# Can I use my RC LiPo battery in my magicshine?



## migs26 (Jan 31, 2006)

I still have a few sets of RC LiPo battery. They are also rated at 7.4V but will peak at 8.4v when fully charged. Will the 8.4V hurt the board of magicshine? Is it safe to use?

I am thinking of just sourcing magicshine battery terminal at local electronic shop then DIY it to my RC battery to have a higher capacity battery.


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## kwarwick (Jun 12, 2004)

Yeap it will work just fine as that LiPo is the same voltage as the MS battery pack. You can get a cable with the connector to mate with the MS from DX: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32751 Cut the end off it and solder on the appropriate connector for your LiPo pack and you're good to go.


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## ro.sniper (Apr 27, 2010)

Your battery is also a 7.4 but at full charge it's 8.4 same with the magic shine. I use my duratrax onyx 230 to charge my zippy 2s 5000Mah with a parallel harness. I get 10000Mah at 7.4V. 

Also it only take 2 hours to charge both batteries.


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## migs26 (Jan 31, 2006)

alrighty then, I already have those MS battery wire extension for my helmet mount, will splice it and use as my LiPo connector. 

I am new to 18650 battery , i dont know that they also peak at 8.4V.


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## ro.sniper (Apr 27, 2010)

migs26 said:


> alrighty then, I already have those MS battery wire extension for my helmet mount, will splice it and use as my LiPo connector.
> 
> I am new to 18650 battery , i dont know that they also peak at 8.4V.


I think its just a lithium ion battery thats round  ... I'm a LiPo man myself.. the discharge rates are nicer on the LiPo as you already know from an RC backgroud.


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## CdaleTony (Jun 21, 2005)

What about LVC....? Wouldnt you have to put something in between to keep it from killing the LiPo..?


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## desolder (Apr 8, 2008)

The magic shine light head has its own LVC, so it's no problem. The red light also turn on at about 6.8V, so if you want to be conservative, swap over to another battery when that happens.


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## maxtheheathen (Feb 27, 2007)

That RC pack is probably meant for rather high current, so you probably wanna throw a 2A polyswitch inline with the magicshine cord.


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## Mr Cabletwitch (Apr 16, 2009)

I'm using RC packs on all my lights I converted all my old light systems to LIPO that way. I think I'm going to get a Magic Shine soon though its a little nicer than the antique niterider lights that I'm using now.


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## ro.sniper (Apr 27, 2010)

I'm just using the the built in one from the magic shine. When the LED turns red at the back, its time to charge. I think i'm getting about 3.4v / cell. Let me check next time it runs out. 

I don't get why the magic shine battery doesn't have a balance tap...


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## znomit (Dec 27, 2007)

ro.sniper said:


> I don't get why the magic shine battery doesn't have a balance tap...


Its cheaper that way and every year people will pony up for a new battery pack.


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## TwoHeadsBrewing (Aug 28, 2009)

Thread necro! I have a bunch of 11.1v 3S batteries for RC planes, but it looks like a normal 2650mah 2S would work. Any reason why this one wouldn't work? Sky Lipo 2650mAh 7.4V 20C


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## desolder (Apr 8, 2008)

Yes it will work. Just be careful not to discharge it too deeply since there is no protection circuit. You can add on a 2-cell protection circuit from batteryspace for added peace of mind.


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## TwoHeadsBrewing (Aug 28, 2009)

I'm going to give this a shot since apparently I'll be lucky to get my recall replacement batteries before next year. And I'll be damned if I give them any more money since I've already spent $200 and have no lights to ride with.


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## BertoManfred (Jul 5, 2011)

Just be carefull with charging and storing battery, lipos can easily ignite into violent fires which cannot be easily put out, also hitting battery or dropping it can also cause accidentalmfire or explosion of battery, however lipos keep voltage through the life of the charge so you wont have dimming as the charge is dropping, also store these batteries with 50 % charge and in a metal tin or can in case of fire.


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## find_bruce (May 8, 2011)

BertoManfred said:


> Just be carefull with charging and storing battery, lipos can easily ignite into violent fires which cannot be easily put out, also hitting battery or dropping it can also cause accidentalmfire or explosion of battery, however lipos keep voltage through the life of the charge so you wont have dimming as the charge is dropping, also store these batteries with 50 % charge and in a metal tin or can in case of fire.


Do you have any sources for this information as it is quite different from my understanding. As I understand it a Lipo battery is no more or less dangerous than any other Li-ion battery and if mistreated will vent hydrogen gas which will burn vigourously but briefly.

For this reason I am always sceptical of advice to keep batteries in any form of enclosed metal case - if it does vent hydrogen, it is much better that the flame occurs in the air than in a confined space.

Me, I am far more concerned by the hydro-flouric acid that may result if the battery is exposed to water, but YMMV.

You are correct that a lipo is more vulnerable to damage than a steel encased 18650 and IMHO if you are using it on a bike you should take care to ensure the Lipo is protected from both water and accident damage.

I use this Lipo with my magic shine. The voltage drops as the battery discharges, although not as much as with my other Li-ion batteries. It makes no difference to the magic shine because in my experience the magicshine does not dim as the voltage drops.


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## BertoManfred (Jul 5, 2011)

Go on any rc forum for the lipo fire stories im sure now the technology is far i proved, but i have read alot of stories.


