think) and getting wire to stick (silver-filled epoxy may work, too).

They should go all the way down to hearing-aid (or earbud) sized, so if you're ambitious enough to learn how to handle them, the sky -- uh, your manual dexterity -- is the limit.

I found these people after searching on "Lithium Polymer Batteries" -- I'm sure there's plenty more: https://www.all-battery.com/polymerli-ionbattery37v26mah360817-30093.aspx.

I've found other lipos of similar size.  The trouble is the proprietary male connector is not commercially available, nor any kind of adapter.

[Tim Wescott]

I've found other lipos of similar size.  The trouble is the proprietary male connector is not commercially available, nor any kind of adapter.

That's why I'm suggesting solder, or glue -- but it's always easy to solve these technical problems by telling someone else to do 'em!