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## TwoHeadsBrewing (Aug 28, 2009)

LiPo batteries are for the most part safe, but when they go bad it can result in a pretty serious fire. As with most anything, be smart and follow the instructions and you'll be just fine.

OR you can intentionally blow up a LiPo, just for fun.  This is a video of a relatively small lipo pack, about 1000mah. For comparison, it's about 1/4 of the size of the GeoMan pack. I believe they are setting the fire by overcharging it.


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## desolder (Apr 8, 2008)

I haven't been flying my lipo-powered airplanes in some time, but my understanding from a friend of mine who still flies is that the latest lipos are much safer in a crash. He's told me recent stories of lipos being partially crushed in completely nose down crashes from hundreds of feet up, yet the batteries don't catch fire. Regardless, i would still put them in some kind of rigid case if I were to use them for a bike light, just to be on the safe side.


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## TwoHeadsBrewing (Aug 28, 2009)

For the bar light, I plan on putting the battery inside an old water bottle. I'm going to pack it with foam and seal up the lid so that just the MS connector comes out. This should create a good waterproof and impact proof container. The helmet light battery will be going in my backpack, so no protection needed there. My RC batteries should be getting here this week, and I'm going to post a few pictures of my setup.

I know for a fact that a Lipo can take a pretty good hit. I had a 2200mah battery in my airplane and pulled a hard outside loop about 200 feet up. The battery apparently was not properly secured and it shot out of the canopy and fell to the ground. It smacked pretty good, but there was no damage to any of the cells. I still fly with it and it works great.


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## GoGuam (Aug 19, 2011)

Batteries, are batteries...don't over discharge a pack, balance charge it and get a good high "C" rating for discharge based on the typical load you expect. Lipo's can let out the magic smoke in spectacular fashion, so good handling and storage are a must. LVC's or systems with a managed port are important if you plan on running the packs to capacity.

I buy general use and model airplane packs from here:
hobbycity dot com (sorry, I don't have enough posts yet)

They are stinking inexpensive and the packs are great. Flightmax and "generics" have more than a few 100 cycles on them.

Invest in an inexpensive balance charger and you won't "puff" any cells.


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## string_wise (Feb 24, 2010)

TwoHeadsBrewing said:


> Thread necro! I have a bunch of 11.1v 3S batteries for RC planes, but it looks like a normal 2650mah 2S would work. Any reason why this one wouldn't work? Sky Lipo 2650mAh 7.4V 20C


What kind of run time can be expected with this type of battery? The stock magicshine battery is 4.5 ah, so a battery with 2650mah would run about 59% of the time the stock 4.5 would run? Is it that simple?


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## TwoHeadsBrewing (Aug 28, 2009)

Yep, that's pretty much it. I have a 5000mah and after 2 hours of riding on high it took 2400mah to recharge it.


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## string_wise (Feb 24, 2010)

TwoHeadsBrewing said:


> Yep, that's pretty much it. I have a 5000mah and after 2 hours of riding on high it took 2400mah to recharge it.


Interesting and I'm glad it actually is as simple as it seems. Not too often that's the case 

Thanks!


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## jefishe (Feb 5, 2011)

qwreqw


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## bardynt (Oct 11, 2011)

well if people so worried about lipos exploding

there is lipo packs can store them you could get small lipo pack like that and keep that on you're bike to put lipo in you re that worried

im going to do the same thing a back up battery will rc battery prob likely will be better than any battery you get with light kit anyway

since with rc battery you know what mah the battery is and from im looking at bike lights kits tell you how much volts is for battery but dont let you know how mah there is or even the c rating

so why not just cut off the magichshine battery connector and put on deans plug or even better bullet connector for better fit

cause then that way can charge those lipos batteries alot faster than any standard bike battery

esp considering i can charge a rc battery in a hour or so and bike battery they say takes 4 or 5 hours at minmum


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## TwoHeadsBrewing (Aug 28, 2009)

Here's some quick and dirty pics of my Magicshine temporary replacement batteries. The charger is the most expensive part here, but you can get a cheapo balance charger for $10. Just a note; the 5000mah is super duper overkill, but does provide over 4 hours of light on high. Ideally a 3000-4000mah battery would be sufficient for 2+ hour rides on high. A 4000mah SkyLipo from HobbyPartz.com is $15.

Battery, with Deans aka T-Connector soldered on:









Water bottle lid with the wire coming through. Celebration Ale recommended for this step, but not necessary.









Said water bottle:









All hooked up. The T-Connector is soldered to an existing MS extension wire. This is a better option so that a normal MS battery can be used in the future without doing any more soldering.









This is a 2x1600mah setup in series for a total of 3200mah. PITA to have to charge two batteries, but I alread had them laying around. This kind of smart charger is highly recommended, but a bit spendy.


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## watts888 (Oct 2, 2012)

Bringing back an old thread. How about NiMH or NiCd RC batteries? Possible damage to the light as the voltage goes low? I have some sitting around from a Traxxas Stampede. Can't ride a bike and bash the truck at the same time though, at least not yet.


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

As long as the starting voltage is no higher than about 9V, the Nimh or NiCad batteries will be fine. The MS 808s that I have worked on had several components on the driver that have a max operating voltage of 10V. There have been a few folks run them at 12V, but that's asking for trouble. You won't harm the light with lower voltage as the batteries fade, it will just shut off.


